Olympics

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campbell
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Re: Olympics

Post by campbell » Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:49 pm

You're missing the diving.
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C7Steve
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Re: Olympics

Post by C7Steve » Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:44 pm

Another gold medal for Team GB.

Well done Andy Murray :thumbsup

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Re: Olympics

Post by kenny » Tue Aug 07, 2012 11:12 pm

Lord Emperor Sir Chris Hoy confirmed as greatest ever British Olympian :mrgreen:

Must admit, I harboured negative feelings towards the games however the fans and the athletes have delivered a phenomenal games.

Highlights;

Master of the Universe, Prince of Space, Emperor of Britain Sir Chris Hoy. Pure screaming at the telly willing him to beat that german guy that dared to usurp him.
Laura Trott- 20 years old and double gold medal winner.
Jess Ennis - Unbelievable pressure. Mantears when she won ;_;

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Re: Olympics

Post by rossybee » Wed Aug 08, 2012 6:36 am

kenny wrote:Mantears ;_;
:shock:
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Re: Olympics

Post by tut » Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:33 am

Would not have believed that I would watch dressage, but like any event, the skill level needed is exceptional.

A shame that Victoria just missed out on the gold after getting disqualified in the earlier event, but Sir Chris never looked like anything other than a winner.

Watched the Triathlon live as well, great result, but hard to understand why an athlete would take a chance with a couple of feet on a long endurance event, and get a 15 sec penalty that probably cost him the silver.

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Dark
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Re: Olympics

Post by Dark » Wed Aug 08, 2012 10:44 am

We were at the athletics yesterday morning.

Saw the women's javelin, men's triple jump, men's 110m hurdles, women's 5000m and men's 200m qualifying heats. Bolt was awesome! :)

We arrived at 7.30am and left at 3.30pm, train & tube to & from the Olympic Park was busy but okay, no queues for security (Royal Marines on the x-ray machines!). Great atmosphere but I've never seen so many people before! There must have been 250 thousand people in the park! Mad!

Unfortunately we're not there today to see Lynsey Sharp running in the 800m heats at 12 noon. She's the daughter of Cameron Sharp, commonwealth gold medal sprinter, and a former pupil of Alison's at Stew Mel.
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Re: Olympics

Post by simon » Wed Aug 08, 2012 11:32 am

I was at the tennis on Friday, athletics in the stadium on Saturday morning and watched the marathon in central London on Sunday.
The whole place is buzzing, it's an incredible atmosphere there and I'm missing it already. There was over 300k people in the Olympic Park on Saturday morning, they reckoned nearly 800k throughout the day but despite that the organisation was outstanding.
We had to queue a bit on Friday for Wimbledon but that's because I only got the tickets on Thursday night but a half hour wait wasn't too bad and once we were in we walked straight up to an empty airport-style scanner, chucked our bags on the belt and went in. Saw some superb tennis, USA vs Czech Republic women's doubles then Sharapova vs Kirilenko women's singles followed by France vs Spain men's doubles. We were meant to see Murray/Robson play in the mixed doubles but because the Federer/del Potro match dragged on so long (along with the men's doubles at 18-16 in the final set) they cancelled the mixed doubles, so we sat on the Wimbledon hill and watched Murray dispatch Djokovic :)

On Saturday we got the tube to Stratford from Westminster and walked, along with thousands of others, for maybe 20 mins before entering the park. Again, not a queue in sight despite over 80+k people turning up for the athletics alone and having to go through the airport-style security. If only they could be that good at airports!
The stadium itself is bloody impressive and even the Orbit looks not bad close up. We were sitting not far from the flame cauldron and got a decent heat off it but that also meant we were in a great position to see the finish line. Saw rounds of the women's heptathlon (long jump and javelin), steeplechase and pole vault and the men's 100m and 400m so we watched some of the best in the world, including Bolt and Ennis and not forgetting Oscar Pistorius who may not be the fastest at what he does but is seriously impressive. The atmosphere in the stadium is just incredible, you have no idea watching it on TV what it's like, it just has to be experienced. The great thing about it is that the crowd is appreciative of everyone. All the athletes were cheered, obviously the Brits got the biggest response but nobody was excluded.

On Sunday we stood in Westminster just along from Big Ben to watch some of the women's marathon before moving on to Tower Bridge to see a bit more of it there. The atmosphere was never going to top the stadium but it was still fantastic and again everyone was cheered on. We did some touristy stuff later on, trying to catch sight of the Murray/Federer match and ended up standing outside a pub near Covent Garden watching the last set. By the end a big crowd had formed and there was a huge cheer when Murray served and took the match point.

So it was an absolutely fantastic weekend and a one-off opportunity to see a home Olympics and support probably the best team we've ever had :D

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Re: Olympics

Post by Lazydonkey » Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:46 pm

I was a cynic, and i was wrong. Now really regretting not making it down to the games.

Have thoroughly enjoyed the coverage, and like Kenny i'll admit to more than a few tears. Sat night was one of the most exciting TV ive seen in ages and i've even had five live on in the car on the way home.
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Re: Olympics

Post by campbell » Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:57 pm

Enjoying reading those personal experiences of the Games. Reminded me that, the day they were announced, I'd mentioned to Lisa what a great thing it would be to take our (then expected but unborn!) child when he / she was nearly 7 years old :-)

Sadly that was a bit ambitious and we made the call when tickets were announced that London was not the place to be with a 5 year old and 7 year old during the Games. Instead, we've watched some of the key highlights with the kids (mostly cycling, bit of swimming and bit of gymnastics) as well as opening ceremony, and hope that at least these snippets will still inspire them.

I think, however, we will make a much bigger effort to get some tickets for the Commonwealth Games in Glesca in 2014 ;-)

I'm seriously impressed at what Team GB has achieved and whilst I'm certainly "past it" for future sporting prowess, I sincerely hope enough of the current youthful generation do get a shot in the arm from it all and get cracking to take up a sport. Imagine the positive effect on the health service, the mood of the nation, the reduced absenteeism...Mervyn King could have drawn a bit more positivity from this instead of the doom and gloom he has just spouted about the UK economic outlook...
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Re: Olympics

Post by Shug » Wed Aug 08, 2012 2:03 pm

Interesting to hear the experience of the event, Simon.

I was yet another of the doubtful ones - I did really try to be positive about it and hope that we could get it right, but I have to admit that I feared the worst. Elaine did talk about trying out for tickets when it was announced that we'd got the games, but in the run up to the ticket release and the stories about shortages and corporate sponsors getting them all, we didn't bother. I have to admit that a part of me was also thinking that it'd be badly organised and a crowded mass of unpleasantness in the flesh... Elaine's not brilliant in massive crowds, so decided to give it a miss.

Actually really regretting that now. Properly kicking myself. You just get the feeling that this will be an "I was there" moment for decades to come...
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Re: Olympics

Post by woody » Wed Aug 08, 2012 2:55 pm

Shug wrote: Actually really regretting that now. Properly kicking myself. You just get the feeling that this will be an "I was there" moment for decades to come...

:withstupid I've been really enjoying them, just thought I'd hate to be in London at the same time as they were on.
campbell wrote:I think, however, we will make a much bigger effort to get some tickets for the Commonwealth Games in Glesca in 2014 ;-)
I'm really looking forward to 2014 now, would be great to see Sir ChrisHoy win in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome :thumbsup

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Re: Olympics

Post by Lazydonkey » Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:27 pm

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graeme
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Re: Olympics

Post by graeme » Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:53 pm

I was a total miserable c*nt about the olympics during the build up. It had shambolic clusterf*ck written all over it. I'm absolutely delighted to be so wrong! I'm having humble pie for tea, with a side of hat!

I don't wish I was there though... I'd need a metric sh*tload of Valium to deal with the general public in such large numbers.

BBC HD is the best seat in the house for me. Brilliant coverage of a brilliant event, so brilliantly organised and executed, even in the face of 7 years of constant pessimism and apathy. A truimph for all concerned.

I promise that 2014 shall have a bit more positive chat and enthusiasm from me.
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j2 lot
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Re: Olympics

Post by j2 lot » Wed Aug 08, 2012 5:32 pm

I am likely to be involved in some of the 2014 stuff so though that the Olympics was a preview I didn't need & was quite non-plussed by it also didn't fancy battling through the throngs of people and putting up with overcrowded public transport to get there.
Really regretting that now but on the positive I am now looking forward to 2014 rather than dreading all the extra work it will bring. :thumbsup
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Re: Olympics

Post by rossybee » Wed Aug 08, 2012 5:35 pm

graeme wrote:I was a total miserable c*nt about the olympics during the build up. It had shambolic clusterf*ck written all over it. I'm absolutely delighted to be so wrong! I'm having humble pie for tea, with a side of hat!

I don't wish I was there though... I'd need a metric sh*tload of Valium to deal with the general public in such large numbers.
Exactly my thoughts.

And added to this I assumed (wrongly or not) that everything (from hotels to restaurants to street sellers) would have an "olympic tax" added, just because they could.

Maybe me just being a cynic :roll:
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