As the Olympic torch arrives in the Chester next Monday on the first North West leg of its pre-games tour, I ask myself what it is about the Olympics that excites me so much. As long ago as 1964, my mother woke me excitedly to make me watch footage on a grainy black and white tv of the then golden girls of UK athletics Ann Packer and Mary Rand winning Tokyo Olympic gold at 800m and Long Jump respectively, both breaking the world record in so doing. Who, of my age, can forget David Hemery in Mexico in 1968 breaking the world record at 400m hurdles to win gold for Britain? Who could forget David Coleman’s spine tingling commentary? I recall him shouting “David Hemery for Great Britain” all the way down the back straight, finishing with the triumphant “David Hemery wins for Britain– who cares who came third?”
Over the years I’ve been enthralled by this fantastic pinnacle of human athletic achievement. Heroes fromBritain, but from so many countries around the globe as well. As a 400m runner myself, I will always remember Michael Johnson’s double 200m and 400m gold medals in 1996 in Atlanta, but so many others are etched into my memory it almost seems unfair to name any individuals. I love the opening ceremony and the pageantry but I especially love the closing ceremony with its informality and plain horsing around of many teams. I love to see people being so genuinely proud of representing their nation that it brings them to tears. I will never forget the sight of Garry Herbert crying with the emotion of winning a rowing gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 (made all the more iconic by the fact that he was on the podium with and towered over by the Searle Brothers for whom he coxed in the race).
Well, it’s all finally coming back to my own country. This will be one of the most exciting summers the nation has ever witnessed. We must not forget that the Olympics coincide with our celebrations of the 60 years that Her Majesty the Queen has been on the throne. My wife and I bought our tickets last year to go to the Epsom Derby on June 2nd at which Her Majesty will kick off the festivities for the Diamond Jubilee and we will then stay inLondon the next day for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. We enter the public ballot for tickets at Wimbledon every year but without much success but this year we had a marvellous surprise when we managed to get two tickets for the Centre Court on Men’s Singles Semi Finals day. I wish I could tell you we had been as successful obtaining tickets for the Olympics but you can’t win them all. The summer ahead is simply going to be amazing.
What has this got to do with business, you say. Well, first the world’s focus will be on the UK and we have an incredible opportunity to show them what the country is all about, to showcase our amazing companies supplying fantastic world leading products and services. To help in this we will be hosting a series of very special events at the Media City campus of Salford University during the games to highlight what our life sciences and infrastructure companies are up to as well as Olympic themed events looking at opportunities in UAE, Brazil and China. UAE and Brazil football teams will be playing their early matches at Old Trafford just across the road. The biggest reason I want to talk about this though is the Olympian effort the North West is making in its efforts to help businesses export for the first time. I have set a suitably Olympian challenge to the region to find 1000 new exporters and the signs are that the campaign is being very successful indeed.
With the arrival of the Olympics on our own soil and taking inspiration from the famous figures of the past and those that will be gracing us with their presence this summer, I truly believe that we will be breaking through the 1000 tape before the end of the year and bringing home gold for the North West.