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Book
Review : Chasing Gold
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| Contributor
Review: Be A Contributor |
20/07/2005 |
| Chasing
Gold - Centenary of the British Olympic Association |
| by
Nick Yapp |
| Reviewed
by Andrew Baker, Sports Writer for The Daily Telegraph |
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Revelling in nostalgia of past glory
The British Olympic Association celebrate their centenary this
year, but have been too preoccupied with the London bid to
make a fuss about it. But the BOA have produced a book to
honour the occasion. Chasing Gold is a pictorial history of
British participation in the Olympics, compiled by Nick Yapp
with the archive of Getty Images, and is a useful reminder
of what the Games have meant to this country.
In light of the complex and expensive plans that have been
promised for London 2012 it is enlightening to look at the
facilities on offer at the earliest Games. The line-up for
the start of the men’s 400 metres final in St Louis
in 1904 features a dozen runners crouched in front of the
starter, who wears a straw boater hat and is surrounded by
schoolboys. The main problem was a lack of lane markings.
As the text dryly notes “a degree of chaos ensued”. |
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And
it is interesting to contrast the social regeneration planned
for the East End of London in 2012 with the more basic transformation
that took place on waste ground in Shepherd’s Bush for
the 1908 London Games.
Similarly, the smart accommodation envisaged for athletes in
2012 was not provided in the “austerity” Games of
1948, when London did the Olympic Movement a favour by hosting,
but when the athletes had to be put up in schools and army camps.
There were grumbles from the press but the then IOC president,
Sigfrid Edstrom, called the Games “a challenge to the
British genius for improvisation, and the organisation rose
gloriously to the supreme challenge”. |
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The
book provides a glorious wallow in nostalgia for anyone remotely
interested in Olympic history and British sport, and any such
readers will find images of their favourite athletes: Mary Peters,
Lynn Davies, Sir Steve Redgrave and Daley Thompson. Chasing
Gold is a fine memento of all that Great Britain has contributed
to the Olympics down the years.
6th July 2005 – printed in the Daily Telegraph. |
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