- When an American came into view, they booed and hissed, like a demented crowd at panto. And when the British athletes appeared – Dwain Chambers, James Dasaolu, Adam Gemili, Jessica Ennis, Christine Ohuruogu and particularly the 10,000m hero Mo Farah – they cheered and whooped for them with only slightly less intensity than was reserved for the Jamaicans.
Mo Farah, a Briton with origins in Somalia, gained the finest accolade. Said one out loud: "All he needs now is to grow an Afro."
There was something in that darkened auditorium that spoke to integration in Britain today and the extent to which the country's progress may be helped by the success of the multiracial, multicultural reality of Team GB. Just a snapshot, but it's worth considering the fact that not so very long ago, a similar crowd – with origins in the West Indies and roots in Britain – would have had much more difficulty with the calibration required to cheer on a Jamaican hero and, without missing a beat, to draw pride from the achievement of a black Briton competing in the same competition. Black cricketers who played against the West Indies once did so expecting to take a deal of stick. But there is an altered dynamic now.
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