The Olympic spirit

A slack day in the spurting firmament today, with little other than Man Utd and Barcelona’s triumphant processional strolls into the Champions League semi-finals last night.

Still, with a distinct lack of sporting endeavour (and we don’t count Golf as a real sport so that Master’s nonsense isn’t relevant) it gives us a little window to consider the mixture of drama and farce which has been the Olympic flame’s progress this week.

It’s probably the most naive thing in the world to say that sport and politics never mix, they shouldn’t, but they always have and they always will.

With a Free Tibet at the top of the agenda, the burly Chinese Stormtroopers, secret service aides or torch guards - whatever they really are - have been hounded, pounded, extinguished and even re-routed across London, Paris and San Francisco and back.

Frankly its been a major embarrassment for China but the games were awarded to Beijing at least partly on the understanding that they would help social change and promote ‘moral engagement’ with the awakening dragon. Not much evidence of that in the draconian pronouncements against legitimate protest.

Still if the torch’s troubled procession has proved inspirational: backing the underdog against the favourite, resisting bullying oppression and using sport as a legitimate weapon against injustice are all activities very much in keeping with the Olympic spirit.