Ebook: Mark Perryman-London 2012-How Was It for Us

How was it for us? keynote essay -- The good, the bad and the orbit / Mark Perryman -- The wonder stuff / Billy Bragg -- The meaning of the London Games -- The best Olympics never / Alan Tomlinson -- Fraud of the rings / Eliane Glaser -- The mythology of sport / Kate Hughes -- Wearing Team GB's colours / Yasmin Alibhai-Brown -- The power and promise of 2012 -- Turning Super Saturdays into Happy Mondays / Andrew Simms -- Streets of flames summer games / Ben Carrington -- A postcard from Rio / Gavin Poynter -- Dressage for the masses / Mark Steel -- The politics of Olympic sport -- Supercrips cyborgs the unreal Paralympian / P. David Howe -- The Wiggo effect / Zoe Williams -- The meaning of Mo / David Renton -- A utopian moment of beauty and becoming / Suzanne Moore -- Sport after 2012 -- From podium to park / Barbara Bell -- Consumed by the Games / Anne Coddington -- We have nothing to lose but our medals / Gareth Edwards -- Of spectacle species / Bob Gilbert.;The London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics will be the biggest single sporting event in the UK in our lifetimes. The memories of that Summer of sport will remain with us forever, but what did those four weeks tell us about ourselves, our society's values and its possibilities? This collection of critical reflections is not anti-Olympics nor against sport. The writers instead imaginatively address the reality of the Games' impact, question what the ceremonies and Team GB represented, and deconstruct the organisers' claims of economic regeneration and boosting participation. This an essential and exciting read for all who understand and appreciate that London 2012 meant something, but are unsure what. Contributors include world-class experts in Olympism, writers and journalists who reported on and were inspired by the Games, social and cultural critics, sports policy consultants and sport campaigners.