The olympics

[Buleste]

Ah, the Olypics two weeks of sports that normally never get on TV because nobodies interested in them. We've had the build up in Britain with the nations hopes for gold medals raised only to be dashed in openening ceremony when we realise that some pacific island with a population of one man and his chicken will end up higher on the medal table than team GB. And when it's all over the host nation is left reeling from it's losses with brand new sports facilities that no one will ever use, ever again, that will be falling to pieces by the time the next olympics is held due to the shoddy workmanship and all the embezeling of funds by the organizers. Or is that just what will happen in London 2012?

[Harrison]

Hmm... well I'm recording the opening on Sky Plus and will fast forward through it stopping in a few places that look mildly interesting.

[J T]

Last olympics was apparently Great Britain's 2nd highest ranked finish (1st was when a number of other countries didn't compete in LA), according to an article I read at lunch.

I'd like to have watched some of the opening ceremony. 4 hours is a bit long though.

I like seeing some of the more obscure sports. I don't really care much or get into it but it's something a bit different, and i can respect the dedication it takes to perform at high levels.

But I have no time for the politics behind it, and the IOC are about as corrupt as they come. Can't say I was fussed about having the 2012 olympics in London at all.

[Zetr0]

Olympics 2012.... or as it will be known..... Traffic Terror 2012... will be, as with all things committees with more money than sense, be an absolute torment for local, national and international spectators...

will it generate money.... i doubt it will be as much as they claim... personally theres just too much politics in the olympics for me to be even remotely interested!

and then theres the corruption, see now that should be a sport....

"and here we have for Brittan, in the International Embezzling Event.... .... we came 3rd last year to Zaire and as well all know Kenya still in the lead with the Gold... or was it Diamond????.."

yes... i sense a new slew of events.....

International Whistle Blowing
The Back-hand Relay
Crisis Fund Reapropriation Relay
False Econimic Crisis Race



other events to include,

Buck Jumping and Passing
The Oritorical 500 and 1500 Meters
Political Dodge Ball
The Hiperboly Long Jumping


and everyones favourite will be included

A good game of Country Invasion
only open to countries that use english as a default language


you may well sense that i have a some what skewed view of the Olympiad :)

[sarek2k]

I'm not really intrested in the olympics either and i see our press are saying we'll get this many medals / that many etc will they ever ****ing learn??? thing is if we don't 95% of the country don't really care!

I missed the opening ceremony too what i did see on the news looked great this sure was a spectacle on a scale we could never do!

did anyone see the fella from the ioc say that the smog was mist lol:)

BTW: the tune on the bbc for the olympics sounds very 64 chippy don't u think?
well ok similar ;)

[Harrison]

Regarding the smog. On Sky News their reporter was stood outside in China in the very early morning with the rowers behind him practicing up and down the river. You could hardly see them! It made me thing that their boats should be painted in florescent colours so we can see who wins the races! :lol:

[Stephen Coates]

I may have the olympics on in the background this year but i normally wouldn't drop everything to watch it.

I saw about 10 minutes of the opening on the news yesterday.

[AlexJ]

BTW: the tune on the bbc for the olympics sounds very 64 chippy don't u think?

Yeah, it does sound quite 8-bit. The BBC branding was done by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, the two guys behind the Gorillaz.

[Sharingan]

I recorded the opening ceremony, and had the chance to watch a bit of it today.

A good showing, indeed. I probably won't be following much of the sports, but I hope it'll be a fair, incident-free event.

[Harrison]

I saw some of the rowing this morning and the GB mens team failed to get through the semi-finals, coming 4th in their heat. However the GB womans team did really well, coming first ahead of the German team. They were holding back a length short of the German boat until the final 500M when they put a big spurt on and quickly caught and moved past them. Was great to watch. Lets hope they do as well in the final.

And we have a gold medal already too. Who said we wouldn't get any? :hmmm:

[Buleste]

Who enkoyed the opening ceremony? Well have a look at this:-

Parts of the spectacular Beijing Olympics opening ceremony were faked, it has emerged.

The global television audience of more than three billion people watched in amazement as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks proceeded through the night sky from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest stadium - except they were watching a computer animation.

Even the giant television screens within the stadium itself broadcast the fake images.

Stunned viewers thought they were watching the string of fireworks filmed from above by a helicopter.

But in reality they were watching a 3D graphics sequence that took almost a year to produce.

It even included a 'camera shake' to mimic the effect of filming from a helicopter.

The dupe was revealed by China's Beijing Times. Speaking to the paper, the man responsible for the animation said he was pleased with the result.

"Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks," Gao Xiaolong told the newspaper.

"But most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished."

The designers even added some haziness to simulate the polluted Beijing skyline.

Broadcasters around the world had no choice but to show the footage because it all came from one feed provided by Beijing Olympic Broadcasting - the organisation responsible for filming the games.

The ceremony has also been strongly criticised by architect Ai Weiwei, who helped design the Bird's Nest stadium.

Writing on his blog, Mr Ai described the ceremony as "a recycling of the rubbish of fake classical culture tradition; a sacrilegious visual garbage dump and an insult to the spirit of liberty; low class sound play that's just noise pollution".

He was directly critical of China's ruling communist party, characterising the ceremony as "a showcase of the reincarnation of the Marxist imperialism; the ultimate paragon of an all embracing culture of fascist totalitarianism; an encyclopaedia that encompasses total defeat in intellectual spirit."

Mr Ai helped design the stadium alongside Swiss architect firm, Herzog and de Meuron.

But since then, he has become an outspoken blogger against the Olympics and the Chinese regime. Unusually, he has not been censored by the authorities.

Organiser said that the footprint fireworks were there for real, but thought it unsafe to try to film them - so they recreated them instead.



Could the 2 British gold medals have been faked as well?

Andy Murry crashing out in the first round wasn't!!

[Stephen Coates]

Has anyone been watching it in the morning? I've seen some of the swimming, archery and gymnastics which has been on from about 2am. For some reason I much prefer watching it that early in the morning rather than during the day.

BTW, do any of you think that some swimmers might be getting a slight unfair advantage with all these posh new swimming suits which are supposed to make you something like 5% faster?

I was just thinking, because if you had two people who are just as good as each other, and both take the same amount of time to complete the race, if one of them were to wear a better suit, then he has more chance of winning, and niether are actually swimming any worse or better.

[v85rawdeal]

Mind you, the whole swimming thing has been set up to pander to the Americans.

Hence the new timetables.

My main gripe is that how come the relay events can have TWO completely different teams... I can't imagine that happening in athletics!!! Again, pandering to the americans and their golden boy!!!

[AlexJ]

BTW, do any of you think that some swimmers might be getting a slight unfair advantage with all these posh new swimming suits which are supposed to make you something like 5% faster?

But as all the main competitors are wearing the new suits, there's no advantage over each other. The only advantage they have is over the WR/OR times, and apparently the pool in Beijing is giving them an advantage anyway.

[Harrison]

Yep, and the company who make these new swimming suits offered them too all of the swimmers free, so it has been personal choice if they wear them or not. It is free advertising for the maker after all.

Some swimmers think they do have a big advantage wearing them as they reduce friction and water turbulence. However others think they are too restrictive and they get better performance without them.