Olympic games

[Keith at Tregenna]

Why do countries want to host the Olympic Games?

The Games are seen by many to be a huge waste of public money. London: originally estimated at a cost of £2.4bn, the budget had by 2007 ballooned to £9.3bn. Now that it looks likely to come in at just over £9.2bn, organisers are claiming that the Games are "on time and on budget" ? But, which budget surely not the original £2.4bn.

Rather than seem to P on this parade, my own view remains the same, the Olympics are not my cup of tea. I do understand that many enjoy the games and will have a ball. But most will have to watch all either on TV or at Live Sites - a permanent network of giant outdoor screens in public squares with a piece of dedicated space in at least 60 major cities and county towns. This is necessary as the modern Olympic Games are always hosted by a city - not really by a country.

The cost of building facilities etc. for the Olympics is huge and may not help the economy of a country at all. Much depends on how these Olympic facilities are used after the Games - the Olympic legacy.

Hopefully after the Games, four arenas, three 50m swimming pools and the water polo pools will be disassembled and rebuilt in other parts of the UK. All the sports equipment used will also be donated to UK sports clubs and charities.

I do wish all our athletes well and ask that they go for Gold, otherwise all would be even more of a waste. I have faith in team GB, just cannot be arsed sitting around watching the stuff. Five minutes on news at 10 is enough for me.

Staging a large international sporting event means different things for different host cities, in terms of the Olympics, for Barcelona the driving force was regeneration, for Sydney it was about putting itself on the map as a global destination, for Athens it was about redefining itself as a modern European city.

All this means to me is travel chaos and sitting on the M25 for longer.

I do admire our athletes and those that compete, but it is all meant to be amateur, so why does it have to cost so much ?

I do hold more time for the Paralympic Games, a unique element of Paralympic sports, intended to ensure fair competition. As each sport at the Paralympic Games requires different skills and competencies, the impact of impairment on the performance of the athletes varies. That’s why each sport has its own unique classification rules.

K.

[Captain Kong]

As I have posted before, My Uncle Ted was in the Olympic Games, in 1908 he got nothing, no expences or sponsership. Just told to be there. Today the Competitiors can become Millionaires. with the sponsers.

[John Pruden]

no doubt some pen pusher will come up with some numbers to say it was all worth it{then lick his wounds}jp

[Keith at Tregenna]

Someone needs to have a quiet lie-down here then have themselves fired. This is sport, for heaven’s sake. It is fit people running around and throwing things and hitting each other with sticks and having a swim. It is entertainment. It doesn’t matter. It is not important. It is supposed to be fun. Otherwise there is no point. If, at any time surface-to-air missiles are involved, you know it cannot be fun.

Olympics should be in Africa, South America or Asia – places where thousands of visitors would be welcomed not resented, where local businesses would thrive as a result, not some American mega-corp fast-food outfit. But this is not a sane world, clearly, because we now have guns capable of shooting planes out of the sky guarding a gigantic international school sports day.

LINK: A Gold Medal for getting us to hate the Olympics - Mail Online - Michael Hanlon's Science blog: From The Cutting Edge

K.

[Red Lead Ted]

KIETH M8 I want to see the ring master of London Boris Karloff the mayor ? Sat bang smack in the middle of his glorious olympic stadium {But i dont think i will?} Regards Terry.

[Keith at Tregenna]

There is an awful lot that is good about the Olympics, an awful lot and one if you actually like them.

Does make my blood boil a bit with the 80 year gran, suffering and on a waiting list for a hip replacement etc and London spending 20 - 90 Billion on behalf of the country in times of austerity.

Football will be shared around the country at existing National venues, Much to do with sailing will occur of the South Coast, the country could have shared the event and a few hospitals been built and the NHS etc rescued ?

K.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Keith I find myself agreeing with all your reasons for not having the Olympics, as it could bankrupt us and money could be wiser spent, tourists already know where we are and the sponsors are taking legal action against small shops who even dare to put five rings in their windows and one old lady was told she would be prosecuted if she did not remove a cake she had decorated with five intertwined rings from a "Bring and Buy" event, who the hell is reporting (spying) on these events.

I think you will find that the first Olympic football match is being held in the Cardiff Stadium, but I could be wrong

Rgds Ivan

[Keith at Tregenna]

I really am not anti the Olympics:

Just anti farce:

Will roll with: Sited above the White Cliffs, the very front line of World War Two, the final embarkation point for many of those who gave their lives in World War One. The creation of the memorial will be a single great gesture detailing the names of the 1.7 million individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice in the two World Wars.

We still talk monies: but a worthwhile cost:

THE UNVEILING - 3RD SEPTEMBER 2008

Merchant mariners are a forgotten service of war-time, yet key to survival, for, without them vital supplies could not have been transported. Over 30,000 British merchant mariners lost their lives in World War II, and some 17,000 in the Great War.

Plans have recently been unveiled to create a new national war memorial in Dover. The proposed memorial would stand in Drop Redoubt, a disused Napoleonic Fort on Dover’s Western Heights.

It would include a series of free-standing stone walls listing all those from the UK and Commonwealth countries who died in the First and Second world wars - an incredible 1.7 million names, making it unique in this country and probably the world.

If successful, the plan is to open the memorial by 2014, the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

The first Merchant Navy Day was held in 2000, on 3rd September. This was the anniversary of the torpedoing of the SS Athenia, mistaken by U-30 for an armoured cruiser, some eight hours after war had been declared against Germany in 1939.

On Merchant Navy Day 2005 Donald Hunter, retired Merchant Navy man who had served during the Second World War, proposed a Merchant Navy memorial in Dover. Three years and nearly £50,000 of fund-raising later, the new memorial, situated on Dover seafront, was unveiled.

Plans have recently been unveiled to create a new national war memorial in Dover. The proposed memorial would stand in Drop Redoubt, a disused Napoleonic Fort on Dover’s Western Heights.

It would include a series of free-standing stone walls listing all those from the UK and Commonwealth countries who died in the First and Second world wars - an incredible 1.7 million names, making it unique in this country and probably the world.

If successful, the plan is to open the memorial by 2014, the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

LINK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-18438245

LINK 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiInhoAmFfE

[Tony Wilding]

I am not interested in it, ok for those who are, every souvenier sold in London for a few years now is made in China, including those at the National Maritime Museum, a Soldier reported that half the new Security do not speak hardly any English, another G4S Security Member stated its impossible to fail the Job Application, all pass who apply, G4S is supposed to be the biggest Security Company World Wide, the large Military presence is for one of 2 reasons, either someone knows of a threat, or to warn off potential threats. sooner its over the better, London will be utter chaos.

[j.sabourn]

The Olympic Games to me lost most of its attraction, when the amateur status was taken away. Now I see it as many sports, as a means of income to the participants. I suppose it is like the old Town councils when councillors were unpaid and did it out of a sense of responsibility to the community. I certainly wouldnt pay probably the very large entrance fees to some of these venues, the same as I wouldnt to see some of these so called shouting rock bands. Sportsmanship lost its attraction when big money became involved. Cheers John Sabourn.