[Closed] The Olympics, is it just me...

It's not just you.

Take your negative vibes elsewhere 🙄

I couldnt care less about it. It in no way benefits the North West England. We have third world roads, trains from the early 90's while London gets more money spunked on it. Frankly i hope its a flop.

Nearly as embarrassing as posting in the wrong forum

bar the whole g4s thing I think people will see problems or successes dependign on how they look at things in life.

The press will focus on 'issues' because that's how the uk press works.

I suspect there'll be the odd cock-up but that 99% of things will go well.

Frankly, getting the physical infrastructure in place on time without major cock-up has surprised me.

It'll be like any other olympics, I'll be watching on the telly. There should be a bit more home support though and I won't have to stay up late/get up early to watch most of it 😉

It in no way benefits the North West England.

It's the London Olympics, though tourists are free to venture up to the North. If they wish..

We have third world roads, trains from the early 90's..

So does London, according to the forumites who visit from the North. Comes with the territory of being an old , organically grown, densely populated area.

It's a bloody shame there seems to be less emphasis on reporting the upcoming sport than on talking about the infrastructure, but that'll change in a few days.

A couple of medals for the UK, and I'm sure you'll cheer up though.

im sure itll work out fine

they will just keep throwing more money/troops/police at it till any problems are solved(whats another few million when youve already spent £9000000000+)

the only issues might be transport- the existing network is already overloaded at peak times

Yeah it will be fine, especially now the weather looks like it's turning. Personally though I couldn't give much of a crap about it other than watching some of the sports I enjoy. The whole ticket thing is a joke, so many disappointed people early on and now they conveniently keep finding new tickets for expensive seats? Pfft, give me a break. May as well be in another country for all I care now.

I wish them well and have decided that if it is a failure it should be called the London Olympics yet if it is a roaring success I believe the reference should be the British Olympics. Seems fair to me.

Or does anyone else think the whole event is going to be one big embarrassing cock up?

It'll be OK

Personally, I have zero interest in watching sport [except motorsport] so will endeavour to avoid it at all costs as impossible as that's likely to be

Shame they pulled the bmx expo event.

****s.

I suspect whatever was done there would still be miserable f'ers in here whinging about it.

Perhaps you should go ride you bike or something

It'll be brilliant.

Theres nothing else to talk about before the spears get chucked, the bikes get rode and the sweat starts to fall.

Once the gun goes off all the 'wifi not working' 'big queues at macdonalds' and 'theres illegals guarding the venues' will be forgotton.

Shame we wont all have to get up in the middle of the night to watch the canoeists winning gold. That was kinda fun!

There was a guy on the radio talking about how the Sydney games went, 48hrs before the games actually started people werent that into it but then he said it went crazy with the whole place buying into it en masse and making it a wonderful event.

I hope the same thing happens here.

I am not into most of the sports but really hope that the athletes who have worked so hard for this achieve their goals and get the rewards they deserve.

I was cynical about it but am getting a bit excited now.

the 48hr thing is interesting, I assume it takes a lot of energy to get wound up by things and hate them that most of the miserable ones just give up.....

[i] We have third world roads, trains from the early 90's..

So does London, according to the forumites who visit from the North. Comes with the territory of being an old , organically grown, densely populated area.[/i]

Nah, I have used your southern roads and trains. The former are smooth, the latter have sufficient room and one even had air conditioning on it.

Southern roads are smooth 😯 you sir have never driven around St Albans. Pot holes are the most effective traffic calming in that town.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fed-up-of-olympics-already

Pot holes are the most effective traffic calming in that town.

I am really looking forward to it.
Seems to be the done thing to bash anything this country tries to do & find any excuse to moan & be negative.

The ticket thing was pretty lame, but I have managed to get tickets to a footie match & an evening session at the Olympic stadium for the athletics.

Bit gutted I didn't get any tickets to the mtb.

I'm pretty dosillusioned with it already, and before folks start saying how this is down to me rather then the organisatiion, you need to look at how little they have done to engage the average citizen, and how much they have done to alienate them.

you need to look at how little they have done to engage the average citizen, and how much they have done to alienate them.

I assume you were waiting for Lord Coe to bring some tickets round...

Every story is getting spun more ways than it can cope with right now.

Sit back and enjoy, as said above once it kicks off most will forget they hate it.

For some simple things
Olympic Lanes - Need some way to get athletes round london with out making them run there
Tickets - Current batch being returned are from other olympic organisations abroard so they are more likely to be hight value ones.
Football Tickets - More sold than for the Euro's
Sponsors - They don't pay for nothing, part of how it's funded
G4S - well we knew they were crap

Engage the average citizen....! Hmmm.

The torch that has just been round the whole country seemed to do that pretty well. Loads of people I have spoken to have been to see it.

I went to see it as it passed through our town and even though it was raining hard, the streets were absolutely packed with people of all ages cheering it on.

Not fussed, really want to see our sportspeople do well but the cost and general bad management seem to be a pain (ok not general but....). I can't see how it feeds money back into the country as a whole to the same extent as it's costing but that aside will watch bits and ignore others as per all olypmics before.

Main concern is the security, OH is going down to help on the thin blue line, she volunteered and knew when it was happening but according to her rota she's working 19 days solid with no rest days and they have no idea where they will be, can't be front line as the arrest procedures are different.

Oh surprise surprise! Another negative thread on the Olympics, shock!

Why cant everyone just get into the spririt of it and enjoy the build up and the 2 weeks! 😉

I am really looking forward to it all especially all the bike events!

BRING IT ALL ON !!!!! GO TEAM GB! GO TEAM GB! GO TEAM GB!

🙂

PS. What is it with the British and moaning?! 😉

It would have been nicer to have had it somewhere else. Our athletes could have done just as well without all the money spent.
I remember seeing somehwere that this was the peoples games. It's anything but. Maybe that is the way it has to run but don't try to convince those who gain nothing .
The torch. What a farce. Great if its you carrying but other wise it just cost a lot of people time and money.
The press etc keep on about the ever increasing excitement. I have yet to see any apart from a scepticism about how many British cyclists are going to cock it up on the day. I am sure its a big thing in London but out in the stick many people couldn't care less.
Good luck to our athletes.

The actuall sport part is great....the rest of it, well...where do you start!

i struggle to reconcile the idea of the worlds greatest sporting event being sponsored by the likes of mcdonalds and coca cola.

all just seems a bit wrong to me really

I think it's okay but worse than China and I imagine Brazil will do a better job. The stadiums and organization are great, but why can a normal person like myself not get a ticket just 1 ****ing ticket for the athletics stadium. /jobs for the boys as usual for that reason I could not care less if I sinks. They also need to sell that stadium quickly as in a years time it'll be empty and the area will start going downhill again.

they will just keep throwing more money/troops/police at it till any problems are solved(whats another few million when youve already spent £9000000000+)

^^^ this talking to guys working on the sites for the last few months. I don't think anyone will ever really know how much.

It won't be a big cock-up, but there will be lots of individual little cock-ups (like bus drivers not checking they knew how to use their kit).

I spent a lot of time at the World Cup in SA and remember my lasting impression was one of vulgarity and waste mixed with admiration for the grace and dignity of the locals in the face of grotesque conspicuous consumption especially among the FIFA elite. However, I hope the Olympics will be different. My lack of success at the tickets (rekindling my WC feelings) has dampened my enthusiasm and almost said so to Coe when I saw him in passing this week (going for a jog and looking v relaxed indeed). But after the folly that is the opening charade, my enthusiasm will be up at the top of the scale.

Can't help feeling that there are going to be lots of surprises for the big names - Bolt, and even Hoy and Pendleton but hope to be proven wrong especially by our brilliant cyclists. So time fr positive vibes and support to see them home!

After watching the Bolt & Pendleton documentaries I'm quite excited about the 100m and the track cycling. Will certainly be shouting at me telly when Queen Vic's on!
BBC are doing a good build-up job. As for the opening ceremony, who can't wait to see the weirdness of that?!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/roll-up-for-the-david-starkey-fan-club

I was thinking bolt looks vulnerable but surely blake and gay can't beat him! Really want Cav to get a gold and would love to see Farah do the double and Ben Ainslie to cement himself as our best ever olympian.

I'm really pleased with the all the positive comments, well done people 😀

I really hope all the amount of hard work and training that our athletes have put it pays off, the very least we can do is quit the moaning and support them.

I heard on the news this morning that Danny Boyle had fallen out so badly with the organisers that he has an extra layer of security around his on-site trailer...

actually I don't think anyone has moaned at the sports people have they?
It's more the pre-Olympics 'circus'.

Some justify the overt wall to wall corporate sponsorship by saying that is how it is funded. But we only need billions of funding because the Olympics has for some reason morphed from just the games, to also one of erecting a whole village of 'look at us' monuments. This has also brought about the rather curious 'problem' of having a legacy for these facilities.
We have perfectly good stadiums all over this country. Having the games spread across existing facilities would also have reduced the load on transport infrastructure, and genuinely given the games to the people of the country.

We missed our chance to do things differently, which is what we're so good at. Thumbed our nose at the world and done it our way.

But I cannot wait for it to start. Yes I'm gutted I can't go, despite living less than an hour away on a mainline train link. Cynicism of what the Olympics is today, does not mean a lack of support or respect for our competitors.

Well said, mortuk. +1

But I cannot wait for it to start. Yes I'm gutted I can't go, despite living less than an hour away on a mainline train link. Cynicism of what the Olympics is today, does not mean a lack of support or respect for our competitors

😀

Yes, and despite not getting any tickets I'm still going to "go", if only to see the venues, the crowds, the tacky souveniers, watch some events on a big screen, eat some overpriced junk food and get robbed by roving gangs of eastern european pick-pockets - yeah, the whole damn Olympic experience.......

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Cynicism of what the Olympics is today, does not mean a lack of support or respect for our competitors.

This x 1000000

I can't stand the whole Olympic circus thing, its a farce and vulgar in the way money has been spent. Distribution of tickets, sponsorship, building of pointless facilities...the list is endless.

however, I'm in full support of anyone that commits full time to training for an Olympic sport, regardless of whether its cycling or something I have no interest in.

i think what flange and the others are saying is true for anyone here

us amateur athletes 😉 know much dedication it takes to excel in sport

its just the politics/greed/corporate bs/scandalous waste of public finances/smugness of lord coe that everyone finds so offensive

I am excited about it.

Going down next friday to stay with friends who live in Stratford. You can see the stadium from their roof so we are going up there to watch the fireworks.
Got some park tickets for saturday so will go in and just take in the park as a whole and all the different venues look pretty impressive.

I dont think we will see the Olympics back here in my life time so might as well make the most of it!

Given all the **** going on with G4S etc, I was amazed at how chilled Coe looked the other night and that he had time to go out jogging (apologies for the name drop, but it shocked us all at the time!). He looked such more relaxed than poor Hugh Bonneville. I hope Hugh's foot recovers in time, he seems really stressed 😉

i'd rather have kept my taxes and not have it, or as its the "London" olympics, just the Londoners could have paid for it

Let's congratulate each other for a job well done ...

teamhurtmore - Member

Given all the **** going on with G4S etc, I was amazed at how chilled Coe looked the other night and that he had time to go out jogging (apologies for the name drop, but it shocked us all at the time!).

Yes, he is chilled because its quids in for him after this. He will retire once it's over. Now all he has to do is spin. 🙄

[i]I suspect whatever was done there would still be miserable f'ers in here whinging about it.

Perhaps you should go ride you bike or something[/i]

Perhaps you should'nt read what's not there.

I'm not whinging. Even though I won't be following much of the games (prefer watching winter sports) & I can't see it benefiting many other parts of the country, I really want to see it go down as an event to rival any others & show the world that that this country can do it. Unfortunately I don't think it's gonna turn out like that.
Hope I'm wrong.

Perhaps you should go ride you bike or something

Maybe we all should.

Well.i.am

its going to be awesome, i'm sure when we start wining some medals the doubters will get on board and start enjoying it. We were in London for the Aviva Grand Prix at Crystal Palace last weekend and the general atmosphere was awesome, multiply that by four and the Olympic Stadium will be electric.

I dont get the issues about corporate sponsorship as its been going on for donkeys years, Carlsberg were the offical beer of the 1960 Olympics and Coca-Cola pretty much bought the 1996 Olympics for Atlanta.

Sure there are some things that can be mitigated but never totally eliminated, like terrorist attacks etc but to be honest, in this day and age they would happen wherever the event is held and I personally think that GB is probably one of the best Countries in the world to be in a position to prevent such actions affecting the event.

Rocketdog,

How much tax have you paid for the olympics?

Me. A mars bar a week for a few years. Im a dirty londoner (I whispered that).

With regard to the whole sham of the olympics, When your living right around it I can agree that the money thrown at the thing is a bit shameful, however, Im sure there will be a sporting legacy. Facilities in this part of London are still woeful for the average person. I will say though that most who live here (kids in particular) are distinctly below average if you look at standards of living. The olympics has provided much needed facilities as offshoots (call it bribes if you will)for local kids, many of whom dont have a lot to begin with.

Just yesterday I heard a guy (on the radio) talking about the legacy from the games and facilities in sheffield 20 years ago which are paying dividends now. Im sure you would have moaned about that one at the time too.

In a society which is slowly crawling (or sitting) to an obese early death, the inspiration which this games will bring wont necesarilly affect you as your probably fit and active already .But for kids and young adults (even adults) to get involved in activity let alone sport the net spend is going to seem like peanuts in years to come.

Anyway, back to the original question. How much tax did you pay yourself?

tata.

Facilities in this part of London are still woeful for the average person. I will say though that most who live here (kids in particular) are distinctly below average if you look at standards of living.

I thought they'd all been moved out.

Newham, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich. All pretty hard up boroughs of london.

As for moving them out. Im sure the towns the offer was made to very politely refused.

If your talking about wartime refugees though. They sent them back.

Fair enough those who think its a waste of money, everyone to their own. What i do find quite amusing however is the thought that the IOC would have chosen the Manchester olympics or the Birmigham olympics or the Edinburgh olympics. If its in the UK it had to be in London.

Greenwich is hard up? really?
Didn't know that one

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

Have a look.

Not as hard up as newham and tower hamlets but it aint surrey either.

As with all london boroughs rich and poor live cheek by jowl. Greenwich centre is pretty well off, but carry on East or South and its not quite as gentrified.

Still doesnt change the fact that the impact of the olympics will be positive. As expensive as it has been im sure it could have been a lot more. Temporary venues for certain events im sure have save a few quid.

Really interested to know how much "tax" the average uk taxpayer has been robbed though?

Some Olympic style-negativity on here! Anyone can do that 🙄

I was chatting to one of yesterday's torch bearers earlier on (I work for one of the main sponsors) and said the enthusiasm of the public who turned up to cheer them on was overwhelming.

I think London's going to be amazing for the next few weeks, and riding into work instead of tube and train will get me dead fit 🙂

Our sports people need some support. We stand a good chance of tearing the cycling apart in every discipline...

Not sure why we can't enjoy the party while it's on and celebrate some British world-class success

Our sports people need some support. We stand a good chance of tearing the cycling apart in every discipline...

Not sure why we can't enjoy the party while it's on and celebrate some British world-class success

Because some of us aren't as inited as the others and the dress code is a bit restrictive

brooess - Member

I was chatting to one of yesterday's torch bearers earlier on (I work for one of the main sponsors) and said the enthusiasm of the public who turned up to cheer them on was overwhelming.

Yes, but the person is only seeing what the person wants to see ... no matter how much it's still a tiny portion of the population.

I'm going to enjoy some of the sport - that doesn't stop a lot of the rest of it being incredibly badly handled and fairly disgraceful TBH.