with each action…

…bearing the weight of an entire people, profound connections must be forged between players and their respective homelands. It is this pressure that so often drives the transcendent narratives of Olympic Sport, but in Paris, some won’t get the privilege.

“Do you know what these three lions represent,” was the pivotal first question asked by Scotty Mills (the highest-ranking black Marine in history) when tasked by Gareth Southgate to lead the England Team’s cultural revolution. When I had the pleasure of meeting Scotty last month he explained that his job was not about instilling personal motivation in the players, it was about reigniting a flame that had burnt down to embers.

In Scotty’s view, it is patriotism and pride that drives both soldiers and athletes alike. Feel as you may about Southgate’s England, one achievement he can’t be denied is his reinvigoration of English national pride.

At Paris 2024, and in stark contrast, athletes from Russia and Belarus will participate at the Olympics as Individual Neutral Athletes (INAs), competing without the visible symbols of their nations (their flags and anthems). This raises a poignant question - without these emblems, will INA athletes find the same motivation to compete?

In this context, the absence of national symbols tests the very essence of pride and identity in the arena of international sport. Is sport the same without its tribal connotations? Playing in front of a home crowd will always give an athlete a boost, but what about the motivating factor of a crowd watching from home, or an anthem playing around a stadium? This image must run through the heads of the Team GB athletes - especially as they pull on their red and blue lycra - but, I wonder, what do the INAs think, and who do they hope is watching?