[Closed] Olympics - which side are you on?

Both; It's not the winning*, it's the taking part that counts.
(* or should that be whining...) 😉

Can I sit on fence here? 🙂

definitely the successes 😀 there's too much misery in the world.

not happy about fast food and drink companies being so involved as much as they are but looking forwards to the actual events.

Pizza Hut, yeh, the place is filled with athletic types int it? swigging coke and them stopping off at Macy D's for a top up.

Just hoping the advertisement factor isn't disproportionate to the games themselves.

From an athletic sense, I'm all for it. From a corporate tossfest perspective, I'm completely opposed to it. It should be about the athletes, and not about the sponsors.

I'm not convinced about the whole thing in terms of expenditure, legacy, benefits etc, but now it's happening I'd quite like it to go well so we don't look like an island of clowns, but show ourselves off to the work.

+1,

I'd rather it was somewhere more geographicaly central then London but can't have eveything.

definitely the successes there's too much misery in the world.

+1

Bit of both too for me.

But, I want it to be a success.

Guess we will find out tonight, when we find out who is lighting up the flame?

That should give us an idea as to how its all going to go 😉

I want it to go well but I'm disappointed the way tickets were sold and given away. The olympics normally gets better year on year I feel Beijing will go down as better and Rio. London is the corporate olympics.

In terms of legacy my friend who lives near that s**t hole was saying how its funny they only spend money on the area when a bunch of elite athletes and celebs turn up, the area is still a dive where as the park is beautiful.

I like watching sport. I think that's what the Olympics is.

Hopefully will be celebrating some sucsess, looks promising for cycling and triathlon.

But the legacy is a joke, local sports facilities are being closed down wholesale across the country, access to sports is being reduced for most, its only when you reach elite level that there seems to be a benefit, and I wonder how long that will last for.

if its davis beckinham lighting the flame i'll be sitting there feeling a bit cheated.... even the queen flying over it wearing a jetpack and using that to light the flame would be better than some footballer who chose to go and play for an american team for the cash.

I want to celebrate the things that go right and gloss over the enivitable odd fuax pas as I am sure other countries/hosts do, however Britain has a horrible habbit of doing the opposite & delight in the miseries.

Hope the British win lots of medals. Hope the Irish do themselves proud and normally, someone comes out of nowhere and wins something for us (as long as it's not int he manner of that swimmer in the Atlanta games). I like Danny Boyle so I'll be watching the ceremony this evening.

I am, however, disappointed in the level corporate whoring that's gone on. The torch relay was absolutely disgusting at times. If I hear someone else say "legacy" without actually giving a shit again, I'll puke.

Best thing to come out of the Olympics (apart from any golds we win)? The series Twenty Twelve on the Beeb. 😀

On the whole, I'd rather the games had gone somewhere else and the 'legacy' money was instead being spent on local sports facilities all over the country.

However, it's here now so there's no point whining about that any more. I hope it goes well and I hope and expect that there will be many memorable moments and performances.

As a chippy northerner, It is my god-given inalienable right to constantly whine, like a jet engine,'about 'London's' games and why the **** the rest of us are paying for it

Harumph! 😛

I for one just ignore the negatives, things go wrong, even the things that shouldnt go wrong, go wrong......move one! 😉

There is enough doom and gloom in the UK and the world for that matter, lets just have something positive for a couple of weeks!!

I am embracing it all, good luck to Team GB!!!

I am looking forward to all cycling events and I might even watch some other events too!

Its here now, so suck it up and enjoy it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

think people are already focussing on the good stuff as someone was ringing a bell earlier and it broke off the handle and flew off towards the faces of innocent children and that's not all over facebook/twitter yet... jsut noticed it on the bbc live feed

If its davis beckinham lighting the flame i'll be sitting there feeling a bit cheated

This

I am, however, disappointed in the level corporate whoring that's gone on. The torch relay was absolutely disgusting at times. If I hear someone else say "legacy" without actually giving a shit again, I'll puke.

And this

Bring on the sport so we can forget about all the other b*****ks

From a corporate tossfest perspective, I'm completely opposed to it. It should be about the athletes, and not about the sponsors.

How much money did they put up though? Surely the govt would have had to cough up even more without them?

For the percentage of the money they put up, the sponsors got a disproportionately large amount of clout

And they were gifted effective tax haven status for the duration of the games, so ultimately its cost them even less

Hope its a complete sporting success.

But a good-humoured, non-violent anti-corporate demonstration getting past security and gaining some publicity would also be a success, IMHO.
Both for our democracy, and Britishness.

Some sort of co-ordinated big 'eff off to the corporate bullies and their profiteering new rules.
With chips and gravy.

I'm quite annoyed at the amount of money pissed up against the wall and the corporate whoring and the generally buggering about with other peoples lives/businesses that's gone on. I (cynically) expect lots to go wrong and if they do I'll point an laugh* at the retards in charge of it all but I hope nothing (else) goes wrong and I'm actually getting caught up in the Olympic good will at the moment and feeling a little proud.

Still won't be watching any of the opening ceremony tho (and realistically anything that doesn't involve bikes either)

*I'll clarify that, this event has had a ridiculous amount of man hours and budget poured into it, surely someone has been employed to double check the little things like getting the correct flags for the visiting countries. Don't say "give us the games, we'll put on a class show" then say "well these things happen"

The McGames - all about watching someone else playing sport while you sit on the couch shoving double burgers and fries into your face.

Some sort of co-ordinated big 'eff off to the corporate bullies and their profiteering new rules.
With [s]chips[/s] fries and [s]gravy[/s] coke

How much money did they put up though? Surely the govt would have had to cough up even more without them?

Cynic-al

Your attitude just about matches mine. Now its here I hope its a success and I'm really looking forward to watching (on TV) some of the events.

The only thing that annoys me is the corporate sponsorship

Teh coporate whring shows the UK in a very poor light

Teh waste of money is immense

Its a bloated parody of a sporting contest. Not that intersted

I'm actually proper against LOADS: the companies that sponsor it, prohibition on water bottles (tho I heard you can take them in and fill from taps?) the G4 **** up, and even worse, apologist Hunt's "not bothered" attitude; the inevitable legacy FAIL (though they do seem to have thought about that more than predecessors), the Coe-legacy angle, rpcies/inaccessibility etc etc.

But now it's here I will try to enjoy it.

But now it's here I will try to enjoy it.

Me too, I'm giving my best shot. We all make the games.

Bless us. 😀

that sounds a reasonable approach al, better than the usual on here, where any comment short of total adulation for the whole of the olympics project and you're branded an unpatriotic grump who wants Britain to fail at everything

Why would we have to be on one side or the other?

I think the Olympics is a massive waste of money but like watching sport so will watch some of it.

I don't even pick a side when I watch football. I simply watch sports enjoy the skill and drama

oh.. and we are pretty much an island of clowns! look at the royal family 😉

embrace your inner clown!... "HONK" HONK"!

if ou have to "try" to enjoy something, it's generally not worth the bother

I'm very excited. It may be corporately corpulent, but it provides all of us, despite or own ethnic origins to get behind our team. I know it is a bit Norman Tebbit Cricket test. But we should all be supporting our home nation in this. So Come on Northern Ireland!! I hereby challenge you GBers to a contest! let's see who gets the most medals!

if you have to "try" to enjoy something, it's generally not worth the bother

Oh, so what about smoking and drinking and taking it up the wrong un then?

for me, the build-up has been tiresome, but that's because I'm SO looking forward to the Olympics.
just been down to the Thames (outside where I work) to watch THE TORCH coming down the river and there is a REAL buzz about the place. 🙂

i just wanna see the queen flying via jetpack

we paid for it we can whinge about it----- seems fair enough

Really looking forward to the sport.
And signed the 38degrees petition about corporate tax dodging - turns out the sponsors don't want negative publicity after all [url= http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1143282/Adidas-EDF-join-top-sponsors-waiving-Olympic-sponsor-tax-break/ ]WIN![/url]

Sam, if someone's forcing drink and weed into you in order to have their way with your back passage tell us now. I'm sure someone here will be able to point you in the right direction for help.

I wonder do Olympic haters train for any sports ?

Any sport at any level… be it an XC race/enduro/DH or maybe a triathlon/running race. Possibly you’ve started pre-season football training. You may be trying to win or just complete it doesn’t matter … but you have to be actively training for your sport to compete.

But somehow I don’t think the haters are … are they? … Or are just sitting around on fat behinds eating crisps and spouting rubbish.

Haven't the olympics been sponsored from like the 80's or something I think it seems worse cause it's in your faces you lot haven't been to glasto then? Or any festival for that matter?

I swear mcds must pay for most of the stuff that happens in this country

thanks for illustrating my point ro5ey

Sam, if someone's forcing drink and weed into you in order to have their way with your back passage tell us now. I'm sure someone here will be able to point you in the right direction for help.

I'm not falling for that again. I originally posted about the smoking and the drink, then I thought someone was pointing me in the right direction, it turned out they were just turning me around.

I wonder do Olympic haters train for any sports ?

Any sport at any level… be it an XC race/enduro/DH or maybe a triathlon/running race. Possibly you’ve started pre-season football training. You may be trying to win or just complete it doesn’t matter … but you have to be actively training for your sport to compete.

But somehow I don’t think the haters are … are they? … Or are just sitting around on fat behinds eating crisps and spouting rubbish.

why would that matter?

But Donk you're not really a hater... you've got a soft spot for it.

When is all over and you've had a lovely time... G4S, wrong flags and countless other things big and little will be a distant memmory.

I'm not bothered either way, I won't jump on the Oylimpic bandwagon if it's successful, nor will I revel in any failure.
It's a global competition where we have an opportunity to see the best in the world competing against each other.
I will celebrate the sport and that will always be successful in my book.

I wonder do Olympic haters train for any sports ?

Any sport at any level… be it an XC race/enduro/DH or maybe a triathlon/running race. Possibly you’ve started pre-season football training. You may be trying to win or just complete it doesn’t matter … but you have to be actively training for your sport to compete.

But somehow I don’t think the haters are … are they? … Or are just sitting around on fat behinds eating crisps and spouting rubbish.

well wonder no more - i race enduro and dh, (badly) even train for them but the olympics is bobbins
not because of the sport but because of the corporate BS that surrounds it
the public spirit watching the flame procession was great, the smasung video wall truck and coca cola lorry in the procession were by far the most prominent things however and that, for me was a great shame.

I wonder do Olympic haters train for any sports ?
..
But somehow I don’t think the haters are … are they? … Or are just sitting around on fat behinds eating crisps and spouting rubbish.

Doesn't watching the Olympics involve sitting on a fat behind doing nothing more energetic than reaching for a pie or bag of crisps? do you need extensive training for that? (Actually i might having just acquired a [url= http://www.thewandcompany.com/Manual.html ]Kymera wand [/url] but that's another story).
Anyway, I'll be out on my bike, climbing 1 maybe 2 mountains and probably out to play in my kayak. None of these for training, just for fun, so i suppose I should fel bad because not watching the Olympics appears to be unhealthy and I'll get obese from all that exercise

Kimbers... you love the humanity and watch the sport... so you like it then?

Yes it's overly corporate (but show me something in life that isn't?)... just get on with enjoying it. You dont have to go out and buy the first can of coke you see or BMW that takes your fancy...

Let these sponsors pay for the athletes to be the best they can be… I know I’ll be getting more enjoyment out of it.

Would we have enjoy Tdf quite as much this year if SKY hadn’t backed their team and Wiggo n Cav couldn’t get the best of everything. I love the fact that Sky are throwing money at cycling... despite the fact as a corp I can’t stand them.

show me something in life that isn't?

My giveaf***ometer hasn't flickered at all yet.
It's been sold and packaged as a London thing, for London people.
I hope they enjoy it.
Now, excuse me whilst I go and ride my bike down some massive mountains in europe for a week.

BBSB ... yes that's really is very nice.

Just a little joke and leg pull .... Which one did you hug? 🙂

"plucky chipper southerner here"

I'll be celebrating the Games Full On Jolly Hockey Sticks and all that dear Boy(s) (and Girls)

I have mates competing in the Sailing, mates who are in the Race teams, loads of ex Olympic medal winners at my sailing club and I know one or two blokes that ride bikes n'all y'know.

So I will be full on cheering them all on (whatever the nation) to encourage them to do thier best and realise all that effort and training and dedication and hope it pays off.

There will be a lot of folk who have no hope of winning a medal, yet they are competing in front of Us, for the sake of sport.

"dofts Cap"

The only thing that is spoiling it for me is this ferkin Govt medling in and all the Corporate BlobHeads that have tickets for free and will not turn up cos' they can't be bothered and leave empty seats that could have been filled with the likes of me and you...

I don't watch much sport - live or on TV, so the whole thing sort of passes me by.

I'm not "hoping" for things to go wrong though.

And I won't be tuning in to the coverage/opening ceremony etc and then whinging about it on here.

Its a bloated parody of a sporting contest. Not that intersted

Genuinely interested - when you put the telly on and Bolt, Cavendish, Wiggo, Adlington & co are doing their thing, are you really thinking about corporate crap and political junk?

I'm certainly not. Sport is still sport, and I still love it.

Is this the whinging about the Olympics thread? Brilliant, I've got one:

Six hours at Old Trafford yesterday (no, that's not the whinge), the only things available to feed the kids were pies and sausage rolls. It's pretty bad when you actually wish McDonalds was available because it would be more healthy and nutritious...

Sorry, slight exaggeration, Pringles and chocolate were also available.

For me it's the hype that gets on my nerves. It can stand on it's own FFS you don't need to talk it up.

Also the fawning over the corporate sponsors is pretty sickening.

As for the actual sport, really looking forward to it now we can actually get on with it!

What percentage of the overall cost is actually covered by the corporate sponsors?

I've got nothing against corporate sponsorship but there are some silly rules.

The fish and chip places aren't allowed to serve chips on their own because of McDonalds objections, for example.

Would we have enjoy Tdf quite as much this year if SKY hadn’t backed their team and Wiggo n Cav couldn’t get the best of everything. I love the fact that Sky are throwing money at cycling... despite the fact as a corp I can’t stand them.

A discussion with some senior coaches of GB cycling at a track day I got invited to (corporate whore that I am) gave me a fresh perspective on SKY's money in cycling. To be fair to SKY, when it came to cycling, they wanted a sport where they could make a massive difference by a cash injection - not just in terms of competitive success, but in terms of exposure and participation. In a different way to how they've changed football. I think we're all seeing the results of that injection of cash over the last twelve months. The coaches were unashamedly pleased with SKY's involvement - they were given money and let get on with it, with minimal interference from the sponsors. Of course, we'll all worry that that might change with increasing success, but they've done an excellent job so far so I applaud them for that.

I wonder do Olympic haters train for any sports ?

Any sport at any level… be it an XC race/enduro/DH or maybe a triathlon/running race. Possibly you’ve started pre-season football training. You may be trying to win or just complete it doesn’t matter … but you have to be actively training for your sport to compete.

But somehow I don’t think the haters are … are they? … Or are just sitting around on fat behinds eating crisps and spouting rubbish.

I'm an Olympic 'hater' and yes, I do train. As much as I can do whilst fitting it around my job. Circa 20 hours a week on a good week. What's your point?

It's your type of attitude that I detest - I find the whole thing abhorrent and hate the fact that I'm essentially paying for(and being affected by) something I want nothing to do with.

To be fair to SKY, when it came to cycling, they wanted a sport where they could make a massive difference by a cash injection - not just in terms of competitive success, but in terms of exposure and participation

I think Sky is completely different to the Olympic sponsorship. They have thrown money into cycling and won a Tour de France. They've also got a number of mass participation bike rides on the go around the country, and are hopefully going to inspire a number of people to take up cycling as a result.

Coke have given us fizzy sugar water, McDonalds have given us bland and fatty food.

It's your type of attitude that I detest - [b]I find the whole thing abhorrent[/b] and hate the fact that I'm essentially paying for(and being affected by) something I want nothing to do with.

Alasdair, agree completely, as well as restricting the trade of other businesses that have existed around the Olympic sites for years.

Drove along fulham road this morning with all barriers up pretending I was leading Cav through London to the finish line. Ok, I was only doing 25mph but it's going to be brilliant. I live a few miles from box hill and want to go see what I can. Felt a bit miffed last weekend we couldn't have our picnic on Box Hill but actually the whole world is going to see where I live tomorrow and Sunday!
It's going to be brilliant.

AlasdairMc - Member
McDonalds have given us [s]bland and fatty food.[/s] the ideal food for a round-the-world cycle race.

You do, don't you?

Yup 😀 Like I say, everyone is entitled to their opinion regardless of what it is. I just don't agree with the majority of them by the sound of it.

My 8yo daughter put many of us / you to shame this morning. She had tears in her eyes when she got up 'because the Olympics is starting today and I'm going to see it, and I'm really excited and all my friends are excited, and lots of other people from all over the world are excited too, but it will be over in no time at all and then I'll miss it'

For the next 2 weeks, forget about the corporate whoring and the water bottles and the cost and the politics, and look at it through an eight year old's eyes. It starts tonight, in my town, I can't wait any longer and I'm going to enjoy every last possible second of it that i can.

Good to see most folk have a reasonable/interesting viewpoint.

flange - Member
I'm an Olympic 'hater' and yes, I do train. As much as I can do whilst fitting it around my job. Circa 20 hours a week on a good week. What's your point?

It's your type of attitude that I detest - I find the whole thing abhorrent and hate the fact that I'm essentially paying for(and being affected by) something I want nothing to do with.

20hrs? You a national level amateur?

Oh and that's democracy...no one's coming up with anything better yet.

London Underground was great today - clean, on time etc. Really deserve those bonuses 😉 And those nice border guards called off the strike. Isn't it great when everyone pulls together.

20hrs? You a national level amateur?

Erm, well I race the nationals although I do especially badly at them. Does that count?

Don't EVEN get me started on chuffing democracy.....

Fair play. I've podiumed sxc on 5hrs a week, wondered what the extra 15 would do!

My 8yo daughter put many of us / you to shame this morning. She had tears in her eyes when she got up 'because the Olympics is starting today and I'm going to see it, and I'm really excited and all my friends are excited, and lots of other people from all over the world are excited too, but it will be over in no time at all and then I'll miss it' For the next 2 weeks, forget about the corporate whoring and the water bottles and the cost and the politics, and look at it through an eight year old's eyes. It starts tonight, in my town, I can't wait any longer and I'm going to enjoy every last possible second of it that i can.

oh that's really sweet. Is her name Pollyanna? Is yours?

More is not necessarily better, Al 🙂