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I agree generally, but not entirely with John Beattie. Politicians make decisions that affect sport. The introduction of The National Lottery by John Major's government and the related increase in sports funding has made a significant difference. Just look at the the medal tables for the last few Olympics and for those prior to lottery funding. I'm not in any way demeaning the effort or sacrifice of our athletes, but the extra funding has allowed many of them to train full time and has, albeit slowly, improved facilities

True in the fact that the money comes from us John but the way that money is distributed is down to the politicians. Governments invoke the policies and then put the funds forward. As the comment above states just look at the benefit that's been felt from lottery funding.
Unfortunately what I am dreading is any particular athlete's achievements or sports in general being used by politicians to push forward their own agenda and point scoring which unfortunately I can see as inevitable in 2014 and the SNP.
I'd much prefer the politicians to work on getting sports (all not just football or rugby) back into the schools and readily available for anyone that wants to get involved in them. Rather than try and use the top results as a means of political point scoring or manoeuvring

Alex Salmond must be loving the Olympics, its the best advert for Scottish Nationalism ever, and sends a strong message to the greedy corporate sponsors, who only thrive on profit and capitalism.

John,

normally love your posts but this one is quite simply naive at best. Anyone who thinks that Politicians and Politics do not influence on Olympic success either simply doesn't understand how the business of sport is run or has been living on a different planet for the last 60 years. Countries such as the old East Germany or China used sport as a way of showing their power for many years but the most interesting example (and a warning to the UK for the future comes from Australia). The government pumped millions in to making sure that not only the country was ready for the Sydney olympics but also their athletes as well and it is no coincedence that they came 3rd on the medal table at their home event. From 2001 the central investment in sport decreased and across the last 12 years the performances have mirrored the effect...to the extent that now their Tasman neighbours are poking fun at them on an hourly basis. Let the politicians (and the rest of the country) bask in the glory of a team performing well and use it as a force for positive change ...the truth is that the more people that support our success, the more that will be willing to invest in it for the future and make sure that we don't follow the Australian's short sighted approach.

# 2 "………………..I can see as inevitable in 2014 and the SNP."

And wall to wall coverage by bbc of the olympics and jubilee has not been done with the explicit intent of influencing Scots towards maintaining union?
Do you not find it strange that the bbc and other uk media bend over backwards to proclaim Andy Murray or Chris Hoy as british.

Would I be correct in assuming that you find it acceptable for leading Scottish athletes and any other successful Scots to be branded as british, yet you find it unacceptable and distasteful for the same people to be recognised solely as Scottish?

The debacle caused by the uk Olympic authorities of the gb football team is a good example of the contempt uk authorities have for Scottish sport. This contempt is further evidenced by the on air comments of bbc Olympic commentators when referring to the SFA declining to join a gb team. These comments are uttered crassly without the opportunity to reply.

For a nation of our size, Scotland will never conquer the sporting world. However, when Scotland does produce a successful world class talent, can we not be allowed to celebrate that talent for being Scottish rather than have our celebrations diluted by our larger neighbour wishing to use that success as a political lever for their own ends?

P.S. bbc is not a benign or impartial broadcaster, it is a state broadcaster!

C McK

COMPLETELY AGREE WITH YOU JOHN!

John - no argument intended but I thought Chris Hoy lived in Edinburgh and Kathleen Grainger lived in Stirling. If all our medal winners live out of Scotland that raises other questions that need to be answered. I notice that many Westminster politicians want to be associated with GB successes regardless of where the competitor is from! That's OK - isn't it this is supposed to be inclusive - or am I wrong as many of the media commentators don't seem to know either!

#5 - Yes quite, the sole purpose of the coverage of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ of the jubilee & Olympics is to influence 5 million to be in favor of the union. I think the 'explicit' focus of it is to firmly enjoy the fact that collectively we are doing incredibly well for a nation of the size of the UK.

Why would I feel it acceptable or otherwise for Athletes such as Chris Hoy to be referred to as British or Scottish? As they are both it's not really branding them one way or the other. They may be born in Scotland but where do these athletes live and train for example? The Olympics has been a team effort athletes from Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland & England all pulling together.

The point I am making about the SNP pull for their own agenda is quite frankly the fact that they will have had nothing to do with the outcome of those games in 2014. The training and investment was not made by them. However, they're not alone in this I will be fully expecting the Conservatives to use the smokescreen as well to cover many other issues in the near future.

Do not misconstrue me though, there is nothing wrong in being proud of Scottish athletes, but to consider that only we have the right to do so is incredibly myopic. Everyone in the UK can feel proud of the achievements of Murray, Hoy, and all the others just as much as we in Scotland can feel proud of the achievements of the others such as Ennis, Rutherford, Farah and all the others.

The football team issue is a farce though but more for the fact that it's in as an Olympic sport. Not one of those players taking part in it would view an Olympic gold as the pinnacle of their career and would trade one in a heartbeat for a Champions League, Euro or WC winners medal.

Not sole intent, but the wall to wall coverage and the jingoistic nature of the coverage are unsightly to say the least. I find the comments of bbc personnel towards Australia and France particularly obtuse. Scotland has never had a malevolent sporting rivalry with these countries, but subsumed into the uk, one suddenly appears.

So athletes who train or live in US who are not US citizens should become US citizens, by your rationale? I would encourage athletes of any nation who could make a contribution to Scottish life to train and live in Scotland, yet represent their home nation.

I don’t believe the SNP can take credit for the outcome of the games in 2014, but they can take credit for raising pride and consciousness of our nation. Putting Scotland first is central to the SNP agenda, whereas the unionist agenda is London and UK first with Scotland playing second fiddle.

Is it myopic or parochial to want to see your own country compete at an olympics? This to me seems the same level of argument deployed by the daily mail, et al when they object to the Scottish Government legislating that Scottish history should be taught in Scotland.

We agree that the gb football issue is a farce, but for different reasons.

Politics and sport are inseparable, I hope the SNP exact the political benefit from 2014 that unionist’s anticipate will benefit them in 2012.

C McK

@11 John - never meant to infer that there was any agenda one way or otherwise

@10 C McK - Hard to fault a bias toward the British team from an organisation called the British Broadcasting Corporation aimed in the majority toward British citizens. Given the source and the target audience think it can justly accounted for.

Can't really say anything in response to the comments you refer to without knowing what exactly they are but the only ones I know of were in response to initial comments regarding GB teams/athletes in the rowing and cycling. Yet if you remove the Team GB elements, they've also referenced the comments made between the US and Chinese in the swimming as well.

John Beattie - do athletes from any other part of Britain train in Scotland - if so what is your point?

"And direct funding of sport by government in Scotland is one tenth of the money pumped into sport by local authorities." You feel happy to criticise the Scottish Government, with 1/10 of the income of the UK and no control over massive Olympic spending including training facilities, none, incidentally, if I'm right, created in Scotland but 1/10 paid for with Scottish taxes. In a Guardian article, the Olympics are in fact seen as a triumph for regionalism (however you interpret that - there it mentioned the rising profile of Yorkshire). As another commentator said, the SNP government's contribution in raising Scotland's profile and morale is a good step on the way to boosting achievement across the board. Sadly too many Scots, like some of the commentators here, still insist on seeing the bottle half empty when it comes to Scotland when they could so easily see it half full. Now if you're an SNP supporter, you may even have a vision of 2 bottles, both pretty healthily full and no need to squabble about who gets the credit!

5.McKay "when Scotland does produce a successful world class talent" "bending over backwards to claim they are British" "debacle caused by the uk (sic) Olympics over the SFA / GB football issue". =====================================================My my, you are a nasty little Nat aren't you?! Your skewed brand of Scotland and the UK is, unfortunately for you, a minority one where all you and the SNP offer is division, paranoia, victimhood and the blame culture. Guess what, AM & CH are British and Scottish, competing for Team GB and doing so with pride. The SFA did SFA to participate in the GB team despite assurances by football's governing bodies.

I look forward to 2014 where the majority of Scots will put this divisive separatist referendum on the rocks and to hear no more of the moaning whining tales of woe and victimhood.