XXXth Olympiad - London

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Less than 48hrs until the opening ceremony starts.

I'm thinking about getting up early on Saturday morning, so I can watch the opening ceremony live.

 

[Angel4576]

And we're off to a flier already;

The North Korean women's football team is due to play tonight - guess which flag got displayed - yep, the South Korean one!

Que lots of furious North Koreans storming off in a strop.

Fuck them.

S'alright, I'm sure North Korean News has already put their spin on things - NK won 10-0, but all footage was destroyed by a freak biblical event brought about by the ghost of Kim Jung Il.

 

[Taylirious]

Aaaaand the five ladies going to London to represent the US are Jordyn Wieber, Gabrielle Douglas, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Kyla Ross.

The outstanding gymnast who got left out because the olympic committee reduced the number of team members from six to five is Elizabeth Price.. She actually finished fourth at trials tonight and fifth at the US championships two weeks ago....but her one "weak" event is the event where the US needed help--uneven bars. So a girl who scored lower in the AA is going instead of Elizabeth. That's how it goes. It can't be just about the highest scores. It has to be having enough girls that are equally as good on all 4 events or really outstanding on an event in which the US is a bit lacking. Price has outstanding vaults, floor, and very nice balance beam. Unfortunately, the US was already deep on those three and was lacking on uneven bars, the one event Price is a bit weaker on.

Tough luck, Elizabeth. Had they not lowered from 6 to 5, you'd be going. What's killer is that olympic committe will raise it back to 6 members in 2016. They lowered the number so that countries who are struggling to build programs who aren't as deep could bridge the gap. Tough luck for Elizabeth.

So missing Shawn Johnson ...glad to see Gabrielle Douglas.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

And we're off to a flier already;

The North Korean women's football team is due to play tonight - guess which flag got displayed - yep, the South Korean one!

Que lots of furious North Koreans storming off in a strop.

Fuck them.

S'alright, I'm sure North Korean News has already put their spin on things - NK won 10-0, but all footage was destroyed by a freak biblical event brought about by the ghost of Kim Jung Il.

They did win 2-0.

 

[JRS]

And we're off to a flier already;

The North Korean women's football team is due to play tonight - guess which flag got displayed - yep, the South Korean one!

Que lots of furious North Koreans storming off in a strop.

That was bit of an lame mistake, considering how much time they have been preparing for the Olympics. But these things happen..and lets hope rest of the Olympics will go forward "bug free"
I just wonder what the reaction would have been,
If they would have accidentally replaced, for example, the American flag with North Korean one..

 

[JarodRussell]

Damn, I was expecting something along the lines of This ain't The Olympic Games XXX.

 

[Reverend]

And we're off to a flier already;

The North Korean women's football team is due to play tonight - guess which flag got displayed - yep, the South Korean one!

Que lots of furious North Koreans storming off in a strop.

That was bit of an lame mistake, considering how much time they have been preparing for the Olympics. But these things happen..and lets hope rest of the Olympics will go forward "bug free"

^What are you kidding? We're running this one mate, so expect an endless procession of incompetent (and mildly humorous) cock-ups. It's what we excel at!...well that and cycling apparantly.

 

[Relayer1]

And we're off to a flier already;

The North Korean women's football team is due to play tonight - guess which flag got displayed - yep, the South Korean one!

Que lots of furious North Koreans storming off in a strop.

That was bit of an lame mistake, considering how much time they have been preparing for the Olympics. But these things happen..and lets hope rest of the Olympics will go forward "bug free"

^What are you kidding? We're running this one mate, so expect an endless procession of incompetent (and mildly humorous) cock-ups. It's what we excel at!...well that and cycling apparantly.

We're also excellent at spending a shipload of cash that we will be paying off for years on a pointless 'event' that the general public only give a stuff about for two weeks every four years - if that.

Oh, and being berated by our politicians, athletics supremo's and other self interested groups for not toeing the line and 'getting behind it'.

Meanwhile the IOC and its sponsors ride roughshod over UK law and freedoms, whilst an overpaid bunch of 'elite' athletes are supposed to be role models to the suckers paying for it all.

Yes, I've got the 'Olympic' spirit...

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Arguably less serious than the N Korea incident, one of Team GB's male Welsh footballers has been labelled "English":

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18997930

Olympic organisers are facing another embarrassing gaffe after describing Welsh midfielder Joe Allen as English in the official Team GB programme.

Allen, 22, is set to feature for Great Britain on Thursday in their opening match against Senegal at Old Trafford.

The mistake follows the humiliating episode at Hampden Park when the South Korea flag was shown next to North Korea's women footballers.

Games organisers Locog have been asked for a response to the latest blunder.

Allen, a fluent Welsh speaker from Pembrokeshire, is one of five Welshman selected in the men's football squad. But under the title 'Nationality' in the official programme, the Swansea City midfielder is listed as English.

 

[SmoothieX]

I'd be more worked up about a flag error if it was during a medal ceremony. Not some prelim soccer match nobody cares about before the Games even begin.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Aaaaand the five ladies going to London to represent the US are Jordyn Wieber, Gabrielle Douglas, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Kyla Ross.

The outstanding gymnast who got left out because the olympic committee reduced the number of team members from six to five is Elizabeth Price.. She actually finished fourth at trials tonight and fifth at the US championships two weeks ago....but her one "weak" event is the event where the US needed help--uneven bars. So a girl who scored lower in the AA is going instead of Elizabeth. That's how it goes. It can't be just about the highest scores. It has to be having enough girls that are equally as good on all 4 events or really outstanding on an event in which the US is a bit lacking. Price has outstanding vaults, floor, and very nice balance beam. Unfortunately, the US was already deep on those three and was lacking on uneven bars, the one event Price is a bit weaker on.

Tough luck, Elizabeth. Had they not lowered from 6 to 5, you'd be going. What's killer is that olympic committe will raise it back to 6 members in 2016. They lowered the number so that countries who are struggling to build programs who aren't as deep could bridge the gap. Tough luck for Elizabeth.

So missing Shawn Johnson ...glad to see Gabrielle Douglas.

I miss Nastia Liukin.

 

[Roger Wilco]

As every two years for the Olympics here my tip for Europeans: legal HQ livestreams for all events here.

Schedule here

Geo-ristricted to all countries whose public tv is a member of the EBU as far as I know. Sorry, Americans. But maybe you can access it with some sort of proxy server.

 

[tomalak301]

As every two years for the Olympics here my tip for Europeans: legal HQ livestreams for all events here.

Schedule here

Geo-ristricted to all countries whose public tv is a member of the EBU as far as I know. Sorry, Americans. But maybe you can access it with some sort of proxy server.

NBC has it's own online streaming site for all the olympics, but you have to be a subscriber to a package to access it (Which I am). I also think any events that are part of the primetime coverage (Like the Gymnastics) won't be archived until the next day or something like that. Given we're still getting tape delays (especially on the west coast where everything is taped delayed on the network, no matter what), this is a somewhat fair compromise.

NBC's Site

Not sure how much of the olympics I'm going to watch. Kind of interested in watching the Handball, and as far as all the other big stuff, I'm going to get spoiled anyway, so might as well just go with the flow.

 

[Danny99]

Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean-esque skit for the Opening Ceremonies was great, only to be followed up by an extremely confusing house skit.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Not very impressive so far.

 

[Angel4576]

We're enjoying it, but you do get the impression that a lot of this is going to go over the heads of anyone outside the British Isles! And probably some in them as well!

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

Not very impressive so far.

The Queen and James Bond jumped out of a fucking helicopter! Tons of great music on the soundtrack. Children's literature, the NHS, Brunel, suffragettes. This is fantastic. And I say that as someone who hates sporting events.

 

[FPAlpha]

Yay! Bosnia has marched in.. i am happy!

Rowan Atkinson / Mr. Bean was hilarious, the rest a "little" bit Brit-centric (i don't watch many olympian opening ceremonies.. are they all like that?) but nevertheless well done.

Sidenote:
Damn there's some hot women amongst them.. no wonder the IOC has distributed around 150.000 condoms

 

[Sam_I_Am]

That was fantastic.

 

[Starkers]

Not very impressive so far.

The Queen and James Bond jumped out of a fucking helicopter! Tons of great music on the soundtrack. Children's literature, the NHS, Brunel, suffragettes. This is fantastic. And I say that as someone who hates sporting events.

Yeah I think it was great, and it was a nice touch of the USA team to get in on the act by all dressing as Frank Spencer...