13 replies to this topic

[18blue78]

Not too sure where to put this so I’ll stick it here and let the mod’s move it to where they see fit (hopefully not the trash bin).

As a sports nut I’ve been asking SM to have Olympians attend various events for the last couple of years. As yet there haven’t been many and I’m sure that’s not through a lack of effort by SM.

Now I don‘t know if anyone else has already suggested this, but why not try having an Olympic themed event?
I would be very surprised if SM couldn’t use their reputation as one of the UK’s leading event organisers to attract some big Olympian names from the past and present to attend. Plus a lot of the leading sports men and women have said that London 2012 will be their last competition so there should be some big stars available in the near future.

I realise that events take a lot of time and effort to put together and nothing could be done for awhile with all the big shows coming soon.
And I also know that a lot of current Olympians wouldn’t attend due to competing in other competitions, training and other commitments, but surely there is an opportunity to cash in on London 2012 and have a really unique event. Maybe it’s even something that could be done every four years to celebrate the Olympics.

Anyway, it’s just an idea that I thought would be worth putting out there.

[ericsdonor]

What a good idea!!!!

[reddragon]

Excellent idea

[DavidB]

It would be a real honour to meet some of our athletes :)

[Not_Pennys_Ship]

So, would the first show be in 2016 in Rio?

[cunningham1471]

Interesting idea, but how many people would want autographs from people they don't know? The big names are fine, but how many people would know the name of a person who got a medal for Great Britain in the 2000 Olympics for judo, shooting, equestrian etc? In the last day or so we got a gold medal in shooting, the first ever for a Brit. Not only do I not know his name, despite seeing him on TV I could stand next to him on a long tube ride and not recognise him.

[18blue78]

cunningham1471, on 04 August 2012 - 06:58 AM, said:

Interesting idea, but how many people would want autographs from people they don't know? The big names are fine, but how many people would know the name of a person who got a medal for Great Britain in the 2000 Olympics for judo, shooting, equestrian etc? In the last day or so we got a gold medal in shooting, the first ever for a Brit. Not only do I not know his name, despite seeing him on TV I could stand next to him on a long tube ride and not recognise him.

Fair point but I think it’s a case that if your interested in the Olympics you’ll probably know the name even if you can’t remember why.

I could make the same point about Star Wars, the Bond films, Harry Potter or Star Trek. Great movies, but there are that many actors it’s hard to recognise all of them unless you’re a die hard fan.

Plus if something could be done within the next six months or so (I know, that’s highly unlikely) a lot of people would still be interested in anything with the word ‘Olympics’ in it.

P.S. Kate Howey (Judo), Richard Faulds and Ian Peel (Shooting) Jeanette Brakewell, Pippa Funnell, Leslie Law and Ian Stark (Equestrian) and this year Peter Wilson (Men's Double Trap).
Sorry I just couldn’t resist

Edited by 18blue78, 04 August 2012 - 05:55 PM.

[cunningham1471]

18blue78, on 04 August 2012 - 05:53 PM, said:

cunningham1471, on 04 August 2012 - 06:58 AM, said:

Interesting idea, but how many people would want autographs from people they don't know? The big names are fine, but how many people would know the name of a person who got a medal for Great Britain in the 2000 Olympics for judo, shooting, equestrian etc? In the last day or so we got a gold medal in shooting, the first ever for a Brit. Not only do I not know his name, despite seeing him on TV I could stand next to him on a long tube ride and not recognise him.

Fair point but I think it’s a case that if your interested in the Olympics you’ll probably know the name even if you can’t remember why.

I could make the same point about Star Wars, the Bond films, Harry Potter or Star Trek. Great movies, but there are that many actors it’s hard to recognise all of them unless you’re a die hard fan.

Plus if something could be done within the next six months or so (I know, that’s highly unlikely) a lot of people would still be interested in anything with the word ‘Olympics’ in it.

P.S. Kate Howey (Judo), Richard Faulds and Ian Peel (Shooting) Jeanette Brakewell, Pippa Funnell, Leslie Law and Ian Stark (Equestrian) and this year Peter Wilson (Men's Double Trap).
Sorry I just couldn’t resist

Well done for naming some Olympians, that's more than I can do. I have absolutely no idea what sport a Men's Double Trap is even in. Sport really isn't my thing at all.

I do understand what you are saying about cators from Bond, Star Wars etc. However the difference with many actors is they are known for more than one thing, so even if you don't know who they played in Star Wars, you may know them from somewhere else, so you have a chance of attracting people from a wider encatchment area. With sport, most people are known for that one sport and that is it.
Cricketer Darren Gough says he has played cricket at internatinal level for England, won various awards but he still gets stopped and asked about Strictly Come Dancing more than his sporting achievements. If he hadn't done that show he would have been known mainly to cricket fans and that's it.

IMO this kind of event is best suited to coincide with future Olympics, Commonwealth Games etc when the athlete's profiles are raised, likely as pundits so they are in people's minds again. As it works out they alternate so one or the other is every two years. The same with The World Cup and the European Championships in football.

[reddragon]

Inviting Olympians to other shows would be excellent as there are some I have wanted to meet for ages - Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Mathhew Pincent, Ben Ainslee, Christine Ohuruogu, The Searle Brothers, Tim Barabants just to name a few.

[ericsdonor]

Given the amount of sports guests at events like collectormania, it'd be nice to try and get some of the Olympians past and present along, I for one would love to meet most of them!!

Cunningham1471 I think there's more people out there that would recognise sports and olympic stars rather than the same old ''3rd stormtrooper from the left'' type guests that get invited to a lot of events!!!!

My top Olympians would be Linford Christie, Steve Backley,Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent, Denise Lewis, Ian Thorpe, Mark Foster, Jess Ennis, Greg Rutherford, Tom Daley,Chris Hoy, I'm sure there's loads more but they are the ones I'd be very interested in meeting, and the way Olympic fever is gripping the nation I bet a lot of others would too!!!

[cunningham1471]

Ericsdonor, I agree with you there will be lots of people that will recognise sports and olympics stars. The point I was making was it's fine if you get the big or recognisable names like a Duncan Goodhew, etc, but it's the lesser known names that could be awkward. Imagine the scene, you have long queues for Sally Gunnell, Steve Cram, Linford Christie. how big do you think the line would be for Cathy Smallwood?

If you have the team of rowers, you will likely have big lines for Pinsent and Redgrave, will the other two from the four man team plus the cox have the same size lines?

I'm all for having this kind of con. If it's financially viable and popular then why not do it? I do just wonder if there are enough names of people to have as guests that people really want if they aren't the most popular events, or the big high profile names.

I've had many a conversation about the media's obsesion with football and a few sports despite in reality the vast majority of the teams, or players winning little or nothing of any importance. However we can have world champions in minority sports and they can go their whole careers without ever being mentioned in a natioanl newspaper, or on the news on TV. I wonder how many people know who Jonah Barrington is without looking it up? To save people looking him up he is regarded as one of the greatest squash players of all time, not just British, but in the world. He won the British open in six successive years between 1967 and 1973. How famous would he have been if he were a golfer and won the British open 6 years in a row, or a tennis player that won 6 titles of any description in a row?

[GoldenGreen]

Sounds like a good idea, but as mentioned would take a while to put together, so a potential risk may be that once Olympic fever has died down a bit may not be quite as popular. If you could run an event this month no doubt it would be a humdinger and well attended, but in a years time, who knows !

Perhaps an option is to have an Olympic athletes section as part of Collectormania to celebrate the success split into Olympic Legends and Stars of 2012.

[rjw499]

Just wanted to bump this as I really feel its a good idea - pls bring some guests to one of the other cons, judge popularity then see where this takes us...

[Charmer]

I'd go to this. Even if it wasn't just the big names (which I'm sure you'd be able to get a couple off at least) every sport has it's fans and these are real heroes in the truest sense of the word. You could even do photoshoots with them wearing their medels. Who knows, maybe we could have a photo wearing a medel ourself, lol!