Where is our gold? With the national anthem yet to be played at a medal ceremony, Robert Hardman asks whether home advantage is actually a disadvantage

August 1st, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

By
Robert Hardman

PUBLISHED:

18:45 EST, 31 July 2012

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UPDATED:

19:48 EST, 31 July 2012

Just when Britain’s day couldn’t get much worse, a monsoon arrived moments before the playing of the French national anthem.

And having politely applauded the sight of the French tricolour rising above the frothing waters of the Lee Valley White Water Centre, another long-suffering British crowd squelched home asking a one-word question which grows ever louder: When . . .?

There has, of course, been much to cheer across these Games in recent days – cyclist Lizzie Armitstead, the men’s gymnastic team, the equestrian eventers and sweet Rebecca Adlington.

Great Britain’s world number 1 David Florence (left) strikes the gate which cost him two seconds and a place in the men’s Canoe Single final at the Lee Valley White Water Centre much to the agony of his supporters (right)

Great Britain’s Jennifer Pinches falls from the beam as the British women’s gymnastic team finishes sixth in the North Greenwich Arena yesterday, a day after their male team-mates won an historic bronze medal

But after all the hoopla and hype over the past seven years, after almost £10billion spent – not to mention all that torch relaying and Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony – one can hardly fault the British public for expecting at least one burst of the national anthem by now.

By last night, a niggling thought was starting to take root: might home advantage actually be home disadvantage?

Might the added burden of expectation and a partisan crowd shrieking its support act as a distraction? Who knows? All that can be said with any certainty is that London beat Paris to stage these Games.

And now Britain has no gold medals where France already has four – and an overall total of 11 to our four.

Wise old Olympic hands will point out that such comparisons are meaningless, that a home crowd is always an asset and that we should stop being impatient and bide our time.

British judo girl Gemma Howell is left in tears after being disqualified for an illegal leg wrap in her bout with France’s Gevrise Emane

Great Britain’s judo hopeful Euan Burton reacts after losing to Canada’s Antonie Valois-Fortier in the Men 81kg at the ExCel Arena, London

But since when did logic play a part in our national expectations?

I came to Lee Valley yesterday expecting great things in the final of the men’s single canoe slalom.

The Olympics always fosters an
entertaining debate between the ‘sitting down’ sports, at which Britain
is supposed to excel, and the ‘standing up’ sports. Canoeing stands
apart as a ‘kneeling down’ sport.

This is one of those sports which is
precisely what the Olympics should be about – a noble discipline which
rises from happy obscurity once every four years to take its place in
the spotlight.

If it were a politician, it might be a
Lib Dem deputy fisheries spokesman for most of the time. But, come the
Olympics, it is right up there at the top table.

Similarly, David Florence is not a
household name and is seldom stopped when he goes out shopping. But in
the world of paddling, ‘D-Flo’ is a colossus.

British cyclist Mark Cavendish (left) was widely tipped to pick up team GB’s first gold of the Games, but fell short in the road race on Saturday, a result summed up by the expression of his partner Peta Todd (right)

Yesterday morning, the 29-year-old Aberdeen-born engineer was ranked the world No 1.

Ahead of him lay the formality of a
semi-final to enter the last eight. It would then be a simple race
against the clock in the foaming waters of this impressive new
£31million artificial river just off the M25.

And
it is a hell of a course. Last year, I went down it in a white-water
raft and fell out. I haven’t washed a spider down a plughole since.

Britain’s
paddling community had turned out in force to support. Noisy
contingents from France and Slovakia added to the carnival atmosphere.

No
sooner had Pyreneean paddling legend Tony Estanguet set off down the
course than the whole place sounded like the Paris rush hour thanks to
the presence of countless ghastly vuvuzelas, the plastic bugle which
gained notoriety during football’s 2010 World Cup.

Next
up was David Florence. The noise switched to the mellifluous,
old-fashioned cheering of a home crowd. And for the first third of the
course, he was absolutely belting along.

But then he appeared to falter. Britain’s great hope suddenly found himself sitting in sixth place and then sliding down the order as subsequent canoeists clocked up better times.

Only the top eight could progress to the final. By the end, Florence was tenth. All that remained was to face the media as he was asked if the pressure of the home crowd had been a factor.

He replied: ‘I don’t think there was any detrimental effect.’ Breaking in to a smile, he added: ‘The crowd have been absolutely fantastic.’

Florence has another chance tomorrow when he returns in the two-man event. His fans will be back, too.

I met a few of them afterwards, who all agreed that home advantage was a mixed blessing and brought a huge amount of pressure.

In the end, the gold medal went to Estanguet – his third gold in four Olympiads.

Later,
in the VIP section, I found France’s minister of sport, Valerie
Fourneyron, and asked her if she thought that France would have won as
many medals if this Olympics had been staged in Paris, rather than
London.

She laughed. ‘We can’t rewrite history,’ she said. ‘But we are very, very happy.’ I’ll bet they are.