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Tuesday, September 05, 2006

The Olympics in 2012 - to add some culture perhaps

Last year - one of my proudest moments was standing in Chamberlain Square with the rest of my colleagues from Sport England - looking at a TV screen with a crowd watching the Host City announcement from Singapore. Obviously when London was announced like the whole crowd I went wild - thinking for possibly the only time in my life one of the greatest sporting events in the world will take place in London in 7 years time.

However some people have looked at other aspects of the Olympics that I think bears sharing - as why should it just be a sporting event.

In the RSA magazine this month - highlighted that the original games in Greece included Gold medals for literature and poetry as part of the Olympics. Could we re-introduce this element to these games working say with either the Nobel committee's a dovetail. Another option that I can think of is just a special award developed in conjunction with the IOC.

Another option might be to extend the Blue plaque scheme to commemorate the birthplaces of say 50 great British Sportsmen/Women - as an adjunct to 2012.

I notice that we have a number of Sports Institutes throughout the country - another option might be to have a University of Sport based around the Olympic site as one of my options.

What would you like to see happen to have as a lasting memory of the 2012 Olympics.

If so then write with any suggestions to Derek Wyatt MP at wyattd@parliament.uk

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