2012 Olympic/Paralympic Games talk and trivia
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Mo Farah should be knighted what a performance this eve
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As we enter the final day of the Olympics I can now dare to talk weather! After the worst three months, sat the wrong side of the jet stream, enduring traumatic weather we were seven days out from the opening ceremony and fearing the worst.. Was it to be the wash-out games? Would that be the only legacy? Well it turned in those seven days, the Opening Ceremony was glorious, only threated by Danny Boyle's cotton wool clouds. Since when we've had a wonderful fortnight - yes, splashes of "normal" summer showers - but, overall, glorious. So, so happy for the UK, the organisers, the competitors, the spectators and esp the games-makers - those valiant volunteers tasked with standing on station whatever the weather threw at them to make this happen. And a big shout out to the UK services, police and armed services that stepped in to cover the G4S security debacle - that was a logistical triumph that worked at so many more levels than could possibly be imagined - for years, since the Northern Ireland conflicts, service personnel had been discouraged from wearing uniform other than in formal situations. Here they mingled and interacted amongst the general public and thousands of overseas visitors spreading positive PR and receiving incredibly goodwill in kind. Had the UK Government and LOCOG foreseen that added value the services would have been given the gig from the outset - a true triumph. Martin
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The great sell-off has begun: http://memorabilia.london2012.com Anything from a genuine 4 X 100m relay baton to one of the Maypoles used in the Opening ceremony... Those huge Wenlock sculptures seen around London can be yours. How about a Tom Daley signed pair of swimming trunks? - not his actual kit mind just a replica signed by him... or one of those intriguing "Volunteer Faces" dresses worn at the Opening Ceremony: http://memorabilia.london2012.com/iSynApp/auctionDisplay.action?sid=1100443&auctionId=21002 Or how about official result sheets from the events? http://memorabilia.london2012.com/iSynApp/auctionDisplay.action?sid=1100443&auctionId=21140 Everything comes with authenticating hologram and certificate of authenticity... Martin
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JennyLP:
JordanOnTheRun:
Yeah, the whole football (in the American sense) is just confusing, what's with all that padding? Here in the UK it is ultimately a male dominated sport.
And here in the US it is not......end of story Back on topic.....Congrats to the US American Women's SOCCER team for taking the GOLD!
errrrrrr NO not end of story. there is no such game as 'soccer'..as i said before its a daft americanism.the sooner you accept this the sooner we can move on....infact one quick check of the olympic official site will tell you the correct name for every sport and winner from these games.. http://www.london2012.com/football/event/women/match=fbw400101/index.html congratulations to the USA womens football team for winning the gold medal
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USA should follow the rest of the world in this, our football is the football And this afternoon there's too much to watch at the same time. Sweden plays the handball final (I don't know if it exists in the UK & US but it's big here). There's the basketball final. And Arsenal plays the last game before the premier league starts. But I just got to watch the handball even though we'll probably not win it.
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The term soccer originated in the UK in the 1880's. It's a colloquial contraction from the games official title AsSOCiation Football. It's used by several current UK sports programmes: Soccer AM Soccer Saturday Football is an ambiguous term used by many other forms of sport and in those parts of the world where distinction is required the old English term soccer serves a useful purpose. Wikipedia makes a reasonable attempt to define the various forms of football highlighting that the term falls to the predominate game in each geographical region - hence American Football in the USA, Australian Rules Football in Australia. And definitely here in the UK Association Football.
Football refers to a number of sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including association football, as well as American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union[1] and other related games. These variations of football are known as football codes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football So on an international message board the term "Football" may need defining. Martin
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Absolutely Huge turn out to watch the marathon - the last free-to-view event of the Games. Can't be compared to the normal London Marathon which has one unique track without duplication of any stretch. This event today does four circuits of a shorter course - more spectacular in terms of passing London Landmarks . So spectators can see them pass several times from their vantage points, a bonus feature possible due to the smaller elite group of competitors Martin
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martinput:
The term soccer originated in the UK in the 1880's. It's a colloquial contraction from the games official title AsSOCiation Football. It's used by several current UK sports programmes: Soccer AM Soccer Saturday Football is an ambiguous term used by many other forms of sport and in those parts of the world where distinction is required the old English term soccer serves a useful purpose. Wikipedia makes a reasonable attempt to define the various forms of football highlighting that the term falls to the predominate game in each geographical region - hence American Football in the USA, Australian Rules Football in Australia. And definitely here in the UK Association Football.
Football refers to a number of sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including association football, as well as American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union[1] and other related games. These variations of football are known as football codes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football So on an international message board the term "Football" may need defining. Martin
im glad to see that you put quite a bit of work into that point martin...wonder why?? however,i think we all know its football NOT soccer. im quite sure boris johnson[london mp/mayer] reffered to 'table tennis[ping pong] as whiff waff ..im pretty sure thousands of public schoolboys in the UK new exactly what he was talking about,but im pretty convinced the rest of the world where left bemused!
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Casting ahead to the Paralympics - 29th August - 9th September - we have to prepare for a switch of broadcaster and channels: http://paralympics.channel4.com/inside-stories/newsid=1233885/index.html Reading that it suggests we should have a similar level of coverage to the BBC although we shall have to break in a new team of experts, channels and web-sites The BBC provide radio coverage on Radio Five Live and it's linked services Five Live Extra. Don't forget that usually BBC radio services are not limited by the BBC and can be followed overseas: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio Indeed you could follow the closing ceremony on-line there tonight - it seems to be mostly about the music after all. Martin
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Do the Mobot!!
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Damn, here we are again. Spain vs USA Olympics basketball final match, just like in 2008. I've played against 2 players of the Spanish starting them.... Pool! not basketball of course... Spain 58 - USA 59 at halftime USA kind of always decides game on the third quarter, so here I am waiting for the storm,.. I still hope Navarro my neighbour and the rest will be able to do something about it. I don't think there's anything bigger in sport than winning the Olympics gold medal in basketball against the USA playing with the best NBA players. We'll see soon. I haven't seen much of the Games but I've found this athletes remarkable: Kanaeva (Gymnastics) Lebron James (Basketball) Bolt and Rudisa (Athletism) * Why is not singing an olympics sport?, is not so different from Artistic Gymnastics... Well the 2nd half starts now
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Why...isn't...singing an Olympic event? The girls routines with ribbons is a beautifully incredible artform. Watched some of that yesterday! Awesome to say the least!!!
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Snorckle:
Do the Mobot!!
Here's the back story to the move and name: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/9470549/Mo-Farahs-Mobot-dance-invented-by-Clare-Balding.html Martin
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83-82 after the 3rd Quarter "and we'll keep on fighting till the end..."
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martinput:
The term soccer originated in the UK in the 1880's. It's a colloquial contraction from the games official title AsSOCiation Football. It's used by several current UK sports programmes: Soccer AM Soccer Saturday Football is an ambiguous term used by many other forms of sport and in those parts of the world where distinction is required the old English term soccer serves a useful purpose. Wikipedia makes a reasonable attempt to define the various forms of football highlighting that the term falls to the predominate game in each geographical region - hence American Football in the USA, Australian Rules Football in Australia. And definitely here in the UK Association Football.
Football refers to a number of sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including association football, as well as American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union[1] and other related games. These variations of football are known as football codes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football So on an international message board the term "Football" may need defining. Martin
Thank you Martin No matter what you call it....it is still the sport of "Sissy Mary's"
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21st Century Paul:
83-82 after the 3rd Quarter "and we'll keep on fighting till the end..."
USA 107 - Spain 100 It was close but It could not be. We'll meet again, I guess. Yes, singing as an Olympic event, a similar pointing than in Artistic Gymnastics: Difficulty of the "exercise", Artistic Impression and Execution. It can perfecty happen.
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Team GB has a shot, (pun intended) at the final gold medal of the games. In the Modern Pentathlon (fencing, swimming, show jumping, and combined running/shooting) Samantha Murray lies in fourth place and sets off just eight seconds behind the lead competitor. The event starts at 18.00hrs and lasts about 15 minutes or so; 5 targets to be shot clean (laser pistols - no bullets) then a 1 km run 5 more targets as above then another 1 km run 5 more targets and a final 1 km run to the finish - first over the line takes gold. If Samantha prevails - maybe against the odds - Team GB will reach the magical figure of 30 Gold Medals. Go Sam.... Martin
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So close. Silver medal to Samantha Murray promoting herself with her sprinting ability from 4th to 2nd. That's it. The games are over, the final medal table will not change again. Party Time ..... Martin
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The greatest games ever? I think so.
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garyb1971:
The greatest games ever? I think so.
They were incredibly phenomenal indeed! Lots of great moments for a lot of athletes from a lot of nations. Just being able to go would have been like receiving a medal!