Sybil Ruscoe is thrilled by Olympic opportunity

Shropshire journalist Sybil Ruscoe has struck gold at the Olympics, after she and her husband Tom Knight were chosen to write the official record of London 2012.

"Every Olympics has an official commemorative book and to be a writer and to be asked to do this is an incredibly proud moment, because Shropshire gave the world the modern Olympics and if it was not for William Penny Brookes, and Pierre de Coubertin meeting him, we would not have the modern Olympic Games.

"As a Salopian I'm really proud to be doing it," said Sybil, who hails from Wem but lives now in Stow-on-the-Wold.

"My husband was the former athletics correspondent on the Daily Telegraph and first of all the publishers came to Tom to talk to him about it.

Obviously, because it's such a huge project, they thought two hands would be better than one and asked if we would both write it together.

"We have our own media company – media consultancy and media training.

"I first started writing sport on Shropshire weekly papers back in 1978, then I spent five years on Radio Five Live when I covered everything from the Olympic Games to the Open golf championship, athletics – all sorts of sport. Then I worked on Channel Four Cricket. I have worked on sport for 30 years or more.

"The book publisher is called Wiley, who are the official publishers for all the London 2012 Olympic Games.

"We are writing the entire story, from where it all began, how we won the bid, a little bit of the history of the Olympic Games with the Much Wenlock connection, how the Games were put in place, how everything was built, the events, and the sustainable legacies.

"We are at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games writing about all the reaction. It's a unique record really of everything that happened to do with London 2012. It captures the sporting action and everything to do with how we made it happen. It will be a triumph and tragedy of what happens on the track and the sports field – you know what the Olympic Games are like.

"The book will sell to the public, but also form part of the official record of London 2012 and goes into the IOC archives."

As official authors, Sybil and Tom have official International Olympic Committee passes, and will be at the Games every day.

"We will be watching as much as we can, and including people who were there, people who work at the Games, the volunteers, and the crowd as well.

"It's a unique historical record and memento of the Games, a keepsake and heirloom which people hopefully will be able to keep forever and show their grandchildren and say 'This is what happened when we held the games in London in 2012.'

"It's got facts and figures and will have the entire medal table, so it's quite a large book, a coffee table book, 12in by 12in, with 300 pages.

"It's going to be the biggest challenge of both our careers as journalists to write a book like this, something that people years from now will go into the Olympic archive to see what happened in London and will be reading what we wrote."

Sybil adds: "I feel incredibly proud we will be leaving something behind like that and obviously it's a huge challenge. But can you imagine a better job than spending the summer at the Olympic and Paralympic games?"

While the media company she runs with Tom takes up most of her time, Sybil still does some radio work with BBC Oxford and BBC Gloucestershire, presenting and producing. She also joined BBC Shropshire's Colin Young, and Shropshire Star assistant editor Carl Jones, broadcasting live from the Queen's visit to Cosford.

"I wouldn't like to predict how many medals we are going to win. I'm really looking forward to seeing people like Mo Farah on the track, and also seeing a lot of the Paralympic Games, with people like track sprinter Mickey Bushell of Telford, who is the Usain Bolt of the Paralympic Games.

"We've been living and breathing the Olympics and Paralympic Games for the last 18 months. It's tremendously exciting to be so closely involved."

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games official commemorative book by Tom Knight and Sybil Ruscoe costs £29.99. It is published on October 12, but can be pre-ordered now.