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Post by Shireblogger on Aug 13, 2012 16:53:57 GMT 1
I'm so lucky (and not a little persistent). I managed to get to 12 ticketed Olympic events, and 1 freebie. I saw 13 different sports, 30 different events (mostly heats and qualifiers, not finals), and 21 gold medallists in action. I'm slowly posting some of the photographs I took here:- fatherandy2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=trapho&action=display&thread=73573&page=2My highlights were, in no particular order:- The Games Makers. I encountered hundreds, maybe thousands, during the 2 weeks. They were, without exception, charming and friendly. Many had a ripe sense of humour, and from Heathrow airport through to the middle of the Olympic stadium, they were the best ambassadors Britain could have had for our foreign guests. The Spectators. The atmosphere inside every venue I visited was unique. The British public on the streets for the cycling were brilliant, but so were the Dutch I met at the hockey, the Spaniards at the handball, the Americans at the water polo, the Georgians at the wrestling, the Indians at the badminton, and so on. It was a riot of colour; and the noisy encouragement of all athletes was thrilling. And, without exception, the supporters were sporting, giving great credit to the opposition when their own team/player had lost. Large Medals. Winning an Olympic medal is a supreme achievement, and it is only right that the medal itself is a big one. The Velodrome. What an awesome place. The best sports venue I've ever visited, bar none. Brilliant seats, a cauldron of noise, a direct view of the off-track activities, great catering and washroom facilities, and an architectural masterpiece. Jessica Ennis. The weight of expectation on her shoulders would have crushed most people. But she performed sensationally, and should forever remain a proper national treasure. The British media. Once they'd realised how much the public was enjoying the show, and that it had actually been professionally organised, the British press and the BBC did a first class job of communicating it. I bought both the Times and the Guardian every day, and spent my free time away from the venues making full use of the red button. The quality of the BBC's presenters and expert analysts could rarely be faulted. And, although it took time to get used to the BBC website, its content was top notch. GB gymnastics. Four medals. Amazing. We're supposed to be rubbish, and to stand back and let the Russians, Chinese and Americans show us how to do it properly. They didn't win as many medals as the cyclists, rowers or horse riders, but, as a team, their achievements were greater. Women's football. Now that was a revelation. Genuine skill, mature tactics, fit and robust players, and, frankly, role models to their male counterparts. The Olympic park meadow. I've got some great photos of the stadium taken through a kaleidoscope of wild flowers. I saw a heron, dragonflies, and honey bees, in the east end of London at what was just a few years ago a derelict industrial estate, on a day when there were over 250,000 people on site. Beautiful. Usain Bolt doing the MoBot. What great representatives they both are of sport at its very best. Unique athletes, and marvellous personalities too, in markedly different ways. A skip full of medals. Congratulations to every Olympic participant of every nationality, but especially the British medal winners. The icing on a very delicious cake.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Aug 13, 2012 17:52:11 GMT 1
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 13, 2012 18:21:56 GMT 1
I have always had a tremendous respect for Mark Cavendish but I lost most of this when he started whingeing after losing out in the final of the road trial about how the other teams "especially the Australians" didn't try to win but ganged up to make sure GB didn't with negative tactics. Is this guy for real? Does he honestly expect other nations to help GB win the Gold? I think his point was that Britain, Australia and Germany could have worked together to get the break back, and the medals would have been between Britain, Australia and Germany. Only that gold would almost certainly have been British. So they sat back and hoped for something miraculous to happen and give their men a chance - but reducing their chances of a silver/bronze from decent to near zero.
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Post by Maximo Mark on Aug 13, 2012 19:05:49 GMT 1
Yes, the point the cyclists were making was that by not "helping" Cav they ruined any chances they had of getting a medal themselves, which seemed daft. It was almost like they were quite happy to forego any recognition and prizes for themselves just to stop GB winning it.
I agree with many of the comments here, great to read throughout and superb presentation from Mrh.
Shireblogger, your comments about the velodrome have only made me more jealous and disappointed that I wasn't there. The ticket applications came at a really unfortunate time for me, having just graduated and not having a job I couldn't really commit to much so it was just 1 night of athletics and 1 evening of cycling. It's always been my favourite event and I'd have given anything to have been there. I'm hoping some Paralympic tickets come up for the Saturday (Sunday at a push) and if so I'll try and snap them up. However whatever the ticket system is for the Commonwealth games I'm going to do everything possible to attend the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome. Hoy vs. Kenny?! Yes please!
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Post by Panda on Aug 13, 2012 22:46:45 GMT 1
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Post by greendemon on Aug 13, 2012 23:16:16 GMT 1
this cheered me up after a miserable monday, thank you
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Post by Johnny on Aug 14, 2012 11:09:04 GMT 1
Here are the top 10 TV-viewed events in the UK. The opening and closing ceremonies lead the way followed by athletic events - especially the 100m and events on Super Saturday. 1. Opening ceremony, 26.9 million 2. Closing ceremony, 26.3 million 3. Usain Bolt winning the 100m final, 20 million 4. Mo Farah winning the 10,000m final, 17.1 million 5. Jessica Ennis winning the heptathlon, 16.3 million 6. Tom Daley taking bronze in the diving, 15.9 million 7. Greg Rutherford winning the long jump, 15.6 million 8. Usain Bolt winning the 200m final, 15.4 million 9. Mo Farah winning the 5,000m final, 12.9 million 10. Sally Pearson winning the 100m hurdling gold, 12.1 million . uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/londonspy/olympics-most-watched-sporting-event-record-135209763.html
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Post by o on Aug 14, 2012 12:26:05 GMT 1
Are we starting a new thread for the paralympics?
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Elmer
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Post by Elmer on Aug 14, 2012 13:09:11 GMT 1
I think that would be a great idea !!
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Post by Panda on Aug 14, 2012 20:22:01 GMT 1
Top nation per sport: ARCHERY South Korea (3 - 0 - 1) ATHLETICS United States (9 - 13 - 7) BADMINTON China (5 - 2 - 1) BASKETBALL United States (2 - 0 - 0) BOXING Great Britain (3 - 1 - 1) CANOEING Germany (3 - 2 - 3) CYCLING Great Britain (8 - 2 - 2) DIVING China (6 - 3 - 1) EQUESTRIAN Great Britain (3 - 1 - 1) FENCING Italy (3 - 2 - 2) FOOTBALL Mexico (1 - 0 - 0) United States (1 - 0 - 0) GYMNASTICS China (5 - 4 - 3) HANDBALL France (1 - 0 - 0) Norway (1 - 0 - 0) HOCKEY Netherlands (1 - 1 - 0) JUDO Russia (3 - 1 - 1) MODERN PENTATHLON Czech Republic (1 - 0 - 0) Lithuania (1 - 0 - 0) ROWING Great Britain (4 - 2 - 3) SAILING Australia (3 - 1 - 0) SHOOTING South Korea (3 - 2 - 0) SWIMMING United States (16 - 9 - 6) SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING Russia (2 - 0 - 0) TABLE TENNIS China (4 - 2 - 0) TAEKWONDO Spain (1 - 2 - 0) TENNIS United States (3 - 0 - 1) TRIATHLON Great Britain (1 - 0 - 1) VOLLEYBALL Brazil (1 - 2 - 1) WATER POLO Croatia (1 - 0 - 0) United States (1 - 0 - 0) WEIGHTLIFTING China (5 - 2 - 0) WRESTLING Russia (4 - 2 - 5)
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Post by Panda on Aug 14, 2012 20:24:28 GMT 1
QUESTION: You're allowed to remove two sports from the Olympics and replace them with two others. What would you choose?
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Post by suedehead on Aug 14, 2012 20:49:01 GMT 1
Drop - synchronised swimming (pointless and not a sport) and wrestling.
Add - Squash (I'm not a fan but I don't understand why it isn't included) and croquet (to give it more exposure)
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Post by Panda on Aug 14, 2012 21:05:24 GMT 1
Totally see where you're coming from on synchronised swimming but I would go with:
Drop: football and tennis (both on the grounds that the Olympics is not the pinnacle of those sports, though an argument could probably made for keeping women's football)
Add: squash (should've been added for 2016) and roller sports (including skateboarding and roller derby)
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 14, 2012 21:14:44 GMT 1
Drop synchro swimming and gymnastics. Judged sports are never satisfactory. I would also remove basketball. 21 times out of 28 the same nation has won gold, and two of those missing ones were down to boycotts. Not competitive enough to be an Olympic sport. Tell it to come back when other countries can play to the highest standard.
Replace with squash and T20 cricket. Both sports are played by a large proportion of the planet and on almost every continent. They are both far more popular than many sports in there and a gold medal would be the number 1 achievement in each. Another sport worthy of a shout into the Games would be cross country running, which I find astounding that it's not in, but if that counts as athletics then MMA may be worth a punt - after all, its ancient equivalent (pankration) was in the Greek Games.
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Post by suedehead on Aug 14, 2012 21:16:35 GMT 1
At least the age limit keeps the men's football distinct from the World Cup. (That's why the rule was introduced when it ceased to be an amateur competition). It's interesting that the tennis got a higher television audience in the US than any Grand Slam event.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 14, 2012 21:41:56 GMT 1
I wonder if Olympic tennis will overtake a Slam in terms of prestige. The Williamses have always taken it seriously, and Serena was astonishing in the final this year, but the men have pretty much ignored it (Miroslav Mecir and Nicolas Massu would have struggled to win a Grand Slam had they been the only entrants) but Del Potro was in absolute bits at missing out on the final. After all, Argentina are surprisingly rubbish at Olympics and it was a prime chance for gold, and there may be a few others on the tour thinking that they could become national heroes along those lines (indeed Djokovic could have doubled Serbia's gold total).
And then it will come to mind that the men's singles is the one tournament Federer has never won - and there are 16 chances to win a Slam between Gameses...
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madmurray
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Post by madmurray on Aug 14, 2012 22:16:39 GMT 1
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Elmer
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Post by Elmer on Aug 14, 2012 22:32:18 GMT 1
I disagree about Mirolsav Mecir. He was a complete genius with the racket who probably should have won more but certainly not an unworthy winner of a "major". Massu I agree about.
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Post by Johnny on Aug 15, 2012 1:46:14 GMT 1
Totally see where you're coming from on synchronised swimming but I would go with: Drop: football and tennis (both on the grounds that the Olympics is not the pinnacle of those sports, though an argument could probably made for keeping women's football) Totally agree. I wouldn't add anymore sports.
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Post by greendemon on Aug 15, 2012 6:20:26 GMT 1
i'd either get rid of beach volleyball or volleyball - i don't think you need both of them as they're essentially the same sport, just on a different surface. the only other one would probably be football, for the reasons mrh suggested, but then it is the most popular sport in the world and excluding it from the biggest international celebration of sport doesn't feel quite right. basketball i think would be more interesting if they excluded NBA players (of any nationality) - i expect the americans wouldn't have that, although they should still have plenty of decent non-professional or foreign-based players to choose from. i would add squash and the little-known sport of horseball: Drop synchro swimming and gymnastics. Judged sports are never satisfactory. what about dressage? and diving?
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