NewsBiscuit

With British athletes doing better at the Olympics than in the last 100 years the British press has begun its traditional campaign of asking ‘where did we go wrong?’ An article planned to appear exclusively in next Monday’s edition of the Sun, the Mail and the Express is expected to conclude that athletes are being given far too much help when a large proportion of the public is suffering, and that the cost of Olympic Gold for each hard-working, law-abiding taxpayer in the country has rocketed over the last four years and has become an embarrassment for the government.

But it’s not just the tabloids who will be weighing in. The Guardian will be leading some time soon with an editorial on the cost of British athletic fortune which it will probably say has been a wonderful spectacle, but will, even so, liken it to a good night out for which the British taxpayer has been asked to pay a little too much, and the Independent will rail firmly against the exploitation of child labour which went into physically producing all those medals in the first place.

The Telegraph is expecting to be more circumspect in its coverage and will carry a short story on the inside pages claiming that the lottery-funded success in Beijing is a direct result of Tory policies under the administration of John Major, but will equally insist that it’s not the winning that’s important, but the taking part, and that anyone who wins deserves it as long as they’re handsome, pretty or ‘of good stock’.

However, with an eye to a possible Tory government in place before the London games of 2012, the Telegraph will insist that awards for funding in future must depend on the outcome of negotiations with athletes aimed at increasing productivity and extending the hours of their average training week.

The Star is thought to be considering running the story, but will probably just show a huge pair of tits instead.

NewsBiscuit

Posted: Aug 20th, 2008 by robd