London 2012 Olympics & Paralympics (Page 1 of 11)

I'm cheering on the greatest British athlete ever. Eddie the Eagle.
Rick

He was a bit of a joke but to give him his fair due there can't be too many people who'd blindly hurl themselves off the end of an icy slope into oblivion wearing a pair of ice-lolly (popsicle) sticks.   Wasn't it the case though that he couldn't see without his bottle-end glasses on and of course couldn't wear glasses doing the ski jumping? 

Looking forward to the Games, especially as I don't live in London so won't get affected by them!

I can't think of an event anywhere that costs more to stage and those who care to attend absorb that cost. Other than national pride, the Olympics don't really draw my interest, I'm to busy following baseball.

                                                                                                                   U-S-A! U-S-A!,

                                                                                                                   J Dawg

- for those of you guys overseas who probably do not know how the tickets were allocated on this, - you had to commit to buy by giving your payment details for whatever tickets you hoped to get, - this was a couple of months before they would release them for sale, you would be charged on the day that they were released - so it was a gamble that obviously favoured those who had a lot of money to gamble with; - to stand the best chance of getting something you had to apply for lots of events, - however the risk was that you would end up with one hell of a bill as one person I know did. AND you are not allowed to sell any tickets on for security reasons. A friend of mine has tickets for an event that she now cannot attend, and she can do nothing about it. And combine that with a lot of tickets held back for corporate, and new reports of parents of athletes competing who cannot get to see their children perform and you have a lot of negativity.

And also and perhaps more importantly there has been little or ZERO engagement with schools and ultimately kids, - I was in a school last week 10 minutes away from the new stadiums and as the school said to me these games mean absolutely nothing to the children as there has been no effort to engage them as part of it. The Olympic brand is so protected as a brand that nobody even schools can do anything around "their" marketing symbols and events.

The perception is that these games are only for the rich and the even richer large corporate. Being involved with education as I am I see it as a tragic opportunity missed in favour of the wrong people. Sorry to get political, - but it does bug me when things like this happen at the expense of the education of children.

The Olympics as an event is the ultimate sporting event that kids aspire to....It should not be focussed on corporate reward.

ps that was my last moan on the subject I promise.

I'm happy to have a screen and a comfy seat in my living room. I love the Olympics. I remember going to Montreal after they hosted the games. The financial drain was the topic of bitter discussion. Venues sat idle afterward. I hope London doesn't suffer the same aftermath.    Cathy

The 50m burrow?

The 4x100 forage relay?

...fuzzin Olympics! ...if i hear that word again i'll...i'll... i'll .....ARRGHH!

...some of the Symbolism is interesting tho'!

The Olympic torch arrives on UK soil today, follow it's progress here > http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchrelay