IN 2012 the Olympics and Paralympics come to east London. On show will be the world's elite sportsmen and women, flexing their muscles and straining their sinews in state-of-the-art stadia. The possibility of seeing Usain Bolt smash more sprint records, local athlete and world 400-metre champion, Christine Ohuruogu, and swimming free-style double-gold winner, Eleanor Simmonds - among countless others - is a mouth-watering prospect.
For all the inspiration on display, however, the sporting spectacle is a sideshow. In the eyes of the property developers and multinational corporations, their fixers on the organising bodies and their cronies in government, the main purpose of the Olympics is to make huge amounts of money.
Article by Manny Thain for The Socialist.
Link here: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/626/9576/26-05-2010/london-2012-o...
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