London Olympics 2012

[Stavros]

Am I right in thinking that the most controversial decisions in the Olympics -not just in London- have been in the boxing events?

[rodinuk]

I guess you're right - they did replace the scoring system in ice skating and possibly revised the standards in gymnastics because of the plethora of tens after Comaneci & Co.

[reformedcharacter]

here's a sneak preview of the closing ceremony http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2012/08/11/...sing-ceremony/

[Stavros]

Madness, the Who, the Spice Girls....there was even a rumour Kate Bush might appear; sounds like an awful din to me, but I guess anything will be better than another relentless airing of Chariots of Fire, its like a virus.

[rodinuk]

This is so sad all my Olympic channels are shutting down one by one.

All I have left is the Modern Pentathlon in fifteen minutes and the Closing Ceremony. *sniff*

My task this week is to deprogram Chariots of Fire and associated theme music out of my cranium.

[Prospero]

I admit I was wrong in my remarks in the run-up to the Olympics. I was cynical and anxious beforehand. In the event it was an inspiring and highly enjoyable series of events. Beautiful people performing exceptionally. Great to see all the races of the earth performing and peacefully. Some genuine delights. But the BBC commentators and the UK newspapers were still totally over the top.

[Nikka]

Spice girlssssssssssssssss

[Prospero]

A few good bands and performers but the closing ceremony was dismal - a banal and innappropriate closer to an otherwise magnificent event.

[Stavros]

I admit I was wrong in my remarks in the run-up to the Olympics. I was cynical and anxious beforehand. In the event it was an inspiring and highly enjoyable series of events. Beautiful people performing exceptionally. Great to see all the races of the earth performing and peacefully. Some genuine delights. But the BBC commentators and the UK newspapers were still totally over the top.

I agree, but I still can't quite understand why some so-called sports are included -Rythmic Gymnastics for example, and it doesn't seem to involve much more than the ex-USSR and China. Synchronised Swimming, which I didn't see on the tv (I don't seem to get the options on my red button everyone else does, not sure why) is another dud event. I also think that events like the Discus and the Hammer are simply uninteresting, and I still don't know how a ball and chain can be called a hammer. On the other hand, there were some superb performances from the athletes, but it will interesting to see if Team GB can sustain it through Rio.

The closing ceremony was dull, I don't know much about contemporary pop but it sounded dull to me, I don't know who Fatboy Slim is but his choice of music was poor; at least Jessie J has a nice body, even if she can't sing. Oddly touched by Waterloo Sunset, because it remains a great, poignant song -but in spite of its enduring quality, I think there comes a time when the ageing rockers should probably avoid the stage -in fact in Ray Davies' and the Who's cases, that time has been and gone. It would have made more sense to feature up and coming acts from London, if there are any.

The BBC did well on some sports, but had pre-recorded tapes which they kept playing again and again, and apart from Claire Balding, the presenters keep asking the same stupid questions: What does this gold medal mean to you? John Inverdale is an idiot; Gary Lineker can't work without a script; and I wish I had a fiver for every time Brendan Foster has said 'That's the greatest performance from an athlete I have ever seen'....

[rodinuk]

The ball & chain hammer was once a sledgehammer presumably it's a safer contraption in its ball & wire configuration.

Some of the sports seem to be decided on a single race. The BMX expert stated that they could run the race again ten minutes later and you'd get a different winner so I would have thought a series of races might produce a more indicative result ?

Sports I couldn't really dwell on were Water Polo, basketball, tennis, badminton, equestrian anything and table tennis.

The closing ceremony - yes it was trumped by the opening ceremony and presumably had less budget and they played it safe. (Fatboy Slim is a Superstar DJ) I was hoping for Blur and a few whoo-hoos and no Coldplay either or Bowie in person but at least we were spared McCartney/Elton John....oh and waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too looooooooong

Agree on presenters - apparently Lineker and Ian Thorpe hate each other but I suspect Lineker has something bad going down in his personal life right now he looked utterly miserable throughout.

Commentators - some of them were rather good - Phil Ligget/Gary Imlach on cycling and the fencing pair and the swimming too. The Modern Pentathlon commentators were pants though.