Steve Edwards

Creative Writer

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On July 14th, I attended the BT Storyteller’s launch at St Pancras International along with 14 other storytellers and felt extremely proud to be part of the campaign to document the story of the London 2012 Games.

We were joined by Daley Thompson and Seb Coe, two of my all time athletic heroes whose legendary performances inspired me during the early 80’s to start running, a sport I’ve enjoyed and hope to continue enjoying until old age, I hope!

Later that day we were treated to a tour of Olympic Park and the opportunity to see inside the brand new Olympic stadium. It really was a special moment walking into an arena in which the best athletes in the world are going to be competing, where world records are potentially going to be broken and where people’s hopes and dreams will be realised and remembered for the rest of their lives. Just walking down the very strip of track where the likes of Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay will be powering down to discover who the fastest human on the planet is, was enough to make my spine tingle. It’s probably the closest I’ll ever get to feeling what it might be like to compete on that stage and it’s a moment I’ll remember for a very long time. (See photos).

Of course, I still think about the announcement back in June 2005 when London was chosen for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. For me it was one of those special moments in life when you think it was almost meant to be. Back in 1988, I embarked on a personal athletic challenge which I hoped I could complete in my 50th birthday year, 2012. At that point, I’d not even considered whether it might be an Olympic year, let alone that London might be one of the choices to host an Olympic games. I remember Seb Coe talking about an Olympic legacy that would result from the London 2012 Games. It then dawned on me that with my 25 year journey from 1988, not only might I be creating my own personal Olympic legacy, but through the inspiration from the greatest sporting show on earth that this could be a fantastic opportunity for other people to create their own.

I realised a long time ago that sport isn’t just about training hard, winning events, collecting medals and trophies, it’s a whole lot more than that. Sport is very powerful, it can be rewarding both physically and spiritually. As well as helping to keep both body and mind fit and healthy, sport brings people together from all age groups and from all walks of life. Sport helps to forge friendships and relationships with other like minded people that can last a lifetime. Sport helps you develop self respect and mutual respect for those around you. Sport can even help you discover new places that you wouldn’t necessarily have visited had it not been for a sporting event you were attending. Sport is positive and I count myself one of the lucky ones to have discovered its power from a very early age.

I feel very privileged to have been chosen as one of the BT Storytellers and am hoping to share my experiences with the aim of trying to inspire people that this is a fantastic opportunity to realise their own personal Olympic legacy. That although the games brings the greatest sportsmen and women in the world together to compete on the world’s greatest stage, it is also a great time for ordinary people to be inspired to take up a sport, enter a sporting event, realise a sporting challenge or even start actively supporting a sporting related club.

So ask yourself, how will you create your own personal Olympic legacy such that when you look back in years to come, you can say, “2012, that was the year I did that and it was when the Olympic Games came to Great Britain".

Please do read my bio and if you’ve been inspired I would love to hear about your personal legacy idea for 2012 via Twitter. Should you wish to, you can also vote for me.

Thank you.