dear olympic and paralympic athletes…

Just wanted to drop you a quick note to thank for all your efforts over the past six weeks or so (or a lifetime in many of your cases!) which provided us/the nation/the world with such wonderful, uplifting moments of a magical summer of sporting brilliance, endeavour and, in the words of my lovely mate Tony, “a humbling celebration of the human spirit”.

Yes, somewhat predictably, I cried on a number of occasions – sometimes in pure emotion at the end of a race/action; sometimes at the sheer “guts” of a performance; sometimes at the powerful, eloquent articulation by an individual athlete in a post-race interview; sometimes at something that just made me smile or laugh out loud…
I was particularly impressed by the Paralympics and truly believe that it has done much to change people’s attitudes (including mine) towards disability in general… and I just hope that it might make politicians wake up to the rights of disabled people and to the hugely-detrimental effects that welfare cuts are having/likely to have on the lives of SO many individuals and families.
Let us all hope that the Games are indeed a catalyst for positive change – they’ve certainly been inspirational.
Clearly (and you just knew this was going to be the case when you saw the number of people turning out to watch the Olympic Torch), the British public were completely captivated by the Games (despite the initial skepticism/cynicism from some people and some sections of the media), and by your achievements, and their support became a powerful endorsement of both the spirit and pride of the nation and the unique ability that sport has to unify and to empower.
Thank you… very, VERY much.
love+hugs
Steve
PS: Oh, and yes, dear BBC+Channel4… thank you so much for your brilliant television coverage (especially the BBC)(shame about all those adverts Channel4!)… and it would be very good if you could arrange for Clare Balding to become Prime Minister, please. Thank you.