The Gold, Silver and Bronze pro-Olympics Thread

[Flosshilde]

The absurd pronunciation killOMMeter would stand for a meter measuring kilos -of what?

Surely the correct pronounciation for something measuring kilos (weight) would be 'keelo-meter'?

& to express the frequency of the appearance of ships in a poem - 'Keel-metre'

[amateur51]

Surely the correct pronounciation for something measuring kilos (weight) would be 'keelo-meter'?

& to express the frequency of the appearance of ships in a poem - 'Keel-metre'

he's on form today!

[Flosshilde]

When I thought of the 'keel-metre' I had just been reading about 'The Odyssey' (which of course has lots to do with ships) & also had in mind Ian Hamilton Finlay's poetry, which often consists of ships.

[french frank]

Surely the correct pronounciation for something measuring kilos (weight) would be 'keelo-meter'?

Stress is movable for no semantic reason.

PAR-alyse, par-AL-ysis para-LYT- ic &c (even paraly-SAT-ion, I discover) ...


NB This is the pro-Olympics thread.

[vinteuil]

Stress is movable for no semantic reason.

PAR-alyse, par-AL-ysis para-LYT- ic &c (even paraly-SAT-ion, I discover) ...

.

... izzackerly.

PHO-to . pho-TO-graphy . photo -GRA- phical.

As regards KILL ometer - kil OMM eter

... this phenomenon of moving stress from first syllable to later in a polysyllabic word is a frequent characteristic of English.

I still stick up for KILLometer and CONtroversy (tho' I fear we are losing the battle...) ;

I think the battle has been lost for words such as -

deuteronomy - laboratory - disciplinary - despicable - hospitable - gladiolus

... ah well back to the olYMPics

[Lateralthinking1]

At last a truly great moment in the Olympics. Google Hurdling. My current personal best is 11.5.

[Quarky]

Perhaps the Olympinonsense thread could be a quiet corner for us curmudgeons to continue to compose 'Bah-humbug' posts, while those really interested in the Games could post here...?

Being interested in sport generally, but not too fond of these Olympics with all the hype, frenetic excitement, probably caused in large measure by TV news and sports reporters, and gold medals being showered like confetti, nevertheless I feel I might have something sensible to say.

Which concerns the Olympic legacy, the desire of the powers that be to increase the population's interest in sport (no doubt to reduce NHS costs) , and the use of sport as a means of overcoming divisions in society.

It is outstandingly obvious that there are great ethnic and cutural divides between the various sports disciplines. Athletics (my favourite spectator sport) - hardly a white face in sight in the stadium. Athletics should be the base sport for overcoming divisions, since it does not require huge investments and equipment - just a pair of running shoes. Have the whites given up on athletics?

Cycling (the sport in which I have been most active over the past few years). Again this should be one of the base sports for bringing people together. After all, it does not cost much to buy a bike, and nothing at all to head off on the open road. And the cycling champions are clearly totally classless, from Bradley Wiggins down. But in practice, if one is seriously interested in cycling, this will require cycling in very rural parts of the country, where people with skins of a different colour will be noticed. So stopping at a pretty tea shop, may become more of an obstacle than an inducement.

Rowing. This seems to be a strong middle class pursuit. And equestrianism even more. And will probably remain so, unless people from different backgrounds are "bussed in".

Sailing. Not sure about this one. It is a sport for the common man, but in practice investment in sailing equipment is required, and more importantly, it is probably necessary to live near the sea. So this rules out people living in large population centres some distance from the coast.

So it seems to me that these Olympics might possibly just emphasise these cultural divisions, rather than breaking them down.

[Northender]

I think it's significant that Andy Murray has largely avoided the deadly embrace of the British tennis establishment for most, if not all, of his career.

[Lateralthinking1]

Being interested in sport generally, but not too fond of these Olympics with all the hype, frenetic excitement, probably caused in large measure by TV news and sports reporters, and gold medals being showered like confetti, nevertheless I feel I might have something sensible to say.

Which concerns the Olympic legacy, the desire of the powers that be to increase the population's interest in sport (no doubt to reduce NHS costs) , and the use of sport as a means of overcoming divisions in society.

It is outstandingly obvious that there are great ethnic and cutural divides between the various sports disciplines. Athletics (my favourite spectator sport) - hardly a white face in sight in the stadium. Athletics should be the base sport for overcoming divisions, since it does not require huge investments and equipment - just a pair of running shoes. Have the whites given up on athletics?

Cycling (the sport in which I have been most active over the past few years). Again this should be one of the base sports for bringing people together. After all, it does not cost much to buy a bike, and nothing at all to head off on the open road. And the cycling champions are clearly totally classless, from Bradley Wiggins down. But in practice, if one is seriously interested in cycling, this will require cycling in very rural parts of the country, where people with skins of a different colour will be noticed. So stopping at a pretty tea shop, may become more of an obstacle than an inducement.

Rowing. This seems to be a strong middle class pursuit. And equestrianism even more. And will probably remain so, unless people from different backgrounds are "bussed in".

Sailing. Not sure about this one. It is a sport for the common man, but in practice investment in sailing equipment is required, and more importantly, it is probably necessary to live near the sea. So this rules out people living in large population centres some distance from the coast.

So it seems to me that these Olympics might possibly just emphasise these cultural divisions, rather than breaking them down.

A very interesting post Oddball. It is fascinating to ask on considering the athletes across the disciplines "if this is Britain, what Britain is this?".

Your summaries are accurate - in fact Allan Wells mentioned that he was the last white champion in his event; you could almost see the cogs turning in others as they tried to decide whether it was an acceptable things to say. Equally, almost everywhere there are exceptions to the rule which challenge over-eager pigeonholing; as Gabby Logan pointed out in regard to one individual, "so rowers aren't all from well-off backgrounds".

I find that where an unexpected individual is in a particular discipline, there is often a story to it; Grandad played for Arsenal, the family have been canoeists for generations, or even that there was tragedy in the family and circumstances just happened to enable sport to be a diversion. It is also worth asking is whether representation is broader where the facilities are, ie in Gateshead or Lee Valley. I may in time add further thoughts.

One thing though that I have decided about the crowds is that we are not witnessing a post-Diana phenomenon, as I originally thought, but rather a very American version of being British. It seems unprecedented and it probably for me answers the question "if these crowds are emotional, and they are, why does it seem to be a form of emotion that is different from what I would traditionally recognise as emotion, whether in British sport or elsewhere in Britain?".

[alywin]

Andy Murray won in three sets to get an Olympic Gold and beat the Federer jinx. A REALLY GOOD MATCH.

A bit late here, I know, but my definition of a "really good match" is where both players are playing really well at the same time, otherwise it's really just a great performance by one player. We nearly got one in the Wimbledon final, except that it was really first Murray and then Federer playing well. This was really excellent play by Murray - the best I've ever seen from him, I think - but Federer wasn't able to match it. (I would probably have been happy whoever the winner was, if the match had been good). I'm glad I put it on a rewriteable DVD, because it's not one I'll be keeping.

Oh well, it's one-all at Wimbledon now, then. Wonder what'll happen next year?

[MrGongGong]

Which concerns the Olympic legacy, .

Way to go

(wrong thread I guess ?)

I'm very happy for people to run around, throw stuff and jump over things and even spend vast amounts of money doing it
but to suggest that it somehow has a huge "legacy" flies in the face of experience and is clearly nonsense

[Flosshilde]

Athletics should be the base sport for overcoming divisions, since it does not require huge investments and equipment - just a pair of running shoes.

Duh, no. Athletics isn't just running (I think, but I don't know a lot about it so I'm probably wrong). If it is running, then running, competitively, as a the sport which takes place at the Olympics etc, needs rather more than 'just a pair of running shoes' - perhaps you're thinking of jogging in the park. Competitive running (leaving aside road races through city streets) needs a thing to practice on - you might have noticed it in the stadium, it's the thing round the perimeter with white lines on. It's called a running track, I think. They need a fair bit of space and regular (mderately expensive) maintenance. Unfortunately the present government's policies (& those of the previous one, to an extent) means that local authorities don't have the space (having sold it off) & don't have the money (having had their funds cut). Then there are the facilities like changing rooms - falling inot decay.

If it was 'just a pair of running shoes', these are rather expensive & tend to wear out quickly.

[Richard Tarleton]

Duh, no. Athletics isn't just running (I think, but I don't know a lot about it so I'm probably wrong). If it is running, then running, competitively, as a the sport which takes place at the Olympics etc, needs rather more than 'just a pair of running shoes' - perhaps you're thinking of jogging in the park. Competitive running (leaving aside road races through city streets) needs a thing to practice on - you might have noticed it in the stadium, it's the thing round the perimeter with white lines on. It's called a running track, I think.

The list goes on. I started trying to answer oddball's and lat's posts but soon gave up. You need space to throw things without hitting people or property (hammers, shots, javelins) plus a high calorie diet. Jumping - somewhere soft and free of dog dirt (which rules out the park) to land. Some sports are physiologically self-selecting - if you're a long distance runner it certainly helps to have been born and bred at about 7000 feet, though I'm not sure why there aren't more marathon runners from the Andes

Re Allan Wells, it's worth reminding ourselves he was 100 metres champion in a year that the US was boycotting the Olympics, which improved his chances considerably. I can't remember what the opposition from the West Indies was like that year.

[Quarky]

OK Flosshilde. Acknowledged that an athlete does need a track or a field in order to athleticise. But that of course should be provided by the State or Local Authority; all the athlete needs to bring to the party, at least in his early years, should be his/her “togs”.

But there are two points I want to make. Firstly I stand by my original post that there does seem to be a large cultural /ethnic divide between the various sports disciplines, and query? How to reduce these barriers? In respect of Athletics, the Olympics, and other major Athletic meets, give the impression that the afro element has taken over. Not that I am complaining about that, since obviously there were some very superior physiques on show. But as I said barely a white face on the track/ field (certainly not the blue-eyed variety!). We seem to be a long way from the days of Roger Bannister and the four minute mile, and this gives me concern that the white majority may be moving out into other peripheral sports where they feel they may be more successful.

Cycling of course does not require large investment by the State (wouldn’t be seen dead in a cycle lane!), but I do feel that out in the rural areas, people from ethnic groups may feel uncomfortable, and therefore may turn away from this most satisfying recreation/ sport.

My second point: how does the nation progress from this point, assuming the Olympics with all its success for Team GB has generated a large feel-good factor in the rest of the population?
The PM takes the view that there should be more sport in school, and more competitiveness. Well OK I guess that’s the way to make champions. But as someone for whom sports activities have played a large part in my life, but who never shone at all at sport in school, and found the competitive/team element counter-productive, I would rather focus on out of school facilities provided by local authorities and the State, for the public in general. My view is that if the government wishes to follow up on an Olympics legacy, then there has to be a lot more investment in swimming pools, running tracks, gyms, coaching staff, sports advisors, etc, etc. Certainly this is a good way to generate some cohesiveness between the various ethnic groups, and gives individuals the opportunity to optimise their potential.

Speaking from personal experience, I was fortunate late in life, and well past my sell-by date when I should have hung up my spurs, to join a sports park in Welwyn Garden City, which has among other things an open air velodrome. There I was fortunate enough to ride for a brief period of time with the Trott family (Laura, Emma and Adrian). These superior facilities provided by Welwyn were very helpful to me in showing me where I stood in the world of cycling, and generally in physical health terms (i.e. you’re past it old mate). If however there had been facilities such as these in a nearby town in my youth, my life might have developed quite differently.

[MrGongGong]

My second point: how does the nation progress from this point, assuming the Olympics with all its success for Team GB has generated a large feel-good factor in the rest of the population?

Feel good about what exactly ?
I'm genuinely pleased that those who like to do their sports things have had a good time
but the whole "feel good nation" nonsense puts me in mind of this