Olympics thread

[Gorb]

Yeah, the Olympics. Obligatory GREAT BRITAIN HOORAH, naturally.

The opening ceremony was, well, stupidly impressive. It wasn't gaudy, it wasn't tacky . . . basically the opposite I've come to expect of my country (EDIT: I have just been informed our athletes' costumes are stupidly tacky, beating Estonia and the Czech Republic in the "idiot outfit" stakes, sadly).

Who else is watching it? Who else will be following it? Who is merely vaguely interested?

More importantly, will Usain Bolt better his world record?

I hope to keep the negative sentiments from my fellow Brits out of it until we have at least gotten past the "ooh, wow, shiny, etc"

Any interesting articles or funny stories are also welcomed, even the ones about the North and South Korean flags (there really were no excuses for mixing those two up)!

[Starblade]

Someone get me a youtube video of Mary Poppins defeating Voldemort please.

[scoiatollo]

Who cares about the Olympics?! We already had the more important sports event this year (the European Cup)!

[Kirjava]

Ignore scoia, he's just cross because the Austrian contingent is hilariously small

Opening ceremony has been halfway-interesting, if only for watching my parents' bafflement and surprise at countries they didn't know existed.

[Jonny]

Opening ceremony has been halfway-interesting, if only for watching my parents' bafflement and surprise at countries they didn't know existed.

I've not watched it, but my old ma's been complaining for the last couple of hours that not only did they announce all the countries in English and French (why French instead of Spanish, Chinese or other more widely spoken language?) they announced the French names first.

[scoiatollo]

Hey we weren't even at the Euro Cup, and clearly our elite force will show you, that size doesn't matter

[Weavern]

Tardis reference was good! If subtle.

[Busby]

Oh right. The Olympics. I completely forgot it was started, er, yesterday. Recovering from a night off getting pissed with friends and tag team flirting with a cute Scottish lad will do that too you. I take it we haven't embarrassed ourselves completely, then? That would be a nice surprise.

[Bowkers]

bored of olympics need it to be over already

[Akranadas]

I just don't see what the appeal of the Olympics is to be completely honest.

[Madgrenade]

Nice to see we can still throw a decent black mass.

[Moe]

I AM SUING YOU FOR THREAD TITLE INFRINGEMENT

I heard there were a bunch of issues leading up to the Olympics, lots of organizational issues, especially with security. That seems to have been fixed-ish, though apparently it took the Royal Marines to get it to work?

[Inquisitor Lok]

I really enjoyed the ceremony. The cauldron lighting was really cool to me.

@Weavern, there was a Tardis Reference??? I was waiting for a Dr.Who moment the entire time : / (I still think the theme should have been Dr.Who themed and had David Tennant or Matt Smith time travelling showing the UKs history :P )

I've not watched it, but my old ma's been complaining for the last couple of hours that not only did they announce all the countries in English and French (why French instead of Spanish, Chinese or other more widely spoken language?) they announced the French names first.

Apparently French is the other official language of the olympics due to the founder of the modern olympics being french ( Pierre de Coubertin)

Also best images/ things to come so far...


And from when the germans entered...


Also gooooo Canada!! (Insert more national pride here)

[Kirjava]

LOL! My mum spotted that but I told her she must have been seeing things...

[Tiresias]

Well I for one was actually moved by the ceremony, and I didn't expect to be at all, Hey Jude said it all

For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.

All the cynicism in the world couldn't stop me from being moved by the Jarrow Marchs, the Suffragetes starting it, and a ceremony that celebrated the country I do love, as much as I pretend at times not to, not the one of the jubiliee and the royal wedding, but the one of The Jam, of rave culture, of taking the piss out of itself at every opportunity and of the NHS. Bravo Danny Boyle, you nailed it. Could have done with Dr Who but oh well.

[LoCo]

The Olympics have been cracking me up since they announced their logo (Poor Lisa's jaw must be so tired) and their peni- erm, mascots.

I seriously can't believe they kept both the blowjob and the penises.

Not much has happened that draws attention away from that catastrophe.

[Kirjava]

Not even the clusterfucks that have been volunteers being bussed into London and made to sleep under bridges, and huge numbers of privately-hired security personnel not showing up in spite of the company in question insisting it had, if anything, too many?

That said, pretty cool to have snuck a same-sex kiss onto Saudi television!

[Starblade]

So were the rumors true? Did they actually have Giant Mary Poppins defeat Giant Voldemort?

e: Oh my God I need video of this.

[Guilliman]

People still cling to nationalistic pride? Not interested one bit.

[ÜberJumper]

The ceremonies were pretty good. Some "wtf?" bits, but liked the industrial revolution and the NHS/mary poppinses battling voldemort and the other scary things. The forged rings were good... haha tolkien reference!

[Tiresias]

also it had 3 different bits of music by the fuck buttons. Respect to Boyle

I hear NBC edited out the lesbian kiss and the sex pistols, well done NBC Even Saudi Arabia showed that!

[GeoffS]

People still cling to nationalistic pride? Not interested one bit.

You were so not interested that you had to read a thread you have no interest in, just so you could tell us you are not interested in it... Is that how it works?

[/sarcasm]

[Nurizeko]

*SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH*

Is there no-where I can escape this god forsaken London-centric propagandist corporate-dominated festival of a gazillion sports I'd never otherwise watch willingly?

Well...at least the opening ceremony was a bit flashy. The start was terrible though, for a second I thought Cameron and Boris had got their dirty fingers all over it it couldn't be any more conservative nostalgic nonsense.

The music bit was alrite and those rings were cool, the rest was kinda give or take, very London-centric obviously but let's be honest at this rate the rest of the UK is just background noise to the country of London. Also lols at including the NHS, take that Americar!

Well, RN forums were a nice oasis of escapism from Olympic news for a brief while.

[Guilliman]

You were so not interested that you had to read a thread you have no interest in, just so you could tell us you are not interested in it... Is that how it works?

Yes.

But in all seriousness. One of the reasons I'll be keeping an eye on the Olympics is the use of technology to win.

[GeoffS]

So, you are interested...

[Akranadas]

James Bond and Mr. Bean; Genius

[Guilliman]

Depends how you look at it. Couldn't give a hoot as to who wins or loses. Only why someone wins/loses, and only when it becomes an issue. Eg: swimmer X wins because of nano-swimsuit.

[DeafMute]

So...Whats up with all the "All Seeing Eye" illuminati stuffs eh?
Supposidly something big is due to happen, attack wise moving forward to this new world order every president and PM keeps banging on about.

As for the games themselfs ill only watch the races and female gymnastics. whoot!

[Coey]

Pretty sure most female gymnasts are under the age of 16 and look like 8 year olds so have fun with that!

The opening ceremony initially confused me, then it got good, and then the signing/singing choir was more good and then it went downhill fast. Also Beckham on a speedboat.

[DeafMute]

There is an adult gymnastics. Im sure there was on the beijing olympics.

-edit
So are you saying that people who get to the age of 18 are unable to do gymnastics? I mean shit man, I know the difference between a girl and woman. lol.

[Kirjava]

No, he was assuming your "whoot" at the notion of watching the female gymnastics was because you're looking forward to watching women in leotards jump around, hence his pointing out that they'll mostly look, well, like athletes do (and be younger, because younger usually = lighter and lighter = better at gymnastics), because let's face it, you've got form in this area.

[OhJohnNo]

The ceremony was good. Was briefly annoyed they missed Pink Floyd out of the music bit, but they included them in the final fireworks bit so it's all good.

Discovered several teensy countries I didn't know existed. Also, so many tall people carrying flags.

[Gorb]

Incidentally, it was pointed out that the opening ceremony had the entire British Royal Family and leaders from pretty much every nation participating.

Suddenly, the defenses put in place to protect against possible attacks doesn't seem that overkill after all. A successful attack would've pretty much crippled civilised society (with regards to power vacuums, lack of top-down leadership/executive orders, etc).

[Akranadas]

Our leader wasn't there, so we'd step in an control the commonwealth for you.

[Fixer]

I was deeply cynical about the opening ceremony. The description we were given ahead of time didn't exactly inspire confidence. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16769859

But I was pleasantly suprised. A bit of tongue in cheek British humor, a lot of cultural icons and music. Fantastic fireworks. A good 'ol show for the world about Great Britain.

The one thing that did irk me was the political correctness aspect. I saw that they included black people into the 'historically entirely white leaders of industry' section. Didn't see any white people in the 'post war black people immigrating into England' part though

[Ifitmovesnukeit]

After the abomination that was and is the Olympics logo, I had fairly low expectations. But I was pleasantly surprised.

The Mr Bean part was very clever. Not only was it quintessentially British (can't really imagine too many other ceremonies including a self-deprecating sequence like that!), he's still very recognisable to international audiences.

Not a fan of sport though, so I guess that's it until the closing ceremony or us winning at something.

[Jonny]

People still cling to nationalistic pride? Not interested one bit.

I've seen more nationalistic pride, Union flags and people waffling about Britain this year than I've ever seen before. Overt patriotism hasn't been very popular since WWII, but it's really taken off this year. Whether or not it's just a jubilee + Olympics reaction that will die down or the start of some new phase in our national psyche I don't know.

I have been surprised by the efficiency and competence shown so far though, I was pretty much expecting a total clusterfuck of snarled transportation, hurriedly finished buildings and awful design-by-committee nonsense like the logo and mascots. Maybe if we can pull this off without a hitch it will give us back a bit of confidence that we can do large scale things successfully.

[Starblade]

Well, RN forums were a nice oasis of escapism from Olympic news for a brief while.

So did it just not occur to you to open some other thread instead of this one?

As for the games themselfs ill only watch the races and female gymnastics. whoot!

Stop leering at women.

Also lols at including the NHS, take that Americar!

Isn't the joke that they are currently burning NHS to the ground?

[Bowkers]

well that's one gold medal that we were stupid favourites to win gone..

[Inquisitor Lok]

I must say, having never watched Archery before, it was quite exciting.

Edit: And boy did Phelps get destroyed during the 400m IM (as in >4sec behind 1st)xD

[Kirjava]

Isn't the joke that they are currently burning NHS to the ground?

It's not a very good joke, but if we didn't laugh we'd cry.

[TheWickedGerman]

And from when the germans entered...

Not everything involving a German raising his hand is a hitler salute

No wonder that we are paranoid as hell, in the German Army it´s forbidden to raise your right arm at all (for example in theoretic lessons when they ask questions and you want to answer), you have to use your left arm because they don´t want someone to mistake it for a Hitler salute. But even that doesn´t seem to work anymore

[Akranadas]

You Brits can't help complaining.

Cavendish accuses Aussies as Vinokourov wins cycling gold

I didn't realise that we had to help you win a medal

[Jonny]

Meh, cyclists in general are whiny bastards. The police arrested 100 of them the other night for protesting that the opening ceremony had disrupted their cycling route. Not fussed about Cavendish's loss at all, maybe cycling going down a peg or two will mean less of them cluttering up the country roads and being a nuisance.

[Guilliman]

Hah Jonny, cyclists in Belgium are a plague as well. They take the entire road in packs, they're aggressive, think they're the kings of the road. Frequently verbally and sometimes physically violent whenever someone else needs to use the road/cross the road. Too bad they don't have the balls here to actually make an arrest.

[Nurizeko]

So did it just not occur to you to open some other thread instead of this one?

I was here on these forums before the Olympics, THEY should go open another thread.

Yeah you heard me.

[marmoo]

Tired of the term 'Team GB'...there was a time we were known just as Great Britain. Obviously, because USA has done it, we have to follow suit (please note not a dig at USA)
Will watch the athletics but not really up for all this patriotism. It's not that I don't like the Olympics, it just that I have had it rammed down my throat for the last year (including the Jubilee in this) and a bit sick and tired of it.

The Dayz server / patch was being upgraded on Friday night resulting in the server being down, so unfortunately I was subjected to the opening ceremony
I just saw it was a bunch of British injokes. Also saw it as just a show piece for British music and film and a bunch of celebrities attempting to jump on the bandwagon
I finally got pissed off and turned it over when I saw David Beckham looking like a right cock on a speedboat bringing the Torch in via the Thames - enough was enough

The one thing I did like was the fire petals which formed the Olympic Torch in the stadium - that was very good but the rest was a bit naff - including the Harry Potter references

Haven't watched anything of it yet and to be honest, I will not be going out of my way to do so

Also was sickened by the amount of people on Facebook prattling on about how proud they are to be British - Shame the other 364 days of this year, the same people have spouted on about how crap this country is

Rant over

Enjoy the festivities boys and girls :P

[Kalimac]

So far I've mostly been watching women's football, which I find entertaining, partly because I know most of the players in the better teams from the last world cup. USA looks strong of course, as do Brazil and Japan, and at times France. I hope Sweden can get to a medal, but it will be tough.

I also tuned in to the end of a volleyball match between Turkey and Brazil last night. Holy shit, that was intense and fun to watch. I think I need to follow that tournament now much more closely than before.

[Flagg]

I din't think it was possible, but the Team footbal GB team is even worse than the England football team. I wouldn't be surprised if we got beat by UAE today. At least the girls know how to play football for GB.

Events im particular fond of is gymnastics, weight lifting and track and field. I did watch the Mens Archery finals last night, Italy vs USA, such tense stuff! Italy needed a 10 to win it, and they got the ten right on the outside of the bullseye circle, epic stuff. Annoyingly the girls were ahead of Russia for the majority of the first round, then we scored 6 on one arrow and it went right downhill after that. Womens out in the first round

Nice to see our man progress to the top 16 of Judo.

Im really kinda hoping for a Federer/Murray tennis final. It would be the classic Wimbeldon run back! With no Nadal again, one of these guys will surely take gold. I cant imagine what that would do for Murrays confidence if he loses the final at Wimbledon only 3 weeks okay to lose AGAIN at Wimbledon/Olympics to the same man.

LOL@ at the "german wave" during the ceremony. I wasn't sure if i'd seen that right till it got put on YouTube.

[Codex]

LOL@ at the "german wave" during the ceremony. I wasn't sure if i'd seen that right till it got put on YouTube.

Not everything involving a German raising his hand is a hitler salute

No wonder that we are paranoid as hell, in the German Army it´s forbidden to raise your right arm at all (for example in theoretic lessons when they ask questions and you want to answer), you have to use your left arm because they don´t want someone to mistake it for a Hitler salute. But even that doesn´t seem to work anymore

It wasn't a Nazi salute... people see what they want to see, and it's funny to think that it was a nazi salute. It was his left arm, for one.