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[Johnny English]

...Britons on organizing the Olympic Games  It was huge achievement you can be really proud of it. Just reading some statistics in connection with the Games and thought of writing this brief post.    It was especially interesting that how many soldier was getting ready to do their job if needed...Some of my friends have been to London nobody talked about missiles and army presence though. Perhaps everybody were invisible...

[albitz]

Soldiers werent invisible,but they were very friendly, yet appeared very professional regarding security matters at the same time.
It was nice to see how many people spoke to them just to say "hello",or"thankyou" etc. rather than just treat them as part of the furniture.

[TheBoy]

After the Beijing closing ceramany, I'll be honest, I was skeptical. And the coverage of the build-up was an embarrassment.

But, I am happy, no, proud, to be proved wrong.

I went out to the pub on the night of the opening, and it was whilst supping a beer, I decided to set the recorder to record. Missed first couple of minutes. Glad I did. The closing 'party' I thought was a bit naff, the atmosphere didn't come over. The games themselves, amazing.

The only poor part, IMHO, was the free-to-air coverage, which I thought was quite poor.

[feeutfo]

I was extremely sceptical prior to, but during and after, what a wonderfully brilliant event. So much positivity and good will. I suppose we should be questioning our mind set as a "country" when we have just proved we can do so much, and do it so well.
Any situation can be viewed In a positive or negative light.  The Olympics has proved a positive attitude can be the difference between success and failure.

Inspirational figures are hard to find. I'd like to meet the leading members of the IOC, and see how they go about thier business.

Although the real driving force was us. The public and the support they gave to the establishment and competitors, allowing the whole thing to evolve so well.


Team GB.

[albitz]

I was not only sceptical,bordering on cynical,but also completely disinterested in the whole thing. That changed when I went on Weds. I found myself,surprisingly,caught up in the atmosphere and became shockingly enthusiastic.
I thought the opening ceremony was crap tbh.Havent seen the closing ceremony on TV yet,so dont know how it came across,but I was in the stadium last night and despite most of the music not being the type of stuff I would usually listen to,it was an astonishing show,and the atmosphere in the stadium was incredible.
To some extent we have (hopefully) reminded ourselves that we Brits are as capable as anyone of doing things on a very large scale if we put our minds to it.It would be nice to think that it will generate confidence and showcase the UK to the world,but I suppose only time will tell on that one.

[albitz]

If I were to nitpick though...... Spice girls.Sounded like several cats being strangled at the same time.Footage of John Lennon singing "Imagine theres no countries" hardly apt for the biggest event in the world in which countries gather together in a competitive but friendly atmosphere. Im biased though,I always thought Lennon and his "iconic" song were vastly over rated tbh.
Ray Davies singing Waterloo Sunset was a highlight for me (hes a truely great English songwriter) and having wanted to see The Who live from about 1974,I finally got the chance.

I would imagine there was enough old classic cars on display to make Guy go weak at the knees.

[markrnorton]

It was truly a great event. It didnt disrupt travelling into London to much either

Top event, well worth the money spent

[redelitev6]

  As a fuly paid up cynic of the London games i have to admit it was a brilliant achievement, a huge well done to all concerned, just goes to show there is some life left in the old country after all !  not to mention the fact that the French will have been left seething over the success of the games!

[albitz]

As a fuly paid up cynic of the London games i have to admit it was a brilliant achievement, a huge well done to all concerned, just goes to show there is some life left in the old country after all !  not to mention the fact that the French will have been left seething over the success of the games!

Worth every penny just for that one thing.

[tunnie]

Fantastic achievement all around, about time the right people got the recognition they deserve. Instead of people "getting famous" on shite like Big Brother.

Only down side was the ticketing, they got that wrong. Way to many seats empty throughout the games, although it did appear to get better.

Organisation was top notch though, imagine the planning that went into the opening and closing ceremonies? May not be to everyone taste, but they pulled it off. For me it only really got going when FatBoy Slim started.

Great hall of medals too, found myself glued to the TV for the rowing and cycling 

Travelling into Central London yesterday, main tourist bits full of Olympic athletes, really great atmosphere everywhere.

And oh yeh, we denied the French of getting them for at least 25 years? Got to smile at that

[tunnie]

Also if you were Sky or Virgin Cable customer, the coverage was outstanding. 24 dedicated channels in HD, showing every sport live. Brilliant stuff.

Although will admit the freeview stuff in the evening was a bit rushed and overall a bit poor, way too much of Clare Balding! I know the BBC is a bit cash strapped, but we could have had a lot less of her and more Helen Skelton! 

Huge cockup on the mountain bike coverage for the mens race, completely missed fact Fontana lost his saddle in the closing stages!

But other than that, excellent, some of the camera work in the pool and outside broadcasts such as pan down on rocky sections of mountain bikes was outstanding! 

[TheBoy]

Also if you were Sky or Virgin Cable customer, the coverage was outstanding. 24 dedicated channels in HD, showing every sport live. Brilliant stuff.

Although will admit the freeview stuff in the evening was a bit rushed and overall a bit poor, way too much of Clare Balding! I know the BBC is a bit cash strapped, but we could have had a lot less of her and more Helen Skelton! 

Huge cockup on the mountain bike coverage for the mens race, completely missed fact Fontana lost his saddle in the closing stages!

But other than that, excellent, some of the camera work in the pool and outside broadcasts such as pan down on rocky sections of mountain bikes was outstanding!

It was the BBC One coverage for Joe Public (ie, in the evening - the majority still work during the day) that was really bad IMHO. Its BBC's premier channel, and all it was were the usual has-beens (Linekar, Balding etc) talking about it, when they could have filled the channel with not only live events, but highlights throughout the day. Instead, it seemed be 2 mins of a sport, followed by 28 mins of analysing it. I have no interest in what the presenter's view is about a sport they know sod all about. Very poor.

BBC Three was better.

[Kevin Wood]

Also if you were Sky or Virgin Cable customer, the coverage was outstanding. 24 dedicated channels in HD, showing every sport live. Brilliant stuff.

They were freesat channels, so no need for Sky or Virgin.

[tunnie]

Also if you were Sky or Virgin Cable customer, the coverage was outstanding. 24 dedicated channels in HD, showing every sport live. Brilliant stuff.

They were freesat channels, so no need for Sky or Virgin.

Forgot about freesat 

[Johnny English]

It was truly a great event. It didnt disrupt travelling into London to much either

Top event, well worth the money spent

yea if my infos are correct the budget of the games was double than Hungary's one year state budget... The most surprise of  mine was Brasil - Mexico football match where finally Mexico won...but back to the budget I'm sure of money not everything as most of you tell about "atmosphere" , "proudness" and other different abstract/theoretic notions. We also candidated for the games because of not only financial benefit but with intention of making rise the national proudness a bit, which was quite low at the time of candidation. Also the radio is saying right now that what a huge benefit will be realised by GB's economy as not only the power of the country was shown up but the individual's as well and the mental condition of person how closely relates to the achievement of economy...