Streetlife

I have loved athletics all my life, since I was a runner in my teens.  But I was dismayed when London got awarded the Olympics because I thought we would royally screw it up and transport wouldn't cope and I thought it would go crazily over budget and all the rest of the normal cynical stuff.

But I am now happy to eat my cynicism. Apart from the missiles on the roof-tops, I believe it was handled impeccably, the vibe it created was brilliant and the competition was superb.  So many golden moments!

I honestly believe it marked the beginning of the end of the gloom in this country.  The recession is deep but it is, in the most part, more psychological than actual.  I think this Olympics brought us all together and made us feel positive again.  I am delighted it happened.

i've got to say as well, the missiles were never used or needed - thank heavan

There were a couple of times during the closing ceremony when they could have been of use....

As a complete and utter non-sporty household we were among those who though not anti- the Olympics coming to London were certainly not in favour.  However I am amazed at how we got totally addicted to watching it all and think we are now leading experts in diving and dressage, as well as other sports!  The mood has been incredible and I think Rio has a very hard act to follow.  The organisation was superb in every aspect.  The paralympics will make us all cry even more - bring them on, and good luck to Team GB.

The Olympics were never in doubt - the organisation surrounding them was.  The ORN was clear - the side roads were jam packed - some lights not changing long enough to let any vehicle cross - Lombard Road, Burntwood Lane and numerous side roads in Wandsworth were nightmares.

There were no right turns - as expected .. this and the diversions were causing more jams than I thought but hey ho ... always in the wrong eh?

I was pro Olympics from the get go, and am totally gutted now that it has finished. Part of the ORN was through Wandsworth high st on my way to work. In the end it  only added another 15 minutes to my journey so no problems there.

Thought the olympic park was great and would love to go again. Its a shame that access will take another 18 months or so once the paralympics are done.

As much as I abhor the millions of pounds that were spent, my family and I loved the whole event and were glued to our screens. We were lucky enough to go a couple of times and the atmosphere was amazing. We wished that we could have gone everyday!

I think that the fact that Team GB won so many medals made a world of difference to the way the country viewed it.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Games and all sporting aspects of it (as I do for every Games) as well as having the visiting athletes in town.

Whinging, whining and cynicism are things to be discouraged and avoided. But legitimately held views, concerns and philosophies need to be raised and discussed.

Whilst very much getting caught up in the sport and emotion of the Games, I did not and continue to not agree with the politics of the Olympic Games. One point to illustrate this: It is my belief that its unnecessary to spend as much as is being spent in recent history to stage the Games (2012, Beijing, Athens etc). Why does the IOC and Olympic family require such comfort and privilege, why do we need such a lavish Opening & Closing Ceremoney, why does Team GB need a designer outfit.....I could go on and on. NO country can afford this.

Is it just a chronic case of "the emperor's new clothes"? I fear it only opens the Games up to commercialisation in all its ghastly forms: branding, sponsors, privilege, power and greed (brevity prevents expanpositing other more positive aspects).

So in summary , not against the Olympic Games, but am skeptical about the road show surrounding them and specifically the spiralling costs of it and all the ramifications of that.

The Olympic Games is a great event. No doubt. And it's understandable for "Andrew h" to feel bouyant and proud at this half way point (para still to come). Whether 2012 can be deemed to be a success, however, depends on the parameters used to measure that. For instance, in 2016, one important criteria I will be using to judge success in my own mind will not be the lavishness of the ceremonies, but the impact on the environment of staging the Games (not to mention the world cup). i.e. what will the punchline be to "how many rain forests does it take to stage an Olympic Games? ".

So I finish by saying (and reminding myself) that things are always more complex than our minds can comfortably hold at any one time; reductionism helps us grasp concepts but be mindful that it is not the truth and beware being seduced into thinking that our points of view are "right" and consequently others are "wrong". And if you see an emperor in the nude, do say so...

I agree with Green Door a lot.  A TV pundit once said that the Olympics is watched by a few tens of thousands locally but by hundreds of millions, worldwide, on the telly.  So it becomes a TV spectcular.  That being the case, there is no reason why the whole lot should have to be hosted by a single country, with the financial burden it creates.  Each sport could be hosted by different countries (maybe in countries with a particular passion for that particular sport) and then the whole lot brought together in some TV centre for central editing and broadcasting.  That way, the world would be more involved and the costs shared.

And I agree the opening and closing ceremonies should be scaled down.

I don't remember much moaning. I remember some criticism. You can be both a fan and a critic.

I did not watch any of it, I regard as a complete waste of money that this country can ill afford.
It has made a few people, Coe & co, very wealthy people!!.

thanks for all the comments - I very much liked The Green Door''s analysis and found it very well thought through. I think the IOC has to scale itself back - halving its size would be a good start.
@Caroline - holding the events in seperate places / countries would lose a lot I think - no central mix of atheletes and spectators having to fly around to view more than one event....so no proper mixing of spectators.
@Gail - there was a barrage of moaning including claims that we would be under 2 weeks of gridlock and ambulances wouldn't reach hospitals. I think the evidence is that there was some fairly minor disruption.

This has been the 'Greenest' Olympic Games ever and the cost of the opening ceremony was less than half that of Beijing.

http://getset.london2012.com/assets-uploaded/documents/CCP_SustainabilityLeaflet_Oct_2009.pdf

Other than the empty seats at a fair few venues, when so many couldn't get a ticket, I think it largely went off well, with far fewer hitches than were expected.  I along with many others, who were sceptical before the start, due to the expense, potential transport problems etc, got into it in a big way, once it was underway.  A good tonic to counteract all the doom and gloom of the UK economy.  The fact that GB won so many medals, made a huge difference too.

My family and I also loved watching the Olympics. It was a great two weeks and we spent most of it glued to the t.v. (competing in the couch potato Olympics), so avoided any problems on the roads/public transport that Vivian experienced. But we were positive about it from the outset, having been in Sydney for the 2000 Olympics. It was great to see the Brits (so often such a moany bunch!) being proud and flying the flag.

That said, Green Door is right about the IOC. I was super cross to see all those empty seats, knowing that the intended bottoms belonged to "officials" and their fat wives who just came to shop at Harrods.

loved it and top viewing figures peaked at 28mill UK apparently..but eh was all good.

@mungomufit... The empty seats analysis is a bit too simple. Some of those empty seats at heats were for the families of athletes competing in the same session but a different heat.
Some were paid for and not used by sponsors. Pretty sad state of affairs but difficult to say you must get someone to sit in a seat you have bought.

thanks Andrew - yes, I suppose you must be right about some of those empty seats. I still think the IOC is a bloated and dubious outfit that doesn't add much value to the Games but costs a lot to the hosting country. I'm not talking about Seb Coe (he obviously put a lot into the Games), it's all the hanger-on-ers from other countries.

Good to see that the overwhelming view on this thread is positive about the Games in general though.

Very much looking forward to the para-olympics now.