The real Olympic Legacy

Depressed that the Olympics are over? Don't be - it doesn't end for our athletes, nor does it have to for you

There's about 61 million people suffering from acute sports withdrawal symptoms - but sporting events happen all year round.

The last fortnight has shown how truly Great our British athletes are. A plethora of gold, silver and bronze-winning antics has seen 65 medals, 29 of which are gold, across sports as diverse as dressage, heptathlon, rowing, sailing, boxing and long-distance running. So much so in fact, that once our collective jaw stopped dropping each time Team GB achieved a  gold, the whole country was bathed in a happy, exuberant pride, and we started walking around with smiles on our faces and dancing with policeman.

Now that the Olympics are over, we are looking forward to the Paralympics, where the GB medal haul is expected to be at least double of what they accumulated in the past two weeks. But after that, what is in store for the country, save for doom and gloom ecomomy forecasts and a massive comedown? There's talk of the Government making school sports more competitive, and generally, making kids do a lot more. From what I know, try and make kids do sport, you suck the fun out of it and they'll end up hating it.  We in fact can do a lot ourselves to support our future stars ahead of Rio 2016.  And it's pretty darn simple.

Up and down the country we have grossly underfunded sports facilities, some of which are subject to cuts from the public spending purse. Here is where our athletes train week in, week out; during baking heat, or driving snow. They want to be in Rio in four years time, and they cannot rely on the government to spend the money on them. So what is the alternative? It's simple really; get our asses off the couch on a Saturday morning, and head down to the hundreds of track and field meets, swimming tournaments and gymkanas that are held up and down the UK.

Think about it; you get a whole morning/afternoon cheering yourself hoarse as you did during London 2012 for the competitors, and the money from your ticket sale that will go towards the upkeep of sports facilities, and the training of the athletes. Literally everyone wins.And they do this all-year round, so you can keep your post-Olympics pride intact.

Watch some youth or ladies football  your local club - perhaps if enough interest is generated, we won't have to consign ourselves to watching the likes of Giggs et al lose another round of penalty shootouts, but instead have ourselves some new stars to revere.

Now whilst some people might feel a bit nervous about rocking up to a "snooty" gymkana populated by Hoorah Henrys and Sloaneys,  remember dressage double gold-winner Charlotte Dujardin is a former stable hand with a state school education. Same goes for rowing sports - head down to Henley or Eton Dorney next summer to see the next generation of rowing stars - you never know.

From the weedy kid collecting the oars, the 10-year old diver looking nervous on the platform, to the girl that sprints last to the finish line today may all be powering through to gold in four years' time. 

Supporting our athletes is ultimately down to us - if we really care about the glory the Olympics brought us, we owe our future Olympians and Paralympians to them to cheer them all the the way to Rio, through the rain and shine, summer or winter. Now that's what a legacy should be. Your thoughts?

Events/meetings listings

British Swimming

British Athletics League

Equi-portal

Disabled Sports Resources

England Athletics

Parasport