BIG BROTHER IS KILLING ALL OUR OLYMPIC HOPES
Coe says TV makes kids want instant fame
BIG Brother is undermining Britain's chances of Olympic glory in 2012, Seb Coe claimed yesterday.
Coe, chairman of the London organising committee, said reality TV shows such as BB are turning youngsters off sports and teaching them that fame and success can be achieved overnight with little effort.
At the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Coe said: "We've just come out of 10 weeks of watching 10 people with questionable talent being filmed 24 hours a day in a cardboard cutout.
"At the end of that somebody emerges as a six-hour hero. That makes it hard to tell kids that success is not a six-hour culture, or even a six-year culture - and for me it was a 12 year culture.
"The challenge we've got is, what do you say to kids who are watching all that reality TV that actually it's not done in six hours or it's not done in even six years?
"How do you get them down to the track and explain that only in maybe 10 years will they be standing in an Olympic stadium having won a medal?
It's a very difficult message to put across." Gold medalist runner Coe joined forces with old rival Steve Ovett to blame coaching for the dire state of English athletics.
He said: "The big task is to bring talented 17-year-olds through to the rostrums. I'm not sure we have good enough coaches to do that."
Ovett said: "The talent's there but we have to have the coaching structure to bring it out. In the UK the structure is not there."
Mirror
