Disappointment on an Olympian scale

Standing in the VIP area of the South Bank Centre yesterday, I felt distinctly uncomfortable but also rather proud to be British.

I'd gone to witness one of the handover ceremonies for the Olympic flame which was being marked with a music, dance and acrobatic extravaganza. Around 500 performers of all ages had spent the morning rehearsing beside a snowy Thames to be part of a moment in history. I doubt that they had bargained for quite what a moment in history it turned out to be - or indeed how close it came to not happening at all.

From our vantage point in a SBC office (after all, VIPs should never be exposed to the elements for any length of time), we had a spectacular view of proceedings, as well as an impromptu running commentary from the very affable host Michael Lynch and the increasingly concerned Jude Kelly, Chief Exec and Artistic Director of the South Bank respectively.

Which was just as well as it was well nigh impossible to see the Olympic torchbearer amidst the sea of blue (Chinese), yellow (Met Police) and black (special branch, I assume) uniforms as it arrived. One wag wondered if it was the security services' attempt to out do the colourful protestors, who were being very vocal about China's appalling human rights record and the brutal treatment of the Tibetan people.

Rather than bringing the torch to the stage, it was whisked away behind security cordons as Chinese security thought it too much of a risk to expose it to the waiting crowds. Yes, you did read that correctly: Chinese security was calling the shots yesterday. Thankfully, someone was able to convince them to bring out the flame, albeit nearly 50 minutes late, by which time many families had moved on, leaving increasingly bedraggled performers and a crowd of protestors. Tiny Vanessa Mae looked rather perplexed as she held the flame aloft, surrounded again by the multi-coloured security posse.

So, was it worth the trip to the capital? Well, I felt enormously disappointed for all the performers and South Bank Centre staff who'd obviously worked so hard to create an artistic spectacle which didn't quite live up to expectations. I also felt somewhat disappointed by the Olympic flame, which was curiously diminutive and unimpressive. Watching the television footage later, I felt very disappointed by the brutal treatment of some of the protestors - ironic, given the nature of their concerns about freedom of expression under Chinese rule.

But I also felt proud. Proud that so many people acknowledged the legitimate concerns of protestors but also realised that the Olympic spirit had to rise above things.

We can never truly separate sport, culture and politics, and we're naïve if we think we can. However, we can use sport and culture to bring about change. Sporting embargoes made a massive impact in apartheid era South Africa. Let's use the Olympics to highlight issues in China, at the same time as celebrating human achievement. We owe our athletes that much, don't we?