London 2012 Olympics Thread

[Platypus]

It'll be awesome. C'mon, it's the Olympics. Even Atlanta was awesome, and it absolutely sucked.

[Platypus]

I'm sad we lost.

Lost what? It hasn't started yet.

I think he's talking about the failed attempt of New York City to host this year's event.

Which was a good thing.  I feel sorry for London.  Any mayor that supports his city making a bid to host the Olympics deserves to be voted out of office.  They simply are not worth the cost and hassle.

Unless you're Melbourne where the only venues that would need to be built are the boat ponds.

(Had to do it, sorry)

LESS THAN ONE WEEK!!

[Platypus]

Speculation is mounting about who will carry Australia's flag, which is an honour bestowed by the chef de mission on games' eve. As with every other country, it is the highest honour our Olympians can receive, but the choices have been a bit odd over the years. My personal pick would be cyclist Anna Meares, but the odds seem to be in favour of rower Drew Ginn, who'd also be a good choice. Who will be carrying the flag for your countries?

[Platypus]

ooh, good choice from the Canadians.

[Platypus]

Three things:

1. Simon Whitfield didn't win the first medal at Sydney, or even the first Triathlon medal, which went to a Swiss woman, Brigitte McMahon. The first gold went to an American woman, not sure of which sport.

2. Really over the corporate sponsorship of the games, it seems to be more infectious than most years.

3. Melbourne really should be the permanent Olympic city.

[Platypus]

Not long now Our flagbearer will be Jackson, which is an excellent choice. What events are people looking forward to? Some highlights for me will be the women   s basketball final, with luck we   ll beat the yanks; the 10m platform diving, with Mitcham hoping to go back to back with golds, and the men's team pursuit at the velodrome, where the poms and aussie teams are both incredibly, incredibly strong. I'd argue that the track cycling will feature the most impressive moments of these games, all things going to plan...expect the already unbelievable world marks to fall left and right, mainly to the Aussie and 'Team GB'.

[Platypus]

Beautiful opening, I got a bit teary at the welsh bit. Then they had a dig at us Aussies, not so cool...

[Platypus]

Faaaaark, this is amazing. Emotive, note perfect, no sappiness, but a proper recognition of glory and terror in the past of Britain. Truly exceptional.

[Platypus]

Things went a bit weird with the nhs/kids bit, and as great as the bean scene was, and the bond scene with the queen and those hilarious corgis, the music scene was a bit of a dud for me. And now the flame!

[Platypus]

someone needs to be shot for the Paul McCartney disgrace. Bloody awful. He was almost as bad at the jubilee concert, what on earth convinced Boyle he'd be any better now? Especially with a backing track out of synch. Truly awful.

Also the kids lighting the cauldron was a dash gimmicky, but the petals were cool.

All in all, I'd give the first half hour 5 stars and the rest 2 stars.

[Platypus]

Our commentators skipped Palestine, but considering that they also skipped Japan...

Because the Australians come out so early, a lot of the time is tqken up with shots of the Aussies once they're already on the field, so a lot of countries get little or no attention.

[Platypus]

And the first bronze. Silver to Poland. Poland have a history of winning lots of medals, but relatively few golds.

[Platypus]

Depends what was to get in regards to Paul McCan'tanymore or Hppy Fmlz 4evz. Rest was fine, with moments of true brilliance.

[Platypus]

Vinokourov is even worse than Cavendish as a winner, but importantly for Australia, anyone taking medals away from 'Team GB' is doing god's work, and I suspect that may have been Stuart O'Grady's primary motivation in the end

[Platypus]

US archery team are delicious. As is the Aussie archer, Taylor Worth. May need to take up Archery.

[Platypus]

I'm having nightmares that the,next fifty years will ve 90% US or Chinese golds. Plus Brazil, Italy, and South Korra I guess.

[Platypus]

Gold to Australia for the first time in London, in a slight surprise. Really rather good

[Platypus]

Also, I think we might need a new thread for every day of competition

[Platypus]

Hating the hockey venue, I can't comforatbly watch it. What were they thinking?

[Platypus]

Looks like the first British medal, appropriately, will come in the rain at the women's road race.

[Platypus]

Voss from the Netherlands gets gold ahead of bad sportsmanship.from Britain's Armistead and a bronze to Russia ( )

...and now to watch China win gold in the synchronised diving, but medal hopes for Italy, Canada, Australia and the US behind them.

[Platypus]

And it'll be Silver for the US and bronze for Canada. Australia 5th behind Italy, then Ukraine, Britain and Malaysia.

[Platypus]

I'd say about a quarter of the people I know would've watched it live, and another quarter at the delayed time. I'm a bit crazier than normal about the Olympics, but the average Aussie feels that the Games are as big as the average Argentinean feels about the World Cup.

[Platypus]

Women's team final in the archery very damp. China looking to continue their great start to these games, although they usually fade in the second week with few team sports successes, along with a surge to be expected by Russia and the US in athletics.

[Platypus]

Swimming is really amazing tonight. Two world records from two finals, and so far two Australian medals