2012 Olympics - London

[Valandil]

Olympics. Who is watching and what are you watching?

[GrayMouser]

Saw parts of the opening ceremony- it was...interesting

Me, I mostly just watch the biggies- swimming, track- I'll probably watch some basketball, even though I'm mostly against team sports at the Olympics- especially big-time professional sports, where the stars are too high-falutin' to stay in the Olympic Village.

[Jonathan]

British humour The opening ceremony was quite... different

I always follow the swimming events and am keeping an eye on Phelps and Lochte.
Looking forward to the athletics, will definitely be watching Bolt and his comptetitors.

I want to see Federer win againt at Wimbledon.

And the football is interesting as Britain has its own men's and women's teams for once (since normally they compete as either England, Scotland, Wales or N. Ireland).

[Rían]

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

Unfortunately not matched by the sports: team GB now reverting to type and failing to win anything.

What's gotten into them these last few days? I mean, they're winning medals, the uppity little things!

Looks like Phelps's crown has slipped, and a good thing too.

The little I've seen of him, I think he's been very gracious. Lochte (sp?) was pretty cocky going in.

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Yeah, McCartney's voice wasn't at his best, I found. Some bits sounded decidedly out of tune. Noticed it at the Queen's Jubilee too.

At least you know he's not lip-synching!

Originally Posted by Eärniel

I hear you. Sometimes the constant doping-hunt gets tiresome.

I'm old enough to remember the VERY interesting Eastern-bloc women (?) swimmers It's too bad that people cheat, but it happens, so drug testing needs to be done. Those lady (?) swimmers were not only shaving their legs before they jumped into the pool - I'm sure they were shaving their beards, too!

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

Saw parts of the opening ceremony- it was...interesting

I think countries have a competition to see how boring and/or bizarre they can make their opening ceremonies ...

Me, I mostly just watch the biggies- swimming, track- I'll probably watch some basketball, even though I'm mostly against team sports at the Olympics- especially big-time professional sports, where the stars are too high-falutin' to stay in the Olympic Village.

Yes, I think it's pretty silly to have, for example, American basketball pros compete. However, in so many countries, their "amateur" athletes are state-sponsored, so it kind of amounts to the same thing.

[The Gaffer]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

The little I've seen of him, I think he's been very gracious. Lochte (sp?) was pretty cocky going in.

I agree. Having seen him in a few events and interviews, Phelps conducts himself in an exemplary manner. A proper gent. However, it's nice to see other folk getting a look in from time to time!

Poor old Andy Murray. Finally gets the monkey off his back and he is knocked off the front pages hours later by Usain.

This is an astounding team performance by us Brits by the way. We are all gobsmacked.

[Earniel]

Murray was impressive. That's about all I've been able to see yesterday. Almost missed our Borlée-twins in the 400m semifinale. Both made it in the finale! Going to be exciting!

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

I'm old enough to remember the VERY interesting Eastern-bloc women (?) swimmers It's too bad that people cheat, but it happens, so drug testing needs to be done. Those lady (?) swimmers were not only shaving their legs before they jumped into the pool - I'm sure they were shaving their beards, too!

Oh yes, I remember those times too. I wonder how many times it happened 'Hey lad, the men are that way, this is the ladies' swimmi- oh, sorry miss!'

[Mari]

Didn't intend to watch anything, but caught a bit of gymnastics yesterday.

[Earniel]

Missed most of the opening ceremony on account of packing. Boo. It's usually the one bit I really want to see of the Games. Mostly to see if it can out-do the Sydney opening ceremony which remains an all-time high in my book. The James Bond sequence was hilarious, though. Go Lizzie!

Will probably watch athletics mostly. High Jump, to see if Hellebaut can renew her Olympic title. Relay will be interesting to see how our boys fare against the big running nations. And everything else that's on when I'm in front of the telly. Most of my other programmes aren't broadcast in the summer months anyway.

[The Gaffer]

I usually detest the ceremonies but that one was excellent. Apart from the speeches and McCartney - which were dire.

Unfortunately not matched by the sports: team GB now reverting to type and failing to win anything.

Mens' 4x100 swimming has been the highlight for me so far, an astonishing swim from that French bloke. Looks like Phelps's crown has slipped, and a good thing too.

[Earniel]

Yeah, McCartney's voice wasn't at his best, I found. Some bits sounded decidedly out of tune. Noticed it at the Queen's Jubilee too.

There's talk that that sensational French swimmer, forgot his name, isn't quite clean. Which would be a bloody shame, if you ask me. Something about his sudden progress being too sudden.

In that aspect I'm rather disappointed Vinokourov won the road race. It's hard to accept any gold medal of an unrepenting doping-user without some doubting whether he actually won on his own this time.

[Insidious Rex]

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

I usually detest the ceremonies but that one was excellent. Apart from the speeches and McCartney - which were dire.

I was annoyed there was no inclusion of additional super famous (old) english rock stars (was holding out for Jimmy Page and maybe Eric Clapton to walk on stage with Paul. And how about Elton John?)

Ive been watching when I can but Im annoyed that by the time I get home in the evening Ive already heard all the major results so its been anticlimactic to watch. Guess thats what happens in this smart phone based social networked reality we call life in the 21st century when significant events are going on 6+ hours before local prime time.

Was good to see Gabby take the gold in the womens gymnastics all around though. Our first black gymnast to ever accomplish such a feat. Very significant.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Was good to see Gabby take the gold in the womens gymnastics all around though. Our first black gymnast to ever accomplish such a feat. Very significant.

Yes, that's good to see - and she's cute as a button, too!

[The Gaffer]

Seems like there's a lot of talk around competitors who pull out remarkable performances, especially Chinese ones.

Kind of spoils it for me. Surely "innocent until proven guilty" should prevail?

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

Seems like there's a lot of talk around competitors who pull out remarkable performances, especially Chinese ones.

Kind of spoils it for me. Surely "innocent until proven guilty" should prevail?

I hear you. Sometimes the constant doping-hunt gets tiresome. A doping-free sport is a good thing, but at what cost. You lose a lot of the actual fun of watching sport achievements with the constant worrying whether they were genuine. It's kind of sad, come to think of it, that one of the first things I thought when Bolt started making his first astonishing victories, was: "please, don't let him ever be found on doping, that would break so many hearts", since Jamaica is one of the few countries that doesn't do any doping tests throughout the year.

For sportmen and -women it's a drag too, constant testing at whatever hour of the day. The bloody whereabouts system is no neat feature. Over here they went so far overboard it isn't funny anymore. Athletes will have to let the administration constantly know where they will be, in competition season or outside of it, so they can be tested at all times. Two of our top tennis players were treated like criminals over missed doping tests. Only an administration like ours is stupid enough to equate a missed test to a possitive test and an immediate suspension. I mean seriously. Innocent until proven guilty indeed. Especially considering the players missed the test because the computer system they had to put their whereabouts in, was utter crap and malfunctioned. And then people wonder why we never win much medals. If we treat our sportspeople constantly like criminals, what would one expect? ...but I got off to a rant.

One perhaps more humourous story concerns doping is one concerning a Belgian weight-lifter (he had a personal best on these Olympics IIRC.) . On a European Championship a few years ago he became thirteenth. A journalist asked him whether he had expected such a poor result since his year-results were worthy of top ten. "Not to worry", said the weight-lifter calmly. "Right now, I'm going to relax and eat a hamburger which I have been wanting to do all the championship. And then we'll just wait until the results of the doping tests are in." And indeed, after that, he ranked seventh.

[The Gaffer]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

And indeed, after that, he ranked seventh.

Watched a bit of the track cycling tonight, those guys are pretty fearsome. Legs like two beef carcasses going like the clappers. Chris Hoy won his 5th Olympic gold to become Britain's most successful ever Olympian. Gaun yersel big man! Hails from my neck of the woods as well.

Slight mixed feeling in that this was the event that I applied for tickets for, unsuccessfully. Spotted a couple of empty seats and had a bit of an internal rant about the ticketing process.

But that said, the crowds are amazing. Thousands of people to watch the clay pigeon shooting. They get over 4,000 turning out just to sit and watch the sailing from the shore, miles away.

I have to say that the British public have really taken up the baton and run with it, where the sponsors and organisers have sometimes dropped it.

[Earniel]

You're not the first one I hear about empty seats. I haven't found out why it happened exactly, but I have heard something about companies or countries buying up whole blocks and then not turning up or not distributing them, but it wasn't entirely clear.

Still, you'd think the Games would be one event you go to when you've got tickets! Especially if you don't even have to cross a border or half the world to see it.

[hectorberlioz]

Watched fencing today. Awesome. Will watch archery if they show it. Can't stand to watch most of the other stuff, though gymnastics are always impressive.

[Logkhya]

I watch the athletes from my country. I am a little unhappy about the athletes from some coutries cried for the medals. That's really annoyed.

[Mari]

Well, they do train for that moment for a long time and they have to give up a lot of things to get there. I can imagine such a moment to be very emotional. Now you can finally go eat that hamburger

[The Gaffer]

I think what happened was that there are blocks of tickets that are given to the "Olympic family", which means the IOC, the countries and the sponsors. These were the ones that were empty.

It sticks in the craw because these are also the best seats. If you look at the aquatic centre, the public galleries are pretty much packed out at all times. However, they are miles away from the pool and the premium seats near the front are often empty.

It is a grand metaphor for our times of course. Joe Public forks out the $10bn price tag, then pays AGAIN for individual tickets, and they give the best tickets away FOR FREE to the fatcats, who can't be arsed turning up.