I love watching the Olympics. I wondering how it impacts the sports fan of Great Britain. Our local newspapers have been covering it quite well; highlighting local folks who are participating.

I thought the topic deserved its own thread to post our impressions, favorites, questions, observations, etc.

I was in London on business in 2000 when the Australia games were held. The TV coverage was fairly weak.

My favs are track and field and gymnastics.

My earliest memories of the Olympics were of the infamous 1972 games. Mark Spitz and Olga Korbut became legends while the officiating debacle in basketball cost the U.S. a gold medal. And, of course, the terrorism that resulted in the murder of several Israeli athletes and ruined the Olypics.

In 1976 I remember how well the American boxing team performed. It was probably thebest U.S. team ever with Howard Davis, Leon and Michael Spinks and Ray Leonard winning gold. Davis' mother died while he was competing and he missed her funeral. Another boxer, whose name escapes me, won a gold too.

But 1976 was dominated by Nadia Comaneci, who was only 14, when she wowed the world, and Bruce Jenner, who became the world's greatest athlete.

I'll still watch the Olympics, but it's not as interesting as it once was.

It's sport so i will watch it

The 1976 Montreal Olympics were also a lesson in how not to plan them. They spent a ridiculous amount of money on them, they didn't break even until the 2000s.

I wonder if Team USA will indeed retain their gold in what may very well be the last "Dream Team" of NBA players in the Olympics. (Was the original Dream Team the greatest basketball team in history?)

I'm sure USA will win the most medals again. I'm sure the opening ceremonies will be a hot mess (isn't director Danny Boyle is dealing with a strike as we speak?) but hey at least they dug up Macca for them. How appropriate.

BTW I hate to spoil it, but I know who will light the Olympic bowl of fire:

London has worked itself into a frenzy over the Games, but up here in the frozen wastebound North we aren't really part of it so are lacking a bit of enthusiasm (even though we have a few footy games here)

Got a good laugh yesterday when the organisers flew South Korea's flag at a North Korea event. Nuclear wars could start over less

I'm looking forward to the opening ceremonies even if it's just to watch McCartney. Glad to see the U.S. Women start off with a soccer victory. and of course, the eyes of the nation will be on the performance of Mitt Romney's prized horse.

Any rumors about who will light the torch? I'm hoping for Eddie The Eagle!

Now he is an Olympic hero, however i hear it could be either Roger Bannister or Steve Redgrave!!!!!

Fun Fact: London is seeing the highest military activity since WW2 with the Navy flagship in the Thames, the Royal Marines standing about and thousands of troops to deal with the rowdy Olympic fans. (Oh and anti-aircraf missiles on top of apartment buildings.)

Oh and some tourist also running for President claims London isn't ready for the Olympics. Meanwhile, the Mayor of London (allegedly an idiot) called him an idiot. Ouch.

~But hey, the PM's house does have a nice ass, no?

Apologizing in advance to our British friends, but the opening ceremonies were absolutely tedious. It started out as sweet, with the fields and the children singing songs from each of the four countries that make up the UK, but then it rolled (endlessly, btw) into WTF territory. The Industrial Revolution? Complete with smokestacks and the smell of sulfur?? REALLY?? Why didn't they include some children whose limbs were mangled while working in a mill?? Then the doctors and nurses wheeling the children in beds? The music from the past four decades was cute, though, and I loved the Queen and Daniel Craig in the helicopter. Otherwise, I just found the ceremony tedious and boring.

Same here, and was disappointed. The Queen's "entry" was hysterical and I was impressed by her sense of humor to have made that clip. I'm just waiting to see the U.S. and British athletes enter the arena before sleep.

Just finished it -- it wasn't too bad, but a bit weird. (After Beijing, I wasn't expecting anything to compare.) I was glad the A-Z went by "quickly" ...but Sir Paul sounded a bit off. But overall not bad.

PS - As for the Queen, that stunt was cool. But her sitting there, not even smiling or clapping or standing for at least the UK team was inexcusable.

The Queen doesn't stand for anyone.

McCartney sounded AWFUL at first, but got his voice back some a little later. He's growing some jowls!!

It was spectacular but a tad tedious. The Queen looked bored rigid and poor Muhammad Ali looked terrible. I always enjoy the athletes entries. Team USA looked very natty in their berets and Team GB looked ridiculous in their Ali G tracksuits

Watching this morning and China have took the first gold medal in the shooting! GB looking good in the rowing as per norm and Michael Phelps looked average in the swimming. His rival Ryan Lochte looked sharp though!

I don't stand for anyone either, so maybe I'd get along with the ol' girl.

McCartney's first notes were off, so much so that he giggled a bit in the second verse. I understand that he was a bit emotional and fought back some tears in the beginning. I don't expect the same McCartney that we had in the 60s-80s. At the age of 70 some of hits are hard to pull off with the same richness, for which he's known.

I knew he had to sing 'Hey Jude.' If this planet were to have a global anthem, uniting us all, this is the song.

And I've noticed the jowls for a while too. I'd recommend letting the hair go gray.

I may be in the minority, but I enjoyed the opening ceremonies. I saw most of it, but would like to ask about a few things I might have missed. First, was the ferris wheel a reference to the Great Exhibition? Was there a reference to the Crystal Palace? Also, I began watching when the spectacular display of the Industrial Revolution took place. Prior to that was there a tribute to Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre? I was hoping that there would be a celebration of Keats, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Tennyson too.

I thought that bringing the torch up the Thames was a wonderful sight too.

I agree with you on Ali. While he is an iconic figure, his presence was too uncomfortable.

I was also surprised that Roger Bannister didn't light the torch. Was he included in the ceremonies? i know he must be in his 80s, but last I had seen him on the news, he seemed fit as a fiddle.

The outfits had to look sharp as they were crafted by the best Chinese artisans that 40 cents an hour could buy. I thought the outrage over the American uniforms being made overseas was silly and hypocritical as Congress has stood silent for decades as the apparel industry left the country. Frankly, I couldn't care less that the uniforms were made in China.

The worst uniforms of the ceremonies belong to our neighbors to the North. Those red jackets with "CANADA" stamped on front in large letters looked as if they had been pulled from the K-Mart clearance rack 40 years ago.

did you expect it NOT to be tedious and boring??? that's what they call a "ceremony" - a shitpile of money wasted into the opening event, when there were already several games been played!!

I couldn't watch it for over 10 minutes. plus the "Hey Jude" every-single-time just makes me sick

If she can't stand, smile, and clap for her own nation's athletes, at least she shouldn't have been picking her nails when Great Britain marched into Olympic Stadium

Oh, cut her some slack, huh? She had just finished diving from a helicopter.

Bannister turned down the opportunity when asked.

Save for the Industrial Revolution* bit, which like Babe I thought was a questionabl artistic choice (yes celebrate utter poverty and human suffering!), I kinda enjoyed the ceremonies too? Like the Oscars they're alwyas overlong and overproduced (Danny Boyle spent reportedly $40 million), but they're pure propaganda spectacles. It's to be expected, so I got what I could from it. The best bits were the James Bond and Mr. Bean sketches. I did enjoy Branagh's brief Bard recitation.

How the torch was lit was pretty cool.

The most surreal moment was the how and why Boyle wanted to bind together both a celebration of British children's literature and the NHS. (I wished NBC could've cut to Mitt Romney's face when the NHS sketch happened.)

*=When those 5 rings were being "crafted," I only kept thing of LTOR. "5 Rings to rule them all!"

Speaking of bad taste, NBC decided to cut out the Opening Ceremonies section dealing with the tribute to the 7/7 terrorist attack victims in favor of Ryan Seacrest interviewing Michael Phelps.

Stay classy NBC.

~That deleted section, if you're curious:

http://deadspin.com/5929778/heres-the-op...want-you-to-see

I see Phelps only came 4th in the 400m individually swimming final..

He still may medal but his overpowering domination of the sport is behind him.

I must've watched almost 6 hrs of this today.

Ryan Lochte appears to be the new Phelps -- quite impressive!

On the gymnastics front, I've loved John Orozco since the trials a few weeks ago. Great story from the Bronx boy!

I'm addicted already.

I couldn't get into the bike riding but the gymnastics and swimming have been awesome, so far.

Bike riding would be interesting in if they had unicycle racing as well as surrey carts

Or couples having sex on the handelbars as they're going downhill at 60 mph.

uhhhh hmmm ****1/2