London 2012. Is this the beginning.....

[ILoveLightnings]

Of a new feel good factor for our country? It seems to have been doom, gloom and bad news for the last 3 or 4 years.
Will the Olympics be a start of the return of Great Britain? Or will this be a flash in the pan?

Business wise, the Olympics have, so far, not had a good effect for a Guest house business in North Wales but maybe they will have a longer term positive effect for this country. That said I thnk those who have volunteered, worked at, or organised the events of the past weeks deserve every credit for their efforts.

Have to say I was shouting at the telly last night for Mo Farah. Fantastic

[FGR2]

I suppose that over the next few weeks things will return to normal, Recession, Murders, Corrupt Banks, Unemployment will all be on the front of the news papers.

I think this is the main reason for the downbeat mood in this country. The media thrive on pushing negative stories all the time.

I've been working in London for the last 5 months, and will notice the difference once the bustle of gamesmakers and teams are gone from around Liverpool Street. It will seem a little bit boring/normal after that

[Skyflash]

I run a choir in Edinburgh and we perform 2 concerts at the Fringe festival every year. The Olympics has been a total disaster for us and for the Fringe in general, with ticket sales badly affected right across the board. We did our first concert last night and were only at about two-thirds capacity, having sold out every other year we have performed.

I'll be delighted when it's over TBH. I hate the way that it has taken over the whole of the news agenda, even becoming the lead story/stories on the evening news. "There has been some running, jumping, rowing, throwing and swimming in East London, and Britain have won a few medals! Yay! In other news, Syria has collapsed and the Euro is on its last legs, but don't worry about that too much. Here's Sir Chris Hoy to make it all feel better..."

Absolute nonsense.

[boff180]

The Olympics have been an undoubted success (yes, I was wrong) and all involved deserve a massive pat on the back.

However, I do think that unless a business is Olympics orientated they have suffered quite badly over the past fortnight, there were reports that the normal London tourist attractions and souveneir stands were massively down on numbers/turnover.

As for a legacy? We will wait and see, I am on the management committee of a local sports club (yes even us fat people partake in sport) and we have recently seen a noticable drop in new member enquiries. Maybe after this weekend they may pick up again. Who knows, we may have a record year for membership!

Andy

[Jamesv9820]

Really Skyflash?

I really want to say get a grip - but that would be seen as being negative - you have you view and I respect that. For me, it has opened my eyes to sports that I would never even consider watching before. Some of the stories and interviews with the athletes and the families have been inspirational and from the heart that you could not help from being drawn in - Chad Le Clos's father's interview was just fantastic as well as Oscar Pistorius running in the finals which was amazing to see.

Personally speaking I think the games have been a success and I hope the media and the whole country grow from this - it should be a time when we should be inspired to get out there and learn that even through sport comes respect, motivation and hard work - values that we all should believe in.

If these games inspire even a small percentage of people to abide by those values, it has been a success in my eyes. So yes I hope it is the sign of a turn things to come in this country. God knows we all need it.

[Skyflash]

Really Skyflash?

I really want to say get a grip - but that would be seen as being negative - you have you view and I respect that. For me, it has opened my eyes to sports that I would never even consider watching before. Some of the stories and interviews with the athletes and the families have been inspirational and from the heart that you could not help from being drawn in - Chad Le Clos's father's interview was just fantastic as well as Oscar Pistorius running in the finals which was amazing to see.

Personally speaking I think the games have been a success and I hope the media and the whole country grow from this - it should be a time when we should be inspired to get out there and learn that even through sport comes respect, motivation and hard work - values that we all should believe in.

If these games inspire even a small percentage of people to abide by those values, it has been a success in my eyes. So yes I hope it is the sign of a turn things to come in this country. God knows we all need it.

Feel free to be as negative as you want, chief. I'm not the thought-police and if you have enjoyed it and taken something positive from it, then I'm genuinely pleased for you.

The Olympics has IMO dominated the news agenda to a quite ludicrous extent. Hence the earlier post. That's really all there is to it. And I remain wholly sceptical that the benefits, or 'legacy', will translate to other parts of the UK outside of London itself. We shall see.

[MarkL]

I run a choir in Edinburgh and we perform 2 concerts at the Fringe festival every year. The Olympics has been a total disaster for us and for the Fringe in general, with ticket sales badly affected right across the board. We did our first concert last night and were only at about two-thirds capacity, having sold out every other year we have performed.

I'll be delighted when it's over TBH. I hate the way that it has taken over the whole of the news agenda, even becoming the lead story/stories on the evening news. "There has been some running, jumping, rowing, throwing and swimming in East London, and Britain have won a few medals! Yay! In other news, Syria has collapsed and the Euro is on its last legs, but don't worry about that too much. Here's Sir Chris Hoy to make it all feel better..."

Absolute nonsense.

You are annoyed because it has affected you... totally selfish.

[Skyflash]

I run a choir in Edinburgh and we perform 2 concerts at the Fringe festival every year. The Olympics has been a total disaster for us and for the Fringe in general, with ticket sales badly affected right across the board. We did our first concert last night and were only at about two-thirds capacity, having sold out every other year we have performed.

I'll be delighted when it's over TBH. I hate the way that it has taken over the whole of the news agenda, even becoming the lead story/stories on the evening news. "There has been some running, jumping, rowing, throwing and swimming in East London, and Britain have won a few medals! Yay! In other news, Syria has collapsed and the Euro is on its last legs, but don't worry about that too much. Here's Sir Chris Hoy to make it all feel better..."

Absolute nonsense.

You are annoyed because it has affected you... totally selfish.

Apologies for looking out for my own interests. In future I'll be sure to ignore such base concerns, and will raise mine eyes toward nobler thoughts and pursuits.

[Ronald Reagan]

I have not watched any of it or followed any of it in any way shape or form.
No interest in sports. For those who like this kind of thing, glad they enjoyed it.
But it all cost a fortune. Might aswell build a permanent set of olympic buildings somewhere like Greece, all nations can contribute a bit to the cost. Then every 4 years or maybe even every year if they wish they could hold the olympics in Greece, where it all began and at the same location thus preventing the costly building projects required by host nations every 4 years.

[pbeardmore]

A couple of points:
I have a few contacts in the tourist industry and the feeling is that takings at other venues and outlets will be down as so many non-olympics tourists have been put off with the fears of traffic chaos, crowds etc etc. This will be hard to quantify but anyone who has been into the centre of London will see that it looks no busier than any other Summer.

On the news coverage, I am a massive sports fan and have spent hours and hours in front of the TV watching anything from Archery to Diving. But watching the BBC news, I have felt slightly uneasy about putting the Olympics ahead of other World events. Syria has been tearing itself apart with innocent children beaing killed or injured on most days throught the last 2 weeks. The Olympics, after all, is sport. Big, global sport but sport nontherless. Do we really think that the news that one man ran from one point to another faster than another is more important than Syria?

In 1987, Boris Becker lost in the first round on Wimbledon in a shock defeat. During the frantic press conference he said "No one died out there." It was his way of saying, lets keep a perspective, its just sport. I think his point was well made. When innocent people lose their lives under dreadful circumstances, to me at least, that will always be bigger news than someone running fast. Just my 2 penneth.

[FGR2]

I think that you need good news reported, it is a big thing that we will not see again in this country for many, many years. If you are fed news about people dying everyday than it gets rather depressing. The Syria situation like the Euro is just rolling on and on every day, in the end you shut off to it. There are probably other attrocities going on, but it is not in the news because it is not the hot topic at the moment, it is just the one the media are chosing at the moment.

I am not a fan of sport, in fact I couldn't really care about it until a couple of weeks beforehand, but did watch a lot of the coverage. I hope that from this people around the world will see that London is a good place, visit and bring their money as well.

I think that for too long in this country, we have become a nation of whingers and lost our identity. Our car industry has gone or been sold to the Chinese or Indians or Germans. Our Aviation Industry is a shadow of its former self, just mainly making components. Our Steel Industry is owned by the Indians, Electricity & Water Companies by the French. Our Military is no longer as capable as they once were. Just try and buy anything made in the UK to send to friends overseas, we have and it is very difficult!! There is very little that you can truley get patriotic about, everything has been sold down the river or cut back. At least with the Olympics it did show to the world that we can be good at something, with determination people can achieve, (some against overwhelming odds) and difficulties and that we can put on a world class show.

I think there was a slight panic over the numbers which caused a dip in sales/visitors to London, but how much of that is due to travel fears or due to normal holiday patterns at this time of year and the recession?

I hope that it will attract more people with much needed cash from overseas. I think for two weeks people were a bit more positive about Great Britain, and could be proud to wave the union flag without being classed as a potty royalist or a member of a far right group.
The game were really a big advert for the tourist industry for Great Britain, whether it works or not remains to be seen.

Maybe the next generation may be inspired in someway to get involved in something, sport or volunteering. Time will tell if it was worthwhile. We did beat the Germans and French in the medals though

For those that don't quite see it the same, don't worry, normal service will be resumed next week. We will never see an event of this scale again in our lifetimes.

[pbeardmore]

Fair points, but to add another ellement, two British serviceman were kiilled in action in Afganistan and both were given a "lower billing" than the Olympics. Are we saying to their families and to our country "soldier's deaths are bad news and not that unusual so we will report sport as a bigger story than soldiers paying the ultiimate price to protect our freedom".
If so, to me at least, that is a very strange set of priorities.
Lance Corp Mathew Smith and Lt Andrew Chesterman will not see any more events of any size in their lifetime

[FGR2]

Have had this discussion with a mate before, that deaths in Afghanistan are so commonplace, that they are just given a small mention on the news, rightly or wrongly that is the way it happens. Many more people, like the brave soldiers/ service personnel who lose their lives, are killed in road accidents everyday, but never get a mention. I think that the public accept there is a war and it is tragic that there are deaths, but have probably become a bit desensitised to it. Something positive in the news, that involves a lot of people/publicity and media involvement is going to overtake a sadly recurring story such as deaths of our service personnel.

[farnboroughrob]

I feel sad for those that either hated the Olympics or were completely bypassed by it. The last two weeks have been some of the best of my life! . Yes I like sport(well football and Cricket mainly) but I am also patriotic. I booked most of the time off work simply so I could go spotting and didn't have to go to work in London!

I watched two live events at the games, originally having no tickets from either ballot. The orginaziation was flawless, the 'games makers' were brilliant. They were all happy, friendly and very helpful. They all knew what was going on and where everything was, not a sign of a jobsworth or those that could not be bothered. They way fans from the world mixed at the events was brilliant. Everybody supported their favourites but also respected all competitors, especially those struggling to finish the triathlon.

How people are no inspired by the Olympics is beyond me! Seeing the best from each country in their respective sport give everything they have to strive to be the best in the world is so inspiring. Also the fact that a country as small as the uk can produce so many winners. We are bombarded from the press saying how bad Britain is at doing EVERYTHING but they were proved so wrong. This is still a great country that can organize everything and anything. Yes attractions in London saw a drop in numbers but that is down to the greed of hotels and travel companies jacking up prices. Just like I always avoid going away the school holidays because of the prices, non olympic tourists did the same. But this is a very short term thing. Anybody from abroad who watched the Olympics, especially events outside the stadiums, must have been impressed by London as a place to visit.

Personally I think London should be the permanent home of the Olympics .

[jon93]

The news has been an absolute shambles the past two weeks, the whole inspire generation may or may not work time will tell (i have a feeling it wont). As for making the country feel better everything seems normal up here in the north east. Saying that I enjoyed the bits which I watched but the media put me off massively and didnt watch half as much as I did when beijing was on.

[farnboroughrob]

Have had this discussion with a mate before, that deaths in Afghanistan are so commonplace, that they are just given a small mention on the news, rightly or wrongly that is the way it happens. Many more people, like the brave soldiers/ service personnel who lose their lives, are killed in road accidents everyday, but never get a mention. I think that the public accept there is a war and it is tragic that there are deaths, but have probably become a bit desensitised to it. Something positive in the news, that involves a lot of people/publicity and media involvement is going to overtake a sadly recurring story such as deaths of our service personnel.

sadly Afghanistan is becoming the media equivalent of Northern Ireland in the 70's and 80's. Our country is not officially at war but soldiers and civilians continue to die on a seemingly weekly basis. It is very sad for those involved but for the the wider public it no longer becomes news. I think the closure of Lyneham and thus Wooton Bassett has had a impact too.

[Abingdonman]

Now its all over,we had a few days of euphoria about how great and happy we were ,we'll have a few more days of blowing the trumpet and this and that,but we'll soon get over it....
As for sports at school level...in my school days(up to 1959)you had to do sport as a matter of course,you had no choice...but then there was no money being spent on facilities outside of school days,what they have to do is make it all affordable for the ordinary people

[Macc]

I reckon it'll have been a flash in the pan sadly.

That said, it was an excellent flash in the pan and I have thoroughly enjoyed the last two weeks. I would love to have been down in London for it.

[ArabJazzie]

I had my doubts about our Olympics but really enjoyed most things in between the 2 brilliant ceremonies, especially when they were handing out another British Gold/Silver/Bronze! There were some things i do wonder as to why they are part of the olympics but im sure someone enjoyed them!

As to the legacy it will provide us, and this probably be better for another thread, with all the cutbacks in education, along with all the other specialist educators out there, the primary school PE teachers are being cut! So how can we develop a legacy if PE with proper PE teachers is not part of the curriculum? Tell you what, someone will come along with the Olympics 2012 on Wiiboxstation, promising kids they could be the next Farah/Bolt/Ennis/Jade Jones/Nicola Adams/Laura Trott and disappear within the lost world of computer games! For my part, my eldest is turning into a good musician, her next sister has taken up running although growing up might get in the way, and the youngest 2 are doing well at Judo! Will they make it anywhere? Dont know, but i will be there to support them when they do!

Im not gonna say much about the financial legacy as the negativity within the media will soon point that out anyway! What i do know though is that there are many people who have stayed away from London because of the disruption the games caused, also because of the price hikes that the hotels put in place! Its already been noted that local traders have seen a drop in trade!

And i am gonna back up Skyflash as well as its not only the Festival that has been affected but because people have been heeding the chaos warnings, travel to the capital is down! And because the tourist first wants to visit London, then Edinburgh, they have listened to chaos warnings and have not come to the UK at all!

So who made money from this then? Heathrow? The companies who have stitched up the suppliers list? UK PLC? Its ok, we have the debt to service!

Anyway! Well done the athletes!
Arabest,
Geoff.

[DanO1978]

Really Skyflash?

I really want to say get a grip - but that would be seen as being negative - you have you view and I respect that. For me, it has opened my eyes to sports that I would never even consider watching before. Some of the stories and interviews with the athletes and the families have been inspirational and from the heart that you could not help from being drawn in - Chad Le Clos's father's interview was just fantastic as well as Oscar Pistorius running in the finals which was amazing to see.

Personally speaking I think the games have been a success and I hope the media and the whole country grow from this - it should be a time when we should be inspired to get out there and learn that even through sport comes respect, motivation and hard work - values that we all should believe in.

If these games inspire even a small percentage of people to abide by those values, it has been a success in my eyes. So yes I hope it is the sign of a turn things to come in this country. God knows we all need it.

[DanH]

Us British really are a skeptical bunch. We were skeptical about the games in the years leading up to them because we were worried that we would make a hash of it and end up embarrassing ourselves. Now we are skeptical about whether we can deliver on the legacy. Perhaps seeing how well the games themselves turned out in the end we can actually be a little more optimistic about the next step.

[boff180]

One thing we definately can't deliver though... a working Ticket website....

For 4 hours last night the ticket site said you could purchase a maximum of 33 tickets to the 100m para final and 22 tickets for the swimming final later that day. Each time you hit request... it would count down for 5 minutes and say there were no tickets. Was doing the same this lunchtime when they put them back on sale again!

[ArabJazzie]

Us British really are a skeptical bunch. We were skeptical about the games in the years leading up to them because we were worried that we would make a hash of it and end up embarrassing ourselves. Now we are skeptical about whether we can deliver on the legacy. Perhaps seeing how well the games themselves turned out in the end we can actually be a little more optimistic about the next step.

It wouldnt be so bad if we had something to build on! Schools are doing less PE these days and Primary School PE teachers are being cut around here. And then you are not allowed to win!

Thing is though, we have a great chance to have a double dunt on this with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. The great feeling that the majority of the country is experiencing just now should just about be wearing off but still fresh in the memory. If the home nations have another good games there, then the effect will hopefully last that wee bit longer and encourage some world beating talent!

But then again! Based on the number of Gold medals won in these games, Yorkshire would be first(8) and Scotland Second(7)!!
Arabest,
Geoff.

[Vodka]

I would be one of the first to admit I was completely wrong about having the Olympics here in London. Back in 2005 when it was awarded I was thinking back then, time to get out of town in 2012. How wrong I was.

Travelling in the City was a doddle, better than normal.

The BBC coverage was truly fabulous!

The sports, and there were many I've never watched or had any inclination too previously. Archery, trap shooting, gymnastics! Tennis for heavens sake! I watched flaming tennis! But! Wasn’t it utterly amazing. No way did I ever think we would do so well. Didn’t think we would beat the 2008 tally let alone what we actually achieved.

For the doom mongers I ask you if you weren’t emotionally moved by such people as Gemma Gibbons winning Silver, whispering up to the heavens "I Love you mum". Or Ali Campbel in the single men sculls. . Bronze medal! The boys in the double sculls getting Silver. Silver to them was utter failure to us it was a heroic deed. The 4 x 100m relay chap who ran the last 30m on a broken leg! Katherine Grainger, again in the rowing. ."Always the bridesmaid never the bride", winning GOLD at 37 years old, her fourth Olympics. Mo Farah with Usain Bolt, jess Ennis not least the success in cycling! 7 Golds out of a possible 10

The list is endless of not just sporting endeavour but the endeavour of the individual in every sport. That is the one thing I realised was the total dedication and in many instances the sacrifices made. Hell I was almost blubbering into my Peroni watching Charlotte Dujardin on the bouncy horse in the individual Dressage. Deassage!!! Boxing, blimey who would of thought!

The atmosphere in each venue. 30,000 at Eton dorney each day. The Velodrome; 128 decibels of Team GB roaring. 79,000 watching Women’s football! And the ladies showed the men how to beat Brazil too. One thing I noticed, football . We are still in the belief we are a great footballing nation. Women’s perhaps. Men’s lol men’s footballers refusing to sing the national anthem, Ok don’t have to sing it but you don’t need to go out of your way to make a statement saying you’ll refuse to sing the national anthem. If Sir Chris Hoy can sing the National Anthem with pride why can’t a certain welsh footballer? Especially as he’s moral code is just so high, (excluding the affairs he tried to hush up with and without super injunction oh and then being found out for shagging your wife’s sister! Yeah. . Moral and integrity of a. . well a premiership footballer!

One thing these Olympics have shown this non-believer is that we can actually put our mouth where our money is afterall.

Who knew the charity shield was played last weekend?

And that’s the sour taste I now have. I seriously miss watching the Olympics throughout the day and night. Returning this weekend is Football.

“It must be hoped that our children and young people see their football 'heroes' for what they really are (spoilt, grossly overpaid, often lacking moral fibre), in the light of our truly heroic athletes and their dedication, sacrifice and amazing talents!

A great two weeks for GB sport. but footballers are still there to remind us its not the taking part but how much their agents can get in their bank accounts.”

A once in a lifetime experience. Les not wee forget Women’s beach volleyball ROCKS! Zara Dampney !!

[AlexC]

Travelling in the City was a doddle, better than normal.

I flew into Heathrow T3 on 30th July which I thought was going to be a nightmare, but that was also turned out to be a doddle, best that I can remember.