Olympic glory is great but what about the rest of us?

The Beijing Olympics came to a dramatic conclusion yesterday and the Games were hailed as a fantastic success, not just for China but for Team GB who picked up an incredible 19 gold medals.
That turn around in our Olympic fortunes is down to a renewed investment in our elite athletes, so they say. Our top athletes can now have access to the best training facilities, the best coaches and sports scientists, and the minor distraction of a real job is no longer a problem. The results speak for themselves.
Now the baton has been handed to London for 2012 and the pressure is on to do even better in the medal table and as a result millions more will be thrown at our elite athletes.
I hope they do get the funding because there is no doubt sporting success can lift a nation, especially at a time of economic uncertainty.
However, it appears to me it is a short term fix to a long term problem because I cannot see any investment in grass roots sport and all the cash is being spent on the top elite. It is pure window dressing and doesn't tackle the real issue of sport in our communities.
Andy Dunn of the News of the Wold wrote a superb article that pretty much sums up the problems facing youngsters who have been inspired by what they have seen over the past two weeks and want to get involved in sport. Here is the link: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/andy_dunn/article16640.ece.

Let me tell you about my experiences of grass roots sport in my home town of Tamworth and I am sure many of you will have experienced the same.
In Tamworth there is very little if any investment in local sports by the council.
When I was growing up there were football pitches and small parks everywhere but they have slowly disappeared. Instead, Tamworth has a very nice but remote football pitch complex at Anker Valley. Good facility but hardly accessible for children from the other end of town who want to go for a kick about.
The local sports centre, which was one of the few centres run by the council, ended up as a complete disaster. The business of running Peaks was sold to a private company for just £1 and after the company, which had a history of debts, predictably went bust the centre was shut and the town's main swimming pool was closed, forcing Tamworth Swimming Club to search for new facilities outside the town. It is now open again after the famous Snowdome bailed the council out.
The tennis courts are barely open and the municipal golf course has been sold off. The council has handed responsibility for sports provision in the borough to whoever they could find.
For a long time the Olympic Gymnastics Club was given use of a school sports hall and all the doors had to be propped open to allow the gymnasts room to run down the corridors for the vault.
And it isn't just Tamworth BC. Tamworth Cricket Club is a fantastic club that caters for hundreds of youngsters. As a result, they have outgrown their modest pavilion in Hopwas, which is actually part of Lichfield District Council. They applied to build a new, two-tier building a few years ago and were told no because the local residents of Hopwas would see it as an eyesore. The nearest residents are almost half a mile away, the club is surrounded by agricultural barns which are an eyesore and what possibly could be as English and aesthetic as a cricket pavilion in the summer?
These are just a few examples of what is really going on at grass roots level. Volunteers and private clubs are doing all the work with no help from the authorities. Often these clubs are the starting point for our Olympic heroes and it is all due to the dedication and commitment of the volunteers, who give up so much of their time just because they love their sport. As long as there are people like this our communities we will still produce Olympic medallists but for inspiring youngsters to get involved in sport it should be the volunteers who get a gold medal and our thanks.