While recent years will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, 2012 will be a year that will be looked back on with immense pride in British history, and it's all because of sport.
What started on the 27th of July and followed in the 43 days after was monumental. Britain's greatest summer was captivating, harmonious and unifying.
It signified what our minuscule island is made of, it gave us 114 heroes from the past, present and future and changed the landscape of Britain going forward immeasurably.
It all came together magnificently at the traditional celebratory bash in the shape of the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year. In it's 59th and biggest year, SPOTY had a lot to live up too, but it most certainly did so and more. It was a wonderful spectacle that served up a huge dose of Olympic reminiscing along with a bit of everything else, the best being the 16,000 strong poznan celebration to welcome Manchester City stars Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero for their title winning triumphs.
The extended line up of twelve opposed to the usual ten contenders for the main prize still didn't do justice to this years amazing athletes. A quick glance at the short-list sees names such as Joe Hart, Hannah Cockroft and Kevin Sinfield left out when they would have unquestionably been on the short list in any other year.
It was a memorable event that will live long in the minds of many over the years; the atmosphere was electric, the show was magnificent and gave an impeccable taste of how inspiring this past year has been.
While sport was the winner on the night, the true winner was cycling. After what has been a torrid year for the sport since the horrifying yet unsurprising surroundings of Lance Armstrong's past with drugs, the sport was in meltdown. Armstrong, a seven time Tour de France winner and cycling icon, was found to have severely broken drug regulations and subsequently stripped of his accomplishments and banned from the sport for life.
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| Me and the man himself, Bradley Wiggins, top bloke. |
Yet cycling has clearly found a new star and that is indeed Bradley Wiggins. A man who's demeanour reeks of Paul Weller and character that oozes Noel Gallagher, the man has it all to eradicate the negativity Armstrong has left on the sport and become a British icon in the meantime. He is the people's man and a very talented one at that. If anyone was to change the image of cycling, it's him, and along with the likes of Mark Cavendish, Victoria Pendleton and Laura Trott, British cycling is destined to further become one of the major sports in this country.
However it's cycling's other SPOTY winner who should be taking the plaudits. British cycling performance director David Brailsford won coach of the year at the event after guiding the Team GB cycling team to twelve medals, eight of them being gold. In his acceptance speech, Brailsford said he was laughed at when he said he would get a clean British cyclist to win the tour. He did that and he did it emphatically. He's turned what was a minority sport into a mainstream one, with stars such as Wiggins and Trott becoming adored across the country. He also showed up the French, need I say no more?
What is essential in 2013 is that as a country we build on the legacy. Signs have so far been mixed with polls showing participation in schools is still under par and funding cut from many sports. As the inspirational Martine Wright said on stage "We need to build on this legacy we're all talking about and go on and inspire a nation." Otherwise, what this country achieved in the year of 2012 will all go to waste.
