The Olympic Thread

[Gullscorer]

"The final Gold medal of the Games goes to the guys from Cameroon for the team 'Hide and Seek' event.

Well done you lot, you can come out now..!!"

[AustrianAndyGull]

...and there would be even more people complaining about not wanting the World Cup to raise *their* taxes. That's the whole point of tax - it's a collective burden, so the impact on each individual is reduced. If you live in a tax-levying society (that is, pretty much all of them), you're expected to contribute to some things that might not directly affect you (or that you might not even want). In return, those services etc that you do use more than average are available to you at a cost that is not prohibitive. It's part of the social contract.[/quote]

Yaay! You understand the system! I just wish (and this isn't a direct attack on Andy!) that more people around the country understand the ins and outs of stuff like this, as well as politics! "I don't watch BBC so i don't want to pay for it", well I'm afraid you have to compromise, that's what happens, not just for this, but in life!
On another note, what do you lot think of the paralympics?[/quote][/quote]


This is not a direct attack on you either Steve but i DO understand how the system works but it doesn't mean to say i have to accept it and go along with it just because according to you we have no choices and should be fed what is given to us like babies. If i don't want to watch or pay for the BBC then why should i be forced to? I CAN accept paying for things that benefit us all as a society and things that i myself may use occasionally like transport, hospitals, schools and the fundamentals of a society but things like TV licences and stuff or an Olympics event that cost vast sums of money can **** off. They are uneccessary and benefit nobody apart from the bigwigs on the bloody gravy trains. They say the Olympics was a success showing loads of people in city centre squares and the like but did they show the probable 80% of the population who were out shopping when Usain Bolt won because they had no interest in the Olympics? No they didn't. Out of all my friends and acquaintances i knew 1 who had actually been to the Olympics and none who watched it with anything other than a passing interest. I'm sure one of my friends whose kid is very ill would have wished the Government to give some of the Olympic money to stop the kids hospital closing in Leeds forcing them to go to Newcastle for treatment. The sad thing is that she is paying for someone to run a 100 metres because she doesn't have a choice but at the same time she is watching her child deteriorate in front of her very eyes. People running, chucking things, rowing boats and swimming is not a priority, the people of this country ARE. If Britain wanted the Olympics then i haven't got a problem with it, they should have just asked the people who did want it to pay a few quid out of their wages and left us who don't want it alone. It's not only that but the Government couldn't run a pissin raffle! All that ridiculous confusion over the security which cost us millions and they still had to get other people in to do the job properly.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Another thing that has really pissed me off is the Paralympics. Why can't their events be incorporated into the main Olympics so they have the opportunity to compete when the world's eyes are on them and they can savour the experience? Are they not good enough because they have mobility difficulties or other restrictive disabilities? It's a disgrace really and separating the two only serves to marginalise the disabled even more. These competitiors are human beings and should be allowed to be part of the big show. I reckon most of the disabled competitors have got more guts, more dignity and more brains than anyone who organises this discrimination. Fu*king joke.

[Gulliball]

Because they are the biggest and second biggest sporting events in the world respectively.

The number of people allowed to compete in the Olympics was capped at 10 820. This is the maximum number of people they were able to accommodate, cater for, keep safe and logistically transport and find venues for in one city at the same time.

If you want to include the circa 4200 paralympians then you have to reduce the number of olympians by 4200. All you'd end up doing is reducing the size and quality of both events, so rather than having the biggest and second biggest sporting events in the world, you'd be left with one event that wasn't anywhere near as good.

That's before you even look at the practicalties of catering for a huge range of disabilites and how much planning and resources are needed for each event.

[AustrianAndyGull]

So the paralympics holds more interest throughout the world than the WORLD CUP?!! You sure?

[cambgull]

I've been trying to find some info on the viewing figures and it really isn't as easy as it should be. The Paralympics are expected to have over 4 billion viewers, more than the 3.8 billion total in Beijing.

I found one girl's answer on Yahoo Answers brilliant where she stated that the 2006 World Cup Final viewing total was 26 billion, all watching one single game at one single time. Very impressive. Impossible, but impressive. I'd imagine that is more realistically the view figure for the "Finals", not the "Final".

As for the Olympics, like the World Cup, I can't find anything official. A few places have suggested that the London Olympics would reach between 40-50 billion viewers though.

[Gulliball]

So the paralympics holds more interest throughout the world than the WORLD CUP?!! You sure?

Did you read what I posted? It's not about prestige, it's about competitiors.

32 x squads of 23 is 736 footballers competing. They are accommodated in hotels all around the country, causing no problems at all.

The Olmpics has 10 820 competitiors, and the Paraolympics 4 200, making the Paralympics far, far bigger than the World Cup logistically.

Even if they wanted to, they would be unable to merge the two without almost halving the number of Olympic competitors.

You try organising an event for 11 000 people, and then one for 4 000 and see how easy it is, before accusing anyone of being discriminatory or a 'fu*king joke'.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Well they've had enough money to organise it properly so it should have been possible.

[cambgull]

Well they've had enough money to organise it properly so it should have been possible.

And it has been organised properly. By all accounts it's been one of the safest and best run Olympics ever.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I meant they have had enough money to have the olympic games AND the paralympic games at the same time.

[happytorq]

I meant they have had enough money to have the olympic games AND the paralympic games at the same time.

That wouldn't work. Inevitably the Paralympics would get overshadowed by the Olympics. That's even before you think about the scheduling. Look at the swimming, say. In the Olympics they have 8 days of competition, and that schedule is jam-packed. Adding the Paralympics events would be...tricky, because as I recall, it's not just a case of scheduling a 100m paralympics breaststroke - there are all these different classes.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Good valid points there Happy, i'm not totally convinced though.

[cambgull]

I meant they have had enough money to have the olympic games AND the paralympic games at the same time.

Why would they? There is literally no reason to do it at the same time for simple reasons.

1) Why build living space for 15,000 people when you can just build for 10,000 and use it twice?
2) The Paralympic games would be a secondary to the Olympics if they were both at the same time. Let the Paralympians have their own stage to win glory on.
3) The more the stadiums and arenas are used, the more money they make. The Olympics are undoubtedly expensive to put on, estimations show it to be around £8 billion. The revenue brought into the UK is expected to be around £12 billion. Although it may not show that the Olympics will be profitable, the nation will as a whole.

[Trojan 67]

"The final Gold medal of the Games goes to the guys from Cameroon for the team 'Hide and Seek' event.

Well done you lot, you can come out now..!!"

You've not heard of the famous Shamus then ?

Builders recently renovating a house in Dublin, knocked through a cellar wall to discover a hidden room. In the middle of the room was a skeleton sitting on a chair. Hung around the skeleton's neck was a cardboard notice with this written on it :



"SHAMUS O'FLYNN - ALL IRELAND HIDE AND SEEK CHAMPION"

[Gullscorer]

You've not heard of the famous Shamus then ?

Builders recently renovating a house in Dublin, knocked through a cellar wall to discover a hidden room. In the middle of the room was a skeleton sitting on a chair. Hung around the skeleton's neck was a cardboard notice with this written on it :



"SHAMUS O'FLYNN - ALL IRELAND HIDE AND SEEK CHAMPION"

=D We should move these to the Favourite Jokes Thread. In fact you'll find my next masterpiece there, stolen from a different forum..