We already are. Culturally if not financially. Sometimes the rewards are not tangible in an absolute sense. I personally think the money was well invested.

 

On what basis Kieran? Yes it was a good spectacle and a success in that context but for 20 billion on the games itself and billions on lottery funding for sport it should have been. Ultimately it is still something ephemeral, let's not kid ourselves it is something it is not.

 

A great Olympics run in a country now proudly leading the list as the fattest people in Europe. It will be money well spent if it encourages a few to get off their flabby backsides and do something energetic for a change.

 

Good word.

 

I thought it was great.

F**k the haters!

 

Nice one! It means transitory or short-lived; you don't see it used very often.

 

A good link on the OP Legacy

http://www.londonlegacy.co.uk/invest...nfrastructure/

 

Moses moonwalking?


Synchronised swimming.

 

There's **** all ephemeral about it

As peben says if it prevents stimulates fatties from getting any fatter then it'll benefit us all

Be useful if they didnt tear down the facilities to make way for Stratford hooray henris to move in

 

Unlike TDW, who hangs around like a bad smell

 

20 billion? Where on Earth did you get the from? £9bn of taxpayers money. LOCOG budget was £2bn, so still not bad.

Over 7 years, that ain't much in the great scheme of things.

Geezer

 

as a scepticist due to the vast monety investment -i did enjoy the gsmes, i just hope in years to come the investmnt and benefits apply to those of thenext genration without similar ;evels of investment

i hope th e venues are now put to good and proper use

 

I must admit I was a little sceptical about our abilities to put on a world beating performance, looking back it was unjust.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole event and I've found interest in sports I'd not really considered interesting before, and not just in womens beach volley ball

However, i did think the Brazil taster was quite poor, looks like they're going to rely on the carnival type show.


Nik.

 

I believe there are studies that show happy contented people are more productive

Factories that are tied to a town with a football team see better productivity and higher quality on the Monday's after the team wins

So maybe there will be a quantifiable boost to UK GDP due to the limpic effect

 

I loved it, i was quite negative about it to begin with but ended up hooked!

 

I was one of those that thought it would be an utter shambles and also one of those who was not that interested.

I am happy to admit that, as happens on very rare occasions, I was wrong.

It was an utterly fabulous two weeks of sport and I have been pretty much glued to it. Track cycling is now offically my second favourite sport due mainly to the wonderfully **** levels of detail that Team GB go to to achieve domination..... almost Formula 1-esque

Highlights - Mo Farrah winning the 5000m. Bolt winning everything, Team GB track cycling dominating the velodrome, the site of the Turkish girl running with an ankle injury just to complete the race, the German discus champion hurdling in celebration and of course Jessica Ennis delivering in some style after 7 years of hard work.

Low points - tennis, the sight of 2 multi millionaires playing for a Gold medal and the fact that one of them couldn't really care less. The badminton players not trying. The fencer staging a sit in because she lost! Most of all the empty seats and Lord Coe's insistence they weren't empty! Jesse J being allowed to take the place of Freddie Mercury on We wil rock you!

One point though. Several people have said on this thread that the games were delivered on budget. They weren't, the budget was just trebled so the politicians can say it was on budget. That does not detract from the Games though... as stated they were fantastic!

I am missing them already!

 

 

It was so good I even gave SN a miss

 

It seems to be having an influence...seen quite a few extra joggers doing the rounds.

Even my little cousin bought some jogging trainers last week....although had a call earlier asking what to do after she twisted her ankle

Oh well, I'll give it three weeks for the effect to wear off and the sloth nation will be back to driving everywhere and binging on Maccy-Ds and Pizzas.

 

Shame they only lasted two weeks!!!

 

I have to admit that when it was awarded to London,I was wondering how we could possibly afford it at the time.

LOCOG led by Lord Coe did a madnificent job, right from the torch procession to the closing ceremony and they delivered it all under budget by a significant amount.

The organisation and the spectacle pulled the country behind the Games, it was so well presented that I for one could not wait for the next event to start. To see the immense support for our athletes from those attending as well as the appreciation shown in such a sporting manner to the foreign athletes by the crowds was truly uplifting and it did more than just uphold the Olympic Ideal.

Our own competitors did so well that we cannot fail to be proud of them for achieving such an outstanding overall performance. Who would ever have believed that they would win that many medals to enable us to finish 3rd in the world.

The closing ceremony was also very well done and it was a truly poignant moment when the cauldron was lowered and the flames were extinguished. I bet there were not that many dry eyes while that was happening.

Certainly a very special occasion than we can all be very proud of.

Les

 

I am surprised you wondered 'how they could afford it' back in 2005.

As this was several years before the global recession.

 

So we could afford it in the end then Les? It's just more debt I suppose on the never never?

 

As a Brit abroad I've really enjoyed my country putting on a show to be proud of. Previously 'British Quality' was something to avoid like a British Leyland car.

But not anymore. Now British Quality means something that's going to blow you away like the ceremonies, the venues and the atmosphere like when Mo won the 5k. I was shouting at the telly for him to keep it up and he did with style too. Our other athletes were brilliant too. Golds, silvers bronzes, national records, PBs etc

Cool Brittania is back :-)

 

I did not actually say that Tony,and I still think that it cost a hell of a lot of money which as you say has had to be borrowed like all the rest of it.

The point however is what effect did it have on this country and for that matter, the opinions generated by all the countries which took part of the other competing teams.

I don't remember seeing any sign of bad feeling between competing countries, quite the opposite in fact. That made a pleasant change from seeing how in some cases we see competitors who feel it is necessary to dislke each other in order to help themselves to win, and if they lose, the unfortunate attitude we often see towards the winner.

It may well appear old fashioned these days,but I think good sportsmanship is very important and that was demonstrated so well in the Games.

I think that was worth a great deal.

Les

 

Exactly.
I've been involved in various sports since being a kid,whenever a sporting event is on,you'll notice more out and about doing it,but once its over and the novelty wears off ALi,even when i used to play snooker,the snooker hall would get jammed packed when a championship was on,soon as it was over,all was back to normal.For as good as the Olympics were,i'm betting its going to be short lived.

 

You only have to look at what the foreign press are saying (Russians, North-Koreans and a few other miserable ****ers aside, possibly) to know we did pretty damn good job of running the thing.

The medals, the sports and cultural legacy, and the awesome day out I had personally, riding around the hills of Surrey to go and watch the cycle road-race were just the icing on the cake

 

Don't worried, nobody noticed

 

Because it was pretty apparent how the country's finances were going, especially with all the overborrowing that was going on in order to fool everyone into thinking the country was well off when the borrowed money was being used to make it look as though it was!

Les