In October of this year, I was invited by BT, the main partners & sponsors of London 2012, to the British Olympic Ball. Here's a short video, which captures part of the build-up to next year's Olympic Games.
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'AND THERE YOU WERE, RIGHT BEHIND ME'
(My award-winning piece was written for the BT Storytellers campaign) A montage of the mentalities of Olympic teams: Awful, awful pain. But there you are, and you take it and are away with it, away into the distance, until I can barely see you anymore. I’m falling to my knees, the huge, luminous screen above, watching your small figure run the bend, and you’ve taken it on and you run on and you’re the last of the four of us. Run on, run! Result: Slowly I began to recover and I ran across and around the track, searching for my team. There was a scream of delight from behind me, which I could just make out amongst the noise of the crowd. And there you were, right behind me. --- Damp face, high up high. Compose ourselves. Pause. Breathe. Step on step until the tempting edge meets us. Wait, you must wait. Everyone’s fallen silent-this is it. ‘You ready?’ ‘Yep.’ How could one say no? And the short and alarming countdown begins. Then, UP! Pike, in line, snap and out. Submerged. Silence; it’s deafening. We glance across at each other under water. ‘Did we nail it?’ Result: As my ears adjusted to the air and I exhaled a deep breath, the audience was cheering and I could see my family waving with delight in the stands. And I was looking at the scoreboard and there it was in black and white. But then I wanted you by my side as well. I began looking for you. And there you were, right behind me. --- Keep sweeping, they’re coming back at us. Keep sweeping. My body burns, it burns! It’s like pulling through treacle, I’ve nothing left to give, but we’ve only metres to go and they’re pulling behind me and one of us shouts, ‘Come on!’ And I pull, one more, another and just one more. And you’re behind me and you’re pulling with me. And you’re in front of me and you’re pulling with me, but they’re coming back at us. ‘Pull!!’ Result: I dropped my oars and collapsed backwards in utter exhaustion. I dared to open my eyes and I saw the sky above me before seeing my fellow oarsman in front with his hands aloft. But I couldn’t see the rest of the team. I wanted to see their faces too, so I turned. And there you were, right behind me. --- Swing out, my turn to take it on. Push it. Swing in, pace it. Push on. A quick glance across and they’re on to us. Watch the wheel...wait, they’re in and push it! One more circuit. Have we paced it? They’re pushing us on from the middle. We need to up it. Are the other two still with us? Keep together, keep on. The line, we can see the line and I can see the other coloured vests across from us, they’re level. ‘PUSH IT!’ Result: And I stopped pedalling and my lungs wanted to burst. I let go of the handlebars and turned around to look for my fellow cyclists. And there you were, right behind me. --- ‘And I saw the torch and followed it. On into the night, it burned, day after night and we watched, you and I, me and them. You’re behind me, I know. I just need to believe that this is possible; that we can do this. Us, together, as one.’ |
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