The Olympic And Paralympics Thread (merged)

[bb1]

I thought we had better have one, seeing as how there will soon be sporting-type stuff going on in the UK. And today's as good a day as any to start, as the Brits have just collected the flame from Greece.


It was handed into the no-doubt 100% safe keeping of Princess Anne, David Beckham, Sebastian (Lord) Coe - and Boris Johnson.

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16230049

Olympic Torch Formally Handed Over To Britain

The Olympic flame has been formally handed over to London at a historic ceremony in Greece attended by former England football captain David Beckham.

He was joined by Games chief Lord Coe, London Mayor Boris Johnson and Princess Anne, who is heading the British delegation in Athens to collect the torch and start its journey from Greece to the UK.
Beckham was among those who helped London fight off competition from Paris to win its bid to host the Games back in 2005.
The president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Spyros Capralos, handed the flame to the Princess Royal at the Panathenaic Stadium, which hosted the first modern Games in 1896.

Lord Coe told spectators: "For the past eight days our two countries have connected in a very special way, in the spirit of peace and friendship of the flame and the values of this great Olympic movement."
He described the handover as "an occasion of international significance and importance".


"Like the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the flame belongs to the world and the arrival of the flame in the host nation is a resounding and clarion call to the best athletes of their generation in more than 200 nations and territories preparing to gather for the London 2012 Games."
The historic event took place in a rain-hit sundown ceremony, which included five British sporting teenagers who were picked to perform a symbolic exchange of olive branches to the tune of John Lennon's Imagine.

The young people were chosen by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog).
They were selected from around the country for their commitment to sporting excellence.


After spending the night at the British embassy in Athens, the flame will be brought to the UK by the British delegation on a plane named Firefly on Friday evening, where there will be a welcoming ceremony at the Culdrose Royal Navy base in Cornwall.
On Saturday morning it will start an 8,000-mile journey around the UK from Land's End, carried by 8,000 torchbearers, as part of a 70-day relay ending at the Olympic Park.
The flame will then be used to light the cauldron in Stratford's Olympic Stadium at the Games' opening ceremony on July 27.
The flame was lit at a ceremony in Olympia - the ancient home of the Games - on May 10.
It has since been carried 1,800 miles through Greece by 500 torchbearers on a week-long route.



Princess Anne, pictured on the Acropolis, will carry the flame

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Jolly good show! I am sure Anne is a safe pair of hands, but I am none too sure about Boris, he shouldn't get his hair too near the flame...

[lily]

A question. Do they extinguish the flame once it is onboard the aircraft and re-light it just before the door is opened?

[bb1]

I am embarrassed to admit this was bothering me, so I looked it up:

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/olympic-torch7.htm

On certain legs of the relay, the torch must be housed in a special container. For a trip across the Great Barrier Reef before the 2000 Olympic Games, a special torch was designed to burn underwater. On airplanes, where open flames are not allowed, the flame is typically stored in an enclosed lamp, much like a Miner's lamp. At night, it is kept in a special cauldron until the relay begins once again the following day.

[lily]

Thank you, Bonny. It was something that just popped into my head and am glad you could answer it.

[bb1]

It was bothering me, Lily, because I didn't know how a great flaming torch could go on a plane, but it isn't supposed to go out...

[lily]

Exactly, Bonny.

[bb1]

Well, it's arrived in the UK - it even got its own seat. Two, in fact.

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16230858

Olympic Flame Touches Down On British Soil



The torch will travel 8,000 miles across the UK

8:31pm UK, Friday May 18, 2012
Isabel Webster, West of England correspondent
The Olympic flame has landed on British soil for the first time since 1948 ahead of the London 2012 Games.

A gold liveried A319 Airbus, named Firefly, landed at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall after a 1,500 mile journey from Athens in Greece.
The flame was held in four different lanterns, which were fastened into specially designed cradles in seats 1A and 1B for the near four-hour flight.

The Olympic delegation, comprising Lord Sebastian Coe and HRS Princess Royal, sat alongside.
Hundreds of invited members of the public sat in grandstands flanking the runway at the airbase to watch its historic arrival.
David Beckham, who has been a champion of the Games since the bid process began in 2005, played a central role in a special ceremony, by lighting the torch from the flame ahead of the start of the relay.
It begins at Land's End, the most South-Westerly tip of mainland Britain, and will zig-zag across the country, passing within 10miles of 95% of the population.
Sailing champion Ben Ainslie will carry the Olympic torch on the first leg of its relay, setting off on Saturday morning.
Lord Coe said: "The arrival of the Olympic flame on home soil is a magical moment for any host country.
"It will connect millions of people around the UK to the Games in a unique way and allows us to celebrate the best of the UK and its people."
There are 8,000 torchbearers who will carry the flame the 8,000 miles that will lead to the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony on July 27.

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Becks is getting awfully good at this sort of thing; maybe he and Posh should be made sort of stand-in Royals?

[Lamplighter]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/2012/

[bb1]

It's off on its travels now:

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16231075

At least the weather looks good in Cornwall:



The Olympic flame is exchanged at St Michael's Mount in Cornwall

[lily]

That looks beautiful.

[Lamplighter]

One of the early Olympic flame bearers has already put his torch and costume up on Ebay for auction. Says he needs the money cos he has a new baby and his wife has to go back to work. Shows how little he must care for his country. LL

[bb1]

I'm just reading about that in the Mail, LL:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2147060/Olympic-flame-carriers-cash-listing-torches-eBay-150-000.html

It's a bit off, isn't it? According to that, some of those who haven't even run yet have made plans to sell theirs. Not a very nice attitude at all. Who wants to see someone who is just doing it to make easy money?

That sort of thing will put spectators off, IMO.

[Lamplighter]

I'm just reading about that in the Mail, LL:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2147060/Olympic-flame-carriers-cash-listing-torches-eBay-150-000.html

It's a bit off, isn't it? According to that, some of those who haven't even run yet have made plans to sell theirs. Not a very nice attitude at all. Who wants to see someone who is just doing it to make easy money?

That sort of thing will put spectators off, IMO.

There should be some kind of restrictions on this. Perhaps the participants should have been made to sign an agreement that they would not sell the torch and outfits for at least 10 years; and if they disobeyed then the items would be taken from them and put up for action to raise cash for something like a sports hall. If I had been one of the flame-bearers that would have pride of place in my home, to be passed down the generations. We live in a greedy time, bonny, and it is so sad. LL

[bb1]

Agree, LL. I was half-thinking about going to see the torch relay, but that leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, frankly.

There's been enough controversy about the Olympics already, without torchbearers doing things like this.

[Sabot]

Apparently, it is the passing of The Flame that matters, and this can pass to many Torches.

Selling their Torches is not a nice thing, but who believes that The Spirit of the original Olympics still exists. In my mind, Hitler finally put paid to that one in 1936 when he refused to acknowledge Jessie Owen. Nowadays it is just a money making exercise, and I can't be bothered with it. Drugs notwithstanding.

[bb1]

That's very true, Sabot, and it was Hitler who started the torch-passing ceremony..

Judging from what I've read about it, the post-war London olympics were pretty close to the real thing, as the world was trying to pick itself up again, London was a mess of bomb sites, and no-one had any money.

So it was in the spirit of the old olympics...

But the coming olympics? I am in two minds about them. I really am not interested in a bunch of chemically-enhanced 'sportspersons' running around and throwing things.

Mind you, the beach volleyball at Horseguards' Parade should be worth watching, in a surreal sort of way.

[Sabot]

I remember The Olympics just after The War, at Wembley, which was just up the road from me. But I was still largely bemused as I tried to cope with what was coming out of Germany about The Holocaust. And whose mother was dying of Tuberculosis. All a bit too much for a small girl to cope with. And from what I have seen, has all been down hill since. So, I never watch The Olympics. Can't be doing with it.

And didn't The Greeks pass The Flame? I thought that this was what it was all about, until it lost it's purpose.
I suppose that I hope it will be recovered one day. But doubtful in my lifetime.

[Lamplighter]

For me, the Games I will always remember is the one held just after the fall of the Soviet regime - 1992? I felt quite emotional as all those little countries, once forced to provide athletes for the USSR, came on under their own flags, some with only 1 or 2 athletes. A Games to remember. LL

[bb1]

Oh yes, LL, that was Barcelona - and South Africa was allowed back in too, after the fall of apartheid. Yes, that's the ones that matter, not these bread and circuses affairs that the London one is in danger of turning into.

Have you seen this?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harrymount/100058086/the-olympic-zil-lanes-are-disgusting-we-must-all-ignore-them/

quote:

If you're unlucky enough to live in the capital, the Olympics will bring a truly distasteful, tyrannical touch to the streets of London next year.
For completely spurious, selfish reasons, it has been declared that there will be 100 miles of Zil lanes – named after the wicked, special lanes reserved by Communist crooks to speed through Moscow. The athletes don't need them – they're already in the Olympic Village in Stratford. So the lanes will be used only by 80,000 VIP freeloaders, to whizz them from their Park Lane hotels to east London. They can also use 240 BMW limos, customised with gizmos that can turn red lights green, costing taxpayers £12m. Any unauthorised driver found in the Zil lanes will be fined £200.


Absolutely shocking.

[bb1]

More about it here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16441912

IMO, the London Olympics have the potential to turn into a total disaster, causing nothing but ill-feeling. And that's without any terrorist scares.

What on earth were the government thinking about, parking a warship in the heart of the capital? Or putting surface-to-air missiles on the top of apartment blocks?

I am more looking forward to watching the Jubilee celebrations, especially the barge and the flotilla - that is much more my sort of thing.

[Sabot]

See. It is all disgraceful, and nothing to do with what it was all meant to be. Although what that was does defeat me somewhat. All lost in the mists of time, and then taken over by Commercialism. Why not make a few bucks? France was lucky to get out of this one.
I might be able to see some purpose if it was taken to Countries that really need help, and could possibly do it without vast and expensive Complexes. What's wrong with living in a tent for a couple of months?
And I really cannot bear the hype and splendour of The Parade in their smart uniforms.

[lily]

The Olympics used to actually mean something. It was wonderful and so worth watching. Now, I'm with Bonny. I look forward to the Jubilee Celebrations especially the flotilla.

[Sabot]

The Olympics used to actually mean something. It was wonderful and so worth watching. Now, I'm with Bonny. I look forward to the Jubilee Celebrations especially the flotilla.

But we don't know precisely when the spirit of The Olympics fell apart. I suspect that it was a very long time ago.

And personally, I would rather watch The Bastllle Day Parade in Paris, which I do, with monotonous regularity. They have all of these women in The Armed Forces, marching along in designer uniforms, and looking really great. Not that I have ever been a Feminist. But women haven't actually infiltrated The Foreign Legion yet. But that one is a sight to see with their ceremonial axes and leather aprons, and their slow march.
You all can have The Queen. Long may she reign, and him after her.

[bb1]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/london-2012-air-traffic-chiefs-challenge-193946697.html

quote:

The military will "sterilise" London's airspace during the Olympic Games in the most severe air security restrictions Britain has ever seen, it has been revealed.
At a briefing on Heathrow's airport use during the Games, Paul Haskins, general manager of the London Terminal Control centre, revealed that the restrictions used during the London 2012 Olympics will be as strong as those in place post-September 11.
Airspace will go into lock down between July 14 and August 15 this summer.
Air traffic will be highly controlled with pre-approved planes being told which routes to take well in advance.
Any unapproved air traffic including hot air balloons, microlights, private jets and any other unauthorised air transport will be banned from flying during the lock down period.

Any takers for a small wager on one of those ground-to-air missiles parked on top of people's homes being launched to bring down Richard Branson's balloon?

It's a recipe for disaster - WITHOUT any terrorists.

[Sabot]

Good God, Bonny. I realised a long time ago that the point had been lost, but I didn't know how bad it had gotten. This is terrifying.

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