Olympics 2012

[Zarniwoop]

I'm by no means an avid sports watcher, and I rarely watch even the Olympics except for edited highlights of Opening Ceremonies.

That said, they Olympics are here for the 3rd time which is a bit of a coo for good 'ole Blighty so I thought it worth my time to be patriotic and watch the entire thing.

I have to say I was not expecting much, we do after all have a bit of a reputation internationally of being a bit rubbish but I was surprised and very much gob-smacked at what we produced.

It was a piece of sheer brilliance highlighting the historical and social roots of our country though a most spectacular show. The sheer number of volunteers acting/dancing in this show, the jaw dropping transitions and setpieces were all perfectly executed and deed our entire nation proud.

Even the Athletes being walked in was well organised, with the Lighting of the Olympic Flame a work of genius with the literal handing over the flame to the next generation. The design of the cauldron was another stroke of genius with each competing country having its own flame merged with the rest to produce an all encompassing flame - Now thats how to show unity and equality encompassing the lofty goals of Olympic Movement. The mound of flags was another nice touch, every aspect of the event was well thought out and executed well and with respect to all involved.

For me though, the only negative I came away with was the final musical number from Paul McCartney, the tune "Hey Jude" firstly the beginning was fluffed badly but recovered more or less but his voice is not what it was and the tune seemed oddly at odds with the rest of the whole event.

Given the symbolic handover of the Flames to the Next generation by previous Olympic Champions it would have seemed more appropriate to have an old-school artist duet or start and then give way to another younger ensemble helping to further solidify that theme of inspiring the next generation.

That is just a minor gripe though,  I think this Spectacular show will be talked about long after the games have finished and has done our nation proud in the eyes of the international community.

Danny Boyle deserves to get some kind of reward out of the Honours list for his sterling efforts in putting this show together.

[Zarniwoop]

 

Well what a Closing Ceremony and well done to Team GB and the entire team behind the Olympics Games in London 2012. We have pulled off an amazing games where the we celebrated Sport, Sportsmanship and put the fun back into the Olympics.

The IOC chairman may not have said it but London 2012 has shown the world how host the best Olympic Games ever.

 

Well done to all the athletes that took part and safe journeys home. We'll see you all again in Rio for the next instalment.

[CrazyFrog]

Now the Olympics are over I’d thought I would post.


Opening Ceremony

I thought this was start brilliantly; I really liked how they ran through the history of England, although I did find the social networking part a bit dull.  But the Queen sky diving into the stadium with James Bond was very funny.  The construction of the Olympic flame was amazing, and you could tell the whole evening was setup by a film director (excellent job)


The Games

I watched quite a few of these, namely the cycling, gymnastics, weightlifting, 2 rounds of canoeing down the concrete trough and the diving, and of course most offivesly   the women’s beach volleyball.  But somehow missed the fencing, due to not acquiring the ‘App’ until the second week, which I found gave good scheduling details for the games.


Closing Ceremony

Oh dear it was a 3 hour pop concert.  Which was very dull, but picked up with the John Lennon part which I though was very good and much better than Macca in the opening ceremony, then fell flat on its face with Muse (who tried to rock the stage very badly) and the Spice Girls (arhhhhh).  Then proving how talented he was, Freddie still commanded and rocked the stadium, to be followed by the 5 minute guitar solo of Brain May    They mentioned how much music England has given to the world, but failed to cover at least 2 areas, Punk Rock and Heavy Metal.
Then Rio appeared and looked like it will be a 2 week 24/7 party in 4 years time.


I didn’t attend any of the games, but thought the TV coverage was very good and gave good explanation of events, although you didn’t get the atmosphere.  I did go see the Olympic flame for 2.5 seconds above people’s heads as it passed through Derby, and did get to hold the a torch at the NMA last week were it has been put on display.

Overall excellent job by Team GB and everyone involved, and considering at the start I really couldnt be bothered with it (except for the beach volleyball  )
I found the whole 2 weeks very enjoyable and looking forward to watching the Para-Olympics.