Lung Per wrote:I watched most of it. I was unpleasently surprised by the way it was politicized. I refer to the rather long and dragging promotion of the NHS.
It was about as political as Australia featuring a Kangaroo.
Agreed, it was a celebration, not a promotion. Great stufff from Mike Oldfield as well!
The NHS is something that the Brits could justifiably be proud of - sadly it has declined into a mere shadow of what it was. This was NOT political at all but as has been said - a celebration
I thought that the whole ceremony was superb - my hero Mr. I.K.Brunel well portrayed by Mr.Brannagh was a master touch of the 'Dark Satanic Hills'
The only bit that was a let down, was having Macca do 'Hey Jude' again. FFS - he closed Live Aid with it 27 years ago - it's time he was put out to grass.
Well, the (empty) "Seat Saga" seems to be gathering pace..... many, quite rightly, disgruntled ticket-less fans up in arms. Seems the military are now being drafted in to fill empty seats at certain venues....
Anywho....... GB are at least on the Medal Table!!
"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things" - Yma o Hyd.
Good evening from Los Angeles Ladies & Gentleguys of HHAD!
The understudy agrees with y'all that The Opening Ceremony was AWESOME! I'm quiet astonished what the director of this Show Sir Micheal Boyle had put up! I love the part of Damiel Craig as James Bond escorted Her Royal Highness The Qeen Elisabeth of England to the Helicopter a Queen Double Jumped off over the Stadium. One slapstick humor which is consider very British. Mr. Rowan Atkinson alias Mr. Bean in a small part.
After the empty Seats @ The opening ceremony contraversy that is being investigated here's another one. Apparently the City of London had barred all 800 small snack bar or small diners within Stratforf to sell French fries. In order tp protect one of their main Sponsors Mccie D's from loosing biznet. Oh yeah as I also heard that Sponsor Police are out and advise and point out what you are wearing. Example: you are at a Sports Venue In London during the Olympiad with your huge Nike Wing on you T-Shirt. Shortly after some Sponsor Police asking to change your Shirt they bought with them and you gotta keep or being escorted out of the venue by breaching Sponsorship rules inside sporting venues.
And that's not only that there are London wide such crackdowns.
What do you guys think about these measures?
Your's The understudy!!!
In Love with Hua Hin since 19naughty9 and it ain't fading!!!
(My fable for All Things Japanese knows no boundaries!) Proud Student of Stamford University Hua Hin Campus from 1999 to 2004 (5th Batch of Graduates.)
“Once you survive Stamford U Hua Hin Campus only you can survive anything!!!”
We all know the UK, USA and much of Europe are over policed and PC'd
RICHARD OF LOXLEY
It’s none of my business what people say and think of me. I am what I am and do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. It makes life so much easier.
DANNY Boyle - the Director of the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, is, as far as I know, not yet a Knight of The Realm and hence is purely a Mr. and not a Sir. Although most folk think that after his superb work, he will be recognised for some form of award.
Not that I am very pro monarchy, but the correct address for the Monarch is - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II or more simply, Your Majesty - initially - followed by Ma'am if making further polite conversation. Your (Her) Royal Highness is a term used for addressing a Princess.
Anyway - the whole section of Queen Liz doing a parachute jump with James Bond was for me, one of the highlights of the whole thing. It showed that the royal personage does have a sense of humour. I was very surprised when she turned from her desk to greet Bond that it actually WAS the Queen. In past days she would have had a double do the part.
How times have changed.
As for the sponsorship stuff - well we live in commercial times I'm afraid, and without them the whole event could not get anywhere near avoiding being a drain on the tax payer.
As for the empty seats, that appears to be down to various freebies issued abroad as required by the IOC. The feeling is that for the 'blue ribbon' events they will be full - finals at the tennis and the like. But most venues are mainly pretty full.
Interestingly, of the touts that have been arrested, they all had tickets sent abroad as required by the IOC. Stupid and obvious really. They are now selling tickets that have been handed back by the various groups that aren't using them. Something for the IOC to think about next time around?
Caller - There's no doubt that the majority at least of the empty seats are down to the "Freebies"... whether this be the allowance for families (I assume this is what you mean "as required by the IOC"), corporate sponsors or VIP's. However, it's still a disgrace IMHO - I know several people who were desperate to see the tennis or gymnastics, of which both events have been heavily critisised for empty seats at the relevant venues.
The "freebies" being not only a requirement from the IOC(?), but major sponsors - however, surely it should be a requirement to confirm the seat will be used....... if it's not confirmed within say 5 days of the event, then the seat can be sold to the general public.
FFS - they are actually saying now that if you are 30 mins late to take your (paid) seat, they can re-sell it! NOT good!!
"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things" - Yma o Hyd.
pharvey wrote:Caller - There's no doubt that the majority at least of the empty seats are down to the "Freebies"... whether this be the allowance for families (I assume this is what you mean "as required by the IOC"), corporate sponsors or VIP's. However, it's still a disgrace IMHO - I know several people who were desperate to see the tennis or gymnastics, of which both events have been heavily critisised for empty seats at the relevant venues.
The "freebies" being not only a requirement from the IOC(?), but major sponsors - however, surely it should be a requirement to confirm the seat will be used....... if it's not confirmed within say 5 days of the event, then the seat can be sold to the general public.
FFS - they are actually saying now that if you are 30 mins late to take your (paid) seat, they can re-sell it! NOT good!!
Nowt to do with me, but if it is being administered by that hand waving old hag shown on the BBC news, then nobody should be surprised!
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
Thanks a lot Terry for the errors that you found and recommendation of how to write it properly! I really apreciate that greatly!
I had watched the opening Ceremony in L. A. which is 8 hour or so behind London and the only way to watch it Live without relying on NBC who's has the sole Broadcast rights here in the US was the live web stream site Tv-Stream.to which streams the all the major German Channels over the Internet including Eurosport.
Your‘s The understudy (The one & only+lonely)
In Love with Hua Hin since 19naughty9 and it ain't fading!!!
(My fable for All Things Japanese knows no boundaries!) Proud Student of Stamford University Hua Hin Campus from 1999 to 2004 (5th Batch of Graduates.)
“Once you survive Stamford U Hua Hin Campus only you can survive anything!!!”
Olympics: 16-year-old Ye Shiwen's swim 'impossible’, says coach John Leonard
One of the world’s most senior swimming coaches has raised serious doubts about the validity of the “unbelievable” performance of Ye Shiwen, the 16-year-old Chinese swimmer.
John Leonard, the executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, yesterday compared Ye’s winning performance in the women’s 400m individual medley to Irish swimmer Michelle Smith, who won gold in the same event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics but was banned from swimming for four years in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample. Smith, now De Bruin, always denied using performance enhancing drugs.
Ye sent shock waves through her sport on Saturday when she set the first swimming world record of these Olympics, and in doing so swam the final 50m freestyle faster than American swimmer Ryan Lochte managed in his final leg when he won the same race in the men’s event.
“We want to be very careful about calling it doping,” Leonard said.
“The one thing I will say is that history in our sport will tell you that every time we see something, and I will put quotation marks around this, 'unbelievable’, history shows us that it turns out later on there was doping involved. That last 100m was reminiscent of some old East German swimmers, for people who have been around a while. It was reminiscent of 400m individual medley by a young Irish woman in Atlanta.
“Any time someone has looked like superwoman in the history of our sport they have later been found guilty of doping”. Ye was more than seven seconds faster in the 400m individual medley than she had been in the equivalent race of the World Championships last year. While Leonard accepted that such improvement was feasible, he described the final 100m as “impossible”. He added: “To swim three other splits at the rate that she did, which was quite ordinary for elite competition, and then unleash a historic anomaly, it is just not right. I have heard commentators saying 'well she is 16, and at that age amazing things happen’. Well yes, but not that amazing, I am sorry.”
Ye has never failed a drugs test and, when asked about the issue of doping, she said: “The Chinese team keep very firmly to the anti-doping policies, so there is absolutely no problem.”
Leonard, who has been executive director of the WSCA since 1989, claimed that the consensus in the coaching community was that the swim was “unbelievable”. He said: “I use that word in its precise meaning. At this point it is not believable to many people.” Lochte, the American men’s swimming star of these Olympics, admitted that “if she was there with me, she might have beat me”.
The performance of Ye was also questioned immediately after the race by Clare Balding, the BBC presenter, in her discussions with former British Olympian Mark Foster. “How many questions will there be, Mark, about somebody who can suddenly swim so much faster than she has ever swum before?” she said. Blood samples taken at these Games will be kept for eight years. “I have every faith that eventually if there is something there to be caught it will be caught,” Leonard told a newspaper.
The previous record holder and competitor described the final leg of the swim as "insane".
"I mean I didn't see it, I was way over and behind, so I didn't really see her coming home, but that split coming home was out of control," she said
She refused to be drawn into the controversy.
"I have no idea, I mean I wouldn't want to get into that at all, but a 58 sec (final 100m) is an insanely fast swim," she said.
Arne Ljungqvist, medical commission chief for the International Olympic Committee, called the speculation "sad."
"For me, it is very sad that an unexpected performance is surrounded by suspicions," he told a briefing.
"I mean to raise suspicion immediately when you see an extraordinary performance – to me it is against the fascination of sport.
"To suspect someone for having done something because he performed extraordinarily is a bit sad for Olympic sport."
Meanwhile it has emerged that Olympic officials have asked the cleaners at the athlete's village to keep an eye out for any drug paraphernalia that might suggest cheating.
The surveillance will be part of the strategy to weed out the use of performance enhancing drugs.
London has the most stringent drug checks in the history of the games.
At Sydney there were 2,300 random checks but in London there will be 6,000.
"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things" - Yma o Hyd.
Unless found to be a cheat, and they are targetting dramatic improvements in performance, I think its best summed up by aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe, reeporting for the beeb:
"How we should talk about it is that we should take away the nationality. If we had an athlete from Team GB who dropped three seconds we would say 'Wow'. I took five seconds off my time in the 400m freestyle from 15-16. We have to remember young swimmers can take off chunks of time others can't. We should wait. This is what I don't like in sport, when people are successful people say it is because of drugs."
100% especially regarding a certain Mr Brunel.
