It's time to remove nationality from the Olympics

The case of Aaron Cook is just bizarre. Cook is the World No. 1 at under 80kg Taekwondo and yet he hasn't been selected by the British Taekwondo selectors to represent Great Britain at next month's Olympics. He says one thing, they say another and it's made all the more complicated by the fact there seem to be about 10 organisations who each claim to be the national body for Taekwondo.



To me it makes no sense that competitors are chosen by national bodies. The Olympics should be about the best and having no-hopers from nations that, similarly, have no hope in some events belittles the events. Remember Edfie the Eagle? And Eric the Eel? Amusing maybe but do they reflect the Olympic ideal? How do such no-hopers live up to the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius - Faster, Higher, Stronger NOT funnier, excruciating and more embarrassing.

Surely selection for events should be simple - the world's top 100 (or however many they need for a specific event) regardless of nationality. Sure, that might mean that some events are dominated by a couple of nationalities. So what? If the starting line up for the marathon had 50 Kenyans, 50 Ethiopians and no osu else what would it matter if those 100 were the best 100 marathon runners in the world? If the starters in the 100m were all either Jamaican and American what would it matter? Don't we want all the best athletes competing against each other?



And, any way, in individual sports (and even in pairs, fours and eights) why should nationality have any relevance? I know the morons who get jingoistic about such matters get all emotional about "winning gold for Britain" but why? They are winning for themselves, not for anything else. They are winning so that they can get their sponsorship deals and appearance fees over the next few years.

Even in team sports it would surely be better to have teams that regularly played together instead of teams brought together for two weeks every four years? Why not have the Olympuc football tournament competed by teams like Barcelona and Manchester United instead of the nonsense we're about to see Stuart Pearce oversee? How about the basketball and ice hockey being between the best teams not just teams thrust together by accident of birth (or grandparents' births)?

Nationalism is such a crock of nonsense. A random geographical position of a woman giving birth within artificial and random borders. Why does anyone feel pride in a nation? It's just bollocks.

I fear the forthcoming Olympics will be, as the recent idiotic Jubilee was, a chance for the right wing press to fuel xenophobia and encourage the proles to continue supporting anachronistic systems and a 19th century world view.

Nationalism has no place in the modern world. It is the fuel for hate. The Olympics needs to be above such nonsense. It is time to drop national committees. It is the for a new internationalist approach to the world and I see no reason why that can't start with sport.

100 Days to the London Olympics

Today marks 100 days until the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

To me, the Olympics are a tremendous event, something which is inspirational, something which will be remembered for a lifetime, and something which will have a physical and emotional legacy on future generations.

Yes, I accept there are issues about the Olympics.

Some point to the cost of staging the games, whilst ignoring the increased tourism they will bring.

Some point to the potential for terrorism, or to what they consider to be OTT restrictions on civil rights during the Games - but i'd rather the Games went off without incident with everyone safe.

Some point to the corporate sponsors and say that a few of the companies giving money to the Games have questionable backgrounds and records - and I, for one, have some sympathy for their view. I wish it wasn't necessary to have any corporate sponsorship at all. I wish that fast food and confectionary companies couldn't link their names with sports events. I wish that companies with bad human rights records couldn't try to make themselves look good by linking to the Games. It is an unfortunate by-product of the economic system the West has chosen.

Some point to the transportation delays possible during the Games but ignore that there's been plenty of warning and it's up to individuals to make sensible arrangements. Remember, it is only for a couple of weeks.

Some dismiss the sportsmen and women as over paid prima donnas and mostly drug cheats. Yes, that may be the case for a few, and the Okympucs need to look seriously at whether drugs cheats are ever allowed to compete again, but the vast majority are examples of humanity excelling in sporting endeavours.

Some, including me, are hoping the Olympics doesn't become a tasteless orgy if nationalistic jingoism - but fear that our tabloid press will fuel such unpleasant fervour.

But, even if all of those things were true, even if all of them were as bad as they could get, I think the Olympic Games is a fantastic event and one which the UK, an historically important sporting nation, should be looking forward to hosting.