(image) As the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games kick off, thoughts are already turning to London 2012. Is there, however, a misconception of exactly how prepared the UK really is, is the hype some distance ahead of the reality and are we already falling behind in our preparation?
Let's hope legacy thinking is being considered and incorporated in the new NGB whole sport plans and the processes NGBs are putting together factor in how to best exploit the additional impetus that the upcoming event can give to their negotiations with partners, sponsors and competitors.
There are good bits and pieces out there in specific sports sectors and among the materials and programmes specifically designed to start to engage key communities and groups, particularly young people.
What is missing from the UK legacy process (or at least is not visible to most of us) is coordination; responsibility for this in a pan-UK context, does not appear to rest with any specific person or agency. Surely if this is to happen it must be someone's full time dedicated job. Perhaps now is the perfect time for a Games (Pre-) Legacy Tsar - with a (substantial) enabling budget, not hidebound by ties to UK Sport, Sport England or LOCOG but with real national profile and clout; perhaps reporting directly to the Prime Minister and/or the Secretary of State at the DCMS.
Anyone who has attended, volunteered at or competed in a key sporting event knows the feeling of pre-event anticipation and the excitement that accompanies taking part but is also familiar with the exhalation of breath and loss of momentum that occurs at the finish. The same is true of the Olympic legacy - the time to make hay, use the ‘magic dust' of the upcoming Games and the publicity (and controversy) that will surround athletes, coaches, NGBs and the rest, is now.
This is, arguably, even more important given the upcoming dissolution of the English regional sports boards (which had, to varying degrees picked up the mantle of legacy planning), the reduction in scale of Sport England's regional presence and the upheaval in the national administration of sport in Scotland. All these make such an action even more vital and it may be that a Tsar should have the authority and the budget to appoint regional/national ‘commissars' authorised and be empowered to drive such work at home country/regional level; working closely with the relevant governments, executives, assemblies and government offices.
Potentially a great job, potentially a great legacy. Without immediate action is the seismic catalytic opportunity we have in UK sport going to pass us by.
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