[VickyTink]

It IS inspiring a generation in the fact that more sports are being seen, and are accessible to the population. The pure fact that London hosted the olympics has inspired some. Take Holly Bleasdale, she tried pole vault three years ago, after seeing it at the last olympics, and made it through to the semi's here in London. Yes, she was a sporty person before, but that's how life is. Not everyone is built to do sport, even some who are of a healthy weight may do no sport whatsoever.

The one thing people always forget is that obesity is based on BMI, which is a pointless scale, so muscle weighs more than fat. Some of the worlds best athletes are classed in this way as obese! Ridiculous hey?

The inspiration is people seeing the olympics and thinking 'I want to do that' which is happening. As people have said, you won't see a difference for a couple of years, but the fact that more people are thinking of taking things up, shows there is an effect, surely.

[laura1234]

(Original post by AdamHarriis)
I think you're right there. But the people that will lose interest is those that don't have the commitment and drive, and the ones that do might even make it to the Olympics, someday

It would make a nice news story one day, someone who was inspired by London 2012 is now competing in a future olympics. I suppose the ones who succeed are that 1% who actually showed commitment all the way and sacrificed a lot. I remember trying so many sports when I was younger and never sticking at them for longer than a few months, looking back I really regret it now.

[TheCurlyHairedDude]

(Original post by Spontogical)
This indeed!

50% overweight, 22-25% Obese..things need changing. Well.. we can't force them to chance unless they want to; which unfortunately most don't.. or aren't willing to put in anything from 5 minutes > 30 minutes a day.

Make that three times minimum

Guess at the end of the day, I'm only really concerned about me and my family and close friends. Waiting for the gym literally across the road from me to open, then I'll be going 3 times minimum....

A lot of people say you come here SO MUCH!, and I always respond with the same answer. I come here to exersize, for roughly an hour at a time. This is not a commitment I'm making which is taking away time from home. Whilst you're at home watching TOWIE, or whatever you watch. I'm at the gym, it's not like I go out of my way to go to the gym...

Lol

[TheCurlyHairedDude]

(Original post by VickyTink)
It IS inspiring a generation in the fact that more sports are being seen, and are accessible to the population. The pure fact that London hosted the olympics has inspired some. Take Holly Bleasdale, she tried pole vault three years ago, after seeing it at the last olympics, and made it through to the semi's here in London. Yes, she was a sporty person before, but that's how life is. Not everyone is built to do sport, even some who are of a healthy weight may do no sport whatsoever.

The one thing people always forget is that obesity is based on BMI, which is a pointless scale, so muscle weighs more than fat. Some of the worlds best athletes are classed in this way as obese! Ridiculous hey?

The inspiration is people seeing the olympics and thinking 'I want to do that' which is happening. As people have said, you won't see a difference for a couple of years, but the fact that more people are thinking of taking things up, shows there is an effect, surely.

Usain bolt hasn't always been the faster man on earth, he has incredibly inconsistent, and relatively poor starts for the sprints. He's not what you'd conventionally think of a sprinter. What about bodybuilders? They weren't always big and strong, in fact there's stories of people coming out of coma's and then going on to win BB competitions years down the line..

Everybody is suited to something, whether you're tall/short/fast/slow/long arms/short arms/good hand/eye co-ordination/stamina...

Whatever it is, it can be enhanced via training and hard work.

It's like FAT people who say they have the fat gene, no. You're just fat because you eat too much.

[VickyTink]

(Original post by TheCurlyHairedDude)
Usain bolt hasn't always been the faster man on earth, he has incredibly inconsistent, and relatively poor starts for the sprints. He's not what you'd conventionally think of a sprinter. What about bodybuilders? They weren't always big and strong, in fact there's stories of people coming out of coma's and then going on to win BB competitions years down the line..

Everybody is suited to something, whether you're tall/short/fast/slow/long arms/short arms/good hand/eye co-ordination/stamina...

Whatever it is, it can be enhanced via training and hard work.

It's like FAT people who say they have the fat gene, no. You're just fat because you eat too much.

I didn't explain too well, I meant some people don't have the mentality/mindset/personality/interest for sport rather than physical build. I agree that everyone is suited for something, however you have to possess a genuine interest to take it further, London 2012 is aiming to get people interested in sport/the olympics by having it all televised really well so it's accessible, and also holding smaller events around the country, which is happening.

There's a huge mountain of difference between 'fat' and 'obese' just in case you misunderstood that bit as well.

[Tabris]

This happens ever Olympics. It's like New Years. Loads of people make resolutions, few keep them. But even if it increases the average numbers by 1-2 people per club (regardless of what sport), I think it's worth it.

[seaneddleston]

I didn't think I would pay much attention to the Olympics but tbh I really enjoyed it and now I'd love to be part of it, I've always liked sport but been mostly been average at most sports. I'm going uni in September so maybe it's a bit late for me to become a world class athlete but I'm going to take up as many sports as they offer me, defiantly Cycling and swimming, but hopefully as many as possible then stick to the ones I'm either good at or really enjoy, who knows could see me in rio! Never say never

[twoforjoy]

I think it coming to London may actually have a big effect! The stories told of athletes who were inspired by previous Olympics and taken up the sport are really inspiring, for example Helen Glover who had never been near a boat four years ago, now a gold medallist rower!
I think it's great that children are being given better role models, no whining overpaid footballers and drunken fat reality tv stars.
As for me, watching the Olympic sailing has inspired me to take back up the old sport which I loved so much before education took over my life, and I'm planning on joining the sailing society at university in September.
It may not last, but I sure hope it does!

[hannah60000]

It's like with the whole volunteering thing they believe that Olympics will make more volunteer I think not. Those who have always volunteered will continue, a few new people will also participate most won't bother......such as much in life something else will come up and it will soon be forgotten that is this inspiring every to participate in sport.

[ipoop]

No!! Example?? Wimbledon, nuff said.

[Wawasan]

With all of these incredible stories of athletes coming out with gold medals after jsut 4 years of work, certainly. People like Helen Glover who only starting rowing after thhe 2008 Olympics, Lizzie Armitstead who owned her first bike at 16, and Peter Wilson who took up shooting after the 2008 games. Truly remarkable. So I think there'll be more of an emphasis on the sports with less attention.

[helen-a-ravenclaw]

I think it will inspire people a bit. Even though I'm not the next generation, I see people competing in the Olympics who are the same age or younger than me, and that makes me realise how unfit I have become.

I used to do Karate for 7 years, but over the past 2 years stopped. Seeing the Olympics on tv and in real life has made me want to start it up again at university. I've started the C25K challenge, and I'm determined to run 5K before I go to uni so I can start up karate again and hopefully reach my black belt!

As a couple of other people have said, there will be this hype while the Olympics is on, and many people probably won't stick to their goals. But even if we get a few people getting fitter and making a difference to their lives, then I think the Olympics will have had a great impact.

[jordltfc]

No, the effect will be very short-term. When watching the Olympics I often think 'it would be amazing if I could do that' or 'I'd love to be that good at something' but I've never gone into the sports seriously. I'll admit that I definitely cycle more now (sometimes 11/12km a day compared to 0 previously) and am going to go swimming more but that's for my own health/fitness and I doubt many people will take up these sports seriously for a long time, similar to a new years resolution.

[RtGOAT]

Nah.

For a couple of weeks there'll be a spike in activity but after that most will lose interest.

[g36c]

if you needed the olympics to give you motivation to exercise then you were never going to be good anyway.

give it a few weeks, like the new year revolutioners.

[Dog4444]

No, English are lazy as ****.

[Beebumble]

Not a whole generation of course not. You'll never get through to everyone but there maybe some kids who'll go into sports that'd they'd never necessarily thought of before seeing it on TV.

The people I hope it really inspires though are parents. I'd like to see parents realise that they could really give their children a helping hand in life by getting them involved in sports.

[pshewitt1]

(Original post by SaintSoldier)
I personally think it will in the short term, but not in the long term.

My rowing club has received over 80 inquiries about the "Learn to Row" course since the start of the Olympics (whereas normally we get about 8 per month).
However, out of 10 who were supposed to turn up for their first session last week, only 3 did. So the commitment really isn't there.

What do you think?

I'm actually annoyed at this, I've quit my gyms because a bunch of people have joined just like after new years resolutions have been made, stay for 1-2 months after disrupting everything without any etiquette or respect then promptly leave after achieving nothing.

[Joker370]

I really hope it does at least get people exercising more - since the olympics started the number of people I've seen while out on runs who are also running or cycling as exploded! It's great to see it and would seriously help with the obesity problem if people keep it up, but I unfortunately have a sneaking suspicion that almost all who have been inspired will forget about it in a few weeks/months.

Then again even if only one person is inspired, I guess it's better than none.