Olympics - your thoughts?

[esmecullen]

Do you think the London games have been a success both in the way of the organisation and the performance of Team GB?

I was a bit dubious with the opening ceremony thought it was rather quirky but looking back on it, yes it did work, I was giggling at the Queen's "sketch" she is a sport for agreeing to do it. I loved the fact that instead of one person lighting the cauldron........ they had 7 young athletes to do it, very inspiring! And the cauldron....... wow it is beautiful Only niggles I had were the fact that it went on too long and why oh why did they have David Beckham doing a "Bond type entrance" with the torch....... sorry but I cant stand the guy! *ready to duck and run now*

The games themselves............ I got so emotional when Bradley Wiggins, Sir Chris Hoy to name a few of the cycling team won gold, I even shed a tear for Andy Murray when he got his gold too and kudos to him for singing the National Anthem, it was a shame that he had to play his doubles match with less than an hour rest after his match with Roger Federer...... bit of mis-scheduling with that match, oh well never mind he & Laura got the silver.

More tears flowed when Mo Farrah won and when the equestrian team got their golds....... I was cheering myself horse lol, pardon the pun. Same with the judo, gymnastics, boxing, sailing etc, all the competitors have done us proud!!

So will anyone watch the closing ceremony? I dont think I will as personally speaking whoever thought its a good idea to have the Spice Girls perform needs their head examining *prepares to duck and run again*....... surely there are better singers/bands to choose from.

So yes........ I think they have been a success, even with the mess up with ticket allocations/sales, we have shown the world that we can throw the biggest party and we can hold our heads high with our acheivements on the track/field/arenas, etc

Any thoughts??

[bel]

I really wasnt looking forward to it, im not a sporty type of girl. And it also meant we couldnt visit our son who now lives in London

But i have loved it, i think team GB have done us and themselves proud

Im really going to miss the Olympics now, who would of known

[Perpetua]

I've embraced it wholeheartedly must admit Esme, despite being ambivalent about the whole business to begin with, whether that's because our success has been outstanding that's helped keep my interest going, I'm not sure.

I have found it sad though, that athletes who have won a Silver or a Bronze medal, have in some way felt themselves to have ' failed ' . . . as I've said on another thread, hopefully with time and a little less emotion they will view their medals with the success that they are.

However, all that said . . . I don't think these games have been the huge boost to the economy that the ' bigger uppers ' would like us to believe, I'm also watching with interest to see what happens to all the different venues when the games are over.

[kurotoshiro]

I thought the opening ceremony was fine. Olympic opening ceremonies are always a complete dog's breakfast, and this was no different.

As for the games themselves, even though I don't have the multiple channels on my TV (just 3 channels on basic freeview), I have enjoyed being able to watch whatever I want online. For me this makes a massive difference, as I really don't care about the nationalities of the athletes. They're all just people to me. I feel no less interest in and emotional attachment to a competitior from (say) South Korea than I do to a competitor who happens to live 50 miles down the road from me. I just want to watch the best competitors facing off against each other, regardless of where they come from. To me, that's the point of watching sport. And I was able to do this online. Coverage on the main BBC channels was quite frustrating to me, since they insist on cutting to anything that involves a Briton (even if they suck) rather than keeping the focus on the best competitors. So it's been nice to be able to shut that off, fire up the laptop, go online and say to myself "Right, here's an interesting event with some good competitors, I'm going to watch the quarters, semis and finals, and I'll be able to see everything that happens, regardless of whether there's any "British interest" in it or not.

(I appreciate that most people watch sport with a completely different attitude to mine, so what I'm saying here probably doesn't gel with most people, but since the question was asked, I thought I'd give an answer from my own perspective.)

[Brian]

As i said in a previous topic. I have thoroughly enjoyed the olympics.

When you think of the hours they all spend with training every day, in all weathers, just for this moment. Whether they are British, or whatever nationality, they are all heroes. I know i could never commit myself to such a strict lifestyle.

[Sandra (aka Chillax)]

Loved the opening ceremony, loved the games, loved the way the country has come together and given so much support.

[Bluefish]

It's been brill, pity I missed the first week of it as on my hols, but caught up via the web, loved it all.

[johnboy]

The BBC has done very well 10out of 10. We enjoyed it. Better than Corrie.

[OneDay]

Loved the opening ceremony. Looking forward to the closing ceremony, Spice Girls and all (they played a major role in the British music scene). The games themselves... so/so, I just don't enjoy sport. But.....

The Olympics vs. Real Life

I object to the fact that, in addition to all it's other coverage, BBC News has become an Olympic channel too.
I only buy newspapers at the weekend, the only chance I have to sit and read them properly. In today's Telegraph I had to turn to page 11 to get past the sport and read about Tia Sharp's body being found. It is exactly ten years since Soham and this piece of news is relegated to page 11. Let's maintain some perspective.

[Ellen]

This is something that really bothers me too when there are major events Oneday,
Lots of news gets buried at times like this. Whilst the Olympics are fun, they are just that, a source of entertainment, much more important things are happening in the world. Syria is a mess....anyone notice the banking crisis and constant bailouts that were happening 6 weeks ago seems to have gone off radar?

[domesticextremist]

Syria is a mess....anyone notice the banking crisis and constant bailouts that were happening 6 weeks ago seems to have gone off radar?

Don't worry ellen, it will all come back soon enough.

As for the olympics, I guess I have to be the curmudgeon

I watched cringed through the whole opening ceremony, and sine then I haven't
watched any of it, save about 15 minutes of the vaulting when the American tipped to
win landed on her backside.

I can't get excited about nationalism - nationality is an accident of birth, so it is not
interesting for me that the gold medal winner suffered the same freak accident.
I don't like the way it has become obligatory to wrap yourself in the flag and do a
victory parade for every event.

If were more about amateur sports (like the old days, say with Geoff Capes), I could
get a bit more enthusiastic, but it's gone too far over the top for my liking.

I won't be sorry when it's all done with and I'll be able to go into London again.

Bah humbug

[Ellen]

Totally agree, especially about the accident of birth, you have no choice where you are born, yet it affects everything. Nationalism is the reason my fella and me have to live 7000 miles apart and spend hundreds of pounds a year just to spend a few weeks together. The logic of that escapes
me, apologies for taking this thread off on a tangent

[esmecullen]

No probs hun...... just wanted to know what members thought! I was never a fan of the olympics....... in fact previous ones were tedious to me. But I have enjoyed this one. And yes I agree BBC seems to think that nothing else is going on in the world except the olympics.......... mind you I never really watch BBC in any event.

I bet Cameron and his cronies........... and barking Boris will try and take all the credit for the success and sod all the hard working volunteers >

[Perpetua]

Didn't Mo Farrah do well tonight.

[bel]

I missed it Perpy

Iv just seen Tom diving he got a bronze