I wanted to discuss the Olympics from an angle of people's views on it, outside of the sporting aspect (I didn't want to disrupt the thread in the Sports section).

As many people here would have guessed, there are many angles about the Olympics that I don't like. Now, I've got breakfast coming up, so I'm going to just bullet point some of my views, which range from the Olympics in general, to the specifics of the London Olympics.

•  It's turned the competition of the world's best athletes into a nationalistic stomping ground. Achievements are not considered personal, but are attributed to nations, as a whole. As if I've had anything to do with anybody who wins a medal. I haven't, and I don't deserve any credit for it.
• It's become a celebration of pomp-and-circumstance. The over-engineered stadiums, press chambers, opening ceremonies, and the rest of it, really take away from the core of what the Olympics are about. Great athletism. In a way, this is similar to my first point, as much of it comes from hosting countries trying to outdo each other.
• The rights of the locals are usually trampled on. Look at at crackdowns in Beijing and London.
• The massive cost, particularly bad for London considering the debt crisis.
• The fact that our Government will happily supply tens of thousands of troops, at huge expense, armed to the teeth with the weapons to protect a sports arena when the police couldn't even protect our businesses in the London riots.
• The fact that the Olympics are happening in the economic centre of the country. People who are literally creating billions in wealth are going to have to face closed roads, even busier transportation, and the rest. I'm sure the City is going to see much larger-than-average employee absense or lateness during the next one and a half months.

Those are basically my views. Well done, you saved me some typing.

I remember being made to feel like a heel for wanting Aleksandr Karelin to retire undefeated and thinking his loss to Rulon Gardner was bullshit.

how has athletes ever been different?  not only were the olympics created for this reason specifically, when the packers won the superbowl i immediatly became a better person then my illinois native collegues.  that's half the point in having an althetics program...

and lolz if you think no one reconizes their personal achievements.  phelps is celebrated like a god here now-a-days. 

Agreed. Even if it's something he doesn't like, it's not an innate problem with the OLYMPICS. It's a "problem" with all of sports.

Team Sport = You do well and carry your team, entire team is happy and gets credit for being awesome

School Sport = Schools get credit and pride for winning teams

National Sports = Cities/States get credit and pride for their winning teams

International Sports = Countries get credit and pride for their winning teams

That's just how it works.

i don't even view it has a problem.  i don't like watching sports if there isn't a team i feel invested in.  i think most people share that.  that feeling of investment (in sharing the glory) is what keeps me paying to see sports events.  take that element out and you take out the audience (and money) as well.

• It's become a celebration of pomp-and-circumstance. The over-engineered stadiums, press chambers, opening ceremonies, and the rest of it, really take away from the core of what the Olympics are about. Great athletism. In a way, this is similar to my first point, as much of it comes from hosting countries trying to outdo each other.

I also feel like dismissing this one now.  i have dinner parties with my friends.  there is a lot of pomp-and-circumstance around the event and it is costly to me to host but you know what ... it's these types of events that make life worth living.  take away my celebrations and what is left??  work and sleep?  fuck that.  i didn't travel to paris to see the "finacially-and-use appropriate effiel towerette" .. i came to see something wonderous, something amazing, something worth traveling for..

I have no problem with people feeling pride in their local team, or what-have-you. My problem with the Olympics (and other major sporting events, not all) is that it becomes a part of statist dominance. "My country is better than your country because we win more medals, win more per person, or whatever". You don't see this, to the same extent, with other international sport events.

Look at the Tour d'France, US Open, Wimbledon, etc. In those, the quality of the athlete far exceeds their nationality. Let's see a little more than that.

As for school sporting events, this boggles my mind even more "My shitty school that I was forced to go to is slightly better at an extracurricular activity than your shitty school thst you were forced to go to". Personally, I love watching college sports, because I'm amazed by the quality of athletes, and admire the effort that they put in. I could not give a toss which school they go to.

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If the stadiums were built using private money, then, yeah, go for it. Pomp and circumstance does make things more exciting. The difference is, when you decided to host that event, you made that decision and controlled exactly how much you spent. At any rate, there's no way you'd ever go 5 times over budget. When they take £26 billion in taxes, you take away the amount of money that we have to spend on our own free time.

Part of what makes Disney World awesome is how over-the-top and larger-than-life everything is. And that's fantastic. Difference is: nobody paid for it that didn't want to.

when salt lake city hosted the winter olympics they did so underbudget and made a profit.  sounds like this isn't a problem of the olypics but your problem.

..but remember this too.  there are other less tangitable benefits to hosting the olympics than just looking at the budget.  the whole world is looking at you for weeks.  things like this drive tourism which i'd wager is a milti billion dollar industry for you.  my top google serach said this:

The total value of tourism to the UK is set to rise by more than 60% to £188 billion (1) over the next decade, says an independent report commissioned by VisitBritain.

marketing is an investment in your future.  no different for countries than for products (like 3rd party wii games am i right?)

I just don't grasp some of your points.

Yeah, it's all commercial and full of pomp and ceremony but that's how the world works.

Your Point 1: In the ancient games Sparta, Anthens, Argos and other Greek states took pride in the winners coming from their state. No different than countries being proud of their own doing well at the games now.
It stands to reason that among peoples constantly at war that the ancient greeks tallied up the winners and had bragging rights over states that had less winners.
Individuals gain rewards for their efforts. In the old days it was fame, now it's fame and a good living.
In truth I don't think this side of things have changed that much so if you have an issue blame the Greeks for that.

Your Points 3, 4 & 5: Why so hasty? Let time answer these questions. Wait until the figures are processed before your slam the olympics in London.

If the games make a significant financial lost and fail to change the standard of living in the east end then you have every right to moan, not that moaning now or then will make any difference but at least if you wait for the results you may have more weapons to defend your cause.

If the results prove positive then what?

Those are basically my views. Well done, you saved me some typing.

You are such a jerkface.