From the editor’s desk

A lasting legacy for the games

From Chris Hoy to Bradley Wiggins, from Rebecca Adlington to Christine Ohuruogu, British athletes have adorned the winners' rostra at the Olympic Games in Beijing, accumulating an almost unimaginable tally of gold medals. By the time The Tablet went to press, the Olympic medal table showed that Great Britain had won more medals than its chief sporting rival, Australia. It is the largest haul of medals for Great Britain at the Games for 100 years.

That the Olympic Games have so captured the imagination of the British is not surprising. After a summer of rain, falling house prices and rising ones for fuel and food, and no sign of the end of the credit crunch, the stories of champions who battled against the odds to achieve Olympic glory offer a narrative of the heroic that is utterly compelling, never mind that much of it is down to having the best kit and decent investment after decades of penny-pinching. This was a winning formula where nothing was left to chance.

Yet for all the pragmatism, and the inevitable problems with illegal drug use by athletes, there is still an idealism about the Olympic Games. They began with the ancient Greeks who saw the Games as a celebration of the human body and a way of honouring the gods. They have re-emerged in the modern era, with the bringing together of people from across the globe, despite the barriers of language, race and culture.

There is also a moral dimension to sport perceived clearly by St Paul and told to the Corinthians, urging them to live with a sense of purpose, just as runners and boxers compete with purpose. This moral and spiritual dimension was also apparent in the teaching of Pope John Paul II and is the raison d'être of the John Paul II Foundation for Sports, which was opened in Rome last month. John Paul understood that sport offers an example of how to live: to make sacrifices for what a person believes in, to persevere in the sports field, as in life and faith.

As the Games end this weekend, with a no doubt spectacular closing ceremony in Beijing, the Olympic flag will be passed to London, host city of the next Games in 2012. The 16 days of sports played at their highest level have enabled many lessons to be learned in advance of 2012. They have produced a welcome alternative image of young people, not as the binge drinkers and knife wielders of the tabloids, but as capable of remarkable achievements; and they have been a reminder that those achievements come about only through a combination of planning, commitment and discipline. They have illustrated the point that politicians, so often focused on short-term gains, make their greatest contribution through long-term ambitions, as John Major did with his decision to create a national lottery, whose funds have been wisely invested in sports such as cycling and produced gold-medal-winning athletes. They have confirmed how success can draw a nation together in common celebration. If their lasting legacy is to encourage a sporting revival, together with a renaissance in the qualities of comradeship, honour and selflessness that sports, especially team games, can inspire, then Beijing 2008 will have been for Great Britain the greatest Games so far of modern times.