IT
is now official, politics has been cancelled due to lack of interest. With Norn
Iron Olympians
standing higher
in the medal table than those in many larger regions, collective euphoria and wall-to-wall coverage, there is no point
in pretending that there is the slightest chance of intelligent political
discourse. Then again in Norn Iron intelligent political discourse is an
oxymoron.
The
economy may be going to hell in an Olympic-sized handbasket, Syria may be
disintegrating into ever more bloody civil war, and mankind has landed a rover
on Mars but
it all
matters not a bit as long as we have boxers and rowers on the medal rostrum.
However,
should rioting, and anti-riot policing ever become an Olympic sport we are in
with a good shout of a medal, so long as it doesn't go to the (CC)TV camera
footage to decide the winners and losers...
But
when the medals are in the trophy cabinets and the civic receptions all
concluded, will there be an Olympic legacy for Norn Iron.
With
austerity still wrestling like a competitor struggling back into their
tracksuit, and threats of cuts, cuts and more cuts, will there be any spare
change left for community sports facilities, coaching and will our leisure
centres, home to so many grass-roots Olympians, be saved from the local council axes?
There
has already been a commitment from sports minister Caral Ní Chúliann that
boxing will be given more support. However, the real legacy will be a generation inspired to
get off their fat rear ends and actually do something rather than stare at
vacuous rantings on computer screens (editor's note: we're going for a brisk
walk as soon as we've finished this vacuous rant...).
We
can only hope that our politicians and the civil servants who stalk their every
move can also get off their bloated egos and over-sized rear ends and actually
do something: the 100metre dash to the division hall, the 800m race to pass
some legislation and the triathlon of imagination at solving whatever crisis
there is this week.