Top 5 sportspeople of 2012

Well it's New Year's Eve (I need to get a life) and we are forced to wave goodbye to the glorious year of sport that was 2012. We were treated to a summer showcasing the pinnacle of human achievement. In this post I will be reliving the most amazing displays of ability that we saw over the past 366 days.

5. Mo Farah

The first ever Briton to win an Olympic gold medal in distance running, he managed to do the distance double by becoming Olympic Champion in both the 10,000m and the 5,000m. His victories were the crowning glory of 'Super Saturday' and united an entire nation in a state of euphoria. Because of this he is my number 5 on my list of 2012 sportspeople.

4. Serena Williams
This year the face of women's tennis finally achieved a career grand slam by winning an Olympic gold medal, as well as the Wimbledon and US Open championships. She cemented her title as the best female tennis player in the golden era of tennis. 

3. Michael Phelps
The greatest swimmer of all time stole Larissa Latynina's title of greatest Olympian of all time by bringing his Olympic medal total up to 22, 18 of them gold. His year wasn't without  surprises; he was beaten to gold in the 200m Butterfly by a young Chad le Clos from South Africa. He also had stiff competition from his compatriot Ryan Lochte and all of the USA 4x100m relay team was beaten by France. His entertaining races have earned him the third spot on my list.

2. Usain Bolt
Before the London Olympics doubts were raised over the sprint king's ability to win the blue riband event of  track and field after his training partner, Yohan Blake, beat him in the Jamaican national championships as well as Bolt's false start in Daegu at the world championships in 2011. However the big man pulled out the stops and won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m becoming the first man in history to do the sprint double triple which earned him as my 2nd favourite sportsperson of 2012.

1. Bradley Wiggins
The first ever Brit to win the Tour de France. After winning one of the World's most gruelling sport events, he still had the energy to act as a domestique for Mark Cavendish in the Olympic Road Race and still had enough in the tank to win gold in the Olympic time trial. He was also elevated to third place at the 2009 Tour de France. After becoming the only man in history to win an Olympic Gold as well as the Tour, he became my favourite athlete of 2012.

This list is based on achievement rather than personality, athletes like Jessica Ennis would be on here but I decided to base it on their achievement rather than the effect their medal had (Jess' gold was my favourite of the London games).

Don't moan about the honours

The other day the 2013 New Year's Honours were announced and unsurprisingly the list was dominated by Olympians and to a lesser extent, Paralympians. However many people both members of the public and Paralympic athletes have been complaining about the honours that the "superhumans" have received.

The honours list most notably includes knighthoods for the sideburned Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, as well as 4-time Olympic Champion Ben Ainslie. Paralympic cyclist Sarah Storey was appointed a dame while the performance directors of both British Cycling and Rowing were awarded the title of ‘sir’.

However many people were surprised to find out that David Weir was only awarded a CBE despite winning 4 gold medals earlier this year. Weir himself has tweeted that he is “extremely happy to have been given a CBE...” although has said that Paralympians must work harder than Olympians for recognition, which he later clarified on Twitter as a reference to the fact that Sarah Storey only received a Damehood now when “she should have been honoured a long time ago because of her achievements in Paralympic sport...”

I agree with Dave on this matter, Paralympic sport stars struggle to get the attention qnd recognition they deserve even in the run up to the 2012 Games, the biggest event in Para-sport history.

Some however cannot be as gracious Weir; Lee Pearson, the face of Paralympic equestrian told the Independent on Sunday that he was disappointed to receive a CBE rather than a knighthood. This really saddens me to see that he cannot be happy with what he has and must be criticising the fact that he hasn’t been awarded higher.

Let’s face it, 2012 wasn’t even Lee Pearson’s best year, although he won gold in Greenwich it was a poor performance from the rider who won three Paralympic titles at each of the three preceding Paralympics, and yet he still expects to be raised from an OBE to a knight.

Given this arrogance I would hesitate to award him a knighthood, even if he did manage to win three gold medals at the 2016 Olympics.

Overall I think that we do need to start treating both our Olympic and Paralympic athletes with equal respect although I think that anyone should moan about the prestigious titles they have been awarded, especially considering that there is only one MBE between all of the code breakers of Bletchley Park, without whom we wouldn’t have a nation to compete for.

Are the European Games going to be so great?

Today at the European Olympic Committees (EOC) General Assembly it was announced that the first European Games will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan (which isn't in Europe) as it was the only bid city.

The idea of the games is to promote European success in the Olympics which has been on decline all around the continent with the exception of Britain, which has the Commonwealth games for its athletes to prepare.

I have been wanting a European equivalent of the Pan American Games for years; a continental multi-sport event will provide an opportunity for cities that wouldn't normally host something like this to host a big sporting event.

In the case of Baku, they can gain experience for future Olympic bids from hosting a city, which will ultimately result in more new Olympic hosts.

Baku has the potential to be an incredible host; the oil rich nation planned and constructed a purpose built arena for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in less than a year. Although the existing venues in Baku tops out at 2 arenas and a stadium under construction.

Political tensions over the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic mean that we can almost immediately rule out the possibility of seeing an Armenian representation; as the people of Armenia are banned from entering Azerbaijan.

I fear that the inaugural European Games are going to lack one of the keys to any multi-sport event: Athletics. The European Athletics Association (EAA) voted against taking part in the competition instead opting to keep their biennial competition which fails to gain much publicity in Olympic years.

Although it should be noted that the EOC believe that the EAA will eventually give in, although another competition in the year of the World Championships may not get the all star names that would be hoped for.

LEN, the European Aquatics governing body are still in talks with the EOC, potentially leaving out another staple of the Olympic programme.

I hope that if these games take off, a Paralympic counterpart will be introduced to get more attention for Para-sport.

Baku really have their work cut out, they need to host a fairly large competition with only 2 and half years of preparation and whatever happens in 2015 will affect the survival of this competition. I really hope that athletics and aquatics play a part in the games or it will all be in vain.

Why has NBC won three Golden Rings?

Yesterday NBC won three Golden Ring Awards from the IOC for their coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Just to clarify, this is the same NBC that failed to broadcast the 7/7 tribute at the Opening Ceremony in favour of a Ryan Seacrest interview with Michael Phelps as well as preventing viewers without cable or satellite subscriptions from watching live sport.

This is on top of adverising faux pas during their coverage including a commercial for a Today Show interview with "Gold medallist Missy Franklin" right before they showed her race, spoiling the result for millions of Americans.

You think they would learn, guess again; immediately after Gabby Douglas became the first African American to win a gold in gymnastics, the network showed an advert featuring a monkey on the uneven bars - that won't cause trouble will it?

I think very few people would disagree that 2012 was NBC's worst year of Olympic broadcasting since the infamous Olympic Triplecast of 1992 which cost the network's partners around $100 million.

And despite all of this the American broadcaster still managed to win the gold award in the 'Best Olympic Programme', 'Best On Air Promotion' and 'Best Olympic Feature Film' categories.

Making this achievment more incredible is that NBC beat out the BBC's 'Super Saturday' coverage for the Gold Award on best programme: The BBC, the national broadcaster of the UK that recieved overwhelmingly positive reviews over their coverage was beaten out by the same people who brought you #NBCFail.

This post would be longer if the Golden Rings actually mattered and if they weren't controlled by who pays the most to broadcast the games.

Sports Personality 2012 - Who's deserving of the shortlist

Today the BBC released the 12 member shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year 2012, the list includes 8 Olympians, 3 Paralympians and a Golfer. Clearly however, some are much more deserving of their place than others.

Nicola Adams - The very first female Olympic boxing champion on this planet; not only did she win a gold medal, she won it in style in front of a screaming crowd at the ExCeL. On top of her sporting achievments she came out as bisexual, suggesting how much her sport has moved on this year.

Ben Ainslie - The most successful sailor in Olympic history, although I doubt his ability to achieve any of the three Sports Personality trophies, he has definitely shown himself as an incredible British Olympian over the last 16 years.

Jessica Ennis - If this girl wasn't on the list I would have sent a strongly worded letter to the BBC demanding that she be put on the shortlist. She was undoubtedly the face of the games both before and after, she united an entire nation in a state of ecstasy when she won gold. On top of all of that she ran the hurdles in a time that would have won the 2008 Olympic Gold in 100m Hurdles. I fully expect this girl to achieve one of the three trophies this year, whether it will be better than her third places from 2009 and 2010, we will have to wait and see.

Mo Farah - The only British Olympian of 2012 to have won two individual gold medals and the first Brit ever to win Olympic Gold in the 5k or 10k. Furthermore he got the entire planet doing the Mobot, including Usain Bolt, this man is truly something and will almost definitely win something on the night.

Katherine Grainger - And now for a change of mood: don't get me wrong, it was incredible to see her finally win Olympic gold after three consecutive silvers, but this year she won a single gold, as a member of a team: Yet Anna Watkins nor 3 double gold medallists are nowhere to be found on the list. I think her chances of an award are low, she is very unknown to non-Olympic fanatics and her achievements are mediocre in comparison to many others.

Sir Chris Hoy - Britain's Greatest Olympian of All Time. Enough Said.

Sarah Storey - It is so great to see Paralympians on the shortlist this year, not only is she one of this Nation's best Paralympians, she is also one of the nations best cyclists: her ability matches that of our Olympians and very nearly got her onto the Olympic squad. Let's not look at all of the 'What ifs' though, she won 4 Paralympic Golds.

David Weir -  Briefly the first suggested 'David' on Google search, but still proud owner of 4 London 2012 Paralympic Gold Medals. Many were amazed to see what this man could do, more were speechless about his incredible ability to keep going for more.

Rory McIlroy - From the heights of human endeavour to the lows of laziness in sport. In the year 2012 this man won a single competition worth winning, instead of training to the degree he should he is more interested in partying with his girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki (another overrated sportsperson). Furthermore, should the BBC give an award to a man who is threatening to compete for Ireland in Rio 2016?

Ellie Simmonds - The teenage swimming superstar won 4 Paralympic medals this year; 2 of them gold. Her attitude to competition was incredible this year; while the media was moaning about Victoria Arlen's classification she celebrated the competition she recieved from racing the American of a similar age to her. She definitely has the Personality for this award, as well as sporting achievement to back it up.

Andy Murray - Every year I moan that this man has reahed the shortlist yet again, but not this year; he won Olympic Gold, Olympic Silver, the US Open and reached the final of Wimbledon (and gave Federer a run for his money). He is definitely one of my sporting heroes of 2012 and has definitely changed a few minds.

Bradley Wiggins - Finally, to round off the 12 for 2012 is Britain's first ever winner of the Tour de France, and one of the most decorated British Olympians there are. To say this man is incredible is an understatement. He is definitely a contender for the trophy but most of the people shortlisted are.

Overall I agree with the list; although it seems to be lacking Charlotte Dujardin, Jason Kenny and Laura Trott, each of whom won 2 gold medals in London. I strongly disagree with the inclusion of Rory McIlroy for his mediocre year in comparison with the incredible year some of our Olympians and Paralympians have had.

To go higher, We must start lower

29 Gold medals, 17 Silvers and 19 bronzes; 3rd in the world isn't bad for a small island nation just across the channel from Europe. It was quite a result for Team GB however after overcoming the short term challenge the British Olympic Association (BOA) now has to cement itself as a force to be reckoned with in international sport.

Now we could spend UK Sport's funding on coaching and athlete's funding however, in my opinion instead of blowing all of the money on the top athletes of today, we should spend a considerable amount on the athletes of the future.

From the 13th of August onwards sports clubs were overflowing with enthusiastic youngsters eager to emulate their new found heroes, sadly these clubs didn't have enough coaching staff to nurture the talent before them, sadly this meant some of the children had to be turned away. Whether there was a potential Olympic Champion among them in unknown, but no child should be refused the right to take part in sport.

In a nation of high unemployment it would not be hard to find volunteers to coach, especially after the hundreds of thousands of people willing to volunteer for the London Olympics and upcoming Glasgow Commonwealth games.

The curriculum of Physical Education in Britain should be reviewed, in my experience, months are spent on sports such as Rugby, Netball and Cricket which have little importance internationally while very few lessons are spent on athletics in preparation for a school sports day.

While the British use of sport in education is one of the many factors that inspired Pierre de Coubertin to start the modern Olympics, PE teachers have been known to replace some of the lessons of the week with theory lessons, stopping children achieving the legal requirement of two hours of exercise a week in school. This prevents some children from achieving their 5 hours a week in total.

Children's talents often go unnoticed until it is too late to nurture the talent, unlike in the USA due to most High schools possessing their own artificial tracks, which not only allows young talent to be scouted but allows for good training conditions all year round.

So in conclusion, to ensure British Olympic success for years to come as much emphasis needs to be placed on youth sport as is placed on professional sport.

Finally looking ahead to the future

Well, it's November, I can't quite believe how quickly this year has gone; it feels like just yesterday I was jumping up and down eagerly awaiting the start of London 2012.

It may have taken a while after the closing of the Paralympics but I finally feel like I can look ahead to the future of Olympic Sport. Just this weekend we witnessed the excitement of Track Cycling World Cup from Glasgow and still have the third installment of the World Cup in Mexico to look forward to in January.

The sporting calendar of 2013 will include the European Indoor Athletics Championships as well as the World Championships from the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow where Jessica Ennis will hopefully retain her World title from Tatyana Chernova . Other World Championships include the FINA Swimming World Championships.

We can also look forward to an exciting season of high octane Winter Sports, just a year out from Sochi; let's not forget that the Team GB Men's Ice Hockey Squad is only one game away from the Olympics.

I am also looking forward to the revealing of the 2020 Olympic Host where one of Istanbul, Tokyo or Madrid will be selected as the successor of Rio 2016. Another city will be chosen as the host of the third Summer Youth Olympics.

And so: I don't have to rely entirely on Youtube videos to get my fix of Olympic sport, with an exciting year ahead, the sporting summer of 2012 will not be the last.