Olympic Games [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-27, 02:25 PM

Why are people responding as though the horrible things london has done in preparation didn't occur?, London has ended up worse then china with the preparations, seriously, why does no-one object to the rocket launchers, fighter planes, and armed guards(why do you need a literal army at a sporting festival?, china is more volatile and even it didn't go that far), and the various other illogical things they've done to "prepare"?

Because those are a) politics and thus not forum appropriate
and b) those are the IOC's requirements.

To be honest, with the way the IOC is, I'm not sure why any country would want to host the Olympics. The Winter Olympics are still small enough to be manageable, but the Summer Olympics are just... not working.

Spiryt

2012-07-27, 02:26 PM

Why are people responding as though the horrible things london has done in preparation didn't occur?, London has ended up worse then china with the preparations, seriously, why does no-one object to the rocket launchers, fighter planes, and armed guards(why do you need a literal army at a sporting festival?, china is more volatile and even it didn't go that far), and the various other illogical things they've done to "prepare"?

Mostly because politics are no-go here.

Other than that, there's metric tonnes rumors about some terrorist/whatever attacks going on.

Togath

2012-07-27, 02:37 PM

Ahh....forgot about the no politics rule, darn

valadil

2012-07-27, 03:57 PM

You'd think his depth perception would still be a major factor.

Not really. The target is at a fixed distance. I wanna say it's 90m, but it's been a while since I've done competitive archery and I'm probably both misremembering and outdated. At any rate, he's trained for that particular distance and knows what it is in advance.

Haruki-kun

2012-07-27, 03:58 PM

*watching ceremony*

Anyone else think Rowan Atkinson playing the keyboard was the best thing ever? :smallbiggrin:

THAC0

2012-07-27, 04:31 PM

Not on here for another two hours. :smallfrown:

Loki_42

2012-07-27, 04:56 PM

I don't really watch the Olympics, out of a combination of not really caring about athletics or national pride, but I was giggling at a local network running it as the XXX Summer Olympics.

I'm assuming it's just the 30th summer olympics, even if that number doesn't sound right, but it did give me pause.

Rawhide

2012-07-27, 05:17 PM

What's that bucket like thing that each team is carrying like its a flower bouquet?

DraPrime

2012-07-27, 05:29 PM

*watching ceremony*

Anyone else think Rowan Atkinson playing the keyboard was the best thing ever? :smallbiggrin:

It was indeed. That man is so very awesome. It was also cool to see Sir Tim Burners Lee, since I knew his son in high school.

Also, wooooooo Poland just went by! Wygrywajcie wiele medali! :smallbiggrin:

teratorn

2012-07-27, 05:39 PM

I sort of expected David Tennant to light the torch. Not a big fan of the games, I'll probably just watch the long distance runners and a couple of football matches.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-27, 05:40 PM

*watching ceremony*

Anyone else think Rowan Atkinson playing the keyboard was the best thing ever? :smallbiggrin:

Yeah it was AWESOME

What's that bucket like thing that each team is carrying like its a flower bouquet?

We were wondering about that...

It was indeed. That man is so very awesome. It was also cool to see Sir Tim Burners Lee, since I knew his son in high school.

Also, wooooooo Poland just went by! Wygrywajcie wiele medali! :smallbiggrin:

Yeah, that was pretty funny. Apparently he sent out a tweet the instant he was revealed. That's what he was doing on the computer. :D

I just figured out what the deal was with the independent athletes is. You can only compete under your countries name and flag if your country has a National Olympic Committee, and South Sudan doesn't, and neither does the various countries of the recently dissolved Netherlands Antilles. But 1 South Sudanese and 3 of the former Netherlands Antilles athletes qualify for independent athlete status.

Haruki-kun

2012-07-27, 05:50 PM

What's that bucket like thing that each team is carrying like its a flower bouquet?

You know I really don't know. We've been asking that since it started and we still have no clue. I figured they were gonna use it when they actually lit the torch or something.

DraPrime

2012-07-27, 05:52 PM

Haruki-kun

2012-07-27, 05:55 PM

*sees American athletes*

Huh, why did we dress them to look like soldiers? Ah well, it's always fun to see the absurd number of people that we wend. It's good to have a population of 300 million. Also, appropriate music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI).

If they don't explain what these metal bowl thingies are then it'll bug me for weeks.

Funny thing: My mom kept saying that it was ridiculous to dress people up in "traditional" clothes and that everyone should just go in formal attire. Then Mexico (our country) came up wearing the flashiest attire ever. Had to stop. :smalltongue:

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-27, 05:58 PM

The Canadians wore the exact same sweaters we always do. I don't mind, I quite like those Canada sweater hoodie things.

Edit: I LOOOOVE the various African countries with the epic traditional dress though.

DraPrime

2012-07-27, 05:58 PM

Funny thing: My mom kept saying that it was ridiculous to dress people up in "traditional" clothes and that everyone should just go in formal attire. Then Mexico (our country) came up wearing the flashiest attire ever. Had to stop. :smalltongue:

Bah, formal dress is boring unless you do something interesting with it. Mexico's crazy amount of color was awesome. :smallbiggrin:

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-27, 06:03 PM

ARCTIC MONKEYS <3
FIREWORKS <3

Say what you like, these olympics win at music.

Because Britain wins at music.

Seriously.

DraPrime

2012-07-27, 06:04 PM

And now we have moved onto...birds on bicycles? :smallconfused:

Haruki-kun

2012-07-27, 06:10 PM

I'm loving this ceremony. And I agree, I liked the traditional dresses a lot.

Also, I've been looking through Google... No one knows what the metal buckets are. :smallconfused:

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-27, 06:23 PM

DraPrime

2012-07-27, 06:31 PM

Muhammed Ali slouches on his chair like a boss. Everyone else stands.

I love that guy. I adore almost everything he does.

Edit: They're copper petals, part of the lighting ceremony, says the CTV announcers.

Indeed it was pretty awesome to see Muhammed Ali. That man is quite awesome. I suppose we'll now find out what the metal shell/bowl things are if they really are for lighting purposes.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-27, 06:41 PM

Well, that was kinda impressive, but I didn't recognize or even catch the names of any of the torch bearers.

Rawhide

2012-07-27, 06:42 PM

Well, that explains that, I guess.

Avaris

2012-07-27, 06:44 PM

Well, that was kinda impressive, but I didn't recognize or even catch the names of any of the torch bearers.

Sort of the point that you didn't recognise them I guess: they aren't famous athletes yet, just kids from the next generation

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-27, 06:45 PM

Sort of the point that you didn't recognise them I guess: they aren't famous athletes yet, just kids from the next generation

Yeah, but I would at least like to be able to find their names somewhere!

Haruki-kun

2012-07-27, 07:32 PM

I really liked the torch this year, but my favorite (out of the ones I've seen) is Sydney 2000. Although I'll admit the most impressive one is still Barcelona 1992.

Rawhide

2012-07-27, 07:39 PM

Although I'll admit the most impressive one is still Barcelona 1992.

He missed! Did you watch the side on angle replay? It shot right over the top. They flooded the air above the torch with gas so that he didn't actually have to hit anything, just get it in the general vicinity.

Haruki-kun

2012-07-27, 07:45 PM

=I

Well, I still can't shoot accurately at the general vicinity! I mean I assumed it wasn't a bull's eye or anything.

Malak'ai

2012-07-27, 07:48 PM

*sees American athletes*

Huh, why did we dress them to look like soldiers? Ah well, it's always fun to see the absurd number of people that we send. It's good to have a population of 300 million. Also, appropriate music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI).

If they don't explain what these metal bowl thingies are then it'll bug me for weeks.

... They really played the theme from Team America as the American entrance music??? How on earth was it allowed with all the swearing and use of crude genital names???

DraPrime

2012-07-27, 09:13 PM

... They really played the theme from Team America as the American entrance music??? How on earth was it allowed with all the swearing and use of crude genital names???

No, no they didn't. I simply linked the song.

Malak'ai

2012-07-27, 09:15 PM

I was gunna say... Mind you, it would have been pretty funny if they had :smalltongue:.

Maxios

2012-07-27, 10:22 PM

My mind, it has just been blown

irenicObserver

2012-07-27, 10:46 PM

I don't know if that's cute, or creepy.
I loled :biggrin:

Siosilvar

2012-07-27, 10:57 PM

I think I speak for everyone when I say "Wow, McCartney is getting old."

Telonius

2012-07-27, 11:02 PM

Yeah, he does ... but I could really see him getting the energy off of that crowd towards the end.

Madara

2012-07-27, 11:08 PM

I think I speak for everyone when I say "Wow, McCartney is getting old."

Yup, his voice isn't what it used to be.

Yeah, he does ... but I could really see him getting the energy off of that crowd towards the end.

I was conflicted between wanting more of him, and enjoying seeing him get the crowed really excited.

By the way, here in America the opening just ended. So that means I probably won't look at this thread for fear of spoilers. :smallamused:

Gnomish Wanderer

2012-07-28, 01:18 AM

The countries are just finishing their walk at this point in the recording here, I'm pretty impressed with the outfits. The American narrators they have are kinda taking away from the experience by being generally clueless and mispronouncing things. Including at least one country's name *sigh*

I really liked the opening show before the walk, that was great. And the two announcers who yell the country's names as they went by were fun to listen to.

As for the sports themselves, I'm not really too interested. Still, the intro and spirit is fun to watch.

Birds on bikes just now? :P

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-28, 01:27 AM

ForzaFiori

2012-07-28, 01:53 AM

I really disliked America's outfits. I think my mom put it best when she said that they look like French spies, lol. I thought the ceremony itself was amazing though. The part with 007 and the Queen was epic, I can't believe she went along with it.

Also, I can't remember who, but one of the nation's flag bearers went to Clemson! I'm gonna have to watch the ceremony again tomorrow and write down the name so I can see how they do.

Edit: after trying to look it up, it turns out there are 5 Tigers competing in the Olympics, for Haiti, The Bahamas, Portugal, The Cayman Islands, and America.

Peat

2012-07-28, 02:01 AM

Yup, his voice isn't what it used to be.

I was conflicted between wanting more of him, and enjoying seeing him get the crowed really excited.

By the way, here in America the opening just ended. So that means I probably won't look at this thread for fear of spoilers. :smallamused:

I once got to watch Paul McCartney from back stage. Good times. Why don't I do that cool job now?

Anyway... from being somewhat meh on the games, I've become fairly excited. I don't really care for most of the sports, but to hell with it - there's a party on! And I was startled to find myself welling up at the Opening Ceremony, left me as proud to be British as I've been since... *pause* it'll come back to me. I might even try nabbing some last minute tickets, simply because I can.

Archonic Energy

2012-07-28, 02:18 AM

Yeah, but I would at least like to be able to find their names somewhere!

their names were announced along with the gold medallist who put their name forward for them to do it. in both English and French. unless your local tv network removed all the audio from the stadium.

Miklus

2012-07-28, 03:03 AM

Rowing is coming up in about two hours. Denmark will win! :smallbiggrin:

Rowing and sailing is our best deciplines. We got a grudge match coming up in the 49'er class against Spain. Remember last time where the danish team broke their mast and won anyway? Then Spain sued us and all that? That was epic.

Altaria87

2012-07-28, 03:26 AM

Yeah, but I would at least like to be able to find their names somewhere!

Coming straight from the BBC website, they were also announced by the commentators at the ceremony, but you might have missed it in your country's commentary?
Rower Cameron MacRitchie, 19
Sailor Callum Airlie, 17
London 2012 Young Ambassador Jordan Duckitt, 18
Runner Desiree Henry, 16
Runner Katie Kirk, 18
Javelin thrower Aidan Reynolds, 18
Runner Adelle Tracey, 19 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19024475)

Aedilred

2012-07-28, 07:55 AM

I really liked the torch this year, but my favorite (out of the ones I've seen) is Sydney 2000. Although I'll admit the most impressive one is still Barcelona 1992.
Seoul 1988, when they lit the doves on fire, was quite funny, in a horrific sort of way.

CoffeeIncluded

2012-07-28, 10:55 AM

Spiryt

2012-07-28, 11:00 AM

The ones were country has representation, obviously. :smalltongue:

I wanted to watch Judo, anyway, but no channel seems to be broadcasting it.

Gotta search the net.

SaintRidley

2012-07-28, 11:18 AM

I'm only sad that I will be without internet the day the women's individual sabre and men's individual epee events happen. Hope I'll be able to get video after that.

CoffeeIncluded

2012-07-28, 11:20 AM

I'm only sad that I will be without internet the day the women's individual sabre and men's individual epee events happen. Hope I'll be able to get video after that.

What day is that? My brother fences and he really wants to know when the epee is.

Dr. Simon

2012-07-28, 11:20 AM

I'm not normally interested in such things, but I stayed up and watched this ceremony; probably the best thing was the overall sense of fun. James Bond with the Queen parachuting into the stadium (with Her Maj in on the joke, even if she had nodded off by the time Team GB went past!), Rowan Atkinson's Mr Bean Chariots of Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal, Becks on a speedboat, Mary Poppins vs. Voldemort - not sure I've seen an ceremony where everyone involved had such genuine beaming smiles. Laughed at the end - my wife had jokingly predicted by the time JK Rowling appeared that Paul McCartney would turn up at the end to sing Hey Jude. And he did!

Also loved the celebration of the "ordinary guy", from Steve Redgrave's honour guard of the people who built the Olympic village to all the schoolchildren, NHS staff and other volunteers who took part in the ceremony, plus the sweet idea of giving the torch-lighting honours to up-and-coming athletes.

And apparently Danny Boyle is indirectly responsible for the first lesbian kiss broadcast on Saudi TV, so well done there too!

The Canadians wore the exact same sweaters we always do. I don't mind, I quite like those Canada sweater hoodie things.

Yeah, not sure about the gold armpits of Team GB. USA and Australia looked like cabin staff. Thought Denmark should have all worn Sara Lund sweaters.

No, no they didn't. I simply linked the song.

But they did play the Bee Gees for Fiji. On purpose? Probably.

SaintRidley

2012-07-28, 11:52 AM

What day is that? My brother fences and he really wants to know when the epee is.

Men's is Wednesday, Women's is Monday for individual epee.

Full schedule for all team and individual fencing events here. (http://www.london2012.com/fencing/schedule-and-results/)

And holy crap, this U.S. v. Colombia game is turning brutal.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-28, 12:00 PM

their names were announced along with the gold medallist who put their name forward for them to do it. in both English and French. unless your local tv network removed all the audio from the stadium.

Aye, but it was pretty quiet and I think the commentators were talking over them. :smallsigh:

ForzaFiori

2012-07-28, 12:24 PM

Dang that archery final was close! I never thought I could get THAT into archery.

Topus

2012-07-28, 12:28 PM

and gold for our archers! :D :D

Topus

2012-07-28, 12:32 PM

Topus

2012-07-28, 12:46 PM

Jeez, our national anthem is so ridicolous, but i still find it so emotional when playing during the awarding. And also Francilli's tears, well done boys :°)

THAC0

2012-07-28, 01:43 PM

Rowan Atkinson's Mr Bean Chariots of Fire,

I hated that part.

DraPrime

2012-07-28, 01:47 PM

Well then, Ryan Lochte just won gold for the USA, and he did this while making Phelps (in fourth place) seem slow. Well done. :smallamused:

dehro

2012-07-28, 02:16 PM

yeah.. so, Italy is now second on the scoreboard..
I'm thinking that will last about 3 minutes.

Jeez, our national anthem is so ridicolous, but i still find it so emotional when playing during the awarding. And also Francilli's tears, well done boys :°)
yeah.. it is something of a cross between a fairground tune and a funeral march...

how much more awesome would the james bond scene have been if the actual queen had actually parachuted out of the chopper?
she strikes me as a lady that would have the stones for it.

Devmaar

2012-07-28, 02:24 PM

dehro

2012-07-28, 02:30 PM

Say, I was wondering, non-American playgrounders: Obviously there are too many events to televise them all. Different countries emphasize different events, right? Which events do your countries emphasize?

quite likely those where we all stand better chances to get a medal.

so for italy that would be swimming (the women, mostly), fencing, volleyball, waterpolo, gymnastics, diving (again, the wimmin), long distance running (I'm sure that's not what it's called, but there you go).. trap shooting, cycling, rowing, boxing .. I'm sure there'll be more.. and athletics when it gets to the point that most of the events are athletics (and the likes of Ussain Bolt start putting up shows)

also, probably kayaking, what with having the single female athlete who's taken part to more olympic games than any other..Josefa Idem is at her 8th games.. most of which for Italy (she's German born)

Starwulf

2012-07-28, 03:24 PM

Well then, Ryan Lochte just won gold for the USA, and he did this while making Phelps (in fourth place) seem slow. Well done. :smallamused:

Ehh, I'm not to worried about Phelps. The 400 IM has always been the one even that he dislikes the most, and he wasn't originally even planning on doing it at this Olympics, he changed his mind just this year after discussion with his coach. I'm confident Phelps will see a true return in form in his other races.

DrK

2012-07-28, 04:11 PM

Gold and silver granted in foil for Italy! Yay! :D

ok, gold, silver and bronze for individual female foil.
I have to say that the bronze won by Valentina Vezzali has been exciting like a gold medal; 4 strokes in 10 seconds! :O

that was very cool amd exciting

If you the right tv service or good enough broadband you can watch any event you like here

You BBC I-player. Its streming 24 different olympic channels covering every single event as it happens in real time. They've also got an extra 24 channels on sky, virgin etc...

Miklus

2012-07-28, 04:14 PM

Say, I was wondering, non-American playgrounders: Obviously there are too many events to televise them all. Different countries emphasize different events, right? Which events do your countries emphasize?

Danish television is showing rowing and sailing but also handball, tennis and badminton. Anything where we might have a chance of a medal.

The woman handball team just beat Sweden! Sweet.

The danish rowing team is on to the semi-finals, but not in as impressive from as could be hoped. We also got our little tennis darling. She was ranked #1 in the world at one point. She is on to round two.

Today they mostly showed swimming. Denmark finished 6th in the womens 4x100m free. Not too bad, all considered. But not much hope for medals in swimming, really.

CoffeeIncluded

2012-07-28, 04:25 PM

Hm, thanks guys! It's about what I expected but still pretty interesting. Now I'm just hoping I didn't miss the televised taped events of the swimming...

CoffeeIncluded

2012-07-28, 04:29 PM

Hm, thanks guys! It's about what I expected but still pretty interesting. Now I'm just hoping I didn't miss the televised taped events of the swimming...

teratorn

2012-07-28, 06:13 PM

He missed! Did you watch the side on angle replay? It shot right over the top. They flooded the air above the torch with gas so that he didn't actually have to hit anything, just get it in the general vicinity.

I remember hearing the time that the thing was in fact lit by a technician pressing a button. If that's the case they cheated: that was not the Olympic flame.

super dark33

2012-07-28, 06:16 PM

and yet another failed olympic for israel.
Not that anything was promised since start.
:smallsigh:

CoffeeIncluded

2012-07-28, 08:39 PM

The 400 IM was great, and I'm glad Lochte won the gold--it was an amazing race, but watching Phelps collapse like that was almost painful to watch. Still, it makes perfect sense; the 400 IM is a particularly grueling event, the outside lanes are terrible to swim in because you can't see the middle lanes as well and the waves from the other players hit you and splash along the ends of the pool, and he didn't train nearly as hard as he should have.

Haruki-kun

2012-07-28, 09:55 PM

Say, I was wondering, non-American playgrounders: Obviously there are too many events to televise them all. Different countries emphasize different events, right? Which events do your countries emphasize?

When big, well-known national athletes are competing, they show that, but most of the time they just go around showing random events. If you have satellite TV, then there's a whole bunch of channels showing different events.

dps

2012-07-28, 11:35 PM

Danish television is showing rowing and sailing but also handball, tennis and badminton. Anything where we might have a chance of a medal.

Interestingly, that list included 2 of the 3 sports in which the US has never medaled (handball and badminton; the other is table tennis).

A guy from a little town near my hometown was on the US handball team in 1976, which I thought was cool, so I read a little about the sport and that means I probably know more about it than 99.9% of Americans. Not that I know much more than what a brief newspaper article from 36 years ago can tell you.

super dark33

2012-07-29, 05:27 AM

We have one local channel taht broadcasts exactly what is broadcasted in eurosport channel.

I prefer watching eurosport, for better commentary.

Telonius

2012-07-29, 07:21 AM

Rawhide

2012-07-29, 08:00 AM

Incredible women's beach volleyball match yesterday in the preliminaries - USA and Australia. Probably the closest match May-Treanor and Walsh-Jennings have ever been in. It was incredible watching both teams - all of them clearly at the tops of their games. I'm just sad this was the preliminaries, and not the final!

Personally, I'm glad. We lost. :smalltongue:

CoffeeIncluded

2012-07-29, 08:38 AM

Rawhide

2012-07-29, 11:21 AM

In vollyball, they just blocked it twice in a row and one of the giant TVs in the background said "Monster Block".

My first thought was "no, that's only a double block, monster block would only kick in after four blocks in a row".

Spiryt

2012-07-29, 11:24 AM

Things start to kinda stink in Lifting and Judo unfortunately...

Weird scoring/ruling mistakes, ippons being ruled waza-ari's... :smallyuk:

LadyEowyn

2012-07-29, 12:06 PM

Canada has a med-al, Canada has a med-al!

And made the women's team gymnastics final for the first time ever!

:D

Dusk Eclipse

2012-07-29, 12:24 PM

I am on holidays in the UK and I was able to catch Mexico's first football match againts South Korea....which in my humble opinion was a terrible match. Now today I went to Coventry to try and watch the match against Gabon; but I couldn't get a ticket... And apparently it was a good one:smallsigh:

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-29, 03:22 PM

Canada has a med-al, Canada has a med-al!

And made the women's team gymnastics final for the first time ever!

:D

3-metre synchro diving? Nice! I hope our women's soccer manages a medal, we used to be the best at that. :smallsigh:

THAC0

2012-07-29, 05:11 PM

USA has their first athlete to medal in five consecutive games! And she did it by setting an Olympic record and tying the world record in skeet!!vv:smallbiggrin:

SaintRidley

2012-07-29, 05:51 PM

Poor Spain. You can tell that their under-23 team just hasn't quite got the same cohesiveness that their regular national team does. Sad to see them taken out of contention so early.

Surprising to me how well the unified GB team pulled it together, considering the showing the UAE put together. Good effort all around there.

Had a sad when Homer got eliminated in the sabre quarterfinal.

Feytalist

2012-07-30, 02:14 AM

South Africa's first gold medal and new world record. Men's 100m breaststroke. Which is great and all, but even better: he beat the Aussie :smallbiggrin:

Rawhide

2012-07-30, 02:15 AM

South Africa's first gold medal and new world record. Men's 100m breaststroke. Which is great and all, but even better: he beat the Aussie :smallbiggrin:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Killer Angel

2012-07-30, 02:56 AM

long distance running (I'm sure that's not what it's called, but there you go)..

And now, for the rest of the day, my mind will be filled with memories of Iron Maiden's "the loneliness of the long distance runner".

I have to say that the bronze won by Valentina Vezzali has been exciting like a gold medal; 4 strokes in 10 seconds! :O

Silver is more precious than bronze, but often it has a bitter taste... Certainly, Vezzali's medal tastes sweet.

super dark33

2012-07-30, 04:41 AM

An israeli got first place in 200m butterfly heat!

Who cares about medals?

Iruka

2012-07-30, 06:43 AM

USA has their first athlete to medal in five consecutive games! And she did it by setting an Olympic record and tying the world record in skeet!!vv:smallbiggrin:

That was awesome to watch. Just sad to see the german starter coming in last in the finals, in the training session the day before she hit 98/100. :smallfrown:

In other news, the german weightlifter I saw yesterday is extremely cute. And she lifted a new german record. :smallbiggrin:

Scarlet Knight

2012-07-30, 07:52 AM

I'm not normally interested in such things, but I stayed up and watched this ceremony; probably the best thing was the overall sense of fun. ...Rowan Atkinson's Mr Bean Chariots of Fire ...

To the fans of British humor: does Rowan's participation ( think of all the great British comedians passed over ) mean he's Britian's Comic Laureate?

Alarra

2012-07-30, 08:17 AM

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-07-30, 10:25 AM

The way people advance to the gymnastics all-around annoys me. It shouldn't be possible for someone to get a higher score than 20 of the 24 people advancing but not be able to advance because spots 1 and 2 went to other people on her team. She should get a chance to try for a medal. :smallannoyed:

Yup. That is VERY unfair, and is kinda showing how much the emphasis of the Olympics is no longer (if it ever was) on the athletes, and is instead on the nationalism.

Rawhide

2012-07-30, 10:26 AM

And the Australian Opals get a three pointer from behind the halfway line in the last seconds of the match to force it to overtime!

Devmaar

2012-07-30, 10:30 AM

The diving was a fantastic contest! Daley and Waterfield just one good dive from a silver medal and ending up fourth. Still, credit to the Mexican team for going for the high difficulty dives.

Fragenstein

2012-07-30, 10:39 AM

Yup. That is VERY unfair, and is kinda showing how much the emphasis of the Olympics is no longer (if it ever was) on the athletes, and is instead on the nationalism.

I always thought things took a really bad turn once pros were allowed to compete. It's the Winter Olympics. Not the Shaun White Show...

Thanks goodness I don't have to rely on network coverage in the USA. I swear, the only thing NBC would put on over the weekend were the names Phelps and Armstrong.

Mr. Phelps? You're awesome, and perhaps endorsements don't always remove amateur status, but once you do commercials for Subway I'm no longer interested in watching you compete.

Sorry about that.

Tvtyrant

2012-07-30, 10:42 AM

Honestly I just get the videos of the events I like after the event is over. Because trying to find the Judo event on a live stream is more work than I am willing to put in.

Iruka

2012-07-30, 01:34 PM

Women's fencing semi-finale was very thrilling and weird. I'm happy for Heidemann, but I feel with the Korean. Losing a guaranteed medal over a rules gap/human error has to be terrible.

Dr. Simon

2012-07-30, 02:43 PM

I hated that part.

Well, humour is subjective; I'm more impressed that we included a piece of childish slapstick as part of the opening ceremony to a prestigious international sporting event. So wrong, but so right because of that.

To the fans of British humor: does Rowan's participation ( think of all the great British comedians passed over ) mean he's Britian's Comic Laureate?

Heh! More likely because the Mr. Bean character is such a successful international export, plus his act is basically silent comedy.

Aedilred

2012-07-30, 02:50 PM

I'm not a big Mr Bean fan, but as mentioned above, he is probably our most successful comic export. On the other hand, the piano section reminded me of nothing so much as a rather good sketch by Rowan from before Not the 9 o'Clock News, so that was alright. Also, Blackadder was awesome.

Saw the men's sabre finals last night. I wasn't terribly impressed with Ochiuzzi's behaviour in the semi-final: there seemed to be a lot of gamesmanship. I was quite pleased Szilagyi won that. I also went to the park itself today, which was quite cool. It's a shame you can't buy decent beer, though. That would have really made a difference!

Also gutted for the GB men's team gymnasts. They were thrilled at first to get bronze (and rightfully so!), but after having silver dangled in front of them and then snatched away through no fault of their own it must feel like a bit of a let-down now.

Emmerask

2012-07-30, 02:54 PM

I´m fairly sure John Cleese is far wider known, maybe not by name-recognition but by his works certainly :smallsmile:

Aedilred

2012-07-30, 03:08 PM

Maybe in the English-speaking world, but Mr Bean is known all over the world. The films were also very successful, mostly outside Britain and the US. Mr Bean is also a more "universal" type of humour, where Python and Fawlty Towers are very British, which limits their appeal a bit.

I also suspect that Python in particular is much more widely known and loved within geek circles than outside them.

Emmerask

2012-07-30, 03:11 PM

I´m from Germany ^^
But yeah you could be right about the geek circle thing :smallsmile:

Fragenstein

2012-07-30, 03:13 PM

Grr... I intensely dislike it when people call him Mr. Bean. He has aname, you know?

It's 'Bladders' to me and always will be! :)

Aedilred

2012-07-30, 03:25 PM

Well, Mr Bean and Blackadder are two distinct characters, and they couldn't really be more different as programmes either. Mr Bean has been an enormously successful export; Blackadder... hasn't so much. And the Chariots of Fire sequence was much more akin to Mr Bean than anything else Rowan Atkinson's ever done. Well, except perhaps for this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npEwra5344s).

I much prefer Blackadder, mind.

THAC0

2012-07-30, 03:58 PM

Well, humour is subjective; I'm more impressed that we included a piece of childish slapstick as part of the opening ceremony to a prestigious international sporting event. So wrong, but so right because of that.

Oh, not because of that. I was just disappointed that they chose to use the LSO as a vehicle for the comedy. The LSO is one of the premier orchestras in the world and it would be nice for such a large audience to be exposed to them for themselves and not as a background for a comedian.

Aedilred

2012-07-30, 04:35 PM

Yeah, that was a bit of a shame, although I felt that the intention was to keep those who would otherwise find "just" a concert performance a bit dull entertained while it went on. At the stadium it would be different, of course, because you'd still be able to see the orchestra (and presumably Rowan's on-stage antics stopped when the video started). On TV, though, we only saw the video, so missed out on the LSO visually. Unfortunately, classical music is one of those things that's assumed to be uncool and uninteresting - we should probably count ourselves lucky we got them at all.

It's part of the problem with seeing that sort of thing broadcast when it's designed to be viewed live. It's fine, but you miss out on a lot, you don't necessarily get the same overview, and you don't get a choice about which details to look at. On the other hand, TV viewers probably get a better view of the detail the broadcaster chooses to highlight. I imagine the indoor/outdoor sequences worked rather differently onstage.

Rules Lawyer #1

2012-07-30, 08:17 PM

Extinguishing the Olympic torch?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??????????????????
:eek::mad::furious::furious::furious: cannot express my ire sufficiently in post

Aedilred

2012-07-30, 08:22 PM

Extinguishing the Olympic torch?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??????????????????
:eek::mad::furious::furious::furious: cannot express my ire sufficiently in post
Has that... happened? I haven't seen any reference to it.

Emmerask

2012-07-30, 08:24 PM

Haruki-kun

2012-07-30, 08:44 PM

The diving was a fantastic contest! Daley and Waterfield just one good dive from a silver medal and ending up fourth. Still, credit to the Mexican team for going for the high difficulty dives.

We're all very proud. It's the only medal we've gotten so far. :smallsmile: :smallfrown:

dps

2012-07-30, 10:23 PM

SaintRidley

2012-07-30, 11:59 PM

Iruka

2012-07-31, 02:01 AM

I can't think of a worse screwup that could have happened in fencing here. (http://blog.chron.com/olympics/2012/07/fencing-controversy-forces-korean-to-sit-on-piste-for-ages-eventually-costs-her-medal/)

I can :smallbiggrin:
But yeah, they definitely need to work on the rules to make sure this doesn't happen again.

GnomeFighter

2012-07-31, 05:08 AM

Dose anyone else find it odd how so many of the sports mix there own traditions and customs with those of the Olympics? I'm not talking about rules but about things like the Boxing PA was done like a professional boxing match with the entrance and the calling of it, and the hockey had music when goals were scored. At times it seems like a bunch of sports that happen to be at the same time rather than a cohesive event. The wide range of styles of outfits don't help. I really think the patterns on them within a team should be more cohesive so that you can see at a glance what team the person is from

Iruka

2012-07-31, 07:38 AM

I really think the patterns on them within a team should be more cohesive so that you can see at a glance what team the person is from

Definitely. I think Australia is relatively consistent with their green and yellow scheme but for most it's really hard to tell which team they belong to.
Would it for example be that hard for the swimmers to wear caps in their national colours?

Aedilred

2012-07-31, 07:58 AM

I'd say that in the US, both Python and Fawlty Towers (especially the former) are far more well known that Mr. Bean and Blackadder.
Oh yeah. With Python, I found that the TV sketches at least were actually better known among young people in the US than in the UK (Fawlty Towers less so).

Of course you're always going to get foreign fans of Python and the like, which is good, but I shouldn't imagine it's known as extensively in places like Asia. A lot of Python doesn't translate well (obviously stuff like the fish dance would) so if the audience doesn't speak English there's no point broadcasting... but Mr Bean relies mostly on visual comedy so has a more universal appeal. It also has a broader appeal, I think, outside the geek community. Even in the UK, there are a lot of people from the "Python generation" who would argue that it was always a bit of an in-joke, and, say, The Two Ronnies made for better TV.

FWIW, although I'm not a big Bean fan (and I do love both Python and FT) I've always felt that Cleese was slightly overrated in comparison to the rest of the field and would put him and Atkinson on about a par. How exactly the decision was made I don't know, but Atkinson does have a history of doing this sort of big national event (moreso than Cleese I think) and presumably it was thought that Mr Bean had a more global appeal - which is always the impression I'd had anyway. That's assuming that getting John Cleese was ever even an option - he might not have wanted to do it, after all, or charged too much for his services (he needs the money).

I imagine some thought was put into the global appeal of the featured comedian, at least partly on the basis that if we were to use the most beloved comedian in Britain, it would have been Stephen Fry.

Dr. Simon

2012-07-31, 11:20 AM

Well, my money would have been on Stephen Fry doing something, as a bone fide National Treasure, but perhaps he was too obvious for Danny Boyle?

As for Python, yeah... but I can't see it working if they stopped the ceremony for Palin and Cleese to do the dead parrot sketch (I wish to complain about this Dove of Peace I purchased from this very boutique not half an hour ago etc.). Besides, that stuff's coming up for 50 years old (although Atkinson must have been doing Bean for about 30 years). We do have new comedy, you know!

Aedilred

2012-07-31, 11:40 AM

Since I'm starting to find Stephen Fry increasingly ubiquitous (and smug, and irritating) I'm rather glad they didn't use him. I also don't know how well-known he is outside the UK. He's had a few feature-film roles (in minor parts, usually) but most of his TV work has been pretty domestic. I've found it quite amusing for a while how high Hugh Laurie's international profile is, considering in the UK he's probably the less famous member of his double-act.

I think Atkinson was a good choice. We do have newer comedy, but it tends to be a bit more hard-nosed and wouldn't necessarily work as well in that context. I don't think we could have deployed Ricky Gervais, for instance, especially after some of his previous cockups. David Mitchell probably doesn't have quite the profile yet. Simon Pegg hasn't done proper standup in about fifteen years and it shows whenever he tries. John Sessions is getting on a bit too much. Russell Brand? Is he even a comedian? Paul Merton is something of a legend but I can't see his brand of despondent surrealism going down all that well internationally, and I doubt anyone outside (certain portions of) the UK would even understand a word that Ross Noble said. Eddie Izzard or Frank Skinner could perhaps work... but then all of these are "verbal" comedians, and I think anything like that would have disrupted the ceremony - as well as not translating well (or at all).

Anyway, back to the Games. I'm getting a bit concerned about the paucity of medals Team GB are winning so far, especially given that they're not achieving domination in some of the events where medals looked nailed on (sailing, cycling). I fear that expectations were raised a bit too high by Beijing, also perhaps that home "advantage" is for too many of them turning into home pressure. With any luck, we'll make up the deficit over the next few days, and a good athletics performance would count for a lot, since our athletics has been relatively weak in recent Games.

ForzaFiori

2012-07-31, 01:14 PM

Definitely. I think Australia is relatively consistent with their green and yellow scheme but for most it's really hard to tell which team they belong to.
Would it for example be that hard for the swimmers to wear caps in their national colours?

The problem is that something like 50 countries use blue as their national color, or as the main color of several national colors (just off the top of my head, Argentina, Italy, France, the US, The UK, and almost every country that was formerly owned by the US or the UK has blue as a national color that they use at least some.)

Also, I think most countries DO use their national colors, it's just that with a few exceptions, countries have multiple national colors (Italy and the Netherlands being two obvious examples, using only blue and orange, respectively). The US, for instance, has red, white, and blue, while Germany has red, yellow, and black.

Iruka

2012-07-31, 04:48 PM

The problem is that something like 50 countries use blue as their national color, or as the main color of several national colors (just off the top of my head, Argentina, Italy, France, the US, The UK, and almost every country that was formerly owned by the US or the UK has blue as a national color that they use at least some.)

Also, I think most countries DO use their national colors, it's just that with a few exceptions, countries have multiple national colors (Italy and the Netherlands being two obvious examples, using only blue and orange, respectively). The US, for instance, has red, white, and blue, while Germany has red, yellow, and black.

It's gold, not yellow. :smalltongue:

Sorry, I was imprecise. What I meant was that they could use the colours from their flags (or better, the actual flag). Sure, good luck telling Australia and New Zealand apart but still an improvement to those races when everyone just wears a cap in white with sponsor logo. But I guess I just gave the answer why they don't have a different system atm ...

Come to think of it, I have no idea why german athletes traditionally wear black and white.

Emmerask

2012-07-31, 05:02 PM

Black and white are the Prussian "national" colors... well long story short these just stuck as tradition thats why they use black white :smallsmile:

Aedilred

2012-07-31, 05:18 PM

There's often a story of some sort behind the national colours of a sporting team. Italy wear blue because of the Savoyard royal connection, for instance. In motor racing, UK teams traditionally use green (although national colours are largely obsolete in racing now) because when they turned up for their first race in the early 20th century all their normal colours were taken by other teams. Brazil used to wear a different football kit until the 1950 WC final when they decided their old colours were cursed and they should create a more patriotic palette. And so on.

I'm not sure that having a flag on the cap would work - although it might... but then, that means the cap has to be on at exactly the right angle or it could cause further confusion, or just look really stupid. Rotate a Hungarian flag through 90 degrees and it becomes an Italian one (actually, that could be entertaining). But a lot of the time, the national colours of a team (like Australia's green and gold) are unrelated to the colours of the flag.

Feytalist

2012-08-01, 01:23 AM

Another swimming gold medal for South Africa. And this time, the guy beat Michael Phelps. By, like, a fingernail.

Guess our guys can really swim.

Killer Angel

2012-08-01, 01:55 AM

Guess our guys can really swim.

Our girls (Pellegrini, I'm looking at you), on the other side, forgot about it... :smallsigh:

dehro

2012-08-01, 02:52 AM

yeah..Italy seems to be heading towards a disastrous result this time around. typical really.. last time they made quite a splash (not just in the pool) so this time they got overconfident and swore they'd collect numerous medals. of course some iteration of Murphy's law applies to italians every time they get cocky.. their chances of failure increase alongside their confidence.

Dr. Simon

2012-08-01, 04:01 AM

Since I'm starting to find Stephen Fry increasingly ubiquitous (and smug, and irritating) I'm rather glad they didn't use him.

Agreed! It's just that at one point they seemed to be digging up every "national treasure" that they could find.

Russell Brand? Is he even a comedian?

There were rumours that he was due to do a cover of Pretty Vacant. Thank all the gods that was false.

Anyway, back to the Games. I'm getting a bit concerned about the paucity of medals Team GB are winning so far, especially given that they're not achieving domination in some of the events where medals looked nailed on (sailing, cycling). I fear that expectations were raised a bit too high by Beijing, also perhaps that home "advantage" is for too many of them turning into home pressure. With any luck, we'll make up the deficit over the next few days, and a good athletics performance would count for a lot, since our athletics has been relatively weak in recent Games.

I'm not worried yet - a lot of our chances are in disciplines that are still going through heats, and we're hanging in there. Ben Ainslie, whilst not top, is doing okay, as are women's football, for example. It's a pity that Cavendish and Daley, seeming shoe-ins for some kind of medal, crapped out like they did, but there are still more cycling and diving events so it's not the end. Gutsy performance by Team GB equestrian, particularly the cross-country.

Besides, China are hammering everyone!

Mauve Shirt

2012-08-01, 05:01 AM

And now, another look at how Michael Phelps won his awesome medal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111 I hate living in Baltimore.

dehro

2012-08-01, 05:58 AM

Besides, China are hammering everyone!

something tells me things are only going to be more and more in their favour as the years go by.. they've caught on to the idea that sports bring a lot of money, visibility and positive vibes, internationally.. and 1 in 6-7 of the planet's inhabitants is Chinese.. so..
I'm actually more surprised about the performances of what looks to me like a growing number of talented japanese swimmers. but this may be because I don't really follow the sport and for some reason they stood out to me more than the "usual names". for all I know they always were there at the bottom of the podium

Devmaar

2012-08-01, 08:05 AM

I'm not worried yet - a lot of our chances are in disciplines that are still going through heats, and we're hanging in there. Ben Ainslie, whilst not top, is doing okay, as are women's football, for example. It's a pity that Cavendish and Daley, seeming shoe-ins for some kind of medal, crapped out like they did, but there are still more cycling and diving events so it's not the end. Gutsy performance by Team GB equestrian, particularly the cross-country.

We're picking up medals in rowing and the track cycling hasn't even started so I'd say things are going fine.

Aedilred

2012-08-01, 10:22 AM

Agreed! It's just that at one point they seemed to be digging up every "national treasure" that they could find.
Maybe they should have used Jim Davidson. :smallwink:

Besides, China are hammering everyone!
That's true. But then, they should. Maybe they should do a "medals per capita" table? (I'm sure the Australians would like that).

Devmaar

2012-08-01, 10:37 AM

That's true. But then, they should. Maybe they should do a "medals per capita" table? (I'm sure the Australians would like that).

Barbados have topped that for the past 2 or 3

Miklus

2012-08-01, 11:43 AM

Scandal in womens badmintion! But hey, Denmarks medal chances just improved :smalltongue:

ForzaFiori

2012-08-01, 01:50 PM

Emmerask

2012-08-01, 02:03 PM

Scandal in womens badmintion! But hey, Denmarks medal chances just improved :smalltongue:

Yes I was quite appalled watching it, there are quite a few spectators who payed good money to see a badminton game, I really think that they should be reimbursed by the offending teams on top of the disqualification.

Winning by any means really is not what I want to see when watching the olympics.

Dr. Simon

2012-08-02, 09:56 AM

Oh yeah! Gold and Silver in men's C2 slalom. Gold for Peter Wilson in the shooting! Gemma Gibbons up in a minute for Gold or Silver in women's judo. Go Team GB!

super dark33

2012-08-02, 10:10 AM

Israeli tennis players won against Federer.
again, who cares about medals?

Rules Lawyer #1

2012-08-03, 02:14 AM

Its actually not that uncommon ^^

During the 2008 Olympics for example the torch was extinguished 2 to 5 times (depending on who reports) for transportation, during the olympics in canada it went out due to a rainstorm etc.

The flame is then reignited with "copies" of the flame which come from the same source.

yes it was doused for transportation because of some event needing the space or somesuch

The Olympic Torch has many times been extinguished... by accident and had to be relit.
It was extinguished on relay through Paris in 2008 by Chinese officials so it could be transported by bus. Protests led to the cancellation of the final relay in France. Why? Because deliberately extinguishing the flame for any reason is a disgraceful act.

The flame has always been relit by a copy of the flame (and yes they kept a copy this time as well in London).

The tradition is that the flame be kept burning for the duration of the games and not extinguished until the end. To have planned from the beginning to extinguish the cauldron is disgraceful.

They did it on Sunday night to move the Olympic torch to a different location because it was blocking the location where an event - the 100 meter dash - was to take place.
So, either the event planners didn't have the foresight to place the torch where it wouldn't block the event... or they failed to have the insight to hold the 100 meter in a different location then the torch was... or they always had the intention of extinguishing it and moving it! Seeing as the Olympics are planned years in advance (for example, we already know the 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), it reflects very poorly on the host nation, because it was almost certainly a deliberate act!

Maybe it doesn't matter to people who don't care about tradition.

Killer Angel

2012-08-03, 02:35 AM

Maybe it doesn't matter to people who don't care about tradition.

Sounds funny, if referred to Great Britain...

Aedilred

2012-08-03, 02:48 AM

Iruka

2012-08-03, 07:24 AM

The Olympic torch is a bit of a phoney tradition anyway. It only goes back to 1928, and the first couple of flames weren't lit in any special way. The first time the relay was done from Mt. Olympus was in 1936 and devised by, er, the minister of public information of that Games' host nation, so you can make what you will of the tradition there...

More precisely, it was promoted by Carl Diem, chief organizer of the Games in 1936, and devised by Alfred Schiff, an archeologist who got involved in the sports business during the Games of 1896 in Athens.

The tradition of keeping a fire alive during the Olympic Games goes apparently back to ancient times, as well as having ceremonial relay races on special occasions. Just the combination of both was new.

dehro

2012-08-03, 08:51 AM

More precisely, it was promoted by Carl Diem, chief organizer of the Games in 1936, and devised by Alfred Schiff, an archeologist who got involved in the sports business during the Games of 1896 in Athens.

The tradition of keeping a fire alive during the Olympic Games goes apparently back to ancient times, as well as having ceremonial relay races on special occasions. Just the combination of both was new.

"80 years old new" qualifies as traditional for me

Madara

2012-08-03, 03:52 PM

Another swimming gold medal for South Africa. And this time, the guy beat Michael Phelps. By, like, a fingernail.

Guess our guys can really swim.

Swimming is becoming silly. When people win by less than a 10th of a second. Can we even call it winning? By any other standard, it'd be a tie.

Plus, when someone beats the world record by less than a 10th of a second, it doesn't even seem worthy of note. :smallsigh:

Maxios

2012-08-03, 04:52 PM

This is even sadder when you realize just how over-confident most Italians are. :smalltongue:

Yeah, I can vouch for this. Most of my mother's side of the family is of Italian descent, and we tend to be over-confident about stuff.

dehro

2012-08-03, 05:38 PM

Plus, when someone beats the world record by less than a 10th of a second, it doesn't even seem worthy of note. :smallsigh:

they money is nice though

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-08-03, 07:02 PM

Devmaar

2012-08-03, 07:06 PM

It's not quite fair that Phelps is called the "best olympian ever". It just so happens that there are more Swimming events than, say, wrestling. He's the "Best Olympian Ever" because of the sport he's in, and that's it.

I totally agree. Number of games might be a better measure, but some events have much more tolerance for aging. Consider how much aging 10 years would affect a hurdler's performance compared to a shooter's, for example.

Klose_the_Sith

2012-08-03, 07:58 PM

Are you telling me the Olympics aren't entirely fair? :smalleek: / :smalltongue:

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-08-03, 08:01 PM

Are you telling me the Olympics aren't entirely fair? :smalleek: / :smalltongue:

Well, my issue here is more with the media coverage, but yeah.

Klose_the_Sith

2012-08-03, 10:04 PM

Well, my issue here is more with the media coverage, but yeah.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cq7XHpqSvxA/TXVlsbmsTqI/AAAAAAAAADA/9DTdKOzyBPw/monocle.gif

In related news, neither Australia nor Germany are doing too well this year. My poor countries, most of whose citizenry probably couldn't care less.

Starwulf

2012-08-04, 12:06 AM

I always thought things took a really bad turn once pros were allowed to compete. It's the Winter Olympics. Not the Shaun White Show...

Thanks goodness I don't have to rely on network coverage in the USA. I swear, the only thing NBC would put on over the weekend were the names Phelps and Armstrong.

Mr. Phelps? You're awesome, and perhaps endorsements don't always remove amateur status, but once you do commercials for Subway I'm no longer interested in watching you compete.

Sorry about that.

For starters, there is no "amatuers" in the Olympics. Every single person who competes in the Olympics is at the top of the pile for athletes in their country for that particular event, therefore, they are professionals. So disliking Phelps, one of the greatest swimmers of all time, because he's done endorsement deals with Subway is a bit off if you ask me. Lochte's not an amateur, Missy Franklin isn't an amateur, Missy May Treanor and Kerri Walsh are not Amateurs, Rebecca Adderlington(spelling?, The British swimmer) is not an Amateur, and so on and so forth. So if you dislike watching competitions that are not conducted by "Amateurs" then you should NOT be watching the Olympics at all. They are ALL professionals by the sheer virtue of being the best of the best in their sport. I realize you mean Amateur as to mean "Not getting paid" but even then if you go by that measuring stick, there are only going to be a small amount of people in the entirety of the Olympics who would still qualify as "amateur". Accepting a free plane ride to London automatically takes away your Amateur status, and I bet 99% of the people there are guilty of that alone. Accepting gifts from any corporation, no matter how small, removes "Amateur" status, I'd imagine at least 75% of every person there is guilty of that. Hell, Missy Franklin, age 17, has been offered free backstage passes to Justin Beiber concerts when he and his manager found out that she is a big fan of his. That removes Amateur status.

Hell, even just making $250.00 removes Amateur status, Every high-school in Maryland(and as far as I know, all of the U.S.) abides by the "If you're making money in a sport outside of the H.S. you're ineligible to play for the school". I learned this first-hand in high school when I went out for the Basketball team in my junior year, and they found out I had made $300.00 bowling Duck-pins(little ball, little pins, far more difficult then ten pins. No-one's ever bowled perfect game in Duck-pins). I was immediately disqualified from being able to join. Sucked, but that measly $300.00 I won removed my Amateur status across the board.

Sorry, just kind of irks me that people are willing to discount someone's amazing abilities just because they've gotten money for it. That's what these people do with their lives!

Swimming is becoming silly. When people win by less than a 10th of a second. Can we even call it winning? By any other standard, it'd be a tie.

Plus, when someone beats the world record by less than a 10th of a second, it doesn't even seem worthy of note. :smallsigh:

Ehh, when you think about it, every .05 of a second shaved off a World Record eventually adds up. If it gets broken 5 times in a decade, and each time is .05, it's now .25 faster then it used to be, which is considerably faster when you really stop and think about it. It raises the bar for other athletes. Also, it's not just swimmers, track stars often win by less then 1/10th of a second as well, and it's still a win for them. It's not like ties aren't actually possible, tonight in the 100m Fly, the guy who beat Phelps in the 200m Fly tied with another guy, so they both took silver. I was surprised they didn't give a bronze, but I guess if they had, they'd have had to give the bronze to two people as well, as the following two people tied there as well ^^

TheFallenOne

2012-08-04, 03:52 AM

It's not quite fair that Phelps is called the "best olympian ever". It just so happens that there are more Swimming events than, say, wrestling. He's the "Best Olympian Ever" because of the sport he's in, and that's it.

Agreed. Swimming is overrepresented compared to other sports. Best Olympian ever I'd give to someone who made medals in different disciplines, which is very rare, or competed in a discipline requiring being good at many different things.
When it comes to 'best ever', I'd rate anyone with a single gold in decathlon higher than Phelps with all his medals.

For starters, there is no "amatuers" in the Olympics. Every single person who competes in the Olympics is at the top of the pile for athletes in their country for that particular event, therefore, they are professionals.

Individual events maybe, but team sports this isn't true in some cases.
Good example is football. They don't compete with their national teams there. All but three players have to be under 24, and previously countries from Europe and South America weren't allowed to field players who already competed in a World Cup.

Hell, Missy Franklin, age 17, has been offered free backstage passes to Justin Beiber concerts when he and his manager found out that she is a big fan of his. That removes Amateur status.

I guess it also removes any sympathies the internet might have had for her :smalltongue:

Rawhide

2012-08-04, 03:52 AM

I'm really turning away from any game that has devolved in an attempt to make the opponents 'foul', so that you can take a penalty shot. Games like hockey and basketball.

Spiryt

2012-08-04, 04:12 AM

I agree that there's too much swimming at the moment...

There's like 80 medals conquered already, and there are still some more to take.

It probably gives a lot of money from TV deals (especially from USA, since they dominate swimming competition) so that probably isn't going to change much.

Iruka

2012-08-04, 05:13 AM

I'm really turning away from any game that has devolved in an attempt to make the opponents 'foul', so that you can take a penalty shot. Games like hockey and basketball.

I didn't notice it in basketball, but it's really annoying in hockey. Most goals seem to come from penalty corners after someone intentionally shot the feet of an opponent. Talk about gaming the system. :smallyuk:

THAC0

2012-08-04, 09:43 AM

It's not like ties aren't actually possible, tonight in the 100m Fly, the guy who beat Phelps in the 200m Fly tied with another guy, so they both took silver. I was surprised they didn't give a bronze, but I guess if they had, they'd have had to give the bronze to two people as well, as the following two people tied there as well ^^

I thought this was really odd. In the shooting sports, when there is a tie, they then have a shoot-off.

Or in fencing, they go into overtime.

So why do they just accept ties in swimming?

Aedilred

2012-08-04, 10:29 AM

The person who finishes after a winner and two joint second-placers has finished fourth, so I get why they don't have a bronze medal.

I don't know why ties are accepted in swimming... but then I don't see why it's really a problem either. Part of it, I suppose, is to do with the format. In a points-based knockout, you can just extend the bout until somebody scores enough points to win. Swimming, though, is contested among a large group of athletes over a set distance, and although they're all in competition none of them is directly in competition with just one other. So a re-run wouldn't replicate the conditions of the original race, unless you got all the other competitors to swim again (and I can't imagine they'd be happy about that).

Regarding Phelps, meh. I dislike the suggestion that any one individual can be the "greatest" Olympian ever and I think at worst it's borderline insulting to other athletes to hold up one guy/woman as the "best", given the changes in the nature of the competition, the difference between disciplines, and the fact that more medals are available in some events than others. I don't think it's a coincidence that, of the top seven medal-winners at a single Games, five are swimmers.

As has been mentioned, you could argue that the most impressive are those who compete in events comprising multiple events - decathlon, heptathlon, pentathlon - and they only win one medal for that.

Not to say Phelps isn't a great sportsman, swimmer, Olympian, etc. He totally deserves his place in the Olympic hall of fame. But I think it'd be best if the world were to leave it at that.

snoopy13a

2012-08-04, 11:55 AM

Regarding Phelps, meh. I dislike the suggestion that any one individual can be the "greatest" Olympian ever and I think at worst it's borderline insulting to other athletes to hold up one guy/woman as the "best", given the changes in the nature of the competition, the difference between disciplines, and the fact that more medals are available in some events than others. I don't think it's a coincidence that, of the top seven medal-winners at a single Games, five are swimmers.

As has been mentioned, you could argue that the most impressive are those who compete in events comprising multiple events - decathlon, heptathlon, pentathlon - and they only win one medal for that.

Not to say Phelps isn't a great sportsman, swimmer, Olympian, etc. He totally deserves his place in the Olympic hall of fame. But I think it'd be best if the world were to leave it at that.

My issue with swimming is not only do they have lots of events for one person to participate in, but it is also a niche sport. Relatively few people participate in competitive swimming.

Track, sprinting in particular, is different. Practically everyone runs when they are little. Those who are fast are encouraged to run track. In a sense, everyone had a chance to be a 100m sprinter. Most people had no chance to be a competitive swimmer.

Plus, a sprinter can win, at most, four medals--the 100m, the 200m, the 4X100 as part of a relay team, and in relatively rare cases, the long jump (e.g., Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis). I think Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens were both better Olympians than Michael Phelps. If Usain Bolt wins the 100m and 200m this Olympics, I'd put him higher than Phelps as well.

Aedilred

2012-08-04, 12:55 PM

I think some sprinters go up to 400m (there was talk that Bolt might, given that he's nominally a 200m specialist :smalleek:) but the point is valid.

But, while relatively few people get to do competitive swimming compared to track running (although this depends on where you are globally) relatively few people get to be professional athletes at all, and I don't know how relevant the nominally larger talent pool really is.

I just don't think there's any particular merit in trying to rank, say, Bolt and Phelps relative to each other. Both dominate their fields and have broken world records. Both are electrifying to watch. Does Phelps' field being theoretically a little less accessible make him any less of an athlete? I don't see why it should.

Alarra

2012-08-04, 01:08 PM

I don't know about that, I mean, we always had the option to do competitive swimming in middle and high school, as well as track. I was on the swim team from ages 8 to 14. So, while it may not be universal, it's probably more common than you might imagine.

Spiryt

2012-08-04, 01:13 PM

The problem here is sheer amount of swimming competition one can take part in...

Butterfly, Freestyle, Medley, Breaststroke, Backstroke..

Times different, but similar distances...

They differ, surely, but that's just different technique, not different sport.

Running, being closest comparison doesn't quite have similar variety. Distances and that's all.

And even 'just' 1500 meters runner cannot physically be medalist in 100 meters sprint, completely different body composition and build needed in the first place.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-08-04, 04:12 PM

It's the equivalent to if every different flip in gymnastics had it's own medal. YAY, I GOT THE GOLD MEDAL IN THE BACKFLIP, AND DOUBLE BACKFLIP, AND TRIPLE BACKFLIP, AND QUADRUPLE BACKFLIP, AND FRONT FLIP AND...

Aedilred

2012-08-04, 04:38 PM

That was quite a good day for Team GB.

It turns out though that even using non-English players, our footballers still suck at penalties.

dehro

2012-08-04, 04:46 PM

agreed.. it's a bit easier to get multiple medals in swimming than it is in most if not all other sports. that said, even in swimming there are specialists.. a guy who's able to trounce every specialist of every style or short distance is still an impressive guy, if a trifle overblown.

on a sidenote..
who in his right mind would refuse this girl a gold medal?
http://images2.gazzettaobjects.it/Media/Foto/2012/08/04/VAR5F2B_3040016F1_19093_20120719210642_HE10_201207 20--473x264.jpg?v=20120804141543
She went in as the ruling world champion and shot 99 out of 100 clay targets.. the only way to beat that record is to play a perfect game..something nobody has ever done before.
and still she got less screentime on Italian television than the utter failure that is the swimming team this year.

P.S. I got bored and decided to give arbitrary values to gold silver and bronze medals.. 15, 10 and 5 points respectively.
converting the medals gained into points, South Korea would drop into 7th place and Russia would climb all the way up to 4th position in the ranking. the others would shuffle around to accomodate these two changes, but otherways stay in the current order.

THAC0

2012-08-04, 05:10 PM

on a sidenote..
who in his right mind would refuse this girl a gold medal?
http://images2.gazzettaobjects.it/Media/Foto/2012/08/04/VAR5F2B_3040016F1_19093_20120719210642_HE10_201207 20--473x264.jpg?v=20120804141543
She went in as the ruling world champion and shot 99 out of 100 clay targets.. the only way to beat that record is to play a perfect game..something nobody has ever done before.
and still she got less screentime on Italian television than the utter failure that is the swimming team this year.

She did really good! I was impressed!

Shooting sports don't seem to get much screen time at all, which is sad. We had Kim Rhode become the first American athlete to medal in 5 games and all I hear about is Phelps. :smallsigh:

Aedilred

2012-08-04, 07:40 PM

I remember at the last Olympics when the USA had a shocker in the first few days and only Phelps was really winning anything for them. When he broke Spitz's record the hype ballooned out of all proportion, with what numerous US commentators on the interwebs posting something along the lines of "if Michael Phelps were a country, he'd be third on the medal table!"

Some smart alec soon pointed out that if Michael Phelps were indeed a country, he'd be second, because at that point he had more gold medals than the rest of the US team put together. That made me chuckle.

snoopy13a

2012-08-04, 09:57 PM

As a recreational runner, I was really happy that an American got a silver in the 10K :smallsmile:

Oh, and I'm officially sick of beach volleyball.

dehro

2012-08-05, 02:48 AM

She did really good! I was impressed!

Shooting sports don't seem to get much screen time at all, which is sad. We had Kim Rhode become the first American athlete to medal in 5 games and all I hear about is Phelps. :smallsigh:
admittedly, the US team gets a lot more medals and most of them in sports that have a lot more followers or are otherwise easier to relate to... a lot more people (i.e. "everybody") have run at some stage in their life (from bullies, to catch a train, during PE in school) than have actually gone to a range to competitively shoot at stuff.
nations who get smaller numbers of medals (or whose entire swimming team has decided to bicker on tv rather than train) tend to focus more on the sports they do get medals in, however minor they may be (and I believe shooting sports are a much smaller thing in Italy than they are in the States)

Oh, and I'm officially sick of beach volleyball.

I dunno.. I still seem to be able to find interesting stuff to look at, in the female beach volleyball

Dr. Simon

2012-08-05, 06:58 AM

She did really good! I was impressed!

Shooting sports don't seem to get much screen time at all, which is sad. We had Kim Rhode become the first American athlete to medal in 5 games and all I hear about is Phelps. :smallsigh:

Are people outside the UK able to access the BBC online coverage (www.bbc.co.uk/2012)? 'Cos they have everything on there. Sure, they highlight when a Brit is competing but e.g. right now I could watch Angola vs. Czech Republic in basketball or China vs. South Korea in the volleyball, or the final of the men's 50m pistol if I wanted.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

2012-08-05, 08:03 AM

Nope, the Americans only get what their network allows them on their website.

The Brits get the best coverage, for sure.

The Americans didn't even get to see the entire opening ceremony, they had it edited out. They edited out the 7/7 memorial. I was actually so mad at that. How could you have the stones to edit out the 7/7 memorial bit of the opening ceremony!?!?!?!? YOU DO NOT DO THINGS LIKE THAT! :smallfurious:

Dr. Simon

2012-08-05, 09:12 AM

Nope, the Americans only get what their network allows them on their website.

The Brits get the best coverage, for sure.

Well, host nation and all that, although all the coverage comes via Olympic Broadcasting and so anyone could have it if they want. I think this is the first Olympics with such good web coverage though, and I hope the Beeb do it again for Rio although it's all horribly addictive!

On another note, a good Olympics for women. Not only is this the first Olympics where every competing country has at least one female competitor, it's a first for nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar (even if both of the them were only in it for about 30 seconds). Also, packed stadia for women's football, the first ever women's boxing (and a phenomenal buzz in that arena). Makes you proud :smallbiggrin:

dps

2012-08-05, 12:36 PM

Nope, the Americans only get what their network allows them on their website.

Actually, every moment of every competition is available to US viewers online (or it's supposed to be--I haven't actually checked to make sure it's all there), but NBC makes it as difficult as possible to access. I don't put this down to greed or malice, but to incompetance--NBC is to competant sports coverage as Italy is to stable coalition governments.

Giegue

2012-08-05, 02:15 PM

While I am not a big sports fan, I caught myself watching the games for a little bit.......to see the people who predicted them to be the date of "project bluebeam" be proven wrong. Bluebeam never happened, I laughed, and I am happy now. If any of you know what "project bluebeam" is, you get a free cyber-cookie.

Cicciograna

2012-08-05, 02:41 PM

And thus Italy foiled Japan's attempts to get another gold medal.
Yay Italy!

dehro

2012-08-05, 02:57 PM

And thus Italy foiled Japan's attempts to get another gold medal.
Yay Italy!

pessimo!
yeah..they did good.. amazed that the japanese were that tough as a team, really.

P.S. gotta say, kudos to Kazakstan.. 6 medals, 6 golds.

Aedilred

2012-08-05, 08:08 PM

Usain Bolt is a legend. I have little else to add.

dehro

2012-08-06, 02:44 AM

yeah.. so I saw the quarter final boxing match between Clemente "Tatanka" Russo and the cuban opponent.
actually, I only saw the last round, which I'm informed is where it all went pooshaped.
Basically he went in on a 2 point advantage in scores.. and clinched/wrestled/messed around the entire round pointing at keeping his advantage rather than doing any kind of boxing.
He won through guile, experience and a complacent referee who for some reason didn't sanction his behaviour, but I totally understand the cuban guy not wanting to shake hands with him afterwards.
it was awful to watch... and I hope he'll redeem himself by actually fighting in the semi-finals.

Killer Angel

2012-08-06, 02:54 AM

Swimming is becoming silly. When people win by less than a 10th of a second. Can we even call it winning? By any other standard, it'd be a tie.

At least, it's something objective.
I cannot really stand all those competitions where medals are decided by referees that assign the score. :smallsigh:
Yeah, there are standards for judgement... then why there are differences in the score between the referees, on the same exercise? :smallmad:

Elm11

2012-08-06, 03:38 AM

Over here in Australia, where we're used to a top 5 (or at worst top 10) placement from past Olympics, there are an awful lot of people complaining that we're doing poorly (which, at 24, we are, I suppose). A lot of those people are pointing the blame at our large number of silver medallists (12 of our 20 medals), somehow declaring that these people have failed the nation, are rotten sports, or aren't pulling their weight. This is really beginning to urk me, so I might copy paste my response to the latest round of complaints on facebook:

"I'm becoming increasingly annoyed to see people complaining that all of our athletes seem to be winning silver, not gold. I mean really, making a medal placement position is almost certainly a greater achievement than any of us will EVER accomplish. Think about it - out of all the 7.01 billion people on this planet, those silver medallists are number 2 in their field. There is ONE person better than them. Just think about that - graduating with a 99.95 ATAR* is bully next to that. Dozens of people from a single state in a single country are that smart every single year. But these people are on a whole new level of brilliance. Don't complain about their perceived failure to beat that one last person. Respect them for their unfathomable achievement."

* The senior school education/graduation system our most populous state, New South Wales, uses. 99.95 is the highest achievable score, the equivalent (more or less) of receiving 100% in every subject. Situationally appropriates since both myself and many of the people complaining are in year 12, and our Trial exams start in a week.

dehro

2012-08-06, 03:43 AM

At least, it's something objective.
I cannot really stand all those competitions where medals are decided by referees that assign the score. :smallsigh:
Yeah, there are standards for judgement... then why there are differences in the score between the referees, on the same exercise? :smallmad:

because whether a standard applies and how far it does, is a judgement call.. I really don't know if I would like those competitions to be judged/determined by a computer.. and I don't think a computer could judge on interpretation/grace/expression.. (I'm thinking figure skating or gymnastics).. even if a computer could be built to determine these things, it would make it all too mechanical for me to be interested anymore.
of course it does stink when certain political allegiances are reflected in the judges' scoring..
thinking about politics affecting sport recognition..the name of a certain high ranking judoka comes to mind, but that would be politics so I'll shut up.

Killer Angel

2012-08-06, 03:51 AM

because whether a standard applies and how far it does, is a judgement call.. I really don't know if I would like those competitions to be judged/determined by a computer.. and I don't think a computer could judge on interpretation/grace/expression.. (I'm thinking figure skating or gymnastics).. even if a computer could be built to determine these things, it would make it all too mechanical for me to be interested anymore.

I know it's not possible. If it would be possible, however, I would greatly prefer it.

of course it does stink when certain political allegiances are reflected in the judges' scoring..

Here you are. That, courtesy to guest nation, and so on.

(snip)

I can agree / sympathize with both of the sentiments.
To blame someone for winning "only" the silver medal is ungenerous and ungrateful, but I can feel the frustration.
Add to this also that not all the silver medals are equal: Were you an underdog? silver is good as gold. Were you the favourite? silver tastes very bitter.
When your nation win so many silver and so few gold, it's natural to be disappointed... "of all those silver, why some of them couldn't be gold?"
You focus more on "someone failed", rather than "someone succeeded beyond its limit".

Aedilred

2012-08-06, 04:26 AM

Yeah, it's been discussed with relation to some of the medals won by team GB. If you aim for bronze or silver and achieve it, that's a great success. If you aim for gold, getting bronze or silver is a failure. Often, aiming for gold and missing will get you no medal at all.

But I'd rather our athletes always aim for the best they can accomplish. If they have a chance of winning gold, I'd want them to go for it. If not, then get the best finish they can. I don't really care what they come home with, so long as they gave it their best. I think it's the same for a lot (though not necessarily all) the athletes themselves - it sucks not getting the medal you wanted, but at least you'll know for the rest of your life that you gave it your best shot, rather than getting a silver/bronze and always wishing you'd aimed just that bit higher.

I would rather Australia were doing better, though. For the last few Games there's been a bit of a rivalry between GB and Aus* and (though I would obviously rather Team GB "won" in that context) you always want that sort of thing to be close.

*Of course, there's always a bit of a rivalry between GB/England and Australia, in just about anything. I mean a particular rivalry between teams who tended to finish relatively close together in the medals table.

dehro

2012-08-06, 04:52 AM

I don't think that anybody who has a reasonable shot at a medal (i.e. qualifies for a final and with some of the best scores/times/qualifiers) really does aim for anything but gold... not even in those sports such as diving where there's a clear and unreachable favourite for the gold medal.

Aedilred

2012-08-06, 05:28 AM

Well, I imagine every athlete dreams of winning gold. There are occasions, though, where that's just not possible, barring an extraordinary mishap for the favourite. I remember Roger Black saying in 1996 when he ran the 400m alongside Michael Johnson that going for gold would be suicide, so his aim was to beat the rest of the field. His silver was therefore pretty much as good as a gold, and both he and the nation accepted it as such.

It probably helped that we only won one silver and one gold at that Games, so we were happy for any medals we could get, but the point still stands.

I think it's particularly the case in endurance events where you have to work out your strategy before the race. With the rowing, say, it's obvious that some crews are prepared to let the top teams duke it out and focus on winning a silver or bronze rather than try to keep up with a stronger crew at the front and potentially ruin their race.

Rawhide

2012-08-06, 07:00 AM

Killer Angel

2012-08-06, 07:30 AM

Well, I imagine every athlete dreams of winning gold. There are occasions, though, where that's just not possible, barring an extraordinary mishap for the favourite.

This is even more true when there's not simply one favourite, but two.
When you're running against Blake and Bolt, you run for the bronze. If you're lucky and something strange happens, you know that silver is not impossible... but gold is out of reach.

I think it's particularly the case in endurance events where you have to work out your strategy before the race. With the rowing, say, it's obvious that some crews are prepared to let the top teams duke it out and focus on winning a silver or bronze rather than try to keep up with a stronger crew at the front and potentially ruin their race.

Absolutely. That's also true for almost all the long distance run.

What about this guy? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOrIv8sB4vg)

Since when the bowling is an olympic sport? :smalltongue:

Seriously, this is one of those "extraordinary mishap".

Rawhide

2012-08-06, 07:36 AM

This is even more true when there's not simply one favourite, but two.
When you're running against Blake and Bolt, you run for the bronze. If you're lucky and something strange happens, you know that silver is not impossible... but gold is out of reach.

Since when the bowling is an olympic sport? :smalltongue:

Seriously, this is one of those "extraordinary mishap".

Well, this guy was running against Blake, Bolt, Favourite #3, and Favourite #4. Something strange did happen.

snoopy13a

2012-08-06, 07:50 AM

Killer Angel

2012-08-06, 07:55 AM

Well, this guy was running against Blake, Bolt, Favourite #3, and Favourite #4. Something strange did happen.

Absolutely yes but, before the race, I suppose that, in his mind, he wasn't realistically aiming for the gold, which was the point.

Edit: every athlete has dreams, hopes and realistic expectations. When your personal record is behind the standard prestations of 3 (or four) other athletes', you know that probably you won't have any medal... you still hope to have the strenght to gain the bronze or even the silver... but if you really believe to win the gold, probably you suffer from some form of delusion of grandeur.

dehro

2012-08-06, 08:58 AM

Silver is only acceptable when a teammate gets the gold :smalltongue:

Seriously, it can get ridiculous. But it does depend on the event. If our men's basketball team doesn't win gold, it'll be a disaster. That's not easy on the players.

honestly, as much as I like the NBA, I do believe that coming second would teach them a lesson in humility..
then again.. I have a feeling the lesson would be lost on them and it would be considered a fluke.

Topus

2012-08-06, 08:59 AM

And another gold on Shooting for us :)
Our golds came from Shooting, Fencing, Archery and Canoe Slalom; now there's this running gag, on the socials, that should ever break out a medieval-like war, with just sniper fire weapon conflicts, we could have some chance to do well :P

Rawhide

2012-08-06, 09:05 AM

Absolutely yes but, before the race, I suppose that, in his mind, he wasn't realistically aiming for the gold, which was the point.

Edit: every athlete has dreams, hopes and realistic expectations. When your personal record is behind the standard prestations of 3 (or four) other athletes', you know that probably you won't have any medal... you still hope to have the strenght to gain the bronze or even the silver... but if you really believe to win the gold, probably you suffer from some form of delusion of grandeur.

Yes, that is the point. He didn't set out to win gold, or any medal, he just set out to do the best he possibly could do.

Rules Lawyer #1

2012-08-06, 11:51 PM

What about this guy? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOrIv8sB4vg)

I agree, the athletes just need to go out there and do their very best. The Olympics is an opportunity to compete with athletes all over the world. Yes, you represent your country when you compete and the Olympics as a whole is about more than the individual competitions that take place.

I also think that you have to understand that anybody could win on the field of competition on any particular day. Being the best athlete really only means that you were the best athlete on that day. When Phelps took silver in the butterfly he was disappointed in himself, because he knew he had it in him to take gold. But his attitude in the final moment of that race defined who was the better athlete in that moment.

In the same way, Steve Bradbury was the best athlete on the day he took gold even though it seems that he won by accident. The conditions of the field and of the athletes are always in flux. The only question is the question of whether the race was fair and, as far as we know, it was.

Using judges rather than relying on some form of technology does appear to be a dilemma, but the fact of the matter is that any way in which you judge a competition (even if the judgement is by some form of technology) is still subjective. Winning by a tenth of second seems insignificant. The bias of human judges seems unavoidable. All we can do is to do the best we can to make competition and judgement fair.

Can one competition express the sum total of all the competitions an athlete has ever competed in? Perhaps, but I think that, generally speaking, this is simply not the case even though many athletes do try harder because of the significance of Olympic recognition.

Dr. Simon

2012-08-07, 04:32 AM

In related news, neither Australia nor Germany are doing too well this year. My poor countries, most of whose citizenry probably couldn't care less.

They're doing okay in terms of numbers of medals, but they're just not getting the gold which in terms of the medal table means that thry're behind Khazakstan (with 6 golds but only 7 medals in total). There are still loads of events to go, and I'd expect Germany to do well in the flat-water kayaking.

dehro

2012-08-07, 07:10 AM

hat off for Josefa Idem, who won her heat, beating opponents who could easily be her daughters.

SDF

2012-08-07, 03:44 PM

Kristin Armstrong from Boise has already won a gold medal in cycling, and my high school mate, Nick Symmonds is running in the 800 final on Thursday. My girlfriend's family knows Todd Rogers who won the gold in beach volleyball in 2008, but he and his partner are already out this year. It's always fun to have a personal stake in the games.

dps

2012-08-07, 10:05 PM

honestly, as much as I like the NBA, I do believe that coming second would teach them a lesson in humility..
then again.. I have a feeling the lesson would be lost on them and it would be considered a fluke.

Well, the US men did worse than that in 2004 (bronze medal). Of course, that year a lot of the top NBA players who could have played for the US declined to do so.

And of course some NBA players play for other countries. Even teams like Nigeria have a few guys with NBA experience on their rosters.

Rawhide

2012-08-08, 06:24 AM

Lady Moreta

2012-08-08, 07:15 AM

All of the pole vaulters were saying "We don't want to jump any more, can we just call it quits and all qualify?" and it was going on for a while, so the commentator said "We're just going to leave the pole vault here and go to an event where the athletes actually want to compete."

I was watching that :smallsmile: I was amused by the female commentator's utter confusion, and the struggle the guy was having in trying to explain it to her. I was just sad, I like the pole vault. :smallfrown:

super dark33

2012-08-08, 06:07 PM

Ultimate defeat for israel...
first time since 1980...

Emmerask

2012-08-09, 12:33 PM

Apparently you can now get arrested in gb if you don´t enjoy the olympics enough

Mark Worsfold, 54, says he was handcuffed by Surrey police officers 'for not smiling' while watching men's cycling road race

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/aug/08/olympics-spectator-parkinsons-arrest-smiling

Killer Angel

2012-08-10, 01:51 AM

We won a medal in the triple jump?!
Amazing! :smallsmile:

Dr. Simon

2012-08-10, 05:44 AM

Apparently you can now get arrested in gb if you don´t enjoy the olympics enough.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/aug/08/olympics-spectator-parkinsons-arrest-smiling

Well no, that's not exactly the reason, but the rather over-zealous response means that Surrey police get added to me (refreshingly short) list of London 2012 Numpties.

Dr Si's London 2012 Numpty List

G4S - because private sector isn't always better.
Aidan "leftie multicultural crap" Burley - misjudging the mood of the nation.
The bottle-thrower at the 100m finals - what were you thinking?
The person who graffitied Jess Ennis' gold postbox - major loser.
Surrey police - trigger-happy Parkinson's botherers.

These pointless idiots, in my opinion, are far outweighed by the positives and we've had some great ones over the last few days.

Nicola Adams - first ever Olympic gold medal in women's boxing, and a superb fighter. I've been surprised to find myself hugely impressed and enthralled by the women's boxing - if you'd told me a week ago that I'd enjoy watching a boxing match at all, let alone one between a woman from Ireland and a woman from Tajikistan, I'd never have believed you. In a way it's a shame that the weight categories meant that Ireland's Katie Taylor wasn't the first gold medallist, but smiling Adams is more than worthy.

Sarah Attar - another pioneer for women, the first Saudi woman to compete in Olympic athletics (from a country where [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qdhbkTko4women aren't allowed to drive[/url]). Okay, so she came last in her heat by a long chalk but she got an ovation from the crowd.

Jade Jones winning gold in the taekwando. With Adams in boxing and Gemma Gibbons' silver in judo, we're a nation of small feisty women!

Jamaica's one-two-three in the 200m. Bolt's even joking around with Blake as he crosses the finish line. I'm not a big fan of the sprints - the ability to run really fast over a short distance is impressive but doesn't have that mix of speed, stamina, skill and sportsmanship that most of the other sports have. Still a good result from a country with a fraction of the population and GDP of the US.

Iruka

2012-08-10, 06:24 AM

In related news, neither Australia nor Germany are doing too well this year. My poor countries, most of whose citizenry probably couldn't care less.

If you don't look at the (gold-)medal ranking but one that counts Top 8 placements, both come directly behind the Big 3 and host Great Britain.

Grenada's gold medal for the 400 m sprint means they now are first place in the ranking weighted by population. :smallbiggrin:

And I love that This-Is-Serious-Business-Germany won in the summer-sun-party sport beach volleyball. :smallbiggrin:

Aedilred

2012-08-10, 07:36 AM

I'd imagine the top 8 ranking would stay fairly consistent across most recent Games since the decline of eastern Europe - the big three, Australia and Germany, and then some combination of GB, France, Italy, Korea and Japan. Maybe Cuba or Hungary would sneak in occasionally. Those teams tend to be competitive in most events even if they don't win as many medals as they'd like. The hosts also tend to do well, but it's rare that the Games are hosted by a nation that doesn't normally do quite well (GB possibly an exception?)

Considering the population, though, Australia really are an Olympic superpower.

Rawhide

2012-08-10, 07:42 AM

Ribbon is the best gymnastics event. Particularly when they use beautifully patterned multicolour ribbons. The patterns and shapes of the trailing ribbon can be fantastic.

Lady Moreta

2012-08-10, 09:32 AM

Jamaica's one-two-three in the 200m. Bolt's even joking around with Blake as he crosses the finish line. I'm not a big fan of the sprints - the ability to run really fast over a short distance is impressive but doesn't have that mix of speed, stamina, skill and sportsmanship that most of the other sports have. Still a good result from a country with a fraction of the population and GDP of the US.

I was amused by the way Bolt nabbed some photographer's camera and started taking pictures! I bet everyone is now jealous of that photographer... hope he takes care of his camera!

Considering the population, though, Australia really are an Olympic superpower.

Wish they weren't :smallfrown::smalltongue:

I really don't mean that... I grizzle because I'm a New Zealander, but I live in Australia and I get frustrated that Australia in general, only shows the sports in which Australia is competing. Which, you might say, is perfectly sensible and legitimate... and you'd be right. The problem is that I'm used to being in NZ for the Olympics, and since NZ doesn't generally have a big number at the games, they fill in the time by showing pretty much a bit of everything. I do miss that variety...

Ribbon is the best gymnastics event. Particularly when they use beautifully patterned multicolour ribbons. The patterns and shapes of the trailing ribbon can be fantastic.

It's also entertaining listening to the male commentators - it's kinda hard to commentate that sport, as a man, without sounding dodgy at least once...

but I was amused by the Australian coverage of taekwando being introduced by Frank Sinatra singing I Get a Kick Out of You to the flashing of various images of people being kicked by other people :smallbiggrin:

THAC0

2012-08-10, 09:38 AM

...I thought y'all were joking about the ribbon thing. My god.

In other news, we had a runner break his leg in the middle of his heat. He still finished and enabled his relay team to qualify for finals. That's insane.

Lady Moreta

2012-08-10, 09:41 AM

In other news, we had a runner break his leg in the middle of his heat. He still finished and enabled his relay team to qualify for finals. That's insane.

:smalleek: How... just how?

Yikes...

THAC0

2012-08-10, 09:41 AM

:smalleek: How... just how?

Yikes...

here's the story (http://www.adn.com/2012/08/09/2581395/us-runner-ends-relay-lap-on-broken.html)

I can't imagine!

Aedilred

2012-08-10, 09:44 AM

I really don't mean that... I grizzle because I'm a New Zealander, but I live in Australia and I get frustrated that Australia in general, only shows the sports in which Australia is competing. Which, you might say, is perfectly sensible and legitimate... and you'd be right. The problem is that I'm used to being in NZ for the Olympics, and since NZ doesn't generally have a big number at the games, they fill in the time by showing pretty much a bit of everything. I do miss that variety...
From my perspective, Australia seem to be in everything. But I suppose that's probably a reflection of a similar policy in the UK: we show events in which we're competitive (esp. rowing, cycling, sailing), many of which are events in which Australia are also competitive. I don't think the Australian fencing team accomplished much, for instance, but because the GB one didn't either, hardly any of it was shown.

NZ still punch well above their weight, too (what is it with Australasia and sport?) I heard at the start of the Games they have the most medals/capita of any competing country; I don't know if that's true. Also, they nicked a sailing gold from us earlier today :smallmad:

It's also entertaining listening to the male commentators - it's kinda hard to commentate that sport, as a man, without sounding dodgy at least once...I feel bad even watching womens' gymnastics. There seems to be something fundamentally wrong about it.

Lady Moreta

2012-08-10, 09:57 AM

NZ still punch well above their weight, too (what is it with Australasia and sport?) I heard at the start of the Games they have the most medals/capita of any competing country; I don't know if that's true. Also, they nicked a sailing gold from us earlier today :smallmad:

That doesn't surprise me (the medals/capita thing).. and we won that gold?
Yay! :smallbiggrin: that's what really bugged me... the Australian commentators mentioned that the race was coming up, but I knew they wouldn't bother showing it.

I feel bad even watching womens' gymnastics. There seems to be something fundamentally wrong about it.

I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm almost positive the human body isn't meant to bend that way...

Aedilred

2012-08-10, 10:15 AM

I think the age of the competitors has something to do with it, too. A lot of them are around 17 - seeing them writhing around in the floor routines and the like can make you feel like a dirty old man even though there's nothing sexual about it.

The bending is thoroughly unnatural, too. What I don't really understand why women's gymnastics has all the pointless posing and flourishing in there. Men's gymnastics isn't quite the same - it's tighter, more direct and compact, somehow. It looks a bit more like "body art" and a little less like dancing, if that's a meaningful distinction.

Iruka

2012-08-10, 04:03 PM

NZ still punch well above their weight, too (what is it with Australasia and sport?) I heard at the start of the Games they have the most medals/capita of any competing country; I don't know if that's true.

www.medalspercapita.com (http://www.medalspercapita.com) has all the answers. If you trust a New Zealander. :smallbiggrin:

Rawhide

2012-08-10, 10:50 PM

Chances that Australia has at gold:
(Local time as provided by the Australian Olympic Team site, not sure what timezone, but I'd guess AEST)

DAY 15

Men's 50km Race Walk
9:00 AM (UK) / 6:00 PM (Local)
3 competitors

Women's 20km Race Walk
5:00 PM (UK) / 2:00 AM (Local)
3 competitors

Kayak Double (K2) 200m Men Final A
10:48 AM (UK) / 7:48 PM (Local)
1 team

Women's Cross-country (Mountain Bike)
12:30 PM (UK) / 9:30 PM (Local)
1 competitor

Men's 10m Platform Semifinal
10:00 AM (UK) / 7:00 PM (Local)
1 competitor
---V---THEN---V---
Men's 10m Platform Final
8:30 PM (UK) / 5:30 AM (Local)

Modern Pentathlon (Men)
Going all day
1 competitor

Woman's Elliott 6m WMR Knockout Final Matches
Start times from 1:05 PM (UK) / 10:05 PM (Local) to 3:05 PM (UK) / 0:05 AM (Local)
1 team

DAY 16

Men's Marathon
11:00 AM (UK) / 8:00 PM (UK)
3 competitors

Men's Cross-country (Mountain Bike)
1:30 PM (UK) / 10:30 PM (Local)
1 competitor

Modern Pentathlon (Women)
Going all day
1 competitor

Update:
All done! No more gold for Australia, but several silver and bronzes. Well done to everyone involved!

Lady Moreta

2012-08-10, 11:27 PM

www.medalspercapita.com (http://www.medalspercapita.com) has all the answers. If you trust a New Zealander. :smallbiggrin:

You should. We're very trustworthy :smallbiggrin:

Kobold-Bard

2012-08-11, 08:50 AM

Those 50km deathmarchers were some of the craziest bastards I've seen at the Olympics. Loved it.

Rawhide

2012-08-11, 08:58 AM

1 all in the best of 5 match race for women's sailing, Australia vs. Spain.

Australia lost the first race by a whisker, then claimed the second decisively.

Update: Australia was coming from behind with a massive speed surge to overtake the Spanish, when they pushed it just that little bit too far. Their spinnaker broached and their skipper was thrown overboard. Leaving Spain to take victory and lead 2-1. In the next race, Australia recovered to score an even more decisive victory.

The scores are now 2-2, with a decider race to go.

Update 2: coming from behind, Australia had a dream downwind run to take the lead, but Spain managed to force Australia into a position that enabled them to attempt to ram Australia with right of way, thus forcing Australia to take a penalty turn. That was it, all over red rover.

Dr. Simon

2012-08-12, 03:45 AM

www.medalspercapita.com (http://www.medalspercapita.com) has all the answers. If you trust a New Zealander. :smallbiggrin:

It'd also be interesting to see medals won in terms of the percentage of total number of athletes sent. I mean, nations like the US and GB have contignents of 500+ members whereas some nations only had about five, looking a little lonely but proud in the opening ceremony.

Another little fun moment last night as Mo Farah does the Lightning Bolt whilst Usain Bolt does the Mo-Bot. Also showing the differences in the human body needed to run short and long distances very fast!

And now it's nearly all over :smallfrown:

Edit: Ha! Just seen the Italian penathlete packing her stuff up in a "Keep Calm and Carry On" bag! Tickled me for some reason :smallconfused:

snoopy13a

2012-08-12, 04:41 PM

Spain played well, and Pau Gascol was amazing but the U.S. wins :smallsmile:

I pick Bolt as the star of this games though. Wonder if he can stay on top until Rio?

dehro

2012-08-12, 05:00 PM

kudos to Kazakstan whose first 6 medals were ALL gold.
gotta say, today was a bit of a disappointment for the Italians.. especially so Boxing and .. what do they call the silly thing with balls hoops and twirly things?
can't help agreeing with the media coverage here, which put down Cammarelle's loss in the final bout to ..homecrowd interference.. losing out on a score of 18-18 to "preference"..meh.
on the other hand.. if I understand this correctly, so far, all italians who qualified for olympic games in Tae Kwon Do got a medal... yay.. I never did the sporty version of it, but I'm still chuffed.
as I write the mildly disturbing sight of the spice girls is on screen.. so I shall ..
ye gods.. Oasis..
oh, whatever.. I'll stick around to watch the ceremony because I want to see what the brazilians come up with for the handing over of the torch.. it can't be as lame as a London bus with Beckam playing a bit of footy, can it?
P.S. Italy did remarkably well, considering we were kinda aiming for this many medals and counting to get a handful of them in the swimming pool..which we totally failed to do.. still getting there anyway.

Aedilred

2012-08-12, 05:13 PM

Not even Oasis, just Liam's knock-off version.

Some Python there at least for people who missed it in the opening ceremony.

I'm totally unconvinced by Matt Bellamy's beard, though. And, uncharacteristically, his singing.

To be fair, the closing ceremony is always at least a bit rubbish in comparison to the opener.

dehro

2012-08-12, 05:32 PM

To be fair, the closing ceremony is always at least a bit rubbish in comparison to the opener.

true.. more fun though..less formal.

Lady Moreta

2012-08-12, 09:33 PM

what do they call the silly thing with balls hoops and twirly things?

Rhythmic gymnastics :smallsmile:

Rawhide

2012-08-12, 11:45 PM

Rhythmic gymnastics :smallsmile:

Or, if Annie Lennox provides the music for it, Eurythmic gymnastics.

factotum

2012-08-13, 01:17 AM

I pick Bolt as the star of this games though. Wonder if he can stay on top until Rio?

In the interviews post his relay race he seemed uncertain if he was going to keep going after this. He is 25 now, and I suppose he's worried he'll shortly be heading over the hill and be unable to keep up the pace!

Iruka

2012-08-13, 02:47 AM

It'd also be interesting to see medals won in terms of the percentage of total number of athletes sent. I mean, nations like the US and GB have contignents of 500+ members whereas some nations only had about five, looking a little lonely but proud in the opening ceremony.

The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/interactive/2012/aug/07/olympics-2012-alternative-medal-table-visualised) covered that. Interesting that China places first in this.

dehro

2012-08-13, 04:29 AM

Or, if Annie Lennox provides the music for it, Eurythmic gymnastics.

ba-dum tisshhh

Mauve Shirt

2012-08-13, 05:07 AM

The Succubus

2012-08-13, 05:11 AM

Regrettably yes, m'dear. There were two earthquakes in northern Iran which went pretty much unmentioned, despite over 180 people being killed. =/

EDIT: I really didn't mean to put such adowner on this thread. It is good that we celebrate people pushing themselves to the limits and they do give us hope that we can be better. But the world will always keep turning.

Scarlet Knight

2012-08-13, 06:33 AM

Archonic Energy

2012-08-13, 06:44 AM

can i haz my city bak now plz?

no... i have to wait for the paralimpic games...

... ok. :smallsigh:

Dr. Simon

2012-08-13, 06:58 AM

Dear news program, hasn't someone blown something up in places with sand? Or at least shot in Baltimore? Isn't there some news you could show us instead of "highlights from the olympics" (AKA more shots of doofus Michael Phelps and those two girls from beach volleyball)? Plzkthx, Mauve.

Really? Is that the best they could come up with for "highlights"? No Usain Bolt larking about and making winning gold three times look like a jog in the park? No proud dad Brad Le Clos waxing about his "beautiful boy"? No Sarah Attar making history for Saudi women? No Oscar Pistorius making history for paralympians? No Nicola Adams making history for women boxers? (Or Claressa Shields if you're a news station incapable of seeing non-US athletes). No German discus-thrower Robert Harting's exuberant shirt-ripping, hurdle-jumping victory display? No David Rudisha of Kenya's masterful 800m? No Hamadou Djibo Issaka's heroic last in sculling for *****? No mind-boggling displays by the Russian rythmic gymnastics team? No parachuting Queen? No Ye Shiwen obliterating the competition? (Probably not if swimming begins and ends with Phelps - what about Lochte and Williams at least?) Manteo Mitchell running the 4x400m with a broken leg? Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang's epic fail, followed by a heroic hop to the finish line? Turkey's Mayve Aydin limping to the finish of the women's 800m?

And note that I've not had to be too Brit-centric for that list. I'm missing out Bradley Wiggins winning the men's road race a week after winning the Tour de France, or Andy Murray thrashing Federer a month after losing the Wimbledon final, or Sir Steve Redgrave going above and beyond the duties of a pundit and commentator by helping exhausted rowers out of their boats and providing a shoulder to cry on for losers (and winners), which will probably have been lost on those without BBC coverage. Or the fact that the UK has just had almost two weeks of sunshine and we didn't spectacularly balls everything up. Rain forecast for this week!

Archonic Energy

2012-08-13, 07:18 AM

Really? Is that the best they could come up with for "highlights"? No Usain Bolt larking about and making winning gold three times look like a jog in the park? No proud dad Brad Le Clos waxing about his "beautiful boy"? No Sarah Attar making history for Saudi women? No Oscar Pistorius making history for paralympians? No Nicola Adams making history for women boxers? (Or Claressa Shields if you're a news station incapable of seeing non-US athletes). No German discus-thrower Robert Harting's exuberant shirt-ripping, hurdle-jumping victory display? No David Rudisha of Kenya's masterful 800m? No Hamadou Djibo Issaka's heroic last in sculling? No mind-boggling displays by the Russian rythmic gymnastics team? No parachuting Queen? No Ye Shiwen obliterating the competition? (Probably not if swimming begins and ends with Phelps - what about Lochte and Williams at least?) Manteo Mitchell running the 4x400m with a broken leg? Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang's epic fail, followed by a heroic hop to the finish line? Turkey's Mayve Aydin limping to the finish of the women's 800m?

And note that I've not had to be too Brit-centric for that list. I'm missing out Bradley Wiggins winning the men's road race a week after winning the Tour de France, or Andy Murray thrashing Federer a month after losing the Wimbledon final, or Sir Steve Redgrave going above and beyond the duties of a pundit and commentator by helping exhausted rowers out of their boats and providing a shoulder to cry on for losers (and winners), which will probably have been lost on those without BBC coverage. Or the fact that the UK has just had almost two weeks of sunshine and we didn't spectacularly balls everything up. Rain forecast for this week!

that of course being the real Olympic miracle!

Dr. Simon

2012-08-13, 07:19 AM

can i haz my city bak now plz?

no... i have to wait for the paralimpic games...

... ok. :smallsigh:

Two things:

What has the effect been like on everyday, non-Olympic London?

Also, I don't know why they don't run the Paralympics concurrently with the Olympics, it'd make them seem less of an anti-climactic add-on. I don't mean everyone competing together necessarily, but integrate things more. How about it, Rio?

Dr. Simon

2012-08-13, 07:25 AM

that of course being the real Olympic miracle!

Quite! I think there's still a sense of general surprise that the venues didn't fall apart, all the trains break down, the beach volleyball didn't have to be played in raincoats and the opening ceremony wasn't Stephen Fry playing God Save the Queen on a cheap plastic kazoo.

Back to normal now, I guess :smallwink:

Alarra

2012-08-13, 07:32 AM

Really? Is that the best they could come up with for "highlights"? No Usain Bolt larking about and making winning gold three times look like a jog in the park? No Oscar Pistorius making history for paralympians? We did get to see some of this. Sadly, for Mauve and I anyway, we live in Michael Phelps's hometown, so he's aaaaaaaaaaaaaaall anyone talks about.

Aedilred

2012-08-13, 07:42 AM

Two things:

What has the effect been like on everyday, non-Olympic London?
Mixed. The transport system has, for the most part, been better than usual, although some of the roads have been clogged because of the special lanes. However, TFL staff have been working long overtime shifts to keep everything running as well as possible, and the months of official dire warnings prior to the Games about how dreadful everything would be seem to have had the desired effect and stopped both resident workers and normal tourists from coming into town, thus freeing everything up for Games traffic.

However, this has at times resulted in the centre of town feeling oddly dead. Various businesses have complained they've seen a drop in trade during the Olympics, and a number quickly closed altogether for the duration. It doesn't seem that there's been the boom in economic activity that was predicted - The Economist pointed out a couple of weeks ago that the predictions just added the projected Olympic trade to the normal revenue without taking account of the drop in normal trade.

Some of the modifications made have also been a bit annoying. Several of the train stations, including London Bridge (my local terminus) have been overtaken with metal barriers to funnel people in "convenient" directions that are actually just inconvenient for all passengers. They also cause the station to become congested more quickly by depriving passengers of space. What's most annoying about that, though, is the inflexible jobsworth attitude of the staff left to police it. A lot of the time the station has been near-empty, but you still have to follow the designated path, which takes you a very long way round.

The corporate takeover of London has been a little irritating but we knew that was going to happen. Of all the aspects of the Games this is the one that annoys me more than anything else, but there's not much that can be done about that (by the host city, at least).

On the whole, things have been positive. That the Games have managed to overcome the usual jaded cynicism of Londoners (and Britons in general) and produce the feel-good atmosphere they have is a success in itself. When the final bill arrives, the Olympics will have cost a lot - almost certainly more than we were told they would. But I think most people have been won over enough by the event itself that it no longer matters too much. As one of the commentators put it yesterday - "Could we afford it? Probably not. Was it worth it? Definitely."

Also, I don't know why they don't run the Paralympics concurrently with the Olympics, it'd make them seem less of an anti-climactic add-on. I don't mean everyone competing together necessarily, but integrate things more. How about it, Rio?
I agree. This year the Paralympics have been heavily promoted, and the success of the Olympics has resulted in a rush on Paralympic ticket sales, but I don't know how much effort has been made to push the Paralympics previous Games rather than treating them as a less exciting sequel - or ignoring them altogether. Hopefully this pattern will continue and there will come a day when the two events run at the same time. I think we're a way off that, though, sadly.

Dr. Simon

2012-08-13, 08:08 AM

No Hamadou Djibo Issaka's heroic last in sculling for *****?

Ha! It's a name of a country, not a mis-spelled racist epiphet you stupid auto-censor! :smallyuk:

When the final bill arrives, the Olympics will have cost a lot - almost certainly more than we were told they would. But I think most people have been won over enough by the event itself that it no longer matters too much. As one of the commentators put it yesterday - "Could we afford it? Probably not. Was it worth it? Definitely."

Hopefully we can capitalise on it for a bit. Something that occurred to me, when discussing the cost - the money spent wasn't just burnt and thrown in a hole, it went somewhere and it can't all have gone overseas. If Nigel Dunnett is paid to create a wildflower meadow in the Olympic park, he's then going to spend that money on his mortgage, buying food in the local supermarket, putting ecologically sound petrol in his car etc. Ditto if Chris Hoy is paid money to cycle really really fast, he's not just going to stick it under his mattress.

So, yes, money was spent, but my limited understanding of economics is that money, being an ephemeral concept anyway, needs to keep changing hands for an economy to stay bouyant. I guess you could ask what the returns on the investment are - if you pay someone to do a job you expect to get the job done. Chris won double gold and the flowers are attractive and good for insects - are those concrete measurable values? Perhaps not, but I still think they were better value than G4S!

Archonic Energy

2012-08-13, 08:24 AM

Two things:

What has the effect been like on everyday, non-Olympic London?

Also, I don't know why they don't run the Paralympics concurrently with the Olympics, it'd make them seem less of an anti-climactic add-on. I don't mean everyone competing together necessarily, but integrate things more. How about it, Rio?
Simply put, it could have been worse.

the problem is that everyone and their cat wants to get to one of 6 locations in London who's stations aren't necessarily designed for a sudden flood of people and I have to work around the area without crossing into the chaos. Lest I become trapped on the tube unable to leave till Green park...

Quite! I think there's still a sense of general surprise that the venues didn't fall apart, all the trains break down, the beach volleyball didn't have to be played in raincoats and the opening ceremony wasn't Stephen Fry playing God Save the Queen on a cheap plastic kazoo.

Back to normal now, I guess :smallwink:

that would have been a brilliant opening ceremony!
can we go back and do that.

Dr. Simon

2012-08-13, 09:32 AM

We did get to see some of this. Sadly, for Mauve and I anyway, we live in Michael Phelps's hometown, so he's aaaaaaaaaaaaaaall anyone talks about.

Well, he did win more medals than anyone else ... ever, so you can't blame them, I guess (at one stage, half of the USA's total medal tally was in swimming, 30 out of 60).

I missed one off my list - Tahmina Kohmani racing as Afghanistan's first and only female competitor.

that would have been a brilliant opening ceremony!
can we go back and do that.

They asked me, I said I was busy but I thought Danny Boyle was available and that they should ask him.

I had a dream that the closing ceremony featured Norman Cooke playing Rockafella Skank on the back of a giant octopus whilst Russell Brand sang songs from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Eric Idle emerged from a spaceship to sing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

Oh... wait...