Olympics: a true legacy would be sport for all | Observer editorial

After the Olympics, it is important to focus on financing and understand how to encourage greater participation

Last week, the

New York Times

columnist Roger Cohen Twitter

the Olympics became Britain of "penumbra a smile" in the blink of an eye.

source of pride was running (almost) flawless Olympic competitions. The capital has not stopped. Instead, the Games were a city more beautiful and more welcoming, light - even for those who live there -. Under the gaze of visitors, both competitors and fans

A second cause for celebration was a huge success and multifaceted the British team, which has produced many inspiring stories and competitive.

approach was not full and incremental cycling Dave Brailsford and the irresistible rise of elite athletes, stories of dedication, large and small, to overcome adversity and defeat sportingly accepted and charm. Games have told us something about who we are as a nation - with the triumph of athletes, Mo Farah, who came to the UK as a child in Somalia, a reproach to those who have studied closely to define the British ideas of what should be.

But a bitter taste has been implemented in recent days pushing politicians who tried to make political capital out of the Games, packaging both its success and the prospect of future realization .

The question of how British sport should be based on the Olympic Games last week caused an unseemly competition between David Cameron - who even donned a tracksuit top Team GB in a moment - and Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, on the amount of mandatory physical education children should be required to make a detailed discussion of hoaxes and frauds.

For

yesterday, Cameron "political" has been installed in a wave, unbudgeted idea that all children in primary schools should be required to participate in competitive team sports, an idea that outside the box in which the wish that, in 16 years of military service.

The reality is that Cameron and Johnson expressed the desire to continue a legacy of sporting excellence through a "cultural shift toward greater competition" in schools is contrary to policies his party on sport at school, but not least, scrapping targets for the number of children who play sports in schools.

as recently pointed out, the biggest decline in school sport participation was under the last Conservative prime minister John Major, the same man who has been hailed by the National Lottery funds channeled for elite sports to ensure that flourished in London in 2012.

• It is interesting to note that when the ruling coalition, 90% of children were two hours of sport per week, at least, this document has been campaigning for. Under the current government, however, funding for the organization of school sport in school sport partnerships is being cut from £ 162m to just £ 9 million next year.
If some of the numbers that have circulated throughout the year in the last few days have been false, then the terms of the debate - at least among the political classes - were much more edifying. For the British success in the medals table should be applauded by those who have worked so hard, it ignores the fact that, while their achievements are a source of inspiration, they often have little to do with why the vast majority participate in sports or active leisure.

In fact, for many people, especially girls and young women, there is strong evidence that, far from encouraging continued participation in sport, competitive sport compulsory school can often be deeply alienating . All this leads to a deeper question - how can we see the wider contribution of sport in our society, in a country where one in four adults is considered obese, and almost one-fifth of the population reporting physical activity insignificant

And while nearly 7 million Britons who exercise three times a week, according to data collected by Sport England - an increase of more than 600,000 in 2005/6 - the organization also noted a worrying decline in participation of 16 - to 19 years, many say they could not afford to take part in the current economic climate

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