Olympics

[mccaugm]

[evil]Here we go again, expectant pride (not). I enjoyed the Olympics last time around but for some reason cannot fathom any interest this time. I have been dreading it. IMHO it will take over programs most people really want to see. The fact that it is in Bejing (spelling), makes it even less interesting, the politics behind it are immoral. People having their houses bulldozed, unable to make political comment for fear of retribution. Forced to smile for the cameras and journalists unable to report the news behind the Olympic facade. Sorry to be negative but it feels like such a farce. Oh and don't get me started on the London Olympics...the dream number certainly is not 2012.[evil]

[Valerie Campbell]

Once upon a time I used to watch the Olympics faithfully - world clock permitting! - but this year, I've absolutely no interest. The Games were supposed to bring nations together for a bit of sporting fun. Guess somewhere along the way this has been lost and I think it's a shame.

[skinnydog]

What gets me is that in a country that has such abject poverty the opening ceremony will have cost a ridiculous amount of money. I don't agree with China's human rights and don't think that they should have been awarded the Olympics and totally agree that what they did was wrong in bulldozing people's homes.

Will wait until it is all over to see what kind of job they make of it all but what a great debate. Sport in politics or politics in sport. This thread will no doubt cover the whole spectrum of emotions!!

[northener]

Bin it all.

The whole thing has become a charade and an excuse for people to apply their own political stance to what should be 'neutral territory'. I honestly believe that the games no longer have the relevance they once had.

I hope Peking (not bloody 'Beijing'...don't get me started on that, do the French call our capital 'London'?) and London will be happy with the poison chalices they have so readily grasped.

[Cattach]

THe Olympics is a big joke because they try to push the ideal of competition and friendship in an amateur like ethic except that the atheltes now make a fortune from their sports. Professional footballers earning tens if not hundreds of pounds per week amd millionaire tennis players to name by two. Olympic ideal balderdash.

[Welcomefamily]

What an amazing opening ceremony. Give them their due it was stunning.

[tommy1979]

god help us all in 4 years time [disgust]

[balto]

god help us all in 4 years time [disgust]
And so say all of us.[lol]

[mccaugm]

Seb Coe or Seb Woe, from sportsman to political numpty promoting the farce that is the UK Olympics. I hate the fact that they are gathering even more money via the lottery...its farcical..

[percy toboggan]

Am cynical of it all but I might get wrapped up in the womens pole vault.
Nobody can deny the opening ceremony was summat special...in contrast
London 2012 should merely have a bloke with a ribbon, and a big pair of scissors as Chas and Dave sing one of their standards...simply because it would be pure folly to try to compete with what's gone on today. They'd never get that many Londoners agreeing to do the same thing all at once anyway!

[tommy1979]

Am cynical of it all but I might get wrapped up in the womens pole vault.

I can see why you say that lol

http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/Allison%20Stokke.jpg

[George Brims]

THe Olympics is a big joke because they try to push the ideal of competition and friendship in an amateur like ethic except that the atheltes now make a fortune from their sports. Professional footballers earning tens if not hundreds of pounds per week amd millionaire tennis players to name by two. Olympic ideal balderdash.
I'm with you on disliking the professional aspect of the modern-day Olympics, but note that the soccer tournament is limited to under-23s, which actually makes it a competition of college players for many countries. The multi-millionaire tennis and basketball players should not be there though.

[George Brims]

I can see why you say that lol

http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/Allison%20Stokke.jpg

You better hope that girl's dad doesn't read the org! He was pretty livid about that photo being circulated around the web. She was 17 when it was taken. She is now at UC Berkeley and compete for them in pole vault. She had an accident and broke her tibia trying out a new pole, falling onto the concrete box where the tip of the pole goes (cringe), but has come back from that.

[tommy1979]

You better hope that girl's dad doesn't read the org! He was pretty livid about that photo being circulated around the web.

Lol are you serious? its only a photo of a girl preparing for a vault!?!?! god help him if it was a photo of his daughter in the "usual" ;) kind of photo that does the rounds on the internets :lol:

[TBH]

Bin it all.

The whole thing has become a charade and an excuse for people to apply their own political stance to what should be 'neutral territory'. I honestly believe that the games no longer have the relevance they once had.

I hope Peking (not bloody 'Beijing'...don't get me started on that, do the French call our capital 'London'?) and London will be happy with the poison chalices they have so readily grasped.The Olympics have no relevance as long as there are professionals competing.
On the political side they have no relevance being held in a place like China with it's disregard for certain Human rights.

[scorrie]

Am cynical of it all

Nobody can deny the opening ceremony was summat special..

So cynical, you couldn't bring yourself to watch it!!

Thereby lies the problem. We all know that the money could have been better spent in a Zillion other ways but, pack a stadium full of drones who have been trained like lab rats for the past year, and bang off a shed load of fireworks and the World is eating out of your hand. Just as well, as they won't have the chance to eat out of their own.

Trevor McDoughnut, News at 20.59, Byjings.

[Kevin Milkins]

I have been a bit non interest untill I watched the opening ceromony and now I am looking foward to see some sport.
My mother inlaw who is stopping with us just now is a big sports fan and she hides the remote for the telly down her nickers ,so I supose its the olympics on our telly for the next few weeks.lol:confused
Trust me you have not seen my mother inlaw[evil]

[theone]

I can't say I'm very interested in the Olympics, but I certainly don't agree with all the anti China agenda seen here and elsewhere.

The "Olympic Spirit" is about man against man, competing for a prize. "May the best athlete win"

This is sport. Not Politics. If you don't support that then you don't support what the Olympics are about.

[TBH]

I can't say I'm very interested in the Olympics, but I certainly don't agree with all the anti China agenda seen here and elsewhere.

The "Olympic Spirit" is about man against man, competing for a prize. "May the best athlete win"

This is sport. Not Politics. If you don't support that then you don't support what the Olympics are about.The Olympics was about Amatuers competing against each other so having professional athletes competing is not keeping with 'the spirit' of what the Olympics are about.
It matters very much when you consider that 550 families were removed from their homes in Yangshan Village so that it could be demolished for that 'spirit of the Olympics feeling.'[disgust]

[Torvaig]

I sincerely think it gross the amount of money being spent just on the opening ceremony alone. And no doubt, London will have to "beat that". It's just like weddings and Christmas and "special" birthdays etc., everything has to be bigger and better (not sure better is the right word) than the last one; I don't know; where will it all end...and when are people going to come to their senses.

We look at countries whose people are starving and needing medical help and condemn them for their leaders being rich and extravagant but the "civilised" world is just as bad. We may not have the same proportion of poor and undernourished but we could put the country's finances to better use rather than all the "over the top" spending such as will be done when we hold the Olympics. An alien looking in on our world would be aghast at the waste of our resources in so many ways.

We condemn parents on a limited income for wasting it on holidays abroad, throw away goods, drink and cigarettes and loads of fancy toys for the kids instead of nourishing food in their bellies and loving care on a day to day basis. Well, I look on the government as being the parents of a much bigger family and truly believe that it could put its housekeeping resources to much greater use....

Wouldn't it be a wonderful example for London to put the intended money for the Olympics opening ceremony into some very worthwhile scheme to help either our kids or those needing treatment available for serious illnesses or disabilities but the NHS can't afford. If some country started such a scheme then the following hosts could all compete to see who could provide the most sensible and necessary help to those who need it instead of all this self indulgence to show off like a bunch of kids! It is shocking how much is left to charities (although a more than worthwhile use of folks' kind hearts) - I feel ashamed of mankind and its indulgences at the expense of our fragile world.

[joxville]

I can see why you say that lol

http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/Allison%20Stokke.jpg

I wasn't interested in Olympics but on second thoughts maybe I should tune in after all,hands across the sea and all that.

[scorrie]

she hides the remote for the telly down her nickers


Must be some size of nickers if she's keeping a telly down there!! ;)

[Welcomefamily]

I can see why you say that lol

http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/Allison%20Stokke.jpg

Sorry missed this thread but busy on the lads mags one, when does the pole vault start?? Who needs lads mags?