The Gold, Silver and Bronze pro-Olympics Thread

[Northender]

Well, what a miserable old lot of curmudgeons you are! Is no-one excited about the gymnastics win or that Team GB Women, Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins, propelled us into Friday’s final of the women’s double sculls with a flourish, shattering the Olympic record by almost five seconds?

I suppose I shall have to remain getting over excited all by myself.

Don't worry, love, I'm sure you're not entirely alone.
Just watched Barenboim's Beethoven 7th - THAT was quite exciting.

[Flosshilde]

Scotty, if you mix your booze like that you'll end up with one L of a hangover.

[mercia]

if no golds are forthcoming from team GB perhaps we can claim yesterday's Lithuanian swimming gold
apparently she's at school in this country

[Pabmusic]

...Giggs and Bellamy may not have done any singing, but they were working hard last night in a busy match which had its moments...

I watched Spain leave the competition, courtesy of Honduras. Not one of the Spanish team sang their anthem. Then I remembered that the Spanish anthem has no words. This is the answer! If we must have a national jingle, make it wordless. The only reason for not liking it, then, would be purely subjective.

[scottycelt]

I watched Spain leave the competition, courtesy of Honduras. Not one of the Spanish team sang their anthem. Then I remembered that the Spanish anthem has no words. This is the answer! If we must have a national jingle, make it wordless. The only reason for not liking it, then, would be purely subjective.

Some of us can remember when very few Britons actually sang the anthem at such events, though a few may have been witnessed occasionally mouthing it. We left that sort of thing to over-emotional foreigners and were amused at Americans apparently making sure their hearts were still there.

Giggs and Bellamy were dignity personified compared to some of their team-mates, and they should be praised not castigated simply to appease the mock outrage of a few English Nationalists.

Deeds not words, please!

[Pegleg]

Deeds not words, please!

Which is exactly the point I was trying to make.

If you're waiting for your next Olympic fix, and would rather not read about Daley bashing or spats about Chinese swimmer's too good to be true result, you might like this vid:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/interactive/2012/jul/07/london-2012-olympic-bodies-interactive?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT758I2

Fear not Anna, it's all done in the best possible taste with no nobbly bits on show. Really it's as much about mind as body. And as far as ageing is concerned, I've been there and done that, that's one clock you cannot beat.

[Pipisme]

Well, what a miserable old lot of curmudgeons you are! Is no-one excited about the gymnastics win or that Team GB Women, Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins, propelled us into Friday’s final of the women’s double sculls with a flourish, shattering the Olympic record by almost five seconds?

I suppose I shall have to remain getting over excited all by myself.

I am very excited about the men's gymnastic win and about Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins getting into the women's double sculls final on Friday.

The women's gymnastics final is this afternoon/evening.

[Pegleg]

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning: rowing - women's pair, Wednesday, 11:50 BST One to watch, and hopefully the weather well dry out by then.

For a bit of fun you could try this: Your Olympic athlete body match - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19050139

It seems at 1.8m and 78Kg I've got an Olympic body, they must be kidding. Where's the clappedoutometer input?

[vinteuil]

extraordinary the range of athletes - from the Japanese woman at 4' 6" high and weighing 4 st 10 lbs - the Chinese basketball man at 7' 2" - the Ukrainian weightlifter at 25 st 3 lbs...

[amateur51]

Some of us can remember when very few Britons actually sang the anthem at such events, though a few may have been witnessed occasionally mouthing it. We left that sort of thing to over-emotional foreigners and were amused at Americans apparently making sure their hearts were still there.

Giggs and Bellamy were dignity personified compared to some of their team-mates, and they should be praised not castigated simply to appease the mock outrage of a few English Nationalists.

Deeds not words, please!

[Pabmusic]

Some of us can remember when very few Britons actually sang the anthem at such events, though a few may have been witnessed occasionally mouthing it. We left that sort of thing to over-emotional foreigners and were amused at Americans apparently making sure their hearts were still there.

Giggs and Bellamy were dignity personified compared to some of their team-mates, and they should be praised not castigated simply to appease the mock outrage of a few English Nationalists.

Deeds not words, please!

Well said!

[Lateralthinking1]

Re post number 50, it has nothing whatsoever to do with English nationalism (which unlike the SNP mostly has a small "n" - perhaps when you were twisting things round you forgot that?). It is about British representation and English safety.

Not singing the words of the British anthem, while claiming to represent Britain, is a deed. And not a good one.

Before this event, I was broadly supportive of Scottish and Welsh independence if favoured by a majority. Now the very obvious use of the Britain tag by some of these football players for their own personal advantage is changing my mind. They are just making use of all who believe in Britain and being two faced about their own allegiance.

In independence, such difficult people could become dangerous to England. They clearly enjoy disharmony.

Meanwhile, it might be fashionable for those on the left in England to applaud it. Many of the English regularly praise everyone other their own "family" in notable contrast to those on the left as well as the right both in Scotland and Wales.

It is based on a sense of guilt that we in England are all incredibly privileged because of history. Well, most of us are not privileged. Far from it and I don't subscribe to having a greater sympathy for people who are only allegedly oppressed elsewhere. Being British should be a way of ignoring that distortion of the present day and finding a point of unity rather than division.

As a matter of interest, scottycelt, which Britain in your view are these footballers representing when playing for the British team? And which Britain are you currently supporting, if indeed there is a Britain you are supporting?

[Don Petter]

That's all very well, but what does it actually mean? (if anything)

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ITYM

[mercia]

the Ukrainian weightlifter at 25 st 3 lbs...

......... not to mention the 34 st Guamian judoist

[scottycelt]

Re post number 50, it has nothing whatsoever to do with English nationalism (which unlike the SNP mostly has a small "n" - perhaps when you were twisting things round you forgot that?). It is about British representation and English safety.

Not singing the words of the British anthem, while claiming to represent Britain, is a deed. And not a good one.

Before this event, I was broadly supportive of Scottish and Welsh independence. Now the very obvious use of the Britain tag by some of these players for their own personal advantage is changing my mind. They are just making use of all who believe in Britain and being two faced about their own allegiance.

As independents, such difficult people could become dangerous to England. They clearly enjoy disharmony.

Meanwhile, it might be fashionable for those on the left in England to applaud it. Many there regularly praise everyone other their own "family" in notable contrast to those on the left as well as the right both in Scotland and Wales.

It is based on a sense of guilt that we in England are all because of history incredibly privileged. Well, most of us are not privileged. Far from it and I don't subscribe to having a greater sympathy for the only allegedly oppressed elsewhere. Being British should be a way of ignoring that distortion of the present day and finding a point of unity rather than division.

As a matter of interest, scottycelt, which Britain in your view are they representing when playing for the British team? And which Britain are you currently supporting, if indeed there is a Britain you are supporting?

They are representing Great Britain and almost certainly not the Little England that you, the Daily Mail and like-minded souls appear to represent.

You are entitled to your narrow, anglo-centric view of what it means to be British. However, the Scots and Welsh are just as entitled to hold a rather broader view, and certainly need no lectures from anywhere else as to how they should act and behave before being considered by the 'anywhere elsers' to be truly 'British'.