What did you do when the Olympic Torch passed by?

[Pford75]

Not sports or games - just big business for rich people to get richer with

Frankly, I think this belittles the achievements of those olympians and paralympians who dedicate their lives to being the best. No doubt, some people make money from it and perhaps it could be less commercial, but it remains a marvelous example of human endeavour.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Not sports or games - just big business for rich people to get richer with

Frankly, I think this belittles the achievements of those olympians and paralympians who dedicate their lives to being the best. No doubt, some people make money from it and perhaps it could be less commercial, but it remains a marvelous example of human endeavour.

Well said, sir.

It must be very tedious being worthy and not having any fun if Mammon is involved. Of course, many (not all) of the expensive renewable technologies we're pinning our hopes on for biff's view of impending environmental disaster, will only be viable if big business can afford to invest in their R&D and secure a return on that investment. Many of the advances in the human condition in the past 250 years are directly attributable to the accumulation of capital (and a fair few of its ills too).

Of course, watching the Olympics on TV is not an option if we're living in caves. :roll:

Or am I conflating too many issues there for simplistic comedic effect? :wink:

 

[skier-hughes]

I think so

 

[Lime]

Not sports or games - just big business for rich people to get richer with

Frankly, I think this belittles the achievements of those olympians and paralympians who dedicate their lives to being the best. No doubt, some people make money from it and perhaps it could be less commercial, but it remains a marvelous example of human endeavour.

I dispute that the Olympic Games are anything like "a marvelous example of human endeavour".
The original olympic games were examples of male human endeavour, true. (If they ever happened)

However the games as we know them were driven in the first instance by nationalistic racial prowess, superiority and prejudice between nations and more recently tarnished and spoilt by fanatical and obsessive desires (both of competitors and of nation states) to be "the best" at any cost.
That cost has included widespread drug taking together with some nations furthering child abuse for added measure.
I don't think that is anything to be proud of.
Frankly while the "Olympian Ideal" may be laudable I don't think it exists in reality.

The Olympics are similar to politics in the way they effect the individual, no matter how well-intentioned an individual may be.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

First exhibit for the defence, m'Lud.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Pistorius

If that isn't a humbling advert for the spirit of human endeavour in the face of adversity, I'm not sure what is.

Actually, I reckon it is the many many athletes training hard day in day out, year in year out to represent their country at Olypmic and Para-Olympic games. As for nationalistic/racial prowess, like many others I shall be cheering TeamGB throughout the games; but I shall also be cheering athletes from many other nations to beat TeamGB and achieve personal and olympic records.

It is a festival of sport - the greatest such festival on Earth. Sure, there are *some* cheats and some banks wanting to muscle in on the publicity. But there is a bigger picture here too.

 

[skier-hughes]

Evidence 2

What i need ?
My current gym membership costs me 26 pounds a month £312
Stoke rochford trips are 164 miles round trips, ideally want to do that twice a week £7675.20
Stafford is 18 mile round trip, Ideally want do stuff there twice a week. £842.40
New supports- i have been looking for them lately but have not been able to find- for example, the maximum size i have found so far for a knee support is 15 inch thigh (im larger than that)
Competitions? theres a world champs next year and a national champs in september in nottingham this year which may be my last because of finance issues.

I would hate to be in a position to say i have to stop my throwing completely because of finances, when even this last year which has been the most challenging of my life i have done ok, and my new workout partner is extremely competitive and brings out the best in me. I want to be better than i ever was before.

My friend suffers from Cerebral Palsy, he funds all his training himself, so even though he has a disabilty he works full time, he trains as per above and this year he has had to nurse his very ill father. So ill, my friend changed jobs to take less money to spend time looking after him, this affected his benefits, and he got even less money.

Against all this adversity he still met the qualification criteria for this Years Olympics, he came 5th at Bejiing, but because they merged two categories into one, this meant only 10 Athletes instead of 20 had places and he was just outside the top 10.

This is why my year of fundraising this year is all going to my friend to help him to achieve his goals, as I look at him and am proud to have him as a friend and a role model............. You people who only see the downsides to the games need to open your eyes to the real world, join the positive side of life, get optimistic.......... and if you can't why not send me a fiver towards my goal........ The lot of you pessimists make me realise why we are going downhill as much as the rest of us try hard to make the nation a better place.

 

[Lime]

I think you confuse personal effort with the pantomime called The Olympics.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Look past the pantomime then, and see the athletes in their arena.

Graham - how can we donate to support your friend?

 

[Flyfisher]

There's no doubt that world-class competitive sports are expensive to pursue. But the Olympic games doesn't always help. One example of which I have personal experience (well, via FF junior) is whitewater kayaking. The brand new Olympic Lea Valley White Water facility (LVWW) is a wonderful venue and I've been there many times. But there is already a perfectly good National Whitewater Sports Centre (NWSC) at Holme Pierrepont on the outskirts of Nottingham (as well as the National Rowing Centre on the same site):

"Set on the outskirts of Nottingham, this site built in 1986 and was significantly upgraded in 2009 has played host to the 1995 World Championships and the 2009 European Championships. This course has been the home of GB Canoeing since it opened in 1986 and is next to the GB Canoeing offices."

It costs £10 per day (up to 9pm weekdays) to use the course at NWSC (£5 for juniors). During the summer holidays loads of youngsters spend many hours at the centre and the really keen ones spend weeks there, camping overnight nearby, honing their skills for a pretty reasonable cost. This could be the reason why the current Freestyle Kayak men and women' world champions are both from GB and why the junior men's GB Team took all three medals at the recent European Freestyle kakak Championships in Austria.

However, because it is not in London, it couldn't be used for the London Olympics. So they spent £30m on building a brand new facility in the Lea Valley, just outside the M25. Unfortunately, marvellous though the new Olympic facility undoubtedly is, it costs £10 PER HOUR to use the course. This might be OK for day-trippers but for people wanting to use the facility for serious training, it means one day at LVWW costs more than a week at NWSC.

But it gets worse. Whitewater courses are popular for rafting 'experiences'. At around £50 per person (about £400 per raft) for an hour and a half, they bring in a lot of revenue. The new Olympic facility has the advantage of a bigger catchment area for such corporate 'jollies' and, of course, the kudos of being an Olympic facility. This threatens to reduce the rafting revenue at the NWSC and puts the facility under even more financial pressure after Sport England withdrew funding ahead of the 2012 Olympic priorities. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/4929288.stm

So, the whitewater legacy of the London Olympics is currently looking like a massive hike in the costs for anyone wanting to pursue whitewater kayaking as a competitive sport - hardly the sort of thing to encourage youngsters to take up the sport.

Of course, this is just one small example that you'll never read in any Olympic PR guff, but there will be many other small examples that all add up. And it's not really suprising, is it, when considering the vast costs of hosting the Olympic Games these days, which have to be recovered from somewhere.

 

[Lime]

Look past the pantomime then, and see the athletes in their arena.

Er, why should I?

 

[Penners]

what on earth is 'are you there moriarty'?

Oh dear...! Don't tell me nobody's heard of 'Are You There, Moriarty?'.

Two people are blindfolded and each is given a rolled-up newspaper. They sit on the floor (feet out forwards) facing each other with their feet touching. The first person shouts, 'Are You There, Moriarty?', and the other person has to shout 'Yes'! The first person then has one go at hitting the second on the head with the newspaper. If he/she misses, the roles are reversed.

The game continues until one person scores a hit on the other's head with the newspaper, at which point hey are declared the winner.

It's a cerebral game of skill, daring, strategy and utter stupidity.

 

[AMc]

That'll get a lot more expensive with the ipad edition of the daily paper. :lol:

 

[biffvernon]

isn't window making a business to get richer by?

No, not at the prices I charge.

Seb Coe's annual pay is more than twenty times as great as mine! If only I could charge £15,000 for making one modest window.

 

[angrybird]

what about the good old parlour game "Old maid"?
Always played with my Nain (Gran) and sister and always guaranteed a good bout of hair pulling, biting and scratching!!
..and that was just my Nain :lol:
or a race on Spacehoppers only bouncing allowed as running with a spacehopper between your legs is quite difficult! (Ladies please remember to wear sports bras as we will not be held responsible for blackeyes!) :lol:

 

[Penners]

what about the good old parlour game "Old maid"?

The only game of that name that I know is a card game. In our family it's rarely the cause of the open warfare you describe - but maybe you play it differently. :shock:

 

[skier-hughes]

I think you confuse personal effort with the pantomime called The Olympics.

Nope, it is the worlds most recognised area for sports people, without googling can you tell us where the last World Championsips were held, the ones before then?

I bet even you know where the last Olympic Games were held!

For all that personal effort they've put in, all that expense they've been too, they like to be recognised for the great athletes they are. They are competeing against the worlds absolute best.

It's a bit like someone doing up there house and wanting to show the world how good a job they've done by being on a tv programme. In their own way they have honed their skills and gone to tremendous expense.

 

[skier-hughes]

isn't window making a business to get richer by?

No, not at the prices I charge.

Seb Coe's annual pay is more than twenty times as great as mine! If only I could charge £15,000 for making one modest window.

What has Seb Coe's pay got to do with the fact that you think the Olympics is to make people richer and I think you making windows makes you richer?

I'm afraid here I must call you a liar, as I just cannot believe you make windows day in day out, or as often as are needed and you do not make one penny profit.

 

[Lime]

For all that personal effort they've put in, all that expense they've been too, they like to be recognised for the great athletes they are. They are competeing against the worlds absolute best.
It's a bit like someone doing up there house and wanting to show the world how good a job they've done by being on a tv programme. In their own way they have honed their skills and gone to tremendous expense.

I'm not denying the effort at all!

What I am decrying is the jamboree and circus that has become the Olympic Games which almost obscures the competitors and their efforts.

 

[Flyfisher]

I think you confuse personal effort with the pantomime called The Olympics.

Nope, it is the worlds most recognised area for sports people, without googling can you tell us where the last World Championsips were held, the ones before then?

I bet even you know where the last Olympic Games were held!

For all that personal effort they've put in, all that expense they've been too, they like to be recognised for the great athletes they are. They are competeing against the worlds absolute best.

I sort of agree, though it does rather depend on the sport in question. There's also a big difference between public perception and recognition within the sport itself.

For example, the Olympics is not really regarded as particularly important for football. Indeed, they even artificially limit who can compete with an arbitrary age limit, which is hardly a good way to ensure everyone competes against the world's best.

Similarly, the general public (in the UK at least) thinks of Wimbledon as the pinnacle of world tennis, whereas it's just one tournament on the world circuit.

But, for the 'traditional' running, jumping and throwing sports I'd agree that the Olympics is the big one, even though it's only held every four years and there are plenty of world championships, with all the same competitors, during the intervening years.

 

[biffvernon]

isn't window making a business to get richer by?

No, not at the prices I charge.

Seb Coe's annual pay is more than twenty times as great as mine! If only I could charge £15,000 for making one modest window.

What has Seb Coe's pay got to do with the fact that you think the Olympics is to make people richer and I think you making windows makes you richer?

I'm afraid here I must call you a liar, as I just cannot believe you make windows day in day out, or as often as are needed and you do not make one penny profit.

Graham, that is outrageous. I said nothing of the kind. I merely said Seb Coe earns about twenty times as much as I do. Please behave yourself.