London 2012!

[BFR from Paris]

I'm so glad Paris didn't get the Olympics, maybe now at city hall they will address real issues and spend our money on more vital projects...

Congrats London! And good luck!

[angel of salvation]

*sarcastic yay* we won...woot

i couldn't really give two hoots that we won the bid for the olympics. its a load of crap. i don't even watch it on TV.
nothing too great comes out of winning, because they said that all the things promised to happen to prepare for it would have happened anyway.
*sigh* why do people get so worked up abotu sport and not more important things like things happening in the world. Live 8 and poverty for instance...heh
oh well

Jess xxx

[urnofosiris]

I think the Olympics and other global sports events do serve a positive purpose. It shows that it is possible to compete with each other and still get along. Sadly in the past certain nations and groups have not honored the spirit of the Olympics, but for the most part it is a great occasion to celebrate something good for a change.

I am happy people can get (positively) excited about sports and other ´unimportant´ things, if all we are supposed to get worked up or feel passionate about is the negative things that happen in this world live would not become any easier to live for anyone. I am willing to bet that a lot of people who watched the Live 8 thing did so because they enjoy listening to their favorite rock stars. They may have gotten worked up about that more than the poverty in our world.
I don´t see there is any reason to snub anyone who gets excited about sports, music, movies, art and whatnot. It can coexist with being aware and raising awareness of other issues in this world that need attention.

I am glad for London and England for landing the Olympics. Hopefully this board and this thread will still be around in 2012 to talk about it.

[watty]

I had only been following the story peripherally, but I'm in Singapore on business and being in the same city as the event kinda gave me more motivation to watch out for it. Yesterday at the opening ceremony they had a nice fireworks display that was right outside my hotel room window.

Many TV channels switched to the event at 7.30pm (Singapore time) and at 7.45pm I was right there in front of the screen, at the edge of my seat.

And, did I say I wasn't following it? I whooped and jumped up and down when London won. Events like this brings out the pride (I wouldn't go as far as saying patriot ) in you I guess. I IMed my friend in the US with "We won! We won!" and she probably thought I was nuts.

If Seb Coe, Red Ken, Tony Blair and the British Olympic Committee can deliver on their promise of modernizing East London, bring in jobs, fixing the tube, then I'm all for it. Sports has a place in the world, in bringing together people of different cultures and backgrounds. I applaud the dedication in sportsmen like Steve Redgrave, Lance Armstrong, and all the others in being responsible and good role models for young people. That may be an overly naïve view, but it's one I'm sticking to.

[Scarecrow]

Heh, well it'll probably be all over the media and get the country all excited as these things always do. Followed by utter despair when we do dreadful of course, as is traditional.

- Scarecrow

[Sheridan]

Well Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 were actually two of the best UK performances ever and add in the boosting effect of homefield advantage and it should be some very good days. And yes there are great problems of poverty and disease in the world, which the British government is also keen on doing something about. People though do need something positive to motivate them, yes a lot of that infrastructure work probably would have happened anyway but the psychological lift of getting the Olympics has an immeasurable effect. We need to deal with the worlds problems but people have to have something to aspire to.