Olympics thread

[Ben Wah Balls]

I only watched about 30 mins, so they could have had both, but it was definitely Rez I heard - which, to me, is a surprising tune to play.

Pretty bloody cool to play something like that I might add, although I'm convinced it was a specially commissioned remix to make it more mellow and easy on the layman.

I hope they have it on iPlayer because I wanted to watch the whole thing, but only saw it from about an 1:15 or 1:30 ish in.

High contrast was doing a lot of the music and remixed at least one Underworld tune so it might have been one of his. https://twitter.com/linkcontrast/status/228969877606637568

I thought the music was amazing - they couldn't really have chosen better people to do it and helped make it the best opening ceremony ever overall, definitely the one I enjoyed watching the most and as for £27m being a lot of money - that's a joke, if it really was watched by a billion people then the amount it will raise in tourism revenues alone will dwarf that easily. You can't buy advertising like that and the helicopter trip past all the London landmarks alone will attract millions more tourists. Danny Boyle deserves a knighthood.


Edit: It was a high contrast remix.

See: http://olympicsblog.co.uk/blog/featured-story/soundtrack-of-the-opening-ceremony/ CD2 Track 20.

[Arriba]

Swindon born Hannah miley up next in the swimming

[Batch]

Dissapointing.

[tans]

Fucking hell BWB is alive

[nochee]

That Chinese girl just spanked that WR

I'm getting Chicken in black bean sauce out of respect for that effort.

[sonicyouth]

Norwegian handball coach doing a Paul Hart after they lost to France.

interviewer: "Why do you think you lost?"
coach: "why do you think?"

[jonny72]

Just got home from the beach volleyball.

Organisation was pretty poor. Them telling everyone to turn up a couple of hours early was a joke, they didn't let anyone in to the area until 6.30 and then didn't open the stadium area until about 7.15 (started at 8.00). Nothing sign posted in the area, everyone wandering around aimlessly, poor communication between the stewards. Army blokes did all the security and were top notch - quick, efficient and friendly.

Food and drink was reasonably priced, pint of Heineken was £4.50. Queues were fucking enormous though. Good luck filling up an empty bottle with water, took me about 20 minutes as none of the stewards knew where the taps were.

We were up in the cheap seats which was actually a good thing as the skyline was spectacular as a backdrop - Big Ben, London Eye, Parliament, Nelson's Column and Downing Street. Atmosphere was pretty good, they were doing their best to turn it in to a party but don't think anyone had enough beer or was really up for it.

Spent a few hours in the National Gallery as well which was free entry (not sure if that is permanent or something special for the Olympics). Pity a number of sections were closed due to industrial action, all of whom are fucking wankers for going on strike during the Olympics when the whole world is watching.

[Coca Fola]

Food and drink was reasonably priced, pint of Heineken was £4.50. Queues were fucking enormous though. Good luck filling up an empty bottle with water, took me about 20 minutes as none of the stewards knew where the taps were.

[Sussex]

Spent a few hours in the National Gallery as well which was free entry (not sure if that is permanent or something special for the Olympics). Pity a number of sections were closed due to industrial action, all of whom are fucking wankers for going on strike during the Olympics when the whole world is watching.

It's always free unless Leonardo's got a few sketches up! Been many times, it's a fantastic place to lose yourself for a few hours.

[RedRag]

I'm also a novice.  But it looks as if they (we) were sitting back at the head of the peloton on the belief that other countries back there were going to help us out, which would have enabled the front of the peloton to reel the leaders in, giving Cavendish the chance to sprint for it at the finish.  In the event, no other countries came forward, so the Brits just couldn't close the leaders down...so Cavendish was nowhere at the finish.  The commentators seemed supremely confident all the time the cyclists were out in Surrey, and suddenly seemed to get jumpy an hour or so from the end when it dawned on them that the Brits were isolated.

I'm starting to get in to my cycling more now.  Very watchable.

Great explanation

Generally, breakaway groups get caught - therefore the breakaways took a ballsy gamble to mess with the GB/Cav mass sprint finish tactic, the rotters.

Vino, the Kazakh winner, is one such ballsy racer, [ok Reg a former drugs cheat but if Cav had won would we have been saying he had been helped by Millar, a former drugs cheat?] and often used to attack the likes of Armstrong in the Tour de France and more often than not got reeled in.  This time his tactic paid off.

Usually about 8 or more peloton members share the work in closing down breakaway groups and the reticence of non GB-ers to come forward and share the work meant that the GB team had too much work on their shoulders to succeed.   

The Aussies got blamed as they had a sprinter who is pretty useful if not in Cav's league.  They had a chance of a medal however as they had a rider in the breakaway group (who came 6th) so why help Cav and their slightly less brilliant sprinter?

The Germans also had a good sprinter and they were negative in leaving all the work to GB but that has cost them (they can blame themselves for their failure to get a medal - but surely not be blamed for Cav not winning!).

With hindsight, GB's race was lost when none of them followed the second breakaway on Box Hill.

Kazakhstan had no support team and their bold tactic paid off.  Congratulations I say (although I respect Reg's point in fact) and also to the Colombian silver who had been in Cav's Sky team.

[LucienSanchez]

I went yesterday and saw Turkey vs Angola and USA vs Croatia in Women's basketball. The sport itself was pretty decent, having never seen a live match before, but the most impressive thing was the Olympic site itself; it really is an amazing place. There is a massive double sided screen in the river where we led out in what could be any beautifully maintained country park watching some swimming and road-race highlights - it didn't feel like you were in a city at all. Most of the buildings are fantastic pieces of design (most notably the Stadium and Velodrome) but even the temporary B'ball structure was fantastic. Loads of decent food, quality souveniers, and maps to help you get around. It's a big place, but no larger than Thorpe Park - we went absolutely everywhere and it never took ridiculous time. So many photos to be taken, as the mix of architecture and English countryside looked impressive throughout. My only complaint was the beer - £4.30 for a pint of Heineken (fine, to be expected), but also £4.30 for a 330ml bottle of the stuff at the bars that didn't have draught. If you find the draught bars, keep them close by for refills!

Also, you get a free zone 1-9 TravelCard with your ticket, so we parked at Osterley for £2 the entire day, and tubed it in on the Picadilly and Jubilee lines. Plenty of trains, and sat down for the entire journey.

Wish I had more tickets. It's a shame everywhere looks so empty yet there is no ticket availability. Sponsors should release some back if they aren't going to be used, and the pricing should have been cheaper throughout - the only tickets left are the ones so ridiculously priced that no one will (quite rightly) fork out to get them.

[Ardiles]

What makes it more impressive still is that 5 years ago you'd have found a post-industrial wasteland there.  I took a walk through that area about 10 years ago.  Had (and still have) a book of London walks and decided that day to take the train up from Wimbledon, where I was living, to do a 13 miler through the East End.  Stacks of history - Victorian pumping stations built like cathedrals, canals I never knew existed winding through back streets - but the area as a whole was largely derelict and pretty much bypassed by public transport.  The legacy thing is really important.  The area used to be a black hole...surrounded on all sides by suburbs and parks.  Now it's a proper part of London.  Very impressive.

[Flashheart]

Much of it was made from recycled materials as well. Something like 95% of everything demolished to make way was used in the new constructions.

[Arriba]

The site seems very impressive from what i've seen on tv. What will become of it post the event though?

[Ardiles]

I've just got the book of walks down again to take a look at the route.  It was published in 2002, so obviously no reference to anything to do with the Olympic site.  I've traced the route I took though and it went right past where the stadium is now, pretty much over the site of the Mittal tower.

I'll stop geeking now.