The 2012 Olympics Revisited

On Thursday the 8th of September 2011 I wrote a bit about what was back then the upcoming 2012 Olympic games in London. Under the title "Are you ready for it" Click Here to read.

Well the dust has settled once more and for all the billions invested what have we got for our money. Well for a start we will still have a sizable bill to pick up - maybe not as big as the one we picked up for the bankers. 

We were off to a good Olympic class start by hiring a security specialist G4S who could not deliver the correct number of staff. But still G4S expects to be paid in full. 

Back in September I said "Each of the final three will get a gong and two competitors will get to listen to an unknown anthem." Then we poured credit upon ourselves by playing the wrong national anthems for a gold medal winner. So all three competitors on this occasion got to listen to an unknown anthem.

I predicted "that the organisation will end up being judged to be a complete spectacle, Boris is involved and so its guaranteed. The quality of the presentation and the professionalism of the organisation will carry no weight. Its all about the opening ceremony and the lighting of the torch."

The two best bits were the opening and closing ceremony. That most people around the world watching on TV. Would for the most part have been bewildered, at what the opening ceremony was all about. But then most people living in our inner cities would also have been wondering the same. The closing ceremony allowed us to roll out a Z list of Celebs. Just so that people around the world could have a game of "I thought that they were dead!" Though a fair few were doing their best to look dead.

I said "Other countries do sporting greats like boxing legend Mohamed Ali to light the flame. Followed a carefully choreographed show with hundreds of school children making geometric shapes. We will probably get Bernie Ecclestone to dance naked round the maypole lighting farts with a branded cigarette lighter."

I was half right!

I said "Other countries do razzmatazz like its second nature. We do maypoles."

I was right!

I said "As a nation we are very good at doing disappointment. We have that expectation of disappointment, why we would be disappointed if we were not disappointed! – We even say “its only the taking part that matters”. I don't know of a nation that's so set for disappointment, because we have been better equipped by the British media for sporting disappointment. If there was a competition for disappointment we would win hands down."

True to form I was once again disappointed in the Olympics, because we did not have an Eddie the Eagle or Eric the Eel, sporting character to cheer on to ignominy. In the past we had sporting greats like Paula Radcliffe who stopped for a pee, in the London marathon then went on to win. But why when Paula does it in the street she's a marathon hero. But for some reason if anyone else were to stop for a pee in the street they would be prosecuted. But lets put it into perspective - could Usain Bolt have stopped for a dump in the 100 metre dash and then gone on to win!

So there were people in boats and some on bikes a few ran about while others threw things around. Hop, skip and jump looked to be as elegant as ever. I was disappointed at the horses and jockeys, as the horses did not get a medal. Next time I am hoping we do much better in the running jumping standing still. 

Later....