In the years since, I started to watch many other sports on television. Test cricket was soon a firm favourite at a time when an attack of glandular fever left me shut away in the house during a series in the West Indies, snooker had been coaxed from the pubs and clubs of Britain and mutated into primetime viewing thanks to some clever branding and the realisation that it was a sport that was comparatively cheap and straightforward to show on television. And then there was the Olympic Games, a stunning sporting spectacle which happened every four years and in which all the world took part on the same terms. Or so we were taught.

As my earliest recollection of anything connected with the Olympics was the horrific events which occured in Munich in 1972, it’s possibly odd that I adored the whole concept of the event so much. But those same games also delivered Mark Spitz’s amazing tally of seven gold medals in the swimming pool – an achievement only bettered in 2008 by Michael Phelps. Days and days of watching Communist regime athletes effortlessly beating allcomers aided by performance enhancing drugs which were not identified didn’t dent my enthusiasm either, and I have enthusiastically watched as much television footage as I could in past years – until now. (Is it any great shock that I now have to wear glasses to see properly and am considering having Laser eye surgery? Too many days spent watching sport on the TV!)

And no matter how hard I try, I’m finding it a problem to get any enthusiasm for the London Games. Even friends who generally don’t enjoy sport think that they’d probably like to go and spectate at a couple of events, as it might be the only opportunity that they have in their lifetime, yet I, who used to be such an avid sports fan, and can reach the main Olympic site in less than an hour from home, have little interest in trying to buy tickets.

I would suggest that there are a few reasons for this. Firstly, I am tired of the number of scandals and less than savoury events that seem to sully many sports – pub fight footballers, bribed cricketers, drug using athletes, jockeys taking backhanders, and behind all of them, the dubious characters who are responsible for most of the damage and who create such havoc purely for personal financial profit.

Secondly, big business has muscled in on on so many events now. Everything has corporate branding, events are scheduled to accommodate television executives wishes rather than the fans, sportsmen and women are told what clothes they must wear and which products they must endorse, including diet supplements and Laser eye treatments – aren’t these actually ‘legal’ cheating? But the reality for sports lovers is paying ridiculous prices to watch a match in order to top up the corporate pockets of the businessmen who are running the show, and without necessarily being certain if teams or competitors are actually participating against each other on equal terms. The golfer who sings the praises of Laser eye surgery – doesn’t the treatment give him an unfair advantage? The football team whose management have taken on some obscure kind of therapist – is everything he expects the team to do totally legal?

Finally, I don’t see the wealth of personalities in sport any longer. There are a few characters who would be thought of as entertaining, but in the light of the money now involved, most sportspeople don’t think that they can do something outrageous every now and then because anything they do or say could impact on their contract. I find myself hoping for another Daley Thompson, Graham Hill, Tony Currie, Alan Minter or John McEnroe (though I can believe that he’d probably be publicising Laser eye treatment if he was still playing at his peak now – although for the tennis officials rather than himself!)

Extreme sports doesn’t always have to do with perceptions of danger as there are plenty of physically dangerous sports that would not always be considered “extreme”. Snowboarding, for instance, has a more extreme sports selling tinge to it but in reality it is no more perilous than the normal counterpart of skiing. Skiing can be, in reality, more threatening to players than boarding can be.

The definition of extreme sports in terms of marketing has shifted over the years and has become more linked with youth culture than ever. If it is sold towards youth, like BMX racing, it is likely going to be put forward in a “in your face” way with challenging adverts which will offer a perception of an acute lifestyle as being freeing and animated. The lifestyle of an extreme sports enthusiast involves always testing the boundaries and “living life to the fullest”. The term now refers to youth orientated sports such as skateboarding, snow-boarding, and BMX. Marketing programs from soft drink firms, energy drink firms, and clothing firms all customarily use the idea of those sports in their advertisements to boost sales.

Several people within the extreme sports lifestyle don’t fall under the “adrenaline junkie” idea but they do represent a certain cultural demographic. This means that they frequently dress in a certain way, listen to aparticular sort of music, and often are drawn to a particular form of entertainment that theymight consider to be pushing the boundaries. Many skateboarding and snowboarding films are made to fill this active demographic notwithstanding many of the spectators never having used a skateboard in their lives. In any case, the cash remains the same color coming from all pockets