The '2012 London Olympics' Thread

[Newport]

 

US sprinter Justin Gatlin, who won bronze, said the thrown bottle had been a "little distraction".

 

Speaking after the race he said: "I didn't know what it was.

 

"But when you're in those blocks and the whole stadium's quiet you can hear a pin drop."

 

 

What a fucking bellend.

Typical bollocks from the same kind of attitude as the Williams monsters. Always some stupid excuse. This cunt should be happy he's even allowed to compete.

I'm sure they all heard it, but it's the same for all of them and it's nothing like the sound of the start gun. Here's a video from the shit seats in the wrong end of the stadium. Makes you appreciate watching it on telly, doesn't it.

[YOUTUBE]iRUPVsrVB7k[/YOUTUBE]

[Champ]

Bolt was superb in the 100m final. I was made up for Blake bagging silver, but gutted that Gay missed out to that cheating twat, Gatlin. I felt sorry for Powell as well.

 

Who is the grey-haired BBC interviewer at trackside? It was obvious that Gay was gutted, and he still insisted on pestering him.

Phil? Jones. He is starting to really ducking annoy me with his inane questions and 'pawing' everyone he is attempting to interview

[Paulie Dangerously]

Think it would've ruled if someone had burst a blown up pack of crisps and Gatlin's steroid enhance ears picked up on it and he ran the 100m in 7.67 seconds but then his juiced up legs exploded with frustration at realising it was a false start

[Hand Shandy]

 

I would cry.

 

So would Ennis...

[Dougie Do'ins]

We are hoping so SD. It's a long way to Rio but it will be great if she can get a medal.

 

Apparently Linford Christie has said he could turn her into a world class sprinter but she has got the lot. She just needs to improve her strength and see where it takes her.

Would he be someone you'd be happy for her to have in her camp ? After the discussions in this thread about drug cheats last night, I did some reading up on him. Bit of a dodgy past in the sport to say the least.

[VladimirIlyich]

Would he be someone you'd be happy for her to have in her camp ? After the discussions in this thread about drug cheats last night' date=' I did some reading up on him. Bit of a dodgy past in the sport to say the least.[/quote']

 

I'm amazed that Christies past indiscretions have been covered up to the extent that a lot of people under around the age of 30 think he was Mr Clean.

As I mentioned earlier,the 1,2,3 of Ben Johnson,Carl Lewis and Linford Christie in an Olympic or World final almost single handedly turned me away from Athletics.

Cheats,all three yet Johnson was hung out to dry,a scapegoat in that he took most of the blame.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Just caught you in time to say thanks for putting me on to Louis Smith on iplayer. Just watched his routine now. It was fantastic.....there just arent enough superlatives for some of the stuff we have been treated to over the last week or so

What can top this?

 

Jessica Ennis ringing my doorbell and asking for some sugar! I'll settle for more medals and we will win more. Bet the country is buzzing over there and i'm missing out on it. I do however get to hear all the discussions on how shit Germany have been and the inevitable fall out.

[Champ]

Jessica Ennis ringing my doorbell and asking for some sugar! I'll settle for more medals and we will win more. Bet the country is buzzing over there and i'm missing out on it. I do however get to hear all the discussions on how shit Germany have been and the inevitable fall out.

 

A very delicate euphemism for this time of the morning there! Glad to see that you found my 'thanks' reply.

I think people really are buzzing off these games....what the legacy will be remains to be seen

I have to confess I hadnt picked up on Germany's relatively poor showing until I was listening to a piece on R4 this morning and they were talking about this and how far Australia has fallen in the short time since they hosted the Sydney Games.

Its all about the money

[Guest Pistonbroke]

A very delicate euphemism for this time of the morning there! Glad to see that you found my 'thanks' reply.

I think people really are buzzing off these games....what the legacy will be remains to be seen

I have to confess I hadnt picked up on Germany's relatively poor showing until I was listening to a piece on R4 this morning and they were talking about this and how far Australia has fallen in the short time since they hosted the Sydney Games.

Its all about the money

 

Always has been. The German government used to throw a lot of money towards their sport but things have changed over the last decade and the obvious poor showings are coming about. They invest in f***ball and handball heavily and quite a lot in rowing and in Equestrian events, the rest are getting only a fraction of the backing.

 

I was getting some annual tests done on my arthritis/and replacement hip early doors and the doctor was talking more about our athletes and the pure excitement of the games so far. Then he stuck a fuck off needle in me and pinched a load of blood.

[Champ]

To quote Spy Bee, BELIEVE

 

 

No, you are quoting Tom Ross.

 

[/pedantry]

 

To give Spy Bee his due my reference was to his post on the MF at the end of Murray's semi-final

[Guest Pistonbroke]

No track cycling on until 4pm...In fact not a lot on early doors apart from the athletics.

[Champ]

My mum and dad have just got back about an hour ago. They said the atmosphere down there is absolutely unreal. My dad said the atmosphere last night in the stadium was better than Istanbul and seriously that coming from him is something. He's had his season ticket for about 30 years and has been to every major final we've been in since 78.

 

Our Katarina has been getting mobbed since yesterday. My aunty nearly had a panic attack. The jammy get has got a ticket for the 100m final tonight as well. It's going to be explosive this I think bolt is going blow the record away.

Delighted for her and all her family. You must be so proud. She looks like she's got a great future ahead of her. You have clearly made a lot of new 'friends' on here!

[Whelan]

Me neither, I'll always class her as a doper.

 

She was never found guilty of doping though!

 

She missed 3 tests in a year. Loads of athletes came out at the time and said that they had missed a couple themselves. The tests were not pre-arranged (like Rio), you provide the doping authorities with a diary of where you will be throughout the week, informing them of any changes, she turned up at the orginal venue which was closed and moved to another. The authorities turned up, and she failed. You are not given the opportunity to get their within the hour, or tell them whre you are, you are simply failed.

 

She learned the hard way, but I don't think she is a doper. She does look like Frank Bruno though!

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Delighted for her and all her family. You must be so proud. She looks like she's got a great future ahead of her. You have clearly made a lot of new 'friends' on here!

 

You forgot to mention the fact your son loves her.

[VladimirIlyich]

 

A very delicate euphemism for this time of the morning there! Glad to see that you found my 'thanks' reply.

I think people really are buzzing off these games....what the legacy will be remains to be seen

I have to confess I hadnt picked up on Germany's relatively poor showing until I was listening to a piece on R4 this morning and they were talking about this and how far Australia has fallen in the short time since they hosted the Sydney Games.

Its all about the money

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head there Champ when you talk about the legacy of these games. I was having a bit of a discussion with my dad around his hospital bed where he is just recovering from his second heart attack in as many months and inevitably he missed out on Saturday nights events.

He,a 76 yr old was saying that this showing might open doors for kids to enter previously uncharted waters be being able to get into rowing and yachting etc,no pun intended,while I,a 45 yr old, was saying that how could we find this money when we are told there isn't enough to fund the health service and education even.

I was called a pessimist so I didn't get into it any more and left it at that due to his condition.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens afterwards and where any extra money will come from.

 

I hope there is more investment because governments of all colours have let many generations of youngsters down by lack of investment in sport since at least the 70's and this success has a lot to do with lottery funding which has come from the general public itself.

Its actually a victory for the people over its politicians.

[Champ]

 

I was getting some annual tests done on my arthritis/and replacement hip early doors and the doctor was talking more about our athletes and the pure excitement of the games so far. Then he stuck a fuck off needle in me and pinched a load of blood.

 

Apart from the response to the Opening Ceremony I havent picked up much about how the Games are being viewed around the rest of the world. While I have really enjoyed the achievements of the British athletes to me there are also loads of competitors whose 'stories' transcend nationality and I think that is as much a part of the legacy that may or may not be enjoyed by Britons at home

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I think you've hit the nail on the head there Champ when you talk about the legacy of these games. I was having a bit of a discussion with my dad around his hospital bed where he is just recovering from his second heart attack in as many months and inevitably he missed out on Saturday nights events.

He,a 76 yr old was saying that this showing might open doors for kids to enter previously uncharted waters be being able to get into rowing and yachting etc,no pun intended,while I,a 45 yr old, was saying that how could we find this money when we are told there isn't enough to fund the health service and education even.

I was called a pessimist so I didn't get into it any more and left it at that due to his condition.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens afterwards and where any extra money will come from.

 

I hope there is more investment because governments of all colours have let many generations of youngsters down by lack of investment in sport since at least the 70's and this success has a lot to do with lottery funding which has come from the general public itself.

Its actually a victory for the people over its politicians.

 

Hope your dad recovers fully Vlad.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Apart from the response to the Opening Ceremony I havent picked up much about how the Games are being viewed around the rest of the world. While I have really enjoyed the achievements of the British athletes to me there are also loads of competitors whose 'stories' transcend nationality and I think that is as much a part of the legacy that may or may not be enjoyed by Britons at home

 

Agree with that, for athletics and other sports to survive it has to be a World-wide legacy as much as a brit one.

I can only say what i hear and read over here in Germany and the games are receiving high praise.

[Whelan]

This is rather amusing (I thought)

 

‘Bookish’ Australians indifferent to Olympics success

 

'Bookish' Australians indifferent to Olympics success

06-08-12

AUSTRALIA’S woeful Olympics medal tally is due to its residents’ disdain for any activity that emphasises the physical over the mental, it has been claimed.

 

 

 

"Pray tell me sir, what is a 'tinnie'?"

The nation’s lack of concern for putting one over on other countries, particularly the British, is another key factor.

 

Internationalist Nikki Hollis said: “Most nations would be smarting with humiliation at their resoundingly abysmal record in these games but not the Australians, an enigmatic people dedicated to the life of the mind who rarely travel outside their own shores.

 

“Until 1996, ‘rough sports’, a category which included rugby, surfing and cricket, were specifically banned in the Australian constitution as it was feared that they may distract young people from their studies of vers libre, dodecaphonic composition and ethnological art.

 

“Under protest from their own citizens, the government partly repealed these laws but only to introduce Australian Rules Football, a watered down version of the game which, according to those who have played it is ‘more like a mixture of chess and expressive dance’.

 

“Given how much the average young Australian male would far prefer to engage you in a discussion on the finer points of Mallarmé or Euripides than bandy remarks on uncouth ball games, it is hardy astonishing that they have won such a pitiful number of medals.”

 

Australian ex-pat Bill McKay said: “Being a sports fan in Australia is incredibly lonely. There’s more to life than the intellect but try telling that to the average bloke in New South Wales.

 

“Take swimming. We could be good at it but it’s impossible to swim and read at the same time – you just end up going in circles. And you can’t get an Aussie to put their book down, even in the water.”

 

Joanna Kramer, a self-confessed ‘Australophile’, said: “I think we British could learn a lot from Australia. What is sport, they say, compared with the arts and the crafts, macrame, ceramics, flower arranging?

 

“To them, physical competition and noisy collective celebration are as insignificant as the number of medals they have won in these Olympics.”

[gumps]

Just like to add to the opinions of others on here regarding the pure sportsmanship that I see at these meetings. Compared to that other sport we all watch the rest of the time.

 

The Olympics is just amazing to watch. I suppose because it's only every 4 years, but I always forget how good it is. I find myself watching stuff that I wouldn't give the time of day to any other time! Women's weightlifting and Fencing spring immediately to mind!

 

Something else I noticed last night during the 100m final is how quiet the crowd went from a really loud to complete silence for the start. You just know at some other sports you would get some knob shouting something out trying to be clever.

[Whelan]

Fuck me!

 

Danny Boyle is nailing Rosario Dawson! The lucky fuck.

[Champ]

You forgot to mention the fact your son loves her.

 

Reckon he's way down the queue mate

 

Hope your dad recovers fully Vlad.

 

Absolutely. Even for us 'grown ups' if you've got a good relationship with your folks its hard to see them not well

 

Agree with that, for athletics and other sports to survive it has to be a World-wide legacy as much as a brit one.

I can only say what i hear and read over here in Germany and the games are receiving high praise.

 

This but my sentiments were about the need to find and share common humanity between nationalities and sport is one of the few ways that 'ordinary' people can be linked on a truly global scale

 

A bit of a mixed bag there but saves multiple posts

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I agree.

[Dougie Do'ins]

Apart from the response to the Opening Ceremony I havent picked up much about how the Games are being viewed around the rest of the world. While I have really enjoyed the achievements of the British athletes to me there are also loads of competitors whose 'stories' transcend nationality and I think that is as much a part of the legacy that may or may not be enjoyed by Britons at home

According to the Beeb yesterday, the Americans have been more than impressed with the event and the achievements of team GB.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Our middle distance runners are not looking good as usual. An area we need to look at.