The London Olympic 2012 Thread

[Digital]

I created one of these threads for the European Football Championships and I felt that we should also have a thread to discuss about the olympics. It's a time where countries come together and race and compete against other countries, ignoring any political conflicts.

So first item on the agenda, what did everyone think about the opening ceremony. It's intresting, as a Brit, to know what the rest of the world felt.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I thought the opening ceremony was pretty interesting. It was a bit slow at first, but the kid singing at the start was brilliant and I loved the Queen/James Bond skydiving thing. I thought it was awesome that JK Rowling was there and Voldemort.

I didn't like the music part that much cos I'm not really into music, I guess and didn't know a lot of the songs. xD But I thought the house/giant TV screen was pretty awesome. I wanted to see Coldplay though!

My favourite part was probably Rowan Atkinson. I love Mr. Bean and he is so funny. :D

[iApollo]

Rowan Atkinson was definitely the highlight.

I was so excited to see JK Rowling, I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, and seeing her there just make the ceremony.

Mostly, I was disappointed that Muse did not perform, especially considered that one of their songs is the official song of the 2012 Olympics.

[SLC]

Brit here.

I think I'll need to give it another watch at a later date, as I didn't find it all that impressive. I can definitely see why it was liked by several of you, but it just lacked that missing something. And that 40 ft tall Voldemort was tacky as hell, although it was well performed. The Rowan Atkinson scene was very funny, and some of the industrial scenes were executed nicely. The social networking additions seemed like a pointless gimmick to me, and didn't add much to the performance.

A mixed bag, would want to come back to it with an open mind. Not better than Beijing though.

iApollo, Muse a scheduled to perform at the closing ceremony, which doesn't make as much sense as them performing at opening but oh well.

[Sealboy]

I thought the Ceremony started off really cheesy - it just seems to enhance the stereotype that we're self-loving snobs ._. It just seemed way too predictable for us to do something based on our history. Also, why were the people dressed in Victorian (I think) clothes busting out techno moves? It made me laugh a little xP

Mr Bean was the best part ever - I thought it was brilliant! A great surprise that was! Such a Win...

I think the whole social network thing was to intrigue the younger generations - I quite liked it. Not to mention some of the awesome songs that played throughout. Dizee Rascal appearing definitely topped it off.

I quite liked the "ninjas" that appeared in that British Literature part - started to get better from there on out. We seemed to gloat about our NHS a bit, didn't we? "^_^

I never saw how it ended - the 200+ teams walking out kinda killed it for me. I need to jump onto YouTube or something sometime to see Team GB come out and the end of the Ceremony...

Anyway, any sports in the Olympics you guys are looking forward to? I'm quite interested in the Track, Field and Football this year P: We're underdogs in the Football, but I reckon we have a good team - we just need to build up the chemistry a bit more.

~Sealboy

[SLC]

I'm vaguely interested in several events, football being the main one. Going to Cardiff on wednesday to see GB vs Uruguay and Mexico vs Switzerland, should be good fun!

[Sheepat]

I found it funny during the kid's nightmare scene... with the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, Cruella D'evil...

THEN VOLDEMORT?!

I was surprised at this, seeing him among classics. Is he considered that old too be considered a classic villain? Or is it just popularity?

Also I find it sad David Tennant didn't light the fire like in that one Doctor Who episode...

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I'm looking forward to some of the more obscure sports. I like watching archery, handball, diving and gymnastics. I was watching some shooting last night, but it wasn't that interesting...

I generally catch swimming cos Australia does well in the pool. And I always like beach volleyball and basketball. I'll watch anything that Australia's in, really. xD

[iApollo]

I'll probably watch the swimming, because, as Sarah said, us Aussie's usually go quite well.

Chances are I'll watch the basketball when USA plays, as my room-mate loves watching the NBA.

Other than that, I don't plan on watching that much.

Oh, and thanks for that information about Muse, SLC.

[Digital]

I'm looking forward to the indoor cycling events and the rowing, seeing as GB have the best chance at winning the medals.

Also, was anyone surprised that Michael Phelps came 4th in his race?

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Originally Posted by Digital

I'm looking forward to the indoor cycling events and the rowing, seeing as GB have the best chance at winning the medals.

Also, was anyone surprised that Michael Phelps came 4th in his race?

I was happy because I don't like that guy. xD Maybe he's lost his touch, or I guess it could have been nerves. I'm interested to see how he goes in his other races.

The American who won completely kicked butt though. Can't say I've heard of him before, though.

[Sealboy]

I was watching some Handball yesterday - it looked awesome! It was like Football, but using hands instead... It was so cool :L

Team GB vs UAE in Football today - we need our first win! I reckon we can do it, we've been progressively getting better as a team. I'm hoping Sturridge has his game on today, we need him! 19:45 (GMT+1/BST) kick off - oooooh yeah

~Sealboy

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I was watching handball too! It looked pretty interesting. It was hard to work out the rules from the game, so I had to look them up. Seems like it would be fun to play.

Can't believe Australia bombed out of the men's 4x100m freestyle relay. We were supposed to win that one! :P

[5TailedDemonLizard]

I'm currently watching Women's Epee (Fencing). Everything is so close! First semifinal bout 14-13, WOAH.

I love this stuff. It is so motivational.

And also, Micheal Phelps needs to get out of the spotlight and give some other swimmers recognition. How about that girl who broke the world record yesterday?

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Can't believe how well the Chinese are doing in the pool. Although they've now been accused of doping...

Watched some beach volleyball this morning. 3 match points and Australia still lost to Austria. Disappointing. :(

I haven't seen any fencing yet :O Seems like such a strange sport. xD