Im surprised there hasnt actually been a thread about the olympics to say it finishes today.

In the run up to it all i was getting bored and annoyed with all the adverts saying if you werent using anything by P&G you couldnt be a champion..

But i think its been a specticle and as a country we should be proud of how we ran the games.

Well done to all Team GB's gold, silver and bronze medalists, as well to those you didnt win a medal.



Its a shame not everyone agrees... the writer of this article is a complete :tosser:

https://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/media/2012/aug/10/television-olympics-2012

I think you're right. We have as a whole had a positive write up across the world. However the amount of bitchiness with accusations of blood doping amongst the winners is pathetic.

I can't help feeling it wasn't money well spent though. Forbes estimated it to cost us $15billion. The curiosity project to Mars cost less than $4billion....

never said it was value for money.

I think its been expensive, but probably not a waste of time or effort. could just have done with been cheaper.

But we've done the whole thing for less that china spent on half of theirs...

the issue is, whats the long term effect on the economy and will we have a legacy to speak of.

RuSZ said:

the issue is, whats the long term effect on the economy and will we have a legacy to speak of.

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Probably not much of one at all TBH. the cost will probably outweigh the benefit. Look what happened with that Royal Wedding which was going to help kick us out of the credit crunch

not really sure you can compare the £12bn we spent with the £20bn the Chinese spent, they built a whole underground rail network and airport terminal in addition to the usual olympic requirements.

and its still £12bn more than our economy can afford, and if what i've been hearing is true from friends living in london the streets have been empty due to everyone avoiding london thinking it would be busy.

but in these times of austerity, penny pinching and across the board budget cuts at least as a country we can put our hands on our heart and say proudly "we blew £12bn to prove we are third best in the world at something that in the grand scheme of things isn't really important"

I agree with bits of what the writer of that article is saying. It has been an epic waste of resources. A massive drain of money that we don't have in an age where we're being forced to cut costs across the board. It seems indulgence and folly of the highest order to host the olympics.

And the events, what a boring collection of pointless, self indulgent dross. Dressage? Please. It's mincing with horses. Rhythmic Gymnastics? Any lapdancing club can put on that show for a lot less than the £12b and you get a much better view. Swimming? How many ways can you come up with to give someone a medal for going from one end of the pool to the other? It's just not that compelling a spectacle and I can't believe that we collectively fall for it.

More than that I can't believe how intolerant society as a whole is to anyone who dares to suggest that it isn't the single greatest thing to ever happen to the country. It was a bit of sport. With a big bill attached. *Yawn*. At least its almost over and we don't have to endure for another half century.

I was skeptical about the Olympics right from the beginning, but I have to admit I have enjoyed watching it. Having said that, I would have enjoyed it equally as much if France won the bid. I hope that at the very least a few fat lazy kids have been inspired to take up some form of exercise, but it's unlikely. I think GB athletes should be proud of their acheivements, but I do worry about the financial fall out from all this.

One thing that does not get mentioned though is how much money it has made! Think about all the tourist attractions, travel costs to spectators etc, food and drink, memorabilia and everything else that is purchased with a big fat chunk of VAT taken out of it! Bet it must come to the cost of the games.

I'm looking forward to the ParaOlympics.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19231492


Lord Coe has done well from it

Dcthebear said:

One thing that does not get mentioned though is how much money it has made! Think about all the tourist attractions, travel costs to spectators etc, food and drink, memorabilia and everything else that is purchased with a big fat chunk of VAT taken out of it! Bet it must come to the cost of the games.

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Except the fact it's well documented that London was avoided by thousands of people and was said to be quieter than the same period the year before.

And the same was said of Weymouth. Just because we've had an influx of Olympic visitors doesn't mean the tourists who would come without the Olympics still came

Dcthebear said:

One thing that does not get mentioned though is how much money it has made! Think about all the tourist attractions, travel costs to spectators etc, food and drink, memorabilia and everything else that is purchased with a big fat chunk of VAT taken out of it! Bet it must come to the cost of the games.

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i believe about £2bn came from sponsorship deals (though i'm sure locog had away a fair share of that) this gave those companies exclusive rights to the profits of the games, McDonalds being the only restaurant in the olympic park Visa having exclusive rights to all transactions.

tourists simply didn't turn out in great numbers put off by the potential numbers of olympic visitors and the ludicrously high hotel costs.

all of the official merchandise is sold to raise money for Team GB with no profits going anywhere else.
the government took money out of their own pocket to pay for the event which they got some VAT back on they still spent the money in the first place. the government don't really win on VAT when its their own money they're spending

I have found the majority of people who moaned about the torch going by....did so on the internet cause they were too lazy to get off their fat arses.....the window can sometimes seem a long way away.

I have found the majority people who moan about the Olympics were either crap at sport at school, internet warriors or just plain lazy who don't like to see anyone else doing well...if you don't want to watch it turn it off and move on with your lives because it's happening and it won't suddenly go away.

Me? well I wasn't that bothered (bit sick of hearing about it to be honest) but to see team GB winning so many medals and the stories of years of hard (daily) training is incredible, well done to them all.

The Olympics have been inspiring, emotional, exciting, a once in a lifetime event...loved every minute of it

If you don't want to watch the closing ceremony then don't....big brother is on C5!

Personally I think it's been fantastic - it's been wonderful to see everyone supporting together and people walking around all dressed up

I was at a Korean restaurant the other night for the 200m final. Everyone was eating until it got ready to start, then we all crammed around one table in the corner (nearest the projector) and cheered it on together - about 25 people in the place

It's like the Euro's - it brings people together, but on a much bigger scale. Of course people would still support Team GB if the olympics was held in another country, but I don't think there would have been such an atmosphere as this

Also - I think this will also raise the standing of the UK in a lot of countries eyes. I'll be honest, I didn't think we'd be able to pull it off and was getting kinda worried - but they did - and it's been a great success

T14086 said:

big brother is on C5!

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I'd rather cut out my throat and use it as an air intake....

I think they've been a success. If you look at what the Olympics were out to achieve, I think that they really have "inspired a generation". Granted, we're a bit past it now but our children aren't. I hate the fact that we are the "armchair generation", obesity is at an all time high, more and more people suffering from depression (i suffered from clinical depression and I work Mental Health now so please dont think I think its just cos we don't exercise), heart and lung disease is at an all time high. I don't want that for my daughter or your children. If these games motivate us, inspire our children then its a beautiful thing.
Ta

T14086 said:

I have found the majority of people who moaned about the torch going by....did so on the internet cause they were too lazy to get off their fat arses.....the window can sometimes seem a long way away.

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I saw the torch relay go past my office in Sydney. It's really not that compelling a spectacle. It's someone in lycra. Holding a torch. Jogging.

T14086 said:

I have found the majority people who moan about the Olympics were either crap at sport at school, internet warriors or just plain lazy who don't like to see anyone else doing well...

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And I find the majority of people who are blindly supportive of the Olympics to be annoyingly simple minded and frighteningly intolerant of anyone who has a different opinion. Opinions/Arseholes.

T14086 said:

if you don't want to watch it turn it off and move on with your lives because it's happening and it won't suddenly go away.

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What model magic television do you have that makes turning off the Olympics open the closed lanes on the A406?

T14086 said:

The Olympics have been inspiring, emotional, exciting, a once in a lifetime event...

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It's the second in a lifetime for me and it's my life's mission not to have to endure another one. It's been dull, shallow, commercial, pointless and wasteful. But hey, at least we regenerated Stratford.

i liked the closing bit a lot more colourful than the opening bit.

pissed off with all these people who suddenly get behind a team only when they are winning

jnoiles said:

But hey, at least we regenerated Stratford.

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didn't even do that, only a small part of it, where i used to live is still a crap hole

also don't forget about the 100's of people that got kicked out of their houses because the landlords thought they could get 5k a week per room during the Olympics

I still haven't figured out why everything was covered in newspaper?

The Olympics have done more for this country than you would expect. Our sales office at work has gone ape **** with orders from abroad up 30-40% than normal. One customer even mentioned to us that "the Olympics have shown what your Brits can do". Inevitably it means more work for me but who complains about work load unless you don't have any. But the point I'm making is it really showed Britain off. Look at it this way if we did a half arsed cheap event what would that proove? Nothing just what people presumed we were like,. Instead we stood proudly and said "hi there world, can you see that little island on the edge of Europe? Yeh that's Britain and we are pretty ****ing awsome and do things PROPERLY". And it's worked. It was super with organisation, nothing went wrong and it was actually UNDER budget. I say job well done.

On a personal level I loved the Olympics. The opening and closing ceremony's were brilliant. The competition was great. And Team GB did fantastic. We all also loved Usain Bolt. There isn't a person on the planet that dislikes him haha. So yeh overall it was phenomenal. Also Jess Ennis is a babe lmao:devil: