London Olympics 2012

[Unclefester]

729

Hi, to accompany any Olympic promotions, I was just wondering if anyone had any comments to make on the Olympics.

Athletes they are watching out for, events they like to watch, etc....
Too much rain ? Less rain than you were led to believe / expecting in the United Kingdom ? :D

Any thoughts on the opening ceremony.... there have been some impressive one's in the past.
London's is supposed to cost less than recent ones. Was it as good as you expected, a shambles, naff, or just typically British ?

[LD]

Only saw the highlights but thought the queen sky diving was brilliant. Bit of good humour goes a long way in my book.

On the back of 3 weeks of Tour de France late nights, the next 2 weeks are going to kill me I think. Have many must-watch events penciled in, but top of the list is Usain Bolt in the 100 and 200.

[Unclefester]

Regarding the opening ceremony.

Typically British, better than I feared. Some cultural history that viewers from other countries wouldn't get, but otherwise good.

The opening set was like something like Hobbiton from the start of the Lord of the Rings movies, with the green & pleasant land later destroyed by the Uraki / Orcs, aka industrial revolution. Of course this is what Tolkien was lamenting when he wrote the books i.e. the loss of the Idyllic British countryside & the despair of conflict.


Yes I enjoyed Daniel Craig's 007 helicopter escort of the Queen to the stadium.

Rowan Atkinson's Mr Bean, Chariots of Fire sketch was good also.

And an emotional / sad moment seeing the now frail figure of Muhammad Ali touch the Olympic flag.

[Unclefester]

Usain Bolt was the flag bearer for Jamaica.

If I remember correctly they quoted him as saying he felt 95% fit coming to these games, so I don't know if we can expect any new records this time.

Fellow Jamaican, Yohan Blake is highly tipped as a main rival to Usain's chances of gold in the 100m.

[Unclefester]

734
Beach Volleyball will be another highlight ... no beaches in London ;). So located at Horse Guards Parade with extra sand.

I was hoping the female Latvian team would be made up of dealers, but I didn't spot any in the athletes parade :(

[LD]

The fact that Bolt is under a form cloud and vulnerable is what makes it interesting. Still think at 95% fit he'll blow the doors of it and beat Blake, Gay, Gatlin etc.


was hoping the female Latvian team would be made up of dealers They would look good in beach volleyball kit!

[Unclefester]

Yes many dealers told me they like to play Beach Volleyball in the summer.... no small wonder so many players head to Latvia each year ;)

Actually with a population of just around the 2 million mark, so say ~ 1+milliion females, & only a small percentage in the dealer age range of low 20s, why not have the team made up of dealers. :o

[LD]

Biggest disappointment so far...Mark Cavendish's whinge that other countries didn't help team GB pull back the break away allowing him to take a sprint win.


“The other teams were content that if they didn’t win, we wouldn’t. The Aussies, in particular, raced negatively.”

1. O'Grady created the break that shaped the race (how is this negative racing???)
2. Why should other countries help team GB with their announced strategy to deliver Cav to a sprint victory?

I'm a big fan of Cav. Just wish he could lose gracefully.

now, back to the beach volleyball...

[Unclefester]

Yes I agree completely about Cavendish & he snapped at a TV reporter just after the race saying "did he understand racing"


Also shock news .... Spain's men can't win every football tournament. (sorry tatanes1)
They lost 1-0 to Honduras and are eliminated at the group stage.
Although I've never been a big fan of football been in the Olympics.

[LD]

I've never been a big fan of football been in the Olympics

add to football - BMX, Tennis, the 50 different shooting events, sailing, canoeing, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronised swimming...
I'd also include beach volleyball if it didn't mean the dealers lost their chance of making it to the olympics ;)

[Unclefester]

add to football - BMX, Tennis, the 50 different shooting events, sailing, canoeing, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronised swimming...

I would agree with most of that list.
I think where possible the Olympic events should be more about the fastest, highest, longest, etc.

Horse Guards Parade looked a pretty cool venue :cool: (no not temperature wise ;)) for the volleyball, with plenty of spectators.

[tatanes1]

Yes Unclefester Spain eliminated, in Barcelona 1992 gold 3-2 mmmm a Ghana, Im not sure... in the team played Guardiola :)

I'm sorry that baseball is no longer an Olympic sport, after soccer is the sport that I like :) in 1992 the gold Cuba, and I went to the stadium with my father on two occasions... the scores Spain 1 USA 4 and Spain 0 Taiwan 20 :o Mmmmm great memories of child... the song Barcelona Freddy Mercury & Montserrat Caballé I remember a lot :)

[Unclefester]

Barcelona 1992 ... Mmmmm great memories of child... the song Barcelona Freddy Mercury


1992 ... I was at university ! :eek:

Before everyone thinks I'm like 100 :D ... In the UK most people go to Uni at 18, whereas I think it's older for other European countries.


Yes Freddie Mercury's 'Barcelona' is a classic. 'London calling' by 'The Clash' is equally appropriate for these 2012 games.

[Unclefester]

Yippeeeeeee ... GB finally hit gold today.

First the womens pair of Helen Glover & Heather Stanning in rowing.
Then another super performance by Bradley Wiggins in the cycling time trial.

It was great to see the joy on both sets of faces, and all the supporters who turned out to cheer them on. :).
Compare this with the 8 female badminton doubles players who apparently 'deliberately' lost matches and were disqualified.

[LD]

Sitting pretty on the medal tally with a single gold...just like Australia. Both getting smashed by the home of Borat...

737

This tally's a day old...Australia still have just the one gold...Kazakhstan are now up to 3

Great Success indeed!

[Unclefester]

740 There have been some fantastic British performances in these games. With team GB currently 3rd in the medal table. :)

It now seems unfair to single out any individual athletes for praise.

But I must say how much I enjoyed watching Jessica Ennis achieve gold in the heptathlon.
Having missed out on the Beijing Games following a foot injury, gold seemed so much sweeter now.

As a child I remember watching Daley Thompson achieve 2 golds in the decathlon in Moscow 1980 & then LA 1984.
More recently, Denise Lewis's heptathlon gold in Sydney 2000, & now this.



Also noteworthy was seeing South Africa's Oscar Pistorius "Blade Runner" became the first double amputee sprinter to compete on the track at an Olympic Games and qualify for the 400m semifinals :cool:

[LD]

Super Saturday for the Brits indeed! Great for an Olympic games when the host nation does well - makes for a very positive vibe. Certainly seems olyympic officials are in a celebratory mood...

http://www.theage.com.au/olympics/off-the-field/committee-takes-lunch-for-65000-20120804-23mbx.html

Still not sure about whether the blade runner should be competing. Not taking anything away from his achievement which is quite amazing. But are the blades an advantage or disadvantage? They'll never fatigue, cramp, fill with lactic acid etc.

[LD]

How good is Usain Bolt?

[Unclefester]

How good is Usain Bolt?

Well he sure was good enough for a new gold Olympic record ! .... even at 95% fit :cool:


Previously they were discussing the records already on the track .... apparently a different construction(backing) to the track surface compared with Beijing.

[The Dealer]

Whoop, whoop! Latvians got bronze medal at beach volleyball! Still dizzling of these news. It was totally unexpected. Latvia have never been so great at volleyball before. It is the first medal so far for us in these Olimpic Games, but we are still hoping for our 3 BMX drivers to got some medal, as one of them - Maris Strombergs - is the former champion in Beijing. :eek:

[tatanes1]

Yeah.... Congratulations dealer!!! Congratulations Latvia!!! :) :)

[Unclefester]

Whoop, whoop! Latvians got bronze medal at beach volleyball! Still dizzling of these news. It was totally unexpected. Latvia have never been so great at volleyball before.

Congrats to Latvia, it is always nice when the smaller countries win something, even better when unexpected ! :)

Helps to prove to the young sports stars of the future that they don't need to be from the biggest country & best funded to still achieve something.


I've been a bit surprised by countries who I thought might have got more medals, e.g. Canada & some European countries.

[The Dealer]

Thanks, guys! And today our Maris Strombergs got GOLD at BMX!!! Thumbs up for strong latvians... :D

And, yeach, speaking about the medal-less countries, I am really surprised this time about Canada and Germany. What's wrong with them? Lazyness?! :eek:

[tatanes1]

Congratulations again!!!!!!, could not miss the golden!!!!! :) :) Yes... really when I saw it on TV I was very happy for your latvians and Latvia. :D :D
Yes lasyness in fine points, I do not know of many disciplines, but for example Germany in soccer does not make a good preparation and was not even the games may take a great team. For example Brazil design team to go for the gold medal, today final vs México, not be easy... México has a good team, well... I would like to win México.
I believe -in general- that the few gold medals from Germany and Canada is high competition, strong China, USA, Great Britain, South Korea.
What surprised me is Russia, I thought I would win more gold medals... Well... I think it's the same cause.

[tatanes1]

Well Unclefester, I imagine you'll be happy with the actuation of Great Britain, congratulations also to you :) You´re a good friend.

[Unclefester]

Thanks tatanes1.

& Congrats again to Latvia / Maris Strombergs :)

I made a point of watching out for him after 'The Dealer' tipped him.


we are still hoping for our 3 BMX drivers to got some medal, as one of them - Maris Strombergs - is the former champion in Beijing.


I usually manage to "put the kiss of death on" / jinx any predictions I make :(

[Unclefester]

Regarding Great Britain's medal haul....

In the build up to Beijing the various governing bodies made a concerted effort to increase / target funding, get the best coaches, etc. in the full knowledge that the next Olympics were in London. Basically to put the structure in place, in readiness so to speak.
We did a lot better than expected in Beijing, coming 4th in the medal table. Then the pressure was really on to see if we could match that in our home games.

The real question is how will we be doing in 2 Olympic Games time from now ??

[tatanes1]

I am proud of our basketball team, a sweet silver medal against the stars of the NBA (107-100) 40 minutes we played well, but there was a slump at the end, second consecutive silver in basket... perhaps be the third time lucky.

[Unclefester]

I enjoyed the closing ceremony. It was a great kaleidoscope of colour & British music.

London 2012 .... 7 years in the waiting & gone so quick. :(

[Unclefester]

100 posts !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I only joined the forum planning to make 2 ! :eek:

Can I get a gold medal before I retire ?