The Olympics

[Alison Wright Profile]

I wasn't especially looking forward to London 2012, but surprisingly I have watched a lot of the events & it's been such a happy games with our team GB doing so well, it's really made me feel proud to be British.

Although I didn't 'get' some of the start of the closing ceremony, I still enjoyed it & watched til the end. What has so impressed me is the organisation, how on earth did those in charge cope with all those people, kids, vehicles, costumes etc involved, everything ran so smoothly with no gaps, it ran like clockwork. They should be so proud.

The audience was great too, they gave huge appreciation to the thousands of unpaid volunteers - without whom it couldn't have happened.

My only sadness! The only queen(s) that didn't appear were Her Maj & Elton John - bad show yer Maj, you should have been there, & so should you Elton!

[Joanbunting Profile]

Morning Alison

Her maj is on her hols I expect. Either that or she had prior knowledge of the content - she's no lover of pop music.

We have been glued to the new television for the duration. M had a book for his birthday called "How to watch the olympics" giving the rules and information on every event. He was determined to watch at least a few minutes of every single event and ticked them off as he did

For me highlights have been the sailing - the coverage made it so easy to follow, not easy even if you are sailor. The rowing was also great and I found I have suddenly become a huge fan of group rythmic gymnastics.

We roared the Bahamas relay team to victory in fact I swear I could hear the family yelling in Jersey. We hald our breath for Mo and shed tears with several winners.

Our French friends all remark on the fabulous backdrops to so many events and the enormous crowds but they were somewhat puzzled at the opening ceremony ( apart from Mr Bean who they all love).

All in all I am full of British pride right now.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I have been lucky enough to go to three events live

Contrary to pre-olympic expectation just about everything ran like clockwork - including the travel

I went first to Greenwich Park & watched team GB win silver in the 3-day eventing; we saw the show jumping round

Then we went to Horseguards Parade and saw beach volleyball (which is a good sport to watch, because there are only 2 in each team they have to be pin-sharp, it's very quick). Sitting up in row 46 on eye-level with Nelson, on his column was just great

Then yesterday we went to the basketball final at "North Greenwich Arena" (aka the Milennium Dome, aka O2 arena) - we won tickets in a draw of BA loyalty cards, we had £295 seats so a good view - and we sat behind Zinedine Zidane & his family, and alongsise the England rugby team - wouldn't have paid that much for the tickets but was a great day out (I was supportign Spain, who lost 107-100 to USA)

Haven't got to the stadium yet, going for the Paralympics, hope to see Oscar Pistorius run

Will post photos when I have sorted them

[Joanbunting Profile]

Lucky you Sue!

Our old uni friend and now part-time "neighbour" who was an national water polo player, and his wheelchair user wife went a couple of times to the aquatic centre (we saw them on the telly) and were full of praise for the organisation and how wonderfully Amanda was looked after. Their daughter also went to Greenwich - she was there for the same event as you Sue.

M is furious that he missed the beach volleyball final on my birthday

We were supporting Spain too

Does anyone know if the rythmic gymnasts are all ballet dancers who have grown too tall ?
Finally what is the point of synchronised grinning? I know it is very skillfull but it is a bit like watching performing sealions with eye shadow

[Lou Profile]

They have been amazing haven’t they!

A very good friend of mine was a games maker, she had to quit her job to do it, but did not hesitate for a second. She fortunately got a new one very quickly and did a brilliant job at the Olympics, and had the time of her life.
I went o see her this weekend, and although we did not have tickets to see anything, we enjoyed the big screens in hyde park in the afternoon, and watched Mo in the evening whilst preparing for a night out. I am in London in September and am hoping to see something at the Paralympics.

The whole thing has been brilliant and I am mad at myself for not being in London for more of it.
Also, I don’t even was to think about how much cheeky iplayer my laptop has experienced in the office. Whoops!

[Lou Profile]

I did hear the commentator at the rhythmic gymnastics comment on a few of the athletes being ex-ballet dancers, so I don't know if it is the case for all, but was for some.
Maybe some get bored of ballet and prefer the life of a gymnast?
Or as you say, grow too tall.

[jeral Profile]

My son got a ticket to the football final yesterday, to his delight, which was at Wembley and he similarly confirmed that travel, check-in queues etc were fine.

The closing ceremony effects were amazing weren't they? I didn't quite get the pronounced focus on music, but perhaps it was because it's a completely neutral uncontroversial topic. Still, performers and dancers both pulled it off a treat

I too thought the explanatory coverage was good for sports (er, probably most) that I wouldn't know the ins and outs of otherwise. All good stuff

[Happy Violas Profile]

I'm not a sports fan but absolutely loved the Olympics! Unfortunately we didn't get tickets in any of the various rounds or by staying up to midnight for ones released during the week After 2 weeks of TV and lots of fast meals (so we didn't miss anything) we went up to London yesterday to see the marathon as it was free and we wanted to be part of the event. It was brilliant and the atmosphere was unbelievable ... we all cheered for whoever ran by, whatever their country The Paralympics are sold out too so that promises to be equally as good. Makes me so proud to be British ... especially the (in parts completely bonkers) opening and closing ceremonies