I have just had handed to me an old newspaper cutting from
1977 in which a family raised money for my Olympic bid. This was given to me by
Jeanette who is featured in the article, she found this when sadly her mother
died she is also in the article.. This obviously brought back memories 2 weeks
after this report I won the British o 95 kg trials and become NO1 GB
Heavyweight.
This was given to me the same day as Mo Farah announced he
would be paid thousands of pounds to make a guest appearance at the London
Marathon. Things have certainly changed since 1980 Olympics. My attempt to make
the Olympics like many others was not just about training but also about
personal and family sacrifice, in my case I received £20 from Sports Aid
Foundation plus people and myself would organise sponsored events to raise
money for me. Waldesrslade School in Chatham raised a considerable amount for
me. In those days you still had to be an amateur and we in GB took that very
serious, which nearly saw me dropped for the National Team. Some of you know of
my disagreements with the hierarchy of the British Judo Association at the time,
because I came from another organisation which they considered inferior they
were far from happy with me being selected for the National Squad. When I won
the National Trials just 8 months after joining them, this made them extremely
angry (not all I might add many still recognised me as Judoka). So the question
was put Is Martin Clarke an amateur as he coaches Judo for a living? The answer
was Yes. So one up for me but these people would get their revenge eventually,
as I never got selected for the 1980 Olympics.
The point I am trying to make in those days the Olympics was
a gathering of Amateur Athletes from all over the World to have a festival of
sport, with the ideal of competing and maybe winning the ultimate Sporting
Accolade no more no less. Of course there would some who did not take the Amateur
ideal in the true manner of equality and not for gain. The Communist would have
their athletes in the Army and the USA would have theirs in colleges etc.
As the Olympics moved on it became a political weapon for
those countries who thought that there system of government was superior to
others if they won many Olympic medals and of course eventually the Amateur
status was dropped and now the professional could enter and the hardworking
amateur would no longer get a chance. Now you have Olympians becoming
Millionaires because of their medal wins and why not, yet in 1980 I cannot
remember Steve Ovett or Seb Coe becoming rich over night and certainly no Judo
player was ever made rich from the Olympics ask Neil Adams. Now we have
sportsman who have been to 4 Olympics and some complain they are hard done by
well who paid for them for the last 18 years? Of course us the Tax payer, so
should we the Taxpayer be paying for Professional Sports people to train and
make a living from us? One diver complained that he had lost his funding and
could no longer keep up his 2 mortgages?
The I.O.C is just a corporate body whose job is to provide a
Sporting Spectacular every 4 years and the athletes are there to entertain and
amaze the World Wide audience. The
original Olympic ideal has now gone I am pleased that I was one of those who
tried to make the Olympics when it was for amateurs.
Many people thought that GB would not make a success of the
London Olympics I had no doubt that it would, even though I did not want it in
GB because of the cost. The British have had a brilliant record throughout the
world in putting on such events and pageantry , yes our Sports people were
excellent the opening and closing ceremony were fantastic even though it gave a
rather cock eyed and inaccurate version of what Britain’s past has been. So who
gained out the London Olympics?
1)
All those companies who built the place,
2)
All those foreign workers who worked on the
project
3)
Adverting companies
4)
The Government who had gained by the massive PR
for them
5)
All those who were paid to organise the event
6)
All those athletes who participated and now some
will earn a living from it
7)
All those dignitaries who got free passes to
watch some from countries where there people are starving
Guess who paid for this of course us the Tax Payer
I have already said that the ordinary sportsman has gained
nothing from the London Olympics, there was no sudden surge in people taking up
sport, and maybe many would become spectators of TV sport. In fact the
government now will only grant aid sports that were successful in the Olympics
so now some Olympic Sports will collapse and what of the Non Olympic sports?
Remember there are more Non Olympic sports then those in the Games and they
will get no funding. Surely if the government should put taxpayers money into
sports it should be pumped into grass level to encourage people to enter many
different sporting activities at all ages and abilities? Why should just an
elite few get all the money surely the emphasis should be on maximum
participation rather then the maximum amount of Olympic medals for if the
London Olympics has proved one thing the latter doesn’t produce more sports men
and women
