UK Olympic and sporting success - middle class?

wildmoustache

Cycling perhaps less so than other sports ... but is it my imagination or is this country now very short on sporting heroes from working class backgrounds. Still do well in boxing at some weights ... national football teams are now totally mediocre.

What do people think ... is there something going on here?

richa

Where are all these sporting heroes from a middle class background?

The class system in the UK has changed, more and more focus is being put on 'celebrity' and 'wealth'.

wildmoustache

richa wrote:

Where are all these sporting heroes from a middle class background?

The class system in the UK has changed, more and more focus is being put on 'celebrity' and 'wealth'.

What about every rower ... some of the cycllists ... tennis (what few we have) ... sailing ... etc.

sport as a way "out of the ghetto" has been mostly a fiction anyway.

spen666

wildmoustache wrote:

sport as a way "out of the ghetto" has been mostly a fiction anyway.

I agree, i mean footballers like Wayne Rooney, David Beckham etc were all either born into fabulously wealthy families in Toxteth Leyton etc or still live in slums in places like Cheshire, Bishop's Avenue in London etc

APIII

I think there are just fewer people with a working class background isn't there? Less jobs in the traditional areas of manufacturing, engineering, etc. as everyone now seems to work in the service sector.

richa

And athletes are now professional so are no longer working in the pits in the week competing at the weekends.

I don't know if Christine Ohuruogu/Steve Redgrave/Fearaint Thomas (for examples) are working class.

SmellTheGlove

wildmoustache wrote:

is this country now very short on sporting heroes from working class backgrounds. ... is there something going on here?

Yes, it's called post-industrial society.

jerry3571

I think there is still the majority of working people are working Class (most people in denial). The Middle Class (Headteachers, Doctors, Judges), the Upper Class, in the Media, has all but dissappered; never mentioned. They haven't really, they just don't like to be interviewed by the Media. The Upper Class is still here and they are still very rich.
Cycling seems to be working class with a dash of a few of the Middle Class who splash out on the proverbeal £5000 Carbon Frame.
I did laugh at the BBC as they said about the horsey Events in the Olympics being for the normal person as a German Dentist had won Gold. If you listen to the UK lot; well... they all seem to be a bit posh.
Bless the UK and it's Class System. :roll:
Cheers Jerry