London Olympics 2012

[Stavros]

May as well initiate the Olympics thread.

At the moment the main talking points appear to be

1) the inability of G4S to provide the security they were contracted for; they have had to concede they cannot train enough security guards in time for the event, so the British Army has had to commit 3,500 troops to meet the shortfall. The management fees charged by G4S have risen from £7.3m to £60m; the total value of the contract to G4S is now £284m ($442m). There is now a 'ferocious' row taking place between the Home Office and 10 Downing Street; Theresa May will almost certainly lose her job after the Olympics, if not before -the potential nightmare of foreign visitors waiting hours to get through immigration at Heathrow won't help her career...

2) there is now another 'ferocious' row taking place between the London Organising Committe for the Olympic Games [LOCOG], and the British Olympic Association over who should light the flame in the opening ceremony. LOCOG want Daley Thompson to do it; the BOA want Steve Redgrave to do it. Thompson won two successive gold medals in the Dedcathlon; Redgrave won five successive gold medals in rowing. Thompson is mates with Lord Sebastian Coe, Chairman of LOCOG (see below).

3) A Zimbabwean I know says he is going to watch the 100m because he wants to see Usain Bolt get beaten! What he wants for Robert Mugabe is rather more gruesome...

LOCOG
http://www.london2012.com/about-us/the-people-delivering-the-games/locog/board/

BOA
http://www.teamgb.com/boa-board

[rodinuk]

1) SNAFU - an MP noted yesterday that some soldiers will return from their tour of duty in Afghanistan have their leave cancelled, made redundant and handed a P45 as part of defence cuts on their way to the Olympic Stadium for their last posting.

2) I'm surprised McDonalds would allow anyone except Ronald McDonald to light it

[rodinuk]

Other talking points are:

the OlympicRouteNetwork restrictions and the affect on some businesses who will find it hard to re-stock their premises.

the hijack of the Olympics by the presenting partners in particular McDonalds who will only allow chips to be sold by fish&chip vendors the rest of the 800 vendors cannot sell them.

[Stavros]

Yes it beggars belief that junk food and drinks are major sponsors, or rather it merely underlines how much this is about money rather than sport. I read in today's Independent that also banned in the Olympic Park are frisbees, vuvuzuelas, and picnic hampers! But since it is probably going to rain throughout I don't suppose a picnic on the grass would be a good idea anyway. Is this all really a shambles, or is it just typical of Brits to assume the worst before it has happened?

[rodinuk]

We now term these things omnishambles apparently.

The Brits have a bipolar schism - on the one hand the receptive population gets orgasmic over the Olympic Torch, won't hear a word said against the Olympics and think the sun shines out of Lord Coe's butt and the rest of the populous who can think for themselves (non-Sun/Mail readers) seem concerned with the sponsorship sell-out and disruption to people's lives and the aftermath.

There's going to be a teeny sense of anti-climax methinks, I'm all in favour of the Olympics but the taint of the sponsorship really devalues it imho.

[Stavros]

I read somewhere that it began in earnest at Montreal in 1976 and that the cost of putting the games on has become so great they need sponsors to do it, which gives those corporations with money to spare an opportunity to ring-fence their product so athletes who are sponsored by a rival (eg Nike -vs- Reebok) are not allowed to exhibit the logo if its not of the official sponsor, and so on. The fuss being made over the use of the five Olympic Rings is weirder and weirder, David Bintley the choreographer of the Royal Birmingham Ballet had to change the name of a ballet -Faster, Higher, Stronger, to Faster... because the former is the official motto of the IOC.

But I agree, I think there is a tendency to sneer at such things before they have happened, we can at least hope that the events themselves will overshadow the arguments about the sponsors and security.

[Prospero]

I am neither excited nor do I sneer. But I am concerned that the capital's infrastructure simply won't be able to cope. Especially public transport and the roads. Just last week the heavy rain shut the Piccadilly Line for a couple of hours causing considerable disruption. The previous week rain took out the district line to Wimbledon for an afternoon - fortunately after the crowds had arrived for the tennis. With the vast addtional numbers riding the system - and the limits on road traffic - the scenario is set for a very difficult time.

I also deplore the inept way tickets were distributed and, while appreciating sponsors must get a fair number of tickets, it seemed wrong to me that certain companies were able to offer tickets if you did business with them (and clearly had huge allocations of tickets) when that same public could NOT buy them any other way.

The BBC satire 2012 meanwhile probably is less absurd than the reality.

[Prospero]

You could not make this stuff up.....

Just over a week to go and security for the Games is a debacle. The chief executive of the multi national company commissioned to look after the security G4S today admitted it is a "humiliating shambles" after failing to supply the agreed numbers of people to look after the event. The army and police have had to be drafted in. But they still say they'll demand their £60 million management fee!

Meanwhile athletes are beginning to arrive in London. Yesterday one coach load of jetlagged Americans were taken on a four hour mystery tour of London after their driver got lost trying to find the Olympics site. Later another driver who also lost his way from the airport to the athletes village admitted he'd never driven in London before - a Liverpudlian he said he felt "like a tourist."

It as reported that some relied on Satnav systems (GPS to you Americans) but then discovered the address for the olympics was not recognised by the devices.

[rodinuk]

At this rate they'll be using Mr.Buckles as fuel to light the Olympic flame

[english1000]

I travel up to London each day and the already over-crowded trains and tubes are beginning to show signs of more people. Most firms, including my own, don't have any plans to let people work from home.

[Stavros]

Perhaps what is happening is that all the supporting infrastucture appears to be run by amateurs, but when the games actually begin, the people it is supposed to be about -the competitors- will prove they are miles ahead of the organisation, assuming they can get to their venues in time to compete. It looks like there may even be some sunshine by the time the games begin. I read somewhere the Sydney games got off to a sloppy start with delayed events, people getting lost etc. I am surprised a coach bearing a team of athletes and coaches from hasn't been found on the side of the road near the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre while the driver tries to work out where the Olympic Village is...

[rodinuk]

Rumbled! how we need that foreign currency....

[Stavros]

So it is Thursday 26th July, and the LONDON Olympics begins today at 4pm when the Women's Soccer tournament begins...in CARDIFF...(Great Britain -vs- New Zealand)...

[Prospero]

Yesterday - hottest day in Britain so far this year - trains could not stop at the main station serving the Olympics because of malfunction to power supply caused by the heat.

Out at Heathrow this morning mobs of people arriving for the event.

Oh boy... let's watch the fun materialise.

[Stavros]

So it is Thursday 26th July, and the LONDON Olympics begins today at 4pm when the Women's Soccer tournament begins...in CARDIFF...(Great Britain -vs- New Zealand)...

oops! Its actually Wednesday the 25th...but anyway the footie is on and its not too bad.

[Prospero]

You got the racing results for tomorrow Stavros....

[rodinuk]

Yay we won something, 1-0 !!

The power cables for the trains sag in the heat so there's a speed restriction plus there'll be the usual plethora of signalling problems and overnight cable thefts.

26th ? - this thread is going to feel like deja vu tomorrow

[gslang]

classic: mixup Korean flags ahead of womens football.

im excited about the festival of sport, and do think its a great chance for London and UK to promote itself..and know a lotta people worked hard on this (and a lotta people paid for this)....... and while we're a kinda democracy and cannot setup games, or airports etc at the point of a gun and have a spiteful media who hate any success... i sincerely hope it doesnt degenerate into "Carry On.....Olympics"

[rodinuk]

.. and have a spiteful media who hate any success..

Yup.

[Prospero]

Spiteful media... yeah... aided and abetted by the twits who used the South Korean flag yesterday for North Korea's female football players. Now of all the political insensitivities that is about the worst.....

Oh yes and the brand police who prevent local businesses benefiitting from the event by putting Olympic symbols up because they're not one of the mutlinational coprorations who spent millions to rand the event.

[rodinuk]

I was pleased with my free flag when I saw the torch but not so pleased to see that the other side was not a Union Jack but a Samsung logo.

[rodinuk]

....and so it begins........

[rodinuk]

Enjoyed the Opening Ceremony, quite long wasn't it!

[JenniferParisHusband]

There was an awful lot of walking and standing around in the opening ceremony presentation. Thank God for Mr. Bean.

[Stavros]

I made the trip to the Olympic Park yesterday -no problems. Arrived in Marylebone, walked to Baker Street, got on the Jubilee Line at 2pm, arrived Stratford station at 2.40. Was not allowed into the park but got a view of it from the Souvenir shop in John Lewis. The Westfield Shopping Centre is grotesque -now that I know, I shall avoid it for as many years are left to me.

As for the ceremony, I thought it was themed perfectly but that sometimes the execution looked a bit amateurish -seen in close up there were too many extras sort of dancing, like Pan's People. But the industrial revolution sequence leading to the forging of the Rings was a brilliant idea and brilliantly done, with the final lighting of the flame an inspired moment. However, the announcers messed up the relay of the flame from Redgrave to the next generation of sporting hopefuls, not identifying them in seqeunce as they ran round the track; they were then stood in front of their mentors and other British Olympians who looked to me to be standing in darkness instead of light where people could identify who they were. I can't say much about the music, but somehow I think Mr Bean upstaged Mr Macca...

Small point, but if that is a gas flare, doesn't that make the Olympic flame environmentally damaging?

[Prospero]

From Nimrod to Macca...I finally have to admit it was marvellous and clever, if short of flawlessly brilliant, spectacle. The parade of beautiful young athletes was inspiring - especially to see that every nation, including Saudi Arabia, finally included women in their teams.

[Roberto27]

Have to admit I loved it the start and finish were spectacular and I loved the idea of passing the torch on to the next generation as they put it. Woke up this morning feeling like it had been new years eve.

[Stavros]

From Nimrod to Macca...I finally have to admit it was marvellous and clever, if short of flawlessly brilliant, spectacle. The parade of beautiful young athletes was inspiring - especially to see that every nation, including Saudi Arabia, finally included women in their teams.

Prospero, as someone with experience of production, is the ceremony too long? Is there a need to try and put 'everthing' in which relates to London/UK and is it even a good idea? Given how long it takes for all the athletes to parade, should it be shorter or start earlier? Presumably there was a storyboard for this early on and I assume it got changed a lot.

[flabbybody]

too long imo. I was flipping back and forth and ended up watching about 40%. Sir Paul was great, as always and I enjoyed the parade of nations. Still get goose bumps when I see Ali.
always amazes me how many countries I've never heard of.
missed Her Majestry's bit with James Bond. why didn't they get Sean Connery to do it.

[fred41]

Some parts of the production seemed uneven (could have been a by product of me being slightly stoned ),but I think these things always are...overall I enjoyed it though.
...and I loved this version of the Olympic cauldron...spectacular!



The parade of beautiful young athletes was inspiring - especially to see that every nation, including Saudi Arabia, finally included women in their teams.

Yup...there's always incredible stories behind some of the individuals performing in the Olympics....often a feat just to be included...


...Oh, and let's not forget the fact that some of these athletes are gorgeous to look at..:)

Enjoy the games everyone...I know I will.

[Prospero]

Stavros -- too long? Well probably it was... but that's a subjective judgement really. Had I produced it I'd have reduced it somehat (to begin with) and changed lots of stuff. Overall i think he made it work (having missed the first hour because i was seeing a friend do a one woman theatre show). I caught up this morning on BBC 1player.

[rodinuk]

why didn't they get Sean Connery to do it.1 - Security risk - he's a fierce advocate of Scottish independence

2 - He hasn't aged as well as HM The Queen

3 - He'd want too much money

4 - I agree that he was the definitive James Bond but time passes and Craig is a credible alternative for this century

[Prospero]

Hopefully this won't just become a debate about Bond... but I don't agree about Craig. The original Bond franchise as best exemplified by Connery had wit as well as thrills. Craig is just a dull and thuggish character. That clever balance between the adventure and the laughter has vanished.

[rodinuk]

IMHO the Arctic Monkeys were expendable

[Prospero]

Yes - though the sequence with the winged bicycles as they played Come Together was magical

Also isn't it time paul McCartney retired.

And for me, the saddest image of the night - and one that ran counter to the whole Olympic ideal - was the tragic wreck that Muhammed Ali is today. And that because of the damage wrought by the idiotic sport of boxing. So sad to see such a noble figure brought so low.

[rodinuk]

I agree about Macca but he's a Beatle so recognisable across the World I suppose.

[Stavros]

And for me, the saddest image of the night - and one that ran counter to the whole Olympic ideal - was the tragic wreck that Muhammed Ali is today. And that because of the damage wrought by the idiotic sport of boxing. So sad to see such a noble figure brought so low.

It's much worse than that -Ok so he was Cassius Clay when he won his Gold Medal, but he later spent a lot of time praising a fornicating crook called Elijah Mohamed whose organisation made common cause with the American Nazi Party and the Ku Klux Klan in its desperate attempt to stop the civil rights movement and create an Apartheid society in the US. If that isnt bad enough, he was on show shortly after the oaths taken by competitors, trainers and referees in which fairness is a key value -Muhammad Ali regularly insulted and taunted his opponents in and out of the ring, about as far as you can get from Olympic Values. He is a disgrace to sport.

One other thing: NBC who broadcast it with a time delay in the US, censored some of the sections -they did not show the reflective moment when Emeli Sande sang 'Abide with me' as images of loved ones lost since London got the games in 2007, including the victims of 7/7; they showed an interview between Ryan Seacrest and Michael Phelps instead.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/28/london-2012-nbc-opening-ceremony

[rodinuk]

Team GB makes a strategic decision to rest their fastest swimmer for the Men's 4x100m Freestyle swimming relay semi-final ...

....the team subsequently fails to qualify for the final. :confused:

[Prospero]

I noticed that when the Syrian Olympic Team paraded pst the BBC scarcely fond it possible to namecheck them - with otherwise a garbled mention of troubles in their country. Should Syria even be here?

[rodinuk]

The Games are a microcosm of human life, ideally they should be apolitical.

Since Syria are here it gives the team members a chance to defect ;)

[rodinuk]

I've enjoyed the coverage today especially the Women's Cycling road race around Surrey and London, the fencing sabre competition and some archery.

The super slo-mo camera gave a superb view of the arrows flying through the air and landing in their targets.

In the fencing the moves are so fast you need to see the slow motion replay to observe the individual thrust & parry.

[Stavros]

Its the Olympic effect -I would not normally watch archery but I agree it came across as a superior form of darts, and I used to play darts at one time (not very well I should add). I watched some of the shooting but that was odd because I couldn't even see the fingers on the trigger move. I have not been won over to beach volleyball. The one sport so far I just don't understand is Judo, the moves are so fast and the rules so obscure.

I haven't watched so much Olympics for many years, but it seems to me that it is a long time since a real star emerged from Gymnastics. I know Beth Twaddle is a medal prospect, but years ago Olga Korbut and Nadia Comanec seemed to get headlines gymnasts don't these days.

Women's football has been most enjoyable so far.

[rodinuk]

I think gymnastics got 'normalised' after all those '10's and mass media coverage and the viewing public moved on to the next slightly unusual thing that we now nothing about but everybody' seems to be an instant expert on it the next day.

Table tennis and water polo are not doing it for me so far.

[flabbybody]

loved the synchronized diving. the girls look so amazing. beautiful feet and butts.
sorry. I have nothing of any intellect to add to this discussion

[rodinuk]

I'm watching the kerfuffle in the Women's Epee semi-final - apparently it went into extra time and the Korean lady is pissed because she's lost it in the final second and disagrees with the decision. The final second was long in some way and she lost on the third exchange of hits in it. She remains a forlorn figure on the piste whilst her coach has lodged a written appeal and everyone awaits the outcome. The crowd may be wondering how they're going to get home tonight.....

[Stavros]

It seems that the clock showed zero but then was re-set and in the one second that was left the German got her winning point. The Korean didn't realise what had happened -I don't understand how the clock can't be right. I don't understand it and am not really much the wiser after this Guardian report:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/30/south-korean-fencer-protest-olympic

There was uproard in the Judo yesterday which was so ferocious the judges changed their decision! Then there was the Japanese Gymnast this evening who made a mess of his Pommel but landed on two feet ungracefully- but after a challenge was awarded enough points to take them into silver ahead of team GB...most serious of all are the rumblings about the speed the Chinese swimmer clocked up over her last 50m to win gold in the 400m medley -she was faster than Ryan Lochte...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/30/ye-shiwen-world-record-olympics-2012

Overall the quality of the gymnastics was superb. I tried the rings once when I was in school (ha ha ok not those kind of rings -not at that age anyway!) and I could barely cling on, the strength of those guys is mindblowing.

[Prospero]

Gymnastics were just wonderful today

[SammiValentine]

Anyone ever had a wank with in time with Vangelis - Charios of fire?? If not I recommend it, even if you are almost blind from wanking, dont stop now... go for gold!

Get it up on youtube and get the old lube and get in olympic spirit.

Vangelis -Chariots of Fire - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaI0oUMd_Hw)

have fun #teamgb

[Stavros]

Great performance from the women in the football last night; they neutered Marta and Cristiane, should have scored a penalty and the first goal was Premier League standard. I just hope they can get through Canada to the semi-finals, although the US and Japan may be too much -but a bronze is a realistic target.

[SammiValentine]

That wasnt premier league goalkeeping.. not even by wigans standards :D

[Stavros]

True...but the way she took the ball and scored from a tight angle was top rate. It is obviously a difference class of football, but once you allow for what look like silly errors and wild misjudgements in passing, the flow of the game and the occasional moments of skill are entertaining.

[SammiValentine]

True...but the way she took the ball and scored from a tight angle was top rate. It is obviously a difference class of football, but once you allow for what look like silly errors and wild misjudgements in passing, the flow of the game and the occasional moments of skill are entertaining.

i dont disagree for a second. :) Goalkeeping lets it down generally, except the japenese goalie i saw once she had mad skillz !

[rodinuk]

I likee the fencing - the presentation has really made it come into life with the TRON-style pistes lit in different colours and indicating the hits as well as the combatants' helmets although they remind of the bluebottles.

The archery is good too.

[Ben]

Too funny...

8 Olympic badminton players charged with misconduct- YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMpysxoNA9M)

[Stavros]

Sorry Ben, it isn't funny. The badminton federation changed the way the tournament is organised and by introducing a round robin after the first heats they messed up the usual knockout route to the finals thereby forcing teams to use tactics, like deliberately losing, to try and get through to the decisive games. The problem is it can't be done without making a mockery of the sport. In addition, if say a man and his wife and two children have travelled from somewhere in the UK to stay in a hotel in London to see some events, the cost is going to be somewhere near £2,000 or more (and considerably more for foreign visitors) -even if people accept that early rounds in events will not produce medals, to pay that much money to see world class players hitting a the net with feeble throws -no, its absurd.

In the meantime, Bradley Wiggins has added a gold medal to his stunning performance in the Tour de France. I don't know what he eats when in competition, but I would think he must be looking forward to some time off and a juicy steak...

[Prospero]

One of the two young women who won the rowing yesterday and gained the UK two gold medals is an officer in the army - and is likely to go to Helmand Province in September to rejoin her unit. Remarkable young woman.

[rodinuk]

Another rowing gold, yippee!!

Track & Field events now underway in the soggy London weather and real sabre rattling in the Fencing.

[fred41]

Kid's awesome...and so are her team mates.


Flying Squirrel!!!...spectacular.

[fred41]

Big kiss to London for these Olympics...muahh!

[rodinuk]

When's the Rollerball event on?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/RollerballPoster.jpg

I want a cool Derny bike like they use in the Kierin cycling event:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Derny_Taon_125.jpg/800px-Derny_Taon_125.jpg

[Stavros]

I poached this link from another site; it claims to be about the sex that goes on amongst the athletes and hangers-on at the Olympics -I assume its broadly true. Greg Louganis at the age of 16 in Montreal cuddled in the lap of the Russians; Ryan Lochte's commitment to personal pleasure in London; the apparently insatiable needs of women football players...

Enjoy! Biut it is rather long. Original link at the end.

Will you still medal in the morning?

The real games in the Olympic Village will not be televised

Updated: July 14, 2012, 9:56 AM ET
By Sam Alipour (http://search.espn.go.com/sam-alipour/) | ESPN The Magazine
This story appears in ESPN The Magazine's July 23, 2012 Body Issue. Subscribe today! (https://w1.buysub.com/pubs/ES/ESN/AR_SplitTest.jsp?cds_mag_code=ESN&addata=2012_MAGNB_COM_ART_SUB_TXT)
AMERICAN TARGET SHOOTER Josh Lakatos faced a conundrum. Halfway through the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, he and his rifle-toting teammates were finished with their events, and the U.S. Olympic Committee and team officials had ordered them to turn in the keys to their three-story house and head back to the States. But Lakatos didn't want to leave. He knew from his experience four years earlier in Atlanta, where he'd won silver, that the Olympic Village was just about to erupt into a raucous party, and there was no way he was going to miss it. So he asked the maid at the emptied-out dwelling if she'd kindly look the other way as he jimmied the lock. "I don't care what you do," she replied.
Within hours, word of the nearly vacant property had spread. Popping up once every two years, the Olympic Village is a boisterous city within a city: chock-full of condos, midrises and houses as well as cafés, barbershops, arcades, discos and TV lounges. The only thing missing is privacy -- nearly everyone is stuck with a roommate. So while Lakatos claimed a first-floor suite for himself, the remaining rooms were there for the taking. The first to claim space that night were some Team USA track and field fellas.
"The next morning," Lakatos says, "swear to God, the entire women's 4x100 relay team of some Scandinavian-looking country walks out of the house, followed by boys from our side. And I'm just going, 'Holy crap, we'd watched these girls run the night before.'"
And on it went for eight days as scores of Olympians, male and female, trickled into the shooter's house -- and that's what everyone called it, Shooters' House -- at all hours, stopping by an Oakley duffel bag overflowing with condoms procured from the village's helpful medical clinic. After a while, it dawned on Lakatos: "I'm running a friggin' brothel in the Olympic Village! I've never witnessed so much debauchery in my entire life."
TAKE YOUR MARK
Home to more than 10,000 athletes at the Summer Games and 2,700 at the Winter, the Olympic Village is one of the world's most exclusive clubs. To join, prospective members need only have spectacular talent and -- we long assumed -- a chaste devotion to the most intense competition of their lives. But the image of a celibate Games began to flicker in '92 when it was reported that the Games' organizers had ordered in prophylactics like pizza. Then, at the 2000 Sydney Games, 70,000 condoms wasn't enough, prompting a second order of 20,000 and a new standing order of 100,000 condoms per Olympics.
Many Olympians, past and present, abide by what Summer Sanders, a swimmer who won two gold medals, a silver and a bronze in Barcelona, calls the second Olympic motto: "What happens in the village stays in the village." Yet if you ask enough active and retired athletes often enough to spill their secrets, the village gates will fly open. It quickly becomes clear that, summer or winter, the games go on long after the medal ceremony. "There's a lot of sex going on," says women's soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo, a gold medalist in 2008. How much sex? "I'd say it's 70 percent to 75 percent of Olympians," offers world-record-holding swimmer Ryan Lochte, who will be in London for his third Games. "Hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do."
GET SET ...
The games begin as soon as teams move in a week or so before opening ceremonies. "It's like the first day of college," says water polo captain Tony Azevedo, a veteran of Beijing, Athens and Sydney who is returning to London. "You're nervous, super excited. Everyone's meeting people and trying to hook up with someone."
Which is perfectly understandable, if not to be expected. Olympians are young, supremely healthy people who've been training with the intensity of combat troops for years. Suddenly they're released into a cocoon where prying reporters and overprotective parents aren't allowed. Pre-competition testosterone is running high. Many Olympians are in tapering mode, full of excess energy because they're maintaining a training diet of up to 9,000 calories per day while not actually training as hard. The village becomes "a pretty wild scene, the biggest melting pot you've been in," says Eric Shanteau, an American who swam in Beijing and will be heading to London.
The dining hall is among everyone's first village stops. "When I walked in for the first time in Atlanta," says women's soccer player Brandi Chastain, "there were loud cheers. So we look over and see two French handballers dressed only in socks, shoes, jockstraps, neckties and hats on top of a dining table, feeding one another lunch. We're like, 'Holy cow, what is this place?'" Many liken it to a high school cafeteria, "except everyone's beautiful," says Julie Foudy, who has two golds and one silver from playing soccer in three Olympics and is now an analyst for ESPN. "We'd graze over our food for hours watching all the eye candy, wondering why I got married."
From one end of the village to the other, flags hang from windows and music blares from balconies. "Unlike at a bar, it's not awkward to strike up a conversation because you have something in common," Solo says. "It starts with, 'What sport do you play?' All of a sudden, you're fist-bumping." BMXer Jill Kintner, who won bronze in Beijing, says the Italians are particularly inviting: "They leave their doors open, so you look in and see dudes in thongs running circles around each other."
On the way to practice fields, "the girls are in skimpy panties and bras, the dudes in underwear, so you see what everybody is working with from the jump," says Breaux Greer, an American javelin thrower. "Even if their face is a 7, their body is a 20." In Beijing, even the adolescent female gymnasts got sassy with the water polo and judo boys who shared their training room. "That's where most of my socialization took place -- in a tub, up to my chest in ice water," says silver medalist Alicia Sacramone, then 20, who served as den mother to her teammates. "The younger girls would try to flirt with stuff like, 'Look at that butt on him!' I'm like, 'Excuse me, did that just come out of your mouth? Don't pay attention to his butt!'"
Quickly the reality sinks in that the village is "just a magical, fairy-tale place, like Alice in Wonderland, where everything is possible," says Carrie Sheinberg, an alpine skier at the '94 Winter Games and a reporter for subsequent Olympics. "You could win a gold medal and you can sleep with a really hot guy."
And no matter your taste, the village has got you covered. The soccer girls? "All hot, and they dress like rock stars," one male swimmer says. Male gymnasts? "They are like lovable little Ewoks," Kintner says. Sacramone has a few favorites of her own: "As far as best bodies, it's swimmers and water polo players, because that's an insane workout. And the track guys, they're sneaky-cute. Very serious, but when they lighten up, you're like, 'Oh, you're kind of adorable.'"
The challenge athletes face is what to do with their urges and when. "If you don't have discipline, the village can be a huge distraction," Solo admits. Some swear off sex until their events are done; others make it part of their pre-event routine. American shot-putter and silver and bronze medalist John Godina thought he'd seen it all in Atlanta: late-night hookups, friends disappearing for days at a time. But he hadn't seen anything like the dorm room in Sydney he shared with a javelin thrower, which had instantly become a revolving door of women without backstories. "It's like Vegas," Godina explains. "You learn not to ask a lot of questions."
That randy roommate of Godina's, Greer, picks up the story: Each day, the shaggy blond was visited by three women, sometimes just hours apart -- an accomplished pole vaulter and former flame; a mighty hurdler who "tried to dominate me," Greer says; and a "very talented" vacationer from Scandinavia. Greer says his Olympian partners were, like him, looking to "complete the Olympics training puzzle." When his event did come around, Greer nailed Athens' longest toss in prelims before a knee injury sidelined him. "I was a happy man going into competition," he says. "If you find somebody you like and who likes you, your world's complete for a second, and you compete well."
Still, some coaches try to limit late-night activities by enforcing 11 p.m. noise curfews, banning alcohol consumption or, in the case of USA Swimming, forbidding cross-gender visitation in bedrooms. Amanda Beard, with two golds, four silvers and one bronze medal to her name, was in a relationship with another swimmer during the 2000 Games but says, "People would walk around for miles to try to sneak somewhere."
Many on-the-prowl athletes maintain that they're driven by a simple human need: intimacy, if only for a moment or three. For most Olympians, the ramp-up to the Games is lonely. Not unlike movie stars on a far-flung movie shoot, the Olympics present the perfect opportunity to find a partner who understands where they're coming from. "Think about how hard it is to meet someone," Azevedo says. "Now take an Olympian who trains from 6 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day. When the hell are you supposed to meet someone? Now the pressure is done, you're meeting like-minded people ... and boom."
GO!
Typically, the swimmers are some of the lucky ones who wrap up early. For Lochte, that typically means "hitting a local pub and drinking with the soccer hooligans," he says. But a teammate in Athens had a better idea: sex on his village balcony. "Another team saw it, which led to a big argument because they accused me. I said, 'No, I'm innocent,'" Lochte says, laughing. "I'm always innocent." After his team finished its events in Beijing, "our coach sat us down and gave us what I can only describe as the birds-and-the-bees talk," says gold medalist Cullen Jones. "We're like, 'Okay, this is extremely awkward.'"
Just outside the village are sponsors parties. But what most Olympians want, in the end, is to bring the party back to the village.
The athlete compound soon becomes the site of an uneasy dance between jocks on a post-competition bender and those who have yet to compete. Says Swiss swimmer Dominik Meichtry: "I'd get home from the clubs at 6 or 7 a.m., and I'd feel bad for the track and field guys. They're getting on a bus and we're intoxicated, wearing fedoras, looking like crap." As the curtain falls on more events, the action accelerates. Displaced roommates become commonplace, with the standard sock-on-doorknob serving as the signal for "please go away." Before long, Foudy says, "it turns into a frat party with a very nice gene pool." And heaps of stamina. "Athletes are extremists," Solo says. "When they're training, it's laser focus. When they go out for a drink, it's 20 drinks. With a once-in-a-lifetime experience, you want to build memories, whether it's sexual, partying or on the field. I've seen people having sex right out in the open. On the grass, between buildings, people are getting down and dirty."
Those who desire a little privacy can borrow a hotel room from their agents or visiting friends. "You can get pretty much whatever you want if you flash your medal," says one American female. "That usually does the trick." Not quite everything. At the Lillehammer Games in 1994, two German bobsledders tried using their medals as currency. "They made it clear that they'd trade me their gold for all kinds of other favors," Sheinberg says. "I said jokingly, 'Thanks, but Tommy Moe has a medal. I'll play with his.'" The Germans were hoping for some group fun, which is not uncommon in the village. One skier tells a story from the Vancouver Games in 2010, when six athletes -- "some Germans, Canadians and Austrians" -- got together at a home outside the Whistler village. "It was a late-night whirlpool party. It turned into a whirlpool orgy."
CSPA/US Presswire"I was too locked in in Beijing. This time, when I'm done leaving my legacy on the track, I'll make sure London remembers me." - LaShawn Merritt, U.S. sprinter, Beijing 2008
"This is a diplomatic relations trip," says Godina, "maybe because they feel they never have to see each other again." Adds Sheinberg: "It's also about finding something new. Olympians are adventurers. They look for a challenge, like having sex with someone who doesn't speak their language."
The sense of discovery can be powerful. At the 1976 Montreal Games, three-time Olympic diver and four-time gold medalist Greg Louganis, appearing in his first Olympics at age 16, developed a kinship with the boys on the Soviet Union diving team and soon found himself partying in their rooms. "Once events were over, our entire diet was caviar, vodka and Russian champagne. It was crazy," Louganis says. He was particularly struck by the Russians' sense of sexual liberation. "Culturally, they're more openly affectionate toward each other, which I just drank up, since I was still discovering who I was. But I had my eyes on one Soviet. I'd curl up in his lap; we'd hug and cuddle. I felt so protected." It didn't progress beyond that, Louganis says. "He was hooking up with one of the other male divers on the team" -- not to mention married.
AND KEEP GOING ...
By the eve of the closing ceremonies, all of the events have wrapped, all bets are off and the home team often hosts one hell of a party. That was certainly the case in Sydney, where Australia's baseball and women's soccer teams threw a joint bash complete with a massive bonfire. "Who knew the village furniture could burn so well," kids Alicia Ferguson, an Aussie footballer. "We did involve the fire wardens, who were very accommodating, and then we started hooking up around our very own Olympic Village bonfire."
And after the men's hockey gold medal game in Vancouver, which Canada won, a dry lounge in the village exploded into a full-blown rager. "If you were walking by, you would've thought it was a high school party," says NHLer Bobby Ryan of the silver-winning American squad. "I'm talking booze, people randomly making out, everybody else cheering them on. And that was the PG stuff. Then everything went inside."
And then there's the one party that can't be missed: the closing ceremony. Says Ferguson: "They basically throw us all in a stadium and say, 'Just go for it, party hard, get drunk and do some groping.' Which we did, with some Canadians." Here's what you don't see on TV: all of the athletes who arrive inebriated and, throughout the ceremony, sneak back and forth between the infield and the stadium with drinks. Somewhere in the middle of this party, typically, is America's women's soccer team, whose tournament runs the duration of the Games. "This is our chance to let loose," Chastain says. "Our hair is on fire, we're leaving the next morning, and we're going to enjoy our last 24 hours." After the Beijing Games, the women went, well, Hollywood. Solo recounts the story: "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but we met a bunch of celebrities. Vince Vaughn partied with us. Steve Byrne, the comedian. And at some point we decided to take the party back to the village, so we started talking to the security guards, showed off our gold medals, got their attention and snuck our group through without credentials -- which is absolutely unheard of." And, she adds, "I may have snuck a celebrity back to my room without anybody knowing, and snuck him back out. But that's my Olympic secret." The best part, according to Solo? "When we were done partying, we got out of our nice dresses, got back into our stadium coats and, at 7 a.m. with no sleep, went on the Today show drunk. Needless to say, we looked like hell."
And then it's over -- for most Olympians, anyway. For a few and the most committed, the games continue -- all the way home. On a United Airlines flight from Sydney to Los Angeles in 2000, nearly 100 Olympians were among the passengers, causing the flight attendants to begin the flight with a warning: "Ladies and gentlemen, anybody who wishes to sleep, trade seats with someone in the front of the plane. Everybody else to the back with the Olympians." After that, the story gets fuzzy.
"Everybody partnered up fairly rapidly, and when they'd bring a drink cart through, we'd send it back dry," says Lakatos, who met a girl and "comfortably occupied row 50-something for roughly half an hour." Greer ended up in the bathroom with a famous Olympian he will not name. "We're going at it, and then -- boing. I accidentally turn on the assistance light." Happily for them, once Greer assured the flight attendant of their Olympic credentials, they were able to return to their business. "And we stayed in there a long time."
It's tales like these -- of connections made and just as easily ditched -- that have London-bound Olympians dreaming of the possibilities. "My last Olympics, I had a girlfriend -- big mistake," Lochte says. "Now I'm single, so London should be really good. I'm excited." So is American runner LaShawn Merritt, the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the 400 meters. "An Olympics to remember has to have those stories," Merritt says. "But I was too locked in in Beijing. This time, when I'm done leaving my legacy on the track," he says, laughing, "I'll make sure London remembers me."
Taylor Phinney too is looking forward to a do-over in London for two reasons. In Beijing, he was an 18-year-old wunderkind American cyclist who night after night sat on his balcony, one floor below the gymnastics team terrace, and tossed Shawn Johnson prohibited Snickers bars. "She was a superstar," Phinney says of the then-16-year-old, "and I was a lowly cyclist with a massive crush." After Johnson won gold and moved to a hotel with her parents, Phinney moved his courtship to the lobby, where they closed some blinds and had a "kissing session." But Phinney's long trip to first base may have also derailed his medaling hopes. "This is going to sound stupid, but I almost forgot I had to race."
After a Skype relationship forced by their globe-trotting careers, they are now on hiatus. But Phinney can't wait for London, where Johnson, who retired in June, will be on hand to fulfill her sponsorship obligations. "I'll try to hang out with her as much as I can," he says before he doubles back, still clearly flummoxed. "And I'm going to try very hard to stay away from females." In that case, he might want to stay away from the Olympic Village altogether.

http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012/story/_/id/8133052/athletes-spill-details-dirty-secrets-olympic-village-espn-magazine

[SammiValentine]

so is this the legendary sti-relay event ?:D can britain take home another medal!!

[Stavros]

Great Britain had a magical weekend -I don't think there is any doubt that Jessica Ennis deserved her Gold Medal, but I didn't see much in the way of opposition to her; I thought Mo Farrah's running in the 10,000m was awesome, but then these days I struggle to run for a bus. Apparently the live feed from NBC to the US wasn't working properly for the Men's 100m final yesterday, and they didn't show it on network tv until 5 hours after the race had been run. I get the impression the Americans are not that interested in this Olympics. The US Women's football team knocked out Canada tonight in a mesmerising game, it was so close and so cruel for Canada, but once again both the women and the men's Team GB were a disappointment -Aaron Ramsay missed a crucial penalty and should not have taken it anyway. The cycling has been amazing too, and I watched some of the sailing for a while but had no idea how to follow it. Someone told me the entrance to the audience area in Weymouth costs £50, which seems a lot, although I guess the view of the Bay and Portland Bill is ok. For me the standout moments have been Mo Farrah in the men's 10,000m, and Tirunesh Dibaba in the women's -the reserves of energy these runners have is astonishing.

[Queens Guy]

Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva reminds me of Alexia Nogueira. Does anybody else see it?

[Stavros]

More reports on the sex olympics. Not sure if Usain Bolt shagged 'half the Swedish handball team', but it wouldn't surprise me if he did! Enjoy! Or not, the link will also show some photos, eg the Swedish babes with Bolt, Jessica Ennis's fiance...

The Independent 8th August 2012
Scott Brash, you've devoted years of your young life to the quest for Britain's first Olympic showjumping gold medal for six decades, and you've done it! What a phenomenal, amazing (insert more BBC-approved adjectives) performance. How do you feel?
"I really hope this win improves my pulling power with women, if I'm honest! That's about it."
How, well, honest. But perhaps we can forgive Brash's brashness. The Olympics have for a long time been known as an arena for one sport you won't find on the schedule. As US judoka Ronda Rousey and Olympics veteran said last month: "There's a lot of beautiful people... in the best shape of their lives... coming together in one village. My only advice... is condoms. Be safe people!"
The bar at the athletes' village may be dry, and those beds with the Olympic duvets may be single, but with London on the doorstep there's no holding back athletes with medals in their bags or sorrows to drown.
Ryan Lochte, the US swimming pin-up with the Hollywood looks was seen getting into – and drinking – the spirit of the Games in the early hours of Sunday. He looked suitably exhausted as he left London's Chinawhite nightclub accompanied by several women.
Earlier, Lochte had attempted to clarify a quote from his own mother, who had tried to explain her boy's single status: "He goes out on one-night stands. He's not able to give fully to a relationship because he's always on the go."
She meant "dates" rather than one-night stands, Lochte claimed. Yeah right! When he was asked earlier in the year about sex in the Olympic village, the swimmer said: "Hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do."
Usain Bolt didn't leave the village to celebrate his 100m win, preferring to celebrate in his room with half of the Swedish handball team (and why not). Michael Phelps, too, has been flexing his dating muscles, appearing at a Kensington nightclub on Sunday, but the greatest swimmer of all revealed himself not to belong to the Olympic cruising team, but rather the "Games of other halves". He has been dating his companion, the American model Megan Rossee, for months.
Having a body and a bank balance like Lochte's can, one imagines, make dating easier than, say, swimming really fast, but for all the lust in the air at the Olympic village, the nicer moments have come with displays of longer-term affection.
We could imagine what sacrifices a Wag (or Hab) must make when Mo Farah's pregnant wife Tania joined the runner on the track for a sweaty hug after his already tear-inducing win in the 10,000 metres, or when Bradley Wiggins kissed his wife Catherine. After the hours of training Jessica Ennis had put in to win gold in the heptathlon on Saturday, her first priority was to walk the dog with her fiancé, Andy.
And on the same day Holly Bleasdale won sympathy for her emotional failure in the pole vault competition, we cooed when she revealed on Twitter that her boyfriend had proposed. It was, she said, an "epic day".
Whatever your romantic priorities at the Games, sometimes you can't win. Pity Kim Collins, the five-times Olympian and opening ceremony flag-bearer for St Kitts and Nevis. His lane in the 100m qualifiers was left empty because his home nation had banned him for sleeping with... his wife!


http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/meet-the-oohs-and-aahs-thats-olympians-other-halves-and-athletes-after-hotties-8015793.html

[rodinuk]

Taking the Taekwondo seriously is tricky as the World Taekwondo Federation's logo appears by the mat so you see 'WTF' in large letters every time you watch.

[Prospero]

Interesting article on when the Olympics encompassed more than sport....

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-the-Olympics-Gave-Out-Medals-for-Art-163705106.html

[Stavros]

Interesting article on when the Olympics encompassed more than sport....

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-the-Olympics-Gave-Out-Medals-for-Art-163705106.html


I can see how this fits in with the Greek concept of developing the 'whole person', someone having more than just sporting skills, but I think we have gone past that now. And I don't want Martin Creed to represent Team GB with an update of Work No 79: Some Blu-Tack kneaded, rolled into a ball, and depressed against a wall...

He might make the stenuous effort of sticking a javelin onto the 65m line and call it Work No 80: a Javelin on the ground at the 65m mark...

I shudder to think what Damien Hirst might contribute.

Art is too subjective, you can measure a long jump, how do you judge the difference between, say, Seamus Heaney and Pam Ayres?

And if there were gold medals for fiction, it would be pretty tight between David Cameron for Team GB, Mitt Romney for Team USA and so on.

[Prospero]

Good response Stavros....Seamus Heaney V Pam Ayres.... cor blimey gov.... tough one that

[rodinuk]

how about the Olympic Pentameter?

Video referees - in fencing, Taekwondo but not in boxing - I've seen three bouts where the outcome was a travesty of justice - the judges are ringside but with the ref walking around the contestants it must be tricky for them to see the whole thing.

[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/sneak-preview-of-closing-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.

[Stavros]

According to the Guardian Bowie wasn't interested as he doesn't do public appearances anymore, ditto Kate Bush, apparently they couldn't get the Stones or Sex Pistols, but the absence of the Stones in some form was probably the biggest hole historically.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/aug/13/david-bowie-olympics-closing-ceremony

[Prospero]

I agree Stavros. Not a single Stones number played. But British music of the past 50 years is also more than rock, disco, rave etc...... I hate Andrew lloyd Webber personally but shouldn't his immense sccess as a composer of popular musicals have been recognised.

And what about Tom Jones? or that fat Scottish singer who won the TV talent contest?

In the parade of models where was Twiggy (still working and surely the most famous of all UK models?)

Many omissions....

[Stavros]

Twiggy! I had forgotten all about her. I also agree about Lloyd-Webber although in present times the political resonance of Don't Cry for Me Argentina might have been too much even for a celebration of world sport...

[rodinuk]

There was a Lloyd-Webber in the opening ceremony - Julian playing his cello.

Twiggy may have been contractually bound to M&S ?