The Olympics: Part 2

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Finally we've started winning a few medals.  And Wiggins came through in the Time Trial to cap a remarkable couple of weeks.

"Now then, now then."

[T_M_C]

LOL.   

Just been watching the indoor track cycling at the velodrome.

Chris Hoy and team does it again with a new WR.

Awsome.

Real pity about the girls though who got relegated after an illegal change over.

I've been watching so much Olympic's i'm getting square eyes.

But it's been fantastic so far.

TMC

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I've been watching so much Olympic's i'm getting square eyes.

But it's been fantastic so far.

There's almost too much choice for me as I always feel like I'm missing something.

There are 24 BBC HD channels dedicated just to the games on cable (Red Button as well IIR) and it's only when you flick through them that the scale of the Olympics hits home.  The sheer number of sports taking part at the same time is a bit silly TBH.  They should spread it out over a couple more weeks and give each sport the publicity it deserves.

[T_M_C]

Well, i only have Freeview, which is just BBC1, BBC2 , BBC3 and 801 ( red button channel ) covering the Live Olympics.

And that gives me plenty of choice.

If theres one sport thats a bit boring, then theres usually something interesting on one of the others.

But i rarely get bored, even the minor sports are really interesting to watch.


I decided to do some Olympic's schedule searching to find out when the Madison was taking place in the Velodrom and to my HORROR  , i see the whole even has not been included in London 2012.

I can't believe this, it's by far my favourite track event, with hundreds of riders on track at the same time, it's incredibly exciting and somewhat confusing.

I see there have been some new track events included, such as the Omnion, and others dropped, such as the Madison.

I'm gutted.  Has put a real damper on the Olympics for me.  

TMC

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I can't believe this, it's by far my favourite track event, with hundreds of riders on track at the same time, it's incredibly exciting and somewhat confusing.

I see there have been some new track events included, such as the Omnion, and others dropped, such as the Madison.

I'm gutted.  Has put a real damper on the Olympics for me.  

Yeah I love the Madison too.  Quite a few events have been dropped and not just in the cycling.  As I mentioned earlier, I don't know why the whole Olympics isn't extended fro another week or two so we get all the recognised events.  After all the investment in the facilities it seems crazy not to maximise their use.


Anyway it's pretty great viewing ATM.  Athletics and cycling all day.  Go Jess  

[T_M_C]

Yeah I love the Madison too.  Quite a few events have been dropped and not just in the cycling.  As I mentioned earlier, I don't know why the whole Olympics isn't extended fro another week or two so we get all the recognised events.  After all the investment in the facilities it seems crazy not to maximise their use.

Yep, i agree.

Mark Cavendish pretty much said the same thing too when asked in th Velodrome.


Well, Saturday was a great day for the Brit's.

More Gold medals.

The athletics was great to watch.  Especially the 10,000 meters.

The roar of the crowd was incredible for the whole 25 odd laps.

TMC

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Well, Saturday was a great day for the Brit's.

More Gold medals.

The athletics was great to watch.  Especially the 10,000 meters.

The roar of the crowd was incredible for the whole 25 odd laps.

One of the best days of sport I can remember.  That hour or so where we won 3 golds in the athletics was just amazing. Mo Farrah's win being the highlight for me.

The cyclists are cleaning up too.  Golds all round and a world record falling with every ride.


Good job it doesn't last much longer really as it's not great news for my productivity. 

[T_M_C]

Good job it doesn't last much longer really as it's not great news for my productivity

Lol.   

Yep, me too.  For the past few weeks and in between watching the Olympic's i've been doing a lot of experimental coding, writing an Outrun style road routine.
It's been causing me all sorts of problems and i'm currently implementing a Raycasting system to handle the hills.  But i'm having real issues getting the perspective right.   


I've been compiling a list of all the different sports i've watched at the Olympics so far.

I'm at 23 sports at present.  Will be really interesting to see what the final total is at the end.


Special mention today, has to go to Andy Murray.

Won Gold in the Singles Tennis against Roger Federer.

In fact, it was a bit of a white wash, Federer looked really off form.

The win seems really fitting as they both met in the final of the Wimbldon event this year, where Federer won.

This time, it's Andy's victory.

TMC

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I've been compiling a list of all the different sports i've watched at the Olympics so far.

I'm at 23 sports at present.  Will be really interesting to see what the final total is at the end.

lol.  That's pretty impressive. 

With the BBC losing the rights to a lot of sports I wonder why they don't show more of the minority sports that we only see during the Olympics?  From speaking to people I know the audiene for them is there.

Special mention today, has to go to Andy Murray.

Won Gold in the Singles Tennis against Roger Federer.

In fact, it was a bit of a white wash, Federer looked really off form.

Not surprising Federer looked off form really after his semi which was the longest 3 set match in history.  Winning the final set 19-17 (IIRC) is like playing a few extra sets!

Anyway yeah, fair play to Murray.  Can't say I'm a fan, but he thoroughly deserved the gold.

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I see our cyclists continue to kick butt.

I'm not keen on the Omnium.  I'd rather drop it and instead have some of the individual events are great on their own....the Elimination is cool.

[T_M_C]

Yup, i like the event where they drop a rider each lap but apart from that the other events don't justify dropping the Madison.

I'm looking forward to the BMX, if i havn't missed it already.

I used to be a keen BMX'er myself in my teens.  Spent a lot of time at the local skatepark.

TMC

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I'm looking forward to the BMX, if i havn't missed it already.

I used to be a keen BMX'er myself in my teens.  Spent a lot of time at the local skatepark.

I've just been watching a bit of that.  I didn't realise there was a time trial event.  Pretty cool to watch actually as you can study the riders techniques better than you can when they are racing in a pack. 


The rest of the cycling is over now and we did amazingly well.  Hoy's winning keirin ride was one of the best I've seen.  I can't recall ever seeing another rider come back to win after being overtaken into the final bend like that.

[T_M_C]

So, the closing ceremony.

One word sums it up for me

Bizarre  

Thought some of the music was ok, but most of it was quite ropey, especially the live vocals.

Didn'y enjoy it as much as the opening ceremony.


Overall i thought London 2012 was the best Olympics ever.

London did a fantastic job and delivered an awsome Olympics.

My initial fears were unfounded and it all turned out to be much better than i anticipated.

GB's medal haul was the best ever and i think thats mainly down to the lottery funding that's enabled atheletes to train than otherwise would be.


Here's a list of the sports i managed to watch over the last two weeks.

1. Gymnastics / Rythm Gymnastics
2. Cycling / Velodrome / Road / BMX / Mountain Biking
3. Canoeing
4. Swimming / Diving
5. Water Polo
6. Athletics - All The Stadium Events / Marathon / Speed Walking
7. Show Jumping / Three Day Eventing
8. Weight Lifting
9. Fencing
10. Archery
11. Shooting
12. Tennis
13. Badmington
14. Football
15. Sailing
16. Hockey
17. Handball
18. Volleyball / Beach / Indoor
19. Basketball
20. Judo
21. Boxing
22. Table Tennis
23. Rowing
24. Taikwondo
25. Synchronized Swimming
26. Modern Pentathlon

There were a couple of sports i missed, Windsurfing and wrestling and no doubt a few more but i managed to watch pretty much all of it.

Special mention has to go to the BBC who did an outstanding job covering all the events.


My persoanl highlights were the BMX and Road Cycling, Wiggins getting gold and watching Mo Farrah and Usain Bolt.

Low's were Cavendish failing to get a medal.

Roll on Rio.  Can't wait.

TMC

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So, the closing ceremony.

One word sums it up for me

Bizarre  

Thought some of the music was ok, but most of it was quite ropey, especially the live vocals.

Didn'y enjoy it as much as the opening ceremony.

I thought the closing ceremony was a mess TBH.  It totally lacked the flow of Danny Boyles opening show and the music choices were awful.

Overall i thought London 2012 was the best Olympics ever.

London did a fantastic job and delivered an awsome Olympics.

My initial fears were unfounded and it all turned out to be much better than i anticipated.

Yeah I feel exactly the same.  We were all expecting the worst (it's the British way) and it turned out to be amazing.  Now that's it's over I kinda regret not taking time off work to watch more of it.  

Special mention has to go to the BBC who did an outstanding job covering all the events.

For the most part the BBC's coverage was fantastic.  Every event live in HD and some great presentation.

A couple of minor gripes though.  Firstly some of the highlights programmes I had to rely on wasted far too mush time on pointless pre-recorded segments.  One night I swear they spent more time showing the food available at the venues than showing actual sport.

Also while some of the presenters and experts were fantastic (Claire Balding, Matt Baker, Cav, Michael Johnson, John McEnroe, Ian Thorpe) the continuous use of nice, but terminally dull home-grown ex-sportsmen like Lineker, Collin Jackson and Denise Lewis loses them a few points.

I can't decide if the lowlight was Collin Jackson's segment analysing the high-jump where all we learnt was "the most important part of the event is the jump itself"...or the look on Michael Johnson's face when Collin Jackson argued that Semenya had lost the 800m on purpose.  

[T_M_C]

I can't decide if the lowlight was Collin Jackson's segment analysing the high-jump where all we learnt was "the most important part of the event is the jump itself"...or the look on Michael Johnson's face when Collin Jackson argued that Semenya had lost the 800m on purpose.

Haha.   

TMC