Nick Westby: Yorkshire will get the chance to embrace spirit of the Olympics

ON winning a silver medal in a gruelling marathon at the Berlin Olympics of 1936, Ernest Harper of Sheffield found the strength to lift his shattered body off the track and go in search of the showers.

He did so with a cigarette clinging to his drying lips.

There was no lap of honour for Britain's surprise silver medallist under the gaze of the Fhrer, no energy drinks to revitalise him, no press conference, not even a British support team to escort him back to the dressing room.

He was left to limp towards the bowels of the stadium, nursing a blistered foot that had filled his running boot with blood for the final miles of the marathon.

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He was eventually discovered by a bewildered American journalist and carried to the showers, the cigarette still trapped between his lips.

"Much credit for my victory must go to Mr Harper of England," was the only recorded praise forthcoming, and that from the marathon's winner, Son Ki-Jung of Korea, himself a victim of persecution in his homeland by the invading Japanese.

Harper was a coal miner by trade and an amateur runner with the Hallamshire Harriers.

He was 34 by the time of the Berlin Games, an Olympics when the celebration of sport was used as a force for evil by Adolf Hitler, who turned the Games into a propaganda weapon to demonstrate to the watching world the power of the Nazi party that had taken control of Germany and would soon attempt to take over Europe.

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Harper had won a host of honours at national and international level, winning silver in the six-mile run at the Empire Games of 1930 and competing in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics in Paris and Amsterdam.

But he had never won a marathon and his achievement in finishing second and helping Son defy the politics of the time by winning the race is one of the heart-warming tales from a Games dominated by Hitler and American sprinter Jesse Owens.

Remarkably, Harper's achievement 75 years ago was forgotten within a matter of minutes.

How times have changed, for with 18 months still to go until the 2012 Summer Olympics, London's staging of what is now the biggest show on earth is a topic that is never far from the headlines, while the stars of today will be feted until their dying day – and beyond.

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Who will be Britain's heroes in front of their home fans? Can anyone catch Usain Bolt? How far over budget are we? Will Tottenham Hotspur ruin our Olympic legacy?

Everything is scrutinised down to the tiniest detail, from the construction of the Olympic Park to the form of the athletes.

Three quarters of a century ago preparation for Harper was a day at the coal face, with a few cigarettes to ease the burden, followed by a run with the Harriers.

Preparation nowadays involves training six days a week, plus meetings with sports psychologists, nutritionalists and physiotherapists.

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No stone is left unturned as Jessica Ennis, Ed Clancy, Paul Goodison, Andy Hodge and others in Yorkshire's contingent of Olympic hopefuls build up to an event that will define their lives.

And rightly so, for it does not get any bigger than a home Olympics.

At present, there are thousands of Britons training day and night to force their way into the Olympic squad.

For some, like the track cyclists Clancy, Lizzie Armitstead and Ben Swift, the qualification process has already begun, while others are merely turning thoughts towards winning gold in front of their home fans, and ensuring they prime themselves to reach peak physical fitness and form for when the Games begin.

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For every favourite like Ennis or Bolt, there is a Harper ready to steal the glory, if not necessarily the limelight. It is why the favourites must train as hard as their rivals.

But an Olympics is not just about the athletes and the medals, it is about legacy and the impact on the rest of the country.

With the focus on London, the people from Northallerton to Normanton might wonder what all the fuss is about and whether they will get a piece of the action.

But thanks to some pro-active people in Yorkshire, the county's economy is already improving because of London 2012.

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Forty businesses have taken a slice of the 700m of work to be tendered for the construction of the site and the actual running of the Olympics.

In addition, the international standard facilities here in Yorkshire – from the English Institute of Sport and Ponds Forge in Sheffield, to the John Charles Aquatics Centre in Leeds – have encouraged overseas teams to sign up to use them as training camps ahead of the Olympics.

Individual teams from the United States, Brazil and Holland will be based in the county, as will entire Olympic squads from Serbia, Guinea and Gambia.

All those athletes will be on show for the people of the White Rose to watch and follow in the Games.

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There are also education and cultural programmes in the pipeline throughout the villages, towns and cities of the county.

If the people of Yorkshire want an Olympic legacy then they should get off their backsides and go watch these people train, get involved in the activities, enrol in sports clubs and bid for these contracts.

Good things do not come to those who wait. As in sport, they go to those who make things happen.

London 2012 might still be 18 months away, but the excitement and expectation is building. It makes you wonder what Ernest Harper would have made of it all.

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Harper died in Australia in October 1979, a year before the Olympics would again be used as a political weapon, with the US boycott of the Moscow Games of 1980.

Probably he would have lit a cigarette, shrugged his shoulders and headed down the pit.

Murray must be quick to learn

Hopes were raised and then dashed, as always.

Two weeks spent convincing ourselves this would be the year, this would be the grand slam when Britain's 75-year search for a male winner of a major tennis tournament would come to an overdue end, have ended in disappointment in Melbourne.

Things have been highlighted which we knew already about Andy Murray – his lack of mental strength, the faltering in concentration levels and the occasional first-serve percentage more likely to be expected from an unseeded also-ran.

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Counter-balancing those flaws are the obvious talent, the desire, the bulldog spirit.

Murray will get there one day. For the sake of exorcising a ghost that has haunted the sport in this country for too long, we need him to.

What he must do now, in the wake of yesterday's Australian Open final defeat, is not repeat the mistake of last year. Defeat to Roger Federer in the Melbourne final 12 months ago shattered Murray mentally and physically for too long.

He needs to put this behind him quickly, hire a coach, reassess his tactics and work on that first serve. After all, he still has three more chances this year.