Love an Olympic toff

[frankthring]

I see that Lord Moynihan is criticising the number of sportsmen and sports-
women in the Olympic Team GB who were educated at public schools. As
if this makes them somehow inferior or evil in comparison to those who went
to State schools !
Does it really matter ? They are all striving to show Olympian skills and win
a medal for GB. Bloody good luck to all, I say !!
In the days when GB really meant something the Empire was run by public
schoolboys. Nehru once said that the 1000 ex-public school men who ran the
Indian Civil Service were "the cream of the crop, absolutely incorruptible".
Look at the mess we are in today when the plebs are left to run Britain or
fill our Parliament.
Moynihan, actually 4th Baron Moynihan, has all that pathetic in-bred hatred
and embarrassmentof his own class, is very wealthy...and went to a public
school.

[Peter]

That's the shortarse who was lovingly referred to as the 'miniature for sport' who ran onto the pitch after we won hockey gold, after calling for people who run on the pitch at football to be jailed, isn't it?

It's pretty easy to see why the three day eventing team isn't made up of sink estate kids.

[Lizard]

Here's the sink estate Olympic rowing team, going for diamond white..

[David Johnson]

50% of the British medals at Beijing were won by public school educated people. Only 7% of the population attends public school.

Maybe it is just because rich kids are brighter and have bigger muscles I guess?

[bernard72]

Yes but when will we win gold for saving a brick from the bottom of a pool while wearing pyjamas.
Why is this not an olympic sport.

[planeterotica]

David Johnson wrote:

> Maybe it is just because rich kids are brighter and have bigger
> muscles I guess?

planeterotica wrote:

They feed better and steer clear of McDonalds junk food even though they are one of the bigger sponsors of the olympics, it's always been that way..

[Arginald Valleywater]

Keep politics out of sport.....

[frankthring]

For once I agree with Arginald - a rare thing - and must say "Keep politics
out of sport".
Best of luck to all our Olympic Team !

[David Johnson]

"Keep politics out of sport"

Sorry lads, but that bus has passed you by without either of you noticing.

Why do you think the British medal total at Beijing in 2008 was higher than at any time in the previous century and three times what it was in 1996 at Atlanta?

Money.

The National Lottery started in the UK in the mid 90's and since then there has been huge funding for every aspect of elite sport in the UK.

The decision to spend that amount of money and put in the infrastructure to channel it effectively is a purely political one. And every four years you see the differing political systems in CHina and the US fight it out to be top dog in the "Olympic war" and spend large amounts of money on that war.

So politics is in sport and has been for quite some time. Have a look at the Hitler Olympics!

Secondly the reasons why public school kids dominate is:

1. Partly nutritional. Much healthier diet. It costs quite a bit of extra dosh to eat healthily instead of scoffing crap.
2. Much greater opportunities in public schools to do a full range of sports with far better facilities.
3. Selling off of school fields over the last 20 years or so.
4. Cutbacks affecting the school infrastructure for sports.
5. Big council cutbacks leading to the closing of many swimming pools and leisure centres throughout the country.

3, 4, 5 result from political decisions. 1. and 2 result from increasing inequalities between rich and poor which various political parties have done little to narrow those gaps.