If Public Relations was an Olympic Sport…

There has been a lot of winning and losing going on for the past two weeks – some spectacular achievements and some ‘best forgotten’ moments too. Athletes aside, who has won the Public Relations stakes for London 2012 so far?

Gold medal:
And the winner is…. The Royal Family. Our blue bloods seem to have been playing their own high spec version of ‘Where’s Wally?’. Scan the crowd at any Olympic venue (not just in the Olympic Park) and you could find Princess Anne, Prince Harry, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and other more minor Royals cheering and screaming with everyone else. You had to look carefully to spot them– dressed in their casual Olympic Ambassador kit of polo shirt and chinos, the enthusiasm was genuine, the joy was real.
From the moment HM The Queen ‘parachuted’ into the opening ceremony – Team GB Royal have got it absolutely right. PB’s (personal bests) have been coming thick and fast – Elizabeth R’s link up with James Bond was classy and funny – worthy of a world record.
Another PB was Kate and William’s embrace as Sir Chris Hoy won a gold medal in cycling. The intimate shot of two young people clearly in love and completely caught up in the gold rush graced many a front page last week.  Kate’s passion for hockey and her steadfast attendance at each women’s team match has been impressive and Prince Harry capped the family’s medal winning form with his crowd-pleasing performances while maintaining some serious street cred..

Silver Medal:

It was a close call, but just pipped at the tape into second place is our wonderful military and police whose profile has received a significant boost with an event which started as a sprint (to quickly respond to the shortfall in security staff caused by contractor failure) to a marathon throughout the Olympic fortnight. Cheery, courteous and steadfast, these men and women in uniform have embraced athletes and visitors alike with the warm blanket of discreet, but robust security.

Bronze Medal:

Previous entertaining form and early promise demonstrated with his ‘shabby chic’ appearance at the closing ceremony of the Bejing Olympics meant that Boris Johnson was always a strong contender for a London 2012 PR medal. With his infectious joie de vivre, his buoyant enthusiasm and apparent innocence (despite reports otherwise), Boris is a constant source of amusement and yet somehow his considerable intellect shines through. He must be the only politician in the world who could turn the farce of being stuck on a zip wire, dangling in thin air for several minutes, into a PR triumph. The foreign press love him, the camera loves him, Londoners (mainly) love him and I love him.

As our Olympic dream has become delicious reality there will be many other personal and corporate PBs. But there are also the ‘could do better’ in the PR Olympics. These include G4S – the security firm who well and truly messed up, and effectively committed PR suicide. Our coalition leaders haven’t done particularly well either – squabbling about the House of Lords reform at a time when the nation is basking in the happy glow of global approval.

Hey ho – you win some, lose some – but perhaps the most precious prize of all, worth multiple gold medals are the words of Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympics committee who described London as ‘a city partying’ . He continued ‘the kindness of the British people has helped deliver more than anyone expected and the success was very reassuring for the future of sport’

So you see, dear world, us Brits are, in the main, lovely people – really – we are!

Our Olympic triumphs so far (and I’m not talking about medals)

So much for my plan to write a daily Olympics blog! I have been glued to the TV screen and, I’m proud to say, have also attended an Olympic event this week. All the frantic screaming at the telly and cheering in a crowd has left little room for literary pontification. I’ll be bereft when the Olympics finish but at least I’ll get my life back and can attend to the backlog of chores again. The highlights so far have been many and varied, and here are a few of my favourite triumphs.

The opening ceremony: Wow! I must confess that, like many Brits, I was fearful that the overture to the greatest show on earth would be a damp squib. How wrong we were. The director Danny Boyle encapsulated so much of the best of the British psyche – inclusive and diverse, inventive yet traditional, artistic and scientific, but most of all self-deprecating and funny. The James Bond sketch featuring that most famous of leading ladies was hysterical. I received texts and emails from friends across the world telling me how much they enjoyed the joke. Well done your majesty!! Just one duff note – well several actually. I’m sorry Sir Paul McCartney but it really is time to hang up your musical boots. The voice just isn’t up to it anymore and Hey Jude was not a rallying cry worthy of such an incredible night.

London: What a beautiful city, showcased at its very best! The location of some events was inspirational. From the equestrian events at Greenwich Park, the cycling by Hampton Court Palace, to Archery at Lord’s cricket ground, London has proved itself a worthy Olympic host city. The location for beach volleyball (which is a bit like a great party with a medal at the end) is inspired. As the sun set with Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and the London Eye providing an almost mythical backdrop, a commentator mentioned that this must be the most beautiful location in the world for this great spectator sport.

The out of London venues: Equally impressive. The rowing on a manmade lake just by Windsor Castle, the beautiful Dorset coast and some stunning football stadiums prove that this is not all about the capital.

The BBC: Every sport is being covered, every day. There are over 20 channels with live streams of every event. The specialist commentary, interviews, analysis and human interest stories have kept a nation gripped. I believe the licence payers money has been well spent (for my overseas readers, the BBC is ‘free’ to view in return for an annual licence fee of around £145 ($200) which covers radio as well.). The downside is – all this coverage is very distracting so housework, writing deadlines and general communication with the outside world has been severely limited within my own personal part of the universe.

The tears: Who doesn’t enjoy a good weep of happiness? I seem to be permanently in floods at the moment. Every time the National Anthem is played or there is some story of human endeavour leading to triumph over adversity (any nationality will do) – I blub shamelessly. High spots were Gemma Gibbons (ranked 42 in the world) who looked heavenwards and mouthed ‘I love you Mum’ as she qualified for the Olympic final eight years after she lost her Mum. And the young shooting gold medallist Peter Wilson who broke off in the middle of a post victory interview as he ran towards his father shouting with a voice cracking with emotion ‘Dad’ and fell into his father’s arms. Another heart-wrencher was the very large father of the gold medal winning South African swimmer Chad Le Clos, weeping profusely as he kept saying ‘look at him, he’s beautiful – whatever happens for the rest of my life, it doesn’t matter, just look at him’ . Awwww - surely even the coldest of hearts would melt at such parental pride.

Our Royals: From our parachuting Queen (I managed to persuade one visitor that Her Majesty really DID sky dive into the arena…) to Princess Anne’s silver medal winning daughter the British royals have truly embraced the Olympic Games. Speaking of embracing – in the Daily Telegraph today there’s a charming picture of Kate and William having a joyful cuddle as they celebrate Chris Hoy’s fantastic 5^th Gold Medal. Awwww.(again)

The British weather: So far so good. After a truly dismal June, the sun has been kind in putting in several appearances this week. And the rain, in the main, has stayed away. At least the monsoon-like deposits have stopped anyway.

The general air of happiness: I was at old Trafford for some Olympic football matches last week and even though Team GB wasn’t featured in either match there were over 70,000 spectators. And to a man, woman and child we all had the best of times. We whooped and cheered, oohed and aahed just as though each team was our personal responsibility. And the players responded in kind. At the end of the New Zealand, Egypt match they stayed on the pitch for ages, waving and thanking the crowd. Yes, security was a bit slow and we got wet as we queued to have our handbags checked but so what – we all had a great time and came away happy.

And maybe that is the best triumph of all so far. Despite all the carping and whinging from many UK residents in the build-up to the games, the events of the past week have made most of us happy.  Happy to see our country showcased in all its glory. Happy to see sport and sportsmanship at its best. Happy to recognise that we really are good at organising things. And maybe best of all – happy to have something to be happy about at last!