Olympics 2012 - 1 7

Last night I walked up the road to a local pub to meet a mate of mine whom I have not seen for many years to chat about old times and old friends over a pint of beer one could taste and enjoy. Coming home the sun was setting casting a golden glow over the houses. It might have been setting but not for team GB at the Olympics as a further three gold medals spread across the most diverse events were won.

From dancing horses to female boxers to a young girl from Wales who took pride in trying to kick their opponents head off, the strains of “God Save the Queen” once again echoed through the Olympic venues. Add to that the Bolt double and the greatest 800mtrs ever run and you had another wonderful day.

I was invited later on in the evening to be a guest on a Australian radio station to share my views on the Olympics later in the evening which just brought home how small the world is these days, and Englishman, living in the USA is a guest on an Australian radio station to talk about this global event.

The events so far have been watched by 6.9 million people live, and yesterday at the ladies boxing finals it seemed that most of Ireland had been crammed into the arena. The noise within the venue created a higher decibel reading then a jumbo jet taking off. The golds team GB and then the first for Ireland not only showed that female boxing is here to stay in the Olympics but also that these ladies have what it takes. I wondered what happened after the first two bouts yesterday as I bet there was a mass evacuation to local bars to celebrate after those early golds.

In dressage we had horses dancing to music as diverse as “Lion King” and “The Greta escape”, I could swear that the horses were even pointing their toes, rather hooves as they danced across the arena.

Later after another series of athletic highlights on the track a small welsh girl won Britain's first ever gold medal in Taekwondo, another sport which the wonderful Olympic coverage has been brought to the millions of viewers around the world.

On a slightly different note Christian news outlet OneNewsNow.com produced one of the funniest moments over the last few days. They have and automated system to stop the word “gay” being published on their web site, automatically replacing it with “homosexual”. So when they printed a large story about American sprinter “Tyson Gay”, or as they wrote “Tyson Homosexual”.it read...

“It means a lot to me,' the 25-year-old Homosexual said. “I'm glad my body could do it, because now I know I have it in me.”

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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Olympics 2012 - 12

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One of the great things Great Britain are doing for these Olympics is to bring out special stamps celebrating each of the gold medalist. With 14 gold medals this has put a great amount of work on the Post Office.

 As team GB's first gold medal winners at the London 2012 Olympics were being honored special stamps are being produced than 24 hours after each athletes victory in their events.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning made history as Britain's first Olympic women's rowing team to take gold and Bradley Wiggins became the country's most decorated Olympian after winning the men’s time trial.

Around 100,000 Royal Mail stamps with images of the winners will be delivered to 500 gold medal special post offices across Britain.

Tim Cowen from Royal Mail says the printing team have been gearing up for this moment for quite some time.

"We've been practising this for about two years. We reckon that as long as we don't get any more than three gold medals in an hour, people will be able to buy those stamps (the next day) in post offices," he said.

Royal Mail Stamps are iconic and whenever historic occasions like this happen you would expect Royal Mail to do something a bit special, and hopefully that's what people will think we've done.”

An additional 4,700 post offices will receive the gold medal stamps within a week.

Royal Mail's chief executive Moya Greene said the organisation is delighted to be issuing the stamps.

"This is a first for Royal Mail and we are proud to play our part in celebrating the many victories this summer," she said.

As an additional honour each of their home towns, where possible, will have a post box painted gold to mark their success.

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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Olympics 2012 -10

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  Birdie damage, costume issues and a non slide

As always there have been a few "controversial" issues in these Olympics, and I'm not talking boxing where a person who got knocked down 5 times in a round still managed to score ten points while on his rear and win the bout. But more so the "birdie" attack. For those not used to badminton, the shuttlecock is sometimes called a "birdie". Over the last couple of days 4 pairs in the woman's doubles have been ejected for "not trying". These 8 athletes lost their games on purpose so they could get a better draw in the next round. Thankfully they did not get away with the "gamesmanship" and have now got a very easy next round, sitting whatching the players that did try.

In weightlifting  Ghada Hassine of Tunisia became the first Olympic weightlifter to compete in a newly approved unitard covering most of her body.

Rules requiring lifters to wear a uniform that doesn't cover the arms and lower legs were changed last year. The U.S. had petitioned for a change on behalf of a Muslim lifter.

Hassine, 19, wore the unitard Wednesday under the traditional weightlifting outfit and a hijab covering her hair as she participated in group B of lower-ranked lifters in the women's 69-kilogram category.

Perhaps for the puritan minded we might be seeing such items being warn in the swimming pool. Water polo, which is a cross between rugby and underwater wrestling, is not exactly a mild sport. During yesterdays woman’s match between Spain and the USA, a Spanish player's swimsuit was pulled, leaving her breast exposed..

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Shock horror… Just walk along any beach in Spain or most other Mediterranean countries and you’ll see breasts expose everywhere, without the aid of a water polo game.

NBC were actually showing this even live, which is a shock in itself, having had issues with their tape delay, let’s face it a 5 hour delay in showing the opening ceremony there must have been some issues.

“Give it a go” lord mayor of London,  Boris Johnson came a bit unstuck when he tried out a zip line that was 45 meters (148 feet) high and 320 meters (1,050 feet) long at east London's Victoria Park. The portly mayor lost momentum about three-quarters of the way across, leaving him dangling from his harness about 10 meters (33 feet) above ground for a few minutes.

Glad to see he was still waving the flag.. Looking at the picture I wonder if he went “weeeee” as he slid down.

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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Olympics 2012-8

New Zealand's hopes of qualifying for the final of the women's quadruple sculls at Eton Dorney were dashed when an oar broke with about 400m remaining in the repechage race.


The Kiwis were third at the time - with four boats going through - when Fiona Bourke was left stranded on Dorney Lake. They finished last, 30 seconds behind winner Australia.

Tunisia may have missed out on its first medal at the London Olympics because of bad arithmetic. His coach made a mistake of starting weightlifter Khalil El-Maoui who was in second place of the men's 56kg at at 158kg instead of the planned 148kg putting Khalil out of the medals due to an arithmetic mistake.

In a story reminiscent of the Jamaican bobsleigh team and Eric "the eel" Moussambani, comes Djibo Issaka.

The 35-year-old from Niger was given a rapturous reception normally reserved for gold medallists after struggling to the finish line in the men's single sculls at Eton Dorney.

Why? Because he has only been rowing for three months.

Niger received a wild card to the Olympics, allocated to ensure all 204 National Olympic Committees can take part even if no athletes have qualified.

Djibo Issaka thinks his performance could mark the start of a new era for rowing in Niger.

"There are many people who want to start rowing because I have come to the Olympic Games," he said.

"We will start when I get back. We just have to wait for the boats to arrive."

Keep an ear out for a wide variety of music at London 2012, from the national anthems recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra to “Out of a Rainbow”, the song of mascots Wenlock and Mandeville. But will anything beat the music that greeted water polo teams as they entered the arena in 2008? Beijing’s brilliant choice: the theme from the movie “Jaws”.

The slowest marathon in history?

If you think that’s a long time, try the lifetime it took Japanese runner Shizo Kanaguri to complete the 1912 marathon. Kanaguri collapsed in the Stockholm race and reputedly woke up the next day in the house of a farming family who took him in. Having returned to Japan without telling the organisers, he was officially listed as missing by Swedish authorities. It wasn’t until 1966 that Kanaguri, long after his retirement, finished the race. Invited by a television company to complete the course, he accepted. His finishing time: 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 20 seconds.

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

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OLYMPICS 2012 -2

I have posted before about the opening ceremony, being full of animals and comparing the three cows to the thousands of people who took part on the Chinese ceremony, now comes a possible block busting leak.

"Previous reports of director Danny Boyle's opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics   detailed an epic retelling of Great Britain's history in three sweeping acts through a massive display of song and dance (and cows). Boyle and company have done everything they can to keep the details from leaking out and spoiling the surprise for the four billion people that are expected to watch it. One more detail, however, leaked out, and it may be the best one yet.

 

The British Sunday Times news paper  reported that Boyle is planning on staging an epic battle for the soul of Britain between the evil Voldemort from the "Harry Potter" series and a massive crowd of flying nannies styled after the iconic British nanny from the book and film "Mary Poppins." The report also said other fictional characters from British literature such as Peter Pan and Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" will make an appearance in the ceremony presumably to represent the mark his country has made on art, literature, and film.

 

 I'm not doubting Boyle's vision for the ceremony or Britain's influence on the world, especially when it comes to England's contributions to the creative world. However, "Harry Potter" and "Mary Poppins" does seem a little shallow when it comes to praising Britain's footprint on popular culture. If it were up to me, the opening ceremony would include a massive battle for the soul of the world between Manuel from "Fawlty Towers," John Cleese from Monty Python and the last five Doctor Whos who join forces to destroy a crowd of rage infected zombies from "28 Days Later".

 

Now THAT'S an opening."

We'll have to wait and see

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

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