Sutcliffe says negative coverage of Vancouver 2010 isn't helping

London 2012 Other Sports Post a comment

Posted: Monday 22nd February 2010 | 23:34

MINISTER for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe believes the negative coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver by the British media is not helpful, with London 2012 on the horizon.

FORWARD PLANNING: Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe believes the negative coverage of Vancouver 2010 in the British media is not helping (Getty Images)

Vancouver 2010 organisers came in for a barrage of criticism during the first week of the Games for a number of problems, and it is the British press, mindful of the fact that London is the next port of call for the Olympic torch, who have been most acerbic.

The death of Georgian luge slider Nodar Kumaritashvili, too little and then too much snow, an unsightly chain fence encompassing the Olympic cauldron and the cancellation of some 20,000 tickets for events at Cypress Mountain are all examples of blots on Vanoc's copybook.

Some members of the British press have even labelled the Games the worst in Olympic history but London 2012 organisers have been keen to diffuse the issue with Lord Sebastian Coe springing to Vanoc's defence.

And Sutcliffe has followed suit.

"The sports media in Britain is obviously very important and everyone has a right to voice their opinion," said Sutcliffe, speaking at the Sports Journalists' Association's Sporting Question Time in London.

"But we need to take experience from Vancouver, not spend the whole two weeks criticising it.

"I've never been let down by a sports journalist personally but I can understand why the Canadians aren't happy with the British press at the moment."

Meanwhile Conservative Shadow Olympics minister Hugh Robertson also considers the criticism to be uncalled for, blaming it on a lack of British success in the early stages of the Games.

And he also had a word of advice for Locog with regards to how the scheduling of London 2012 could avoid negative coverage in the British press.

"I spent two days in Vancouver last week and the reason I think there has been so much bad press over here is because there has been nothing else to write about," he added.

"As soon as we won a medal everyone had plenty to say about that and we could concentrate on British success rather than the Vancouver organisers' failure.

"What happened to the Georgian luger was tragic but couldn't have been foreseen and neither could the bad weather.

"A lesson for 2012 will be to schedule an event on day one which we will definitely win gold in and then we can talk about that all week. We should put [cyclists] Chris Hoy or Victoria Pendleton up straight away!"

Comments

It is quite sad at how

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/02/2010 - 17:44.

It is quite sad at how low-brow the British media has been towards Canada. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of Canadians aren't too fond of the UK right now.

The comparison between Beijing's Summer Olympics and Vancouver's Winter Olympics is pathetic...please..so you expect a 10x less popular event in a democratic country, during a large recession, in a country that is 1/50th of China's population to be as grand?

"Own the Podium" was constantly made fun of, yet London is spending more than double what Canada spent for their own "Own the Podium"...its the exact same funding system, but they hid its name as to not draw as much attention..sorry we have more transparent walls..I am sure more hidden approaches would have allowed us to enjoy the great economic problems the UK faces now.

Its funny how the UK sent more reporters than athletes, then come and criticize Canada constantly, but as soon as Canada tries to respond, they run into a defensive position calling us thin-skinned. If the Winter Olympics don't matter to you, then please flights are available to London everyday..grab one and leave us be, there are enough other people enjoying the events for us to have to deal with your negative nagging.

Don't worry though, Canada won't be as negative in the London 2012 games, because unlike you, we actually know how to enjoy an event that is meant to be enjoyed and fun.

The British Press has done

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 23:32.

The British Press has done nothing but alienate Canadians who once felt a kinship to England. As a Canadian who has attended different Olympic events, I too share the "Screw the Brits" sentiment unfortunately and have enjoyed the entire Olympic experience. I don't know what dismal hole the British Press have been hold up in but it must be pretty bad to elicit such negative responses.
It is also a shame for the British Athletes who have historically enjoyed support from Canadians in general. At every event that I have attended the crowd appears to be supporting American Athletes at a greater level and offering half hearted polite applause for the Brits. A real shame.
The encouraging thing however is that we Canadians as a whole are laughing at the British press and getting on with enjoying ourselves dispite the continued slagging (roll eyes).
The Brits will not have to worry about getting panned by the Canadian Press during the 2012 Summer Olympics as we all understand that Summer Olympics are much easier to organize (yes I have now adopted the American spelling)than Winter Olympics.
Good luck however and by the way...where were those W.M.D.'s. Another good call by Britain!