On the 10th July, one of 8,000 Olympic torches was carried through Egham, a historical and olympic village in Surrey. The streets were flooded with both rain and people, more than I've ever seen in my small town.
The streets were lined throughout Egham hours before with people waiting to watch the torch procession consisting of Olympic sponsor lorries, police and a couple of joggers (and the torch of course). They waited in the rain, polite on the pavements waving flags and cheering at the sight of the relay, the vehicles came first followed after a long wait by the torch carried in turn by six individuals and former England and Chelsea footballer Ray Wilkins . Whilst all other six carriers have admittedly got an inspirational story to tell, where were the young carriers? The stars of tomorrow?
The local teams? 'Inspire a generation.' That's the slogan, I dare say they could be doing a better job.
Now Egham is, an Olympic village and a historical one to. But, it's also home to Procter and Gamble's Innovation Centre, a major sponsor of the Olympic Games, with a large workforce employed there. Three of the runners work at the site and it was these three that paraded the torch in a closed event around the office. Figure that.
The Olympics are finally just around the corner, Inspiring a generation to get out and get sporty. Inspiring them from their sofa, as it's been a killer to get tickets. Unlike the Beijing games in which many seats remained empty, the London Olympics are very much sold out. Now I'm aware it's to little to late but I believe it would have been a good idea to allocate tickets for events to relevant clubs and associations, enabling people and children with a solid interest in the sport to get up close to their champions and idols, what better way to inspire?
By Scarlet Prentice
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