The Olympics - are you excited or do you even care?

[Unknown Command]

i think i just died a little inside....

anyway. i did not give two hoots about the olympics. unfortunately its tuned in on every tv in work so its impossible not to see it, but honestly couldnt care less. from an AL pov its actually caused us a lot of problems in regards to planning london anime con and london gaming con. effectively we had to run our event then immediately run the fan zones for london film and comic con so both events were run one after the other to avoid the olympics. it now means we cannot run another london event till next year.

also wtf is the deal with the olympic mascots... they look like a pair of sex toys...

Heard Ann Summers was a sponsor for the female events

[CyberNinjaRiggy]

Yeah.....I'm finding it hard to care. I just watched the opening ceremony and that's pretty much it. Beijing's one was better IMHO.

[noirre]

I really and truly couldn't care less. Who watches these things anyway? In a running competition, if someone's two seconds slower than the ther, is there really that much of a difference between them? And with all the doping scandals in the last few years, I think the whole competition has lost its meaning anyway. It no longer seems to be about who's the best, but who has the best drugs... Sad, that's what it is.

On that note, I think being an athlete is one of the shittiest jobs in the world. You practice like mad through the year, push yourself to the limit, many times breat parts of your body in the process, and then you have a few hours a year to show all your hard work and if you aren't acing it on those days, people treat you like crap and say you aren't worth your salt. Bah.

So no, won't watch the olympics, do not care for sports in general at all. Waste of tv-time.

[Reno]

From what I've been hearing the London Olympics have been disastrous so far.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2...239/story.html

VANCOUVER — Bradley Wiggins won a gold medal on Wednesday, but the definitive image from the day was the London mayor, Boris Johnson, in a blue safety helmet, dangling on the zip-wire in Victoria Park like Martin Prince hanging by his underwear on a flagpole. And in case you needed reminding that this fiasco was the product of British engineering, he held drooping union flags in either hand. How do you say "this product is defective" in every language? "Made in England."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/lond...?newsfeed=true

It simply isn't possible to criticise these Olympics without mentioning Wenlock and Mandeville, the offensively terrible, anthropomorphic characters London has named the official mascots of the Games.

These phallic bugbears fitted out in foppish puffery are by far the worst mascots of any Olympics, and I say this while trying to suppress my memories of Atlanta's amorphous blob Whatzit (later renamed Izzy), which ushered in the trend of using no creative effort whatsoever on mascot design. Britain has brought this trend to its logical conclusion.

Also been hearing a lot about athletes being expelled for being racist and also for trying to rig matches and such.

All I know is this is fucking hilarious.

[Black Mage]

Foppish puffery is a great description for a lot of the Olympics.

[Siwon]

Now it's here I've kinda been swept away by some of the action. It's always amazing when a country with only a few athletes win medals instead of the goliaths that are Team USA and Team China. Got to give credit to the athletes who do get far, some of the looks on their faces when they win is amazing - just like all their hardwork finally paid off.

And there have been some fantastic stories so far in the Olympics. There was one Nigerian (i think) rower, who'd only started the sport 3 months ago, representing his country and even though he came dead last the reception he got from the crowd was fantastic. Then there's also the oldest Olympian in these games, a 71 yr old man from Japan in the equestrian events. And on the first day of competition a young girl from Brazil got the gold in Judo, which was the ultimate reward for all the work she put in and initial opposition from her parents who felt this wasn't a sport for girls (she Also came from one of the poorest areas of Brazil and had to travel quite a ways to get into training whilst lying to her folks).

For many it's not about the medals but the chance to just be able to represent their country, proudly wearing their colours and going head to head with the best of them.

Don't get me wrong, I was against having the Games here in the first place and there havr been many things that havr gone wrong in the build up and during events (some of which I've experienced first hand). And so much of it has been a monumental waste of money especially considering that we're still in the middle of one of the worst economic crises the world gas faced. But in the end, I think we should respect these athletes and give them praise for all the work they've put in. It takes a hell of a lot of dedication ane discipline to get to this level and I think that's what the Games should be about - a celebration of these athletes from all around the world coming together and competing on the biggest stage.

[Ferefire]

I'm not much of a sports-fan, but have to say..

- Fantastic opening ceremony. Truly an amazing advert for Britishness and how far we've come in several hundred years.
- A hosting of the olympics that has been the envy of the world. Any issues have been quickly dealt with. Boris Johnson and the London Organising Committee deserve much praise for this. Hosting the Olympics in London, one of the largest and most important cities in the world is a mammoth task and we've pulled it off!
- Following that theme - showing those who doubted us that they were completely wrong! Gotta love Boris being Boris and generally awesome. Love it how our Conservative mayor starts getting 60,000 people to chant "left-wing" Obama's "Yes we can" at the end!
- Scots being inspired as part of Team GB reminding everyone in the country that we're better off together (Andy Murray singing the national anthem on the podium with a GB flag is going to play well in anti-independence ads). To me, this is extremely important - it plants seeds that may help keep our country together. We are better all together than apart, inspire one another and push one another forward - this must not be forgotten!
- And even the French (more precisely the horrid Francois Hollande) with egg on their (or more specifically his) faces. What an odious man, and how satisfying it is to see him eat his words.
- And last but not least, 3rd in the medals table with 16 golds and rising! Our best performance in almost 100 years!

This is much much better than I expected. In a world that's likely to go through a second great depression, hope is priceless. We come out of these olympics with a greater sense of belief, pride and worth in ourselves as a nation - something that will serve us well going forward in increasingly dark times.

Go Team GB and Go Britain!

[Kathren]

I watched fencing and gymnastics.

[Carue]

I enjoy the fencing as I actually do the sport.

Also loved the Tennis.


Beyond that not much interest!

[craigatron]

Never seen synchronised swimming before. Actually amazing. And some of the costumes are awesome.

[Siwon]

Wow whee, how did I forget to mention the best moment of the Opening Ceremony. Muhammad Ali, it was such a shock to see him. The man is a legend and one of my heroes. I just about cried seeing that.


Back to the games. The athletics have been great to watch so far.

[craigatron]

From what I've been hearing the London Olympics have been disastrous so far.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2...239/story.html




http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/lond...?newsfeed=true

If those are the worst things that can be found about the olympics then we aren't doing badly at all. A fool hanging from the sky and some ropey mascots. A journalist wanting to rip into the way the british have done this might have wanted to mention this http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012...rth-korea-flag which is hilarious. offensive yes, I can see that but of any two countries to get mixed- that was funny.

bless the canadians playing at journalism.

Also been hearing a lot about athletes being expelled for being racist and also for trying to rig matches and such.

All I know is this is fucking hilarious.

Athletes will always try and use drugs, it's no different to any other games really. And yeah the badminton team that tried to throw their games- china, indonesia and south korea, shame on them.

[Reno]

Don't forget the racism.

There hasn't been a decent Games of the Olympiad since Berlin 1936.

They get worse with each installment.

[craigatron]

I thought racism was an olympic sport now?

[Whitefox]

I sorta agree Phelps being the greatest Olympian ever just doesn't seem that big compared to the achievements of the past before we had all the tech and money thrown at athletes.

I think the best part are the odd little stories they sometimes tell that really have nothing to do about the medals or current athletes but are just about places or past competitors far more interesting than the actual events