ABSTRACT
The summer of 1996 witnessed two major sporting events in which ‘our’ national teams were involved: the European Soccer Championships and the Olympic Games. In the former the English team reached the semi-finals resurrecting-with the aid of the media-the type of football fervour not seen since the World Cup of 1966. Eventual defeat against Germany appeared to put large sections of the nation into mourning and some supporters expressed their disappointment by going on the rampage through London streets (see The Times, 1996a). In the Olympics the national team also did less well than was hoped. Two of our best contenders in the athletic events-Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell-not only failed to get medals but, more significantly, failed really to compete: Christie because he was disqualified in the 100 metre final for two false starts (which some reporters claimed was his way of avoiding likely defeat and humiliation) and Gunnell because of an injury in the semi-finals. Apart from a small number of successes, there was a general feeling that as a nation we were under-performing across a wide range of sports and as the Games came to an end, the papers were full of inquests, ultimatums and doom and gloom reports (e.g. ‘Who do we blame for a national failure?’ Independent; ‘Olympic shame over Britain’s medal tally’ The Times, both 5 August 1996).
