Olympic stars keep on giving

The country is still in the throes of Olympomania, so let’s pay  homage not only to Team GB’s sporting prowess, but its ability to offer up role models.

It’s all very well giving a great media interview when you’ve just won gold, but how about if you narrowly finished fourth, or if you didn’t manage to get into the final when you were hoping to do better? It’s tough, yet time after time our Olympians gave fabulous interviews, and in doing so, created a bond with the watching public rarely seen before in a sporting context. For two weeks, athletes and spectators really were all in it together.

We’re used to seeing golfers, footballers, racing drivers and tennis players being interviewed. But their enormous wealth often creates an otherworldliness and a barrier between them and us. Jessica Ennis, on the other hand, is just like the girl next door. Mo Farah? He’s the sort of chap you might sit next to on the Tube.

I was lucky enough to go to the Olympic Stadium on the last night but one of the Games. The men’s pole vault took place right in front of me, and I was pleasantly astonished to see the camaraderie and sportsmanship, in every sense, displayed by the competitors. They were cheering each other on. This, I thought, is the Olympic ideal.

The Games changed our country for two weeks. Will the feel-good factor last? Probably not. But for however long it does, we have our athletes to thank.