So the Olympics has finished for another 4 years, and it's fair to say that London has gone slightly Olympic crazy. The British team did pretty well in many of their events, and the country is awash with positive stories. It's nice for a change, as us Brits are normally a miserable and sarcastic lot.

So has anyone else been watching any of the events, or visited London during the games? What kind of press is it getting in other countries, is it a big event, or page 5 news? Be interested to hear some other opinions on any aspect!

yes, i watched Olympics and thought there were many false wins, and it was very set up and mostly used to help inspire the Brittish people. I couldn't however agree with the excessive hype and obvious manner with which commentators try to brainwash.. typical policy fodder!!

false wins and set up? Can you elaborate?

I saw what appeared to be a woman suddenly give up running just before the yello finishing line to let another win?, a few days ago.

Strange and questionable boxing judging and commentating geared towards Britain winning despite it obviously looking like a lie. Seemed like a set up/

i WASN'T CONVINCED THAT IT was real honest ability.

Not really into sports, but I got caught up in it and watched a fair bit of it.

Truly amazing and inspiring stuff and very well organised. I'm actually a little sad that it's all over.

Same here soulfood. The GB team were awesome

I thought the Olympics were in march.

Hahah

I find the olympics to be impressive, but also quite meaningless. What does it really prove??

Train anyone with talent for 6 hours a day, control every aspect of their thinking and diet and sure you can win races, but should it be about that. Is that kinda behaviour the same as taking performance enhancing drugs.

Gee some of the "british" team had american accents. Are they really brittish, then?? Isn't the American upbringing that runners success, only for a change of country to make her brittish..Is this all about bending and playing with the laws and rule books so that we have African blood, American lived British Winners, or is is natural honest reflection of true british stock?

What is Brittish these days???, and do they use legally potent performance enhancing drugs that are 1 legal tweak away from the banned steroids etc???

What was with the relentless paralympics television advertising, are we meant to be conned into the olympics with sympathy, or should we shut up whilst rigged boxing matches are won and commentators talk the bullshit talk to keep the queen happy that her British Pupils are doing well like Mister 007 was at the stupid opening ceremony??

Am i mad or is there truth in this?. Maybe the Olympic gold team are our new "heroes" to inspire Brittain after our so called "war heroes" became boring and had their time?? Is it really "heroic" what they did anyway, or were they just doing their job, so that makes us all "heroes".. who even wants to be a goddam "hero" for pity's sake...??? God the media pisses me off!!

Maybe now after all the brainwashing olympic commentating-- where we were all told by olympic "brittish champions", that with practice and hard work miracles can happen, perhaps we can transform the brittish economy into a world model of "hero ship"..( at least it seemed like that with what was said!)

I DUNNO, the olympics .. well, it was on television, and i think that says it all.

God save England, i mean it's all "fair", isn't it ??

i think you need to controll that enthusiasm of yours christian, i have no idea how you keep all that positive energy inside you

Yes of course it was big news in Australia. However, our TV coverage sucked as always.

The Olympics are an opportunity to see people from different nations come together in the spirit of friendly competition. And an opportunity to see some unusual sports.

Instead what we get in Australia is saturation coverage of Australians competing in the events we expect Australians to do best in. YAWN. And to top it off -- standard interview opening line to anyone who didn't win gold was "You must be devastated - what went wrong?" .

I also share the doubts above about the level of investment of time and money in this. Australia's medal haul was down this year and already there's all this BS about the need to invest more money and demand more "return" on this investment. What crap... really!

I know, it's hard work, trust me..Love you all, "heroes"...haha!!

The Olympics were on?!

Did you guys see this? Thats a lot of money spent!!

well yeah but think of all the cash it has generated





for MCDeath and Coke

"Gee, they know how to live by working less hours, can see the madness of television, daily newspapers, fashion, media strategy, they have even stopped going to church..... is our game over??"

"Certainly not!, I have an Ace card that ALWAYS fools them back into the game we always win, i urge you to play the Olympics move. They're a sucker for that winners and losers stuff, and we always win in the end, haha!!"



Please let me show you a REAL "Hero". http://www.youtube.com/w...player_detailpage#t=356s

I didn't really anticipate this turning into a negative thread against the Olympic games, but I suppose I did ask for opinions. I would have thought the coming together of some of the worlds finest sportsmen and women would be cause for celebration, but it seems for many people it is another thing to get upset about and find fault in.

If I'm honest I find the above response quite bizarre. Although you have presented some truely compelling evidence, perhaps for now I maintain my position that the Olympic Games are in fact not rigged. I guess I have just been brainwashed though, huh? Sure, there is plenty of things that I would have liked to have seen changed, especially it being sponsored by McDonalds, but I don't really see it as a reason for you to enthusiastically rage about every aspect of it?

There are a few other points of yours (not all) I disagree with but don't really have the time nor inclination to try and counter right now, but I think the promotion of the Paralympics demands my time. Part of the idea of promoting that so heavily is to challenge common perceptions of handicapped or disabled people by showing them in a positive light. You are not meant to feel sorry for them, you are "meant" to find what they have achieved remarkable, and see them as equals to you or I, albeit with disadvantages to their physical being. Frankly I find your attitude to these fine people who have struggled hard to overcome their individual hardships offensive.

Or maybe the "Brittish" (sic) Olympic team should only consist of able bodied, middle class Anglo Saxon white boys, and no "plastic-Brits"? Any British citizen can elect to represent Great Britain if they choose to and are good enough. Should Jesse Owens never have represented the USA because his African roots misrepresented true blood American "stock"? But What is American "these days" anyway? Now all those White Anglo Saxons have ousted the natives...

I agree with 1664 that the responses have been quite 'bizarre'.

Instead of seeing the possibilities of this phenomenal event, the mere proof that we are capable of organizing such a complex and inspiring event, and seeing it as something positive to promote sports and boost morale around the world, people here are just nagging about comparatively small details and bring forward paranoid conspiracy theories.

It seems that people are forgetting that for such enormous events you have to bring forward the funds to make it happen, you need sponsors for this and if they find a a company like McDonalds willing to sponsor then they have found a nice balance to counter the obesitas which that same company brings.

And then comparing it to other things like the mission to Mars all based on money alone? At least be consequent and then leave money out of this as well. And if you want to nag about money then at least talk about things that REALLY matter like the worldwide defense industry which is good for about 1.5 trillion dollars a year(!) and not something small, like a worldwide event that boosts worldwide morale as the Olympics, which only cost 15 billion each 4 years (thus about 55 cents per year for each human, please think about this the next time you order a kg of MHRB).

So please people, get some grip on perspective.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

no offense was intended. And if they overcome physical problems, good for them..but the whole "in your face" and hype of the olympics is IMO excessive and highly questionable. I know about diabled and mentally ill people being given an opportunity to express their "same as us'ness", i cared for them for 2 years, but don't need it pushed into my face, thanks.

Also we have american athletes and jamaican ones representing our country (uk)..it think it doesnt make sense..but if it keeps the populus happy so be it.

Different strokes.

If you've cared for people with disabilities then good for you, that's something I don't think I have the patience or strength of character for, so maybe I have misjudged your tone.

If you don't like what's on the TV (and you have implied you think everything on TV is rubbish) then the solution to it being "pushed in your face" is not to turn it on.