Le beach volley est sport olympique, en fait le stade est une discothèque à ciel ouvert, diffusant de la musique à volume douloureux et affichant des pompom-girls lascives sur Horse Guards Parade en plein centre de Londres, à quelques mètres du 10 Downing Street et des principaux ministères... David Cameron is not amused ! Stephen Moss du Guardian rapporte :
Clive of India's statue presides over Horse Guards; the Churchill War Rooms are just next door; you can't help wondering what they would make of it. Three hundred years of imperial history; countless Trooping the Colours; and Horse Guards has come to this, a terrifying vision of 21st-century sport.
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All sport will probably be like this in a couple of decades – extreme entertainment. "Beach volleyball has been the rock-and-roll success of the 2012 Games," my evangelist tells me. But that cuts both ways. Are people enjoying the sport or the experience? Does it matter? Is sport a celebration of the moment, or something deeper? Does sport exist for players or spectators? Should packaging for the public be allowed to compromise its purity and authenticity? Ridiculously profound questions for 10.30 in the morning. The sand has to be raked every so often, and the brilliance – or do I mean crassness? – of the presentation is that they even make this a moment for celebration, demanding – and getting – applause for the "guardians of the sand". Cricket must surely take note. Give groundsmen star status – "the protectors of the pitch, the talismen of the turf, the warriors of the wicket, the swamis of the sward – and turn the bringing on of the heavy roller into an event.
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