London 2012 on the road in Liverpool
Post categories: Olympics
|09:38 UK time, Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Without a doubt, the greatest privilege of my working life has been to report for the BBC from the last five summer Olympic Games.
Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing have all given me memories I will treasure for ever, but, if I've got one tiny regret about my times there, it's this.
I wasn't at home to share them with everyone in the UK.
When friends talk about waiting up till the early hours of the morning to watch Steve Redgrave (now Sir Steve) win his fifth gold on BBC TV (while listening to BBC Radio 5 live's commentary, of course), I actually envy them. I was in Sydney, in a half-empty cafe close to Bondi Beach, but it was mid-morning and the few Aussies around me were bemused by the lone Brit leaping around on her own.
I can only imagine the joy back at home when Kelly Holmes won her second gold in Athens. The Greek taverna where I was having my tenth souvlaki of the week was distinctly underwhelmed.
The organisers of London 2012 want to send out a message that these are Games for the whole of the UK.
I'm Eleanor Oldroyd and I present Thursday night's 5 live Sport, where we will increasingly be focusing on London 2012, which will be the sixth summer Olympic Games I've covered for the BBC. I love a great range of sports - from motorsport to modern pentathlon - and I'm looking forward to talking about most of them, on air and here on my blog. 
