Zeusblog

You may have seen that there may not be enough money to have a GB Water Polo team at the Olympics in 2012, which I think is disgusting - and Seb Coe should hang his head in shame.

Firstly, I’ll declare my interest: I used to play water polo. It was a long time ago - my days of tight rubber trunks and gumshields are way behind me now. It’s a great game (to play, if not to watch) and to take part at the highest level you have to be a hell of an athlete. Not to mention tough - although it’s technically a non-contact sport, it’s one of the most brutal and demanding games you can play. 

But my dismay at the situation is not because I feel a special affinity for water polo. I think it’s just as wrong if handball or volleyball or any of the other sports under threat aren’t funded to compete. The same applies to the paralympic sports under threat. 

Quite how we can spend billions upon billions on hosting the Olympics and not have enough money to field a team in every event (as other host nations do) is beyond me. And how cycling (which I am a fan of) can get millions and millions of funding, on the basis that they are really successful - while others struggle to compete - can make any sense is also beyond me. How do other sports improve if we only fund the ones that are successful? It’s like only allocating teachers to the brightest kids. And wasn’t the point of the Olympics that it would raise participation in sport and make us a healthier nation? What kind of message does not competing in events where we may not win send to the obese youth of the country? They’ll just carry on eating fast food in front of the telly - after all they’re not going to win anything either - unless pie-eating becomes an olympic sport.

Call me old fashioned, but isn’t the spirit of the Olympics best summed up by “It’s not the winning, it’s the taking part that matters”?

Chalky