London 2012 blog

The London commuter is a funny animal and conceivably a unique species.

Unlike the transport networks in other cities around the globe, travel takes place in silence on the part of the commuter, often plugged in to an mp3 player, reading a paper or tapping at a mobile device like I am - the hush broken only by the noises created by the system: announcements, beeps, the squeal of wheel on rail.

So imagine my surprise this morning, returning after a week learning lessons from the Beijing Games, to hear conversation all the way through my journey to work this morning.

And imagine my delight that the thing that had brought this cross section at least out of their natural reserve was the very Games I had been working at last week.

Unusually I caught the S3 bus because I was bringing in some heavy documents I had brought back, and one third of the passengers were already talking about the Games. In particular the two women were discussing Louis Smith's achievements on the pommel horse.

Then on the 7.43 train, four suited guys were sitting around talking about a range of the weekend's events. And finally some people queuing at the tube door I habitually use at Waterloo were also talking about a number of British successes.

I had missed much British success during my flight back from Beijing, but by the time I arrived at work I was almost up to date with our race up the medal table.

The delight and pride that Team GB's success is creating back here in the UK is great to see and built on the firm foundation of investment in producing results.

In China I saw young children inspired to copy their heroes in the streets. I hope that the same spark can be created here and that those young people watching Olympic competition, perhaps for the first time at the Live Site screens around the UK, can find their way in to the sports they are seeing now and are inspired by the power of the Games - as were this morning commuters - to make a really positive change in their lives.