One of the supposed objectives of the 2012 Olympics is to stimulate greater participation by the general public in sport. However, another even more pressing concern is the final medal table and Britain’s place in it. The National Audit Office recently got in on the act and produced a report (see attachment) on Britain’s strategy for increasing its medal tally at the Olympic Games.

Sportsmen and women may not be renowned for being politically outspoken. The most notorious example of pressure being applied to British sportsmen was in 1938 when the English football team was ordered by the FA and the Foreign Office to give the Nazi salute before a friendly match in Germany.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) awarded England the 19th World Championships and the event will come to the capital just a year before the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The bid has received strong financial backing from UK Sport’s World Class Events Programme and has also been supported by the Sports Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe MP, The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone and London 2012 Chairman Lord Coe.

NewteredPhoto from Londoncyclesport.com

Not since a group of anarchists first started holding meetings has there been such a crisis of faith for a community. Recently, the men in suits of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) proposed turning skateboarding into an Olympic sport for the London Olympics of 2012.

“The Olympics will promote sport and healthy living in the capital,” it says the website of Waltham Forest borough council. “We can now look forward to seeing the area regenerate with the best sporting, leisure and cultural facilities the world has ever seen."

A talented young swimmer with dreams of winning gold at the 2012 Olympics died after pushing himself too hard in training.

Luke Jeffrey, 15, drowned after secretly getting back in the pool following his coaching session, an inquest heard. The county-standard swimmer, who was said to be pushing himself to the "absolute limit" to make it to the London Games, is believed to have blacked out while practising underwater lengths.

A material difference may be observed in the games of antiquity: the most eminent of the Greeks were actors, the Romans were merely spectators.

The Olympic stadium was open to wealth, merit, and ambition; and if the candidates could depend on their personal skill and activity, they might pursue the footsteps of Diomede and Menelaus, and conduct their own horses in the rapid career.

In late November, the leader of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suggested to Britain's House of Commons that legislation should be passed prior to the 2012 Olympic Games that will make doping a punishable crime.

The English may be obsessed with sport - but for half of the population that does not go beyond picking up the remote control.

A study of nearly 364,000 people in every corner of the country, commissioned by Sport England, reveals half of the population are doing no exercise at all.