A leading UK children’s charity has today condemned the national media for promoting Olympic achievement as something which is “normal and desirable”. Last to Be Picked, a UK based charity promoting the needs of clumsy, uncoordinated and weak young men, today issued a report examining coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games. They found that the overwhelming majority of reports rated the achievements of athletes such as Chris Hoy as either “positive” or “very “positive”. This, the charity claims, sets many boys an impossible ideal which they can never live up to.
Dr Norris Dunwardy who carried out the study, stated in his report “The majority of boys in Britain are simply not able to run 100 metres without falling over or even able throw a large spear safely. We should be celebrating their different levels of ability, instead today’s media is more concerned with the achievements of a select few than reflecting what is actually going on in society”. However Professor Clint McDade from the Institute for Alpha Males disputed the findings “Many school boys who receive praise for their sporting achievements find that this adulation drops away when they reach adulthood, leaving them feeling resentful, angry and with a need to take this out on those who have become intellectually successful. Often these men will end up as Police Community Support Officers”. Prof Mcdade continued “When the media celebrates Olympians they provide reassurance to them that society continues to value those who are exceptional at sport, whether it be jumping really far into a sandpit or cycling endlessly round in circles”.
