Summer Sport events in capital of England between 2011 and 2013

[soggy]

Actually Northern Ireland is a bit complicated. Different sporting organizations have different affilations. For example runners and throwers in Team GB, while boxers represent Ireland.

[Richmond Clements]

Actually Northern Ireland is a bit complicated.

Now THAT'S what I call an understatement!

[maryanddavid]

Great olympics, Id sit and watch for five, and end up an hour. Team GB has done brilliant, and Ireland not too shabby either, but Im really gutted for the two forth placers, Heffernan on the walk and especially Murphy in the sailing, which I know little about but was great to watch.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Carolyn and Sam have just come back from their Sunday swim and they met one of Sams school friends aunties there! The lady in question had something in her boot and by a strange coincidence Sam was wearing an appropriate top.

BEHOLD


Now I need a photo of Judge Burdis and this 

[vzzbux]

Did anyone notice at the beginning of the closing ceremony.
Prince Henry of Wales. Even the on screen tag.
Prince Harry was not a happy teddy bear.





V

[vzzbux]

Ignore my last he is Prince Henry. I am just ignorant  .





V

[TordelBack]

Great olympics, Id sit and watch for five, and end up an hour. Team GB has done brilliant, and Ireland not too shabby either, but Im really gutted for the two forth placers, Heffernan on the walk and especially Murphy in the sailing, which I know little about but was great to watch.

Would never, ever, have believed it, but I really enjoyed these Olympics, and not just the women's volleyball (but that too).  Horrid expensive disruptive corporate and nationalistic showboating that it was, there was a hell of a lot of genuinely gobsmacking stuff going on there.

Generally can't abide boxing (bunch of people cheering as someone gets hit hard in the face, no thanks) or the notion of passionate loyalty to the nation state within whose borders I was randomly born, but watched the last couple of Taylor fights in a club bar in Enniskillen, and it was a fantastic experience. 

Following Annelise Murphy, who sails out of the same harbour I do although on an entirely different plane of existence, was also fascinating, even if the Irish TV coverage was truly appalling.  It was a shame she lost out in the final leg of the final race, but she was a joy to watch, not least because the wrong choice of course on the downwind is a mistake every sailor has made a thousand times, and seeing her do it is a consolation to all of us who've ever watched the rest of the fleet sail merrily by.

However, what I really enjoyed wasn't the mildly stressful business of following fellow nationals, it was just the unbelievable skill and grace on display every time I switched on the TV.  I'm still in complete awe of the swimming, diving and gymnastics.  Amazing what people, humans, and kids in particular can do. 

Despite the inevitable and infuriating British media tick of loudly asserting the victory of their competitor before they even come out of the dressing room, to the exclusion of commenting on anyone else, I was delighted to see GB do so spectacularly well at their own party.  Good on yiz.   

Looking forward to the paralympics.  Now that really is a mindblowing business.

[Adrian Bamforth]

Well, that was all rather good. I wonder what hobbies they will be covering next year.

[Proudhuff]

I wonder how many 'good days for bad news' there have over the last couple of weeks... 

[I, Cosh]

I wonder how many 'good days for bad news' there have over the last couple of weeks... 

Well, I was pretty shocked when I realised Saturday's Guardian had a whopping 2.5 pages (if you include the bit of fluff about the Edinburgh festival) of "national" news as opposed to 10-12 on a normal day.

[Trout]

I wonder how many 'good days for bad news' there have over the last couple of weeks... 

Well, I was pretty shocked when I realised Saturday's Guardian had a whopping 2.5 pages (if you include the bit of fluff about the Edinburgh festival) of "national" news as opposed to 10-12 on a normal day.

Tell me about it. The difficulty is that, after you allow space for the Olympics, there's not much left for other stuff. Also, it's been pretty quiet, news-wise, as much of what is normally generated gets put on hold for big events. Most of the non-Olympic news has been reactive, like crimes or disasters.

- Newspaper-making Trout

[Frank]

The difficulty is that, after you allow space for the Olympics, there's not much left for other stuff. Also, it's been pretty quiet, news-wise, as much of what is normally generated gets put on hold for big events. Most of the non-Olympic news has been reactive, like crimes or disasters

As a wee boy, I thought the reason the papers were filled with details of the search for a missing kid every Summer was because we were all out playing on the streets and in the woods, instead of locked up in school. It took me a while to realise that kids go missing all year round, but only get that kind of blanket coverage when Parliament was in recess and the Old Firm were sunning themselves on the Costa.

If Madeleine McCann had gone missing in a World Cup/Olympic year, you'd all have had to google her name just now and her parents would have been spared a horrific ordeal at the hands of the tabloids.

[Richmond Clements]

The difficulty is that, after you allow space for the Olympics, there's not much left for other stuff. Also, it's been pretty quiet, news-wise, as much of what is normally generated gets put on hold for big events. Most of the non-Olympic news has been reactive, like crimes or disasters

As a wee boy, I thought the reason the papers were filled with details of the search for a missing kid every Summer was because we were all out playing on the streets and in the woods, instead of locked up in school. It took me a while to realise that kids go missing all year round, but only get that kind of blanket coverage when Parliament was in recess and the Old Firm were sunning themselves on the Costa.

If Madeleine McCann had gone missing in a World Cup/Olympic year, you'd all have had to google her name just now and her parents would have been spared a horrific ordeal at the hands of the tabloids.

Sad but true.

[Old Tankie]

But wasn't there loads of coverage about the missing girl from South London, so I don't agree with your point there.  But, back to the Olympics, I thought it was brilliant!  Where the media did make me smile was, before the Games they were saying it was all going to be doom and gloom, but now, it's the best thing since sliced bread!!