2012 Olympic Games

[Hawkswill]

Very true Batjac, and there are certainly very different scorings at times. I remember I had to replace a diver on our swim team once when she was in a car wreck. It was a most important last year swim meet. Even a third in diving, which is all I could hope for, might make the difference between the city championship win or loss. There were 5 judges, and one of them was the one who taught me the three dives I had to use in the competition, (I had always played around with dives but had never even thought of competing). My swim coach did not give me the option of refusing. One dive was an inward one and a half pike if I remember right. Anyway, it was very important to spring high and come down as close to the board as possible. I did THAT all right. In fact, I scraped from my head to foot all the way down. NO ONE saw it, (it was that slight...the board didn't even bounce more), but Jimmy Payne's father.....the man who had taught me. Everyone gave me a 10 except for him.........he gave me a 3. We won the Championship of Atlanta for the first time anyone had beaten Cherokee CC for years. Wasn't my dives that did it....but they helped. I think there should be a great deal MORE judges in those type of competitions to help weed out the cheaters. Can't see any other way to make it work. As for the team or individual scoring events...you are right.....still have line judges, refs, etc.

One thing though.......instant replay has really made the judges pay more attention to their calls, don't you think?

[Stumpy]

Would you believe they had poetry at one time!

I can remember a time when the summer Olympics consisted almost solely of track-and-field events.

[Hondo Duke Lane]

Overall, the Olympics were a success with records being broken, very exciting competetions out there. And no incident. I believe that this was very successful. I must admit that I didn't see a lot of the competetion, but enjoyed what I did see. Thanks London for an exciting games. Your weather from what I heard was perfect. Not hot like in other places. Might be some of the resasons for so many records being broken.

Cheers Hondo

[ethanedwards]

Overall, I thought the Olympics in London were a resounding success.
I said earlier in this thread,
that we could well do without the paint drying events,
and the totally unnecessary opening parade of athletes,
all who were not there anyway!!

I am not a great believer in the Olympic games as
it has changed direction,mainly because of money!!

However I thought the opening and closing ceremonies
and the general hosting of the games were wonderful,
and the UK can be proud of forever.
They did pass without incident, as I thought they would do,
I paid no heed to the doom mongers about terrorist threats,
as I believe in recent years we have got to grip with most of them.
We have the security and intelligence forces to thank for that.

Well done London

[Hondo Duke Lane]

Overall, I thought the Olympics in London were a resounding success.
I said earlier in this thread,
that we could well do without the paint drying events,
and the totally unnecessary opening parade of athletes,
all who were not there anyway!!

I am not a great believer in the Olympic games as
it has changed direction,mainly because of money!!

However I thought the opening and closing ceremonies
and the general hosting of the games were wonderful,
and the UK can be proud of forever.
They did pass without incident, as I thought they would do,
I paid no heed to the doom mongers about terrorist threats,
as I believe in recent years we have got to grip with most of them.
We have the security and intelligence forces to thank for that.

Well done London

Well Said, Keith. Did you go to anything involving the Olympics? When the games came to Atlanta in 1996, I was only 200 miles from the games and didn't go anywhere near it. Too much going on with them and strong encouragement not to come around. So, I didn't .

Cheers Hondo

[Hawkswill]

Well Said, Keith. Did you go to anything involving the Olympics? When the games came to Atlanta in 1996, I was only 200 miles from the games and didn't go anywhere near it. Too much going on with them and strong encouragement not to come around. So, I didn't .

Cheers Hondo

You should have gone to Athens or one of the outlying areas Mike. A friend of mine was a vendor there, and she said it was more like going to a large rivalry football game. Sure glad there was no trouble in the UK. How long have you been in Atlanta? I left in 1969 when it got too big for me, LOL. Atlanta CC was way out in the country then! Went to Westminster and then Piedmont Nursing School. Went back for my reunion a few years ago...we stayed in Buckhead...I still knew my way around there and it was right at West Paces Ferry so we could go visit the school. KEITH

[ethanedwards]

Well Said, Keith. Did you go to anything involving the Olympics? When the games came to Atlanta in 1996, I was only 200 miles from the games and didn't go anywhere near it. Too much going on with them and strong encouragement not to come around. So, I didn't .

Cheers Hondo

No Mike, like you I went nowhere near it,
in fact my girlfriend moved out of London,
whilst it was on, to be down here in the South West.

The nearest I got ,was seeing the Olympic torch,
coming through my home town

[Hondo Duke Lane]

You should have gone to Athens or one of the outlying areas Mike. A friend of mine was a vendor there, and she said it was more like going to a large rivalry football game. Sure glad there was no trouble in the UK. How long have you been in Atlanta? I left in 1969 when it got too big for me, LOL. Atlanta CC was way out in the country then! Went to Westminster and then Piedmont Nursing School. Went back for my reunion a few years ago...we stayed in Buckhead...I still knew my way around there and it was right at West Paces Ferry so we could go visit the school. KEITH

I live in Alabama just outside of Montgomery. I don't go to Atlanta if I can help it. No fun at all. I have to go through when I go to Greensboro for convention, which I missed this year. But it is the only way on the ground to get there from my house. No way will I go there if I can help it. I won't go there this weekend to see the Dodgers (I'm a fan). Just hate that town.

Cheers Hondo

[Hondo Duke Lane]

No Mike, like you I went nowhere near it,
in fact my girlfriend moved out of London,
whilst it was on, to be down here in the South West.

The nearest I got ,was seeing the Olympic torch,
coming through my home town

That was cool to see the torch. When it made its trip to my area, the torch didn't go to my hometown, but did the towns around me, so I missed that too. Just too many people to really enjoy it.

Cheers Hondo

[Dooley]

That was cool to see the torch. When it made its trip to my area, the torch didn't go to my hometown, but did the towns around me, so I missed that too. Just too many people to really enjoy it.

Cheers Hondo

Do you know what was really funny guys? I work and have meetings in London a couple of times a week so travel through the capital quite a lot. I think the whole thing was blown out of all proportion to keep people away. I have never in all my times of going to London seen it as empty as during the Olympics! It was almost scary how quite the tubes and streets were, unbelievable!
The irony is yesterday was absolutely heaving, to the point I watched 3 tubes come and go as they were too rammed to get on... School holidays, Go figure!

[arthurarnell]

Hi

My future son in law (as of tomorrow) was a driver volunteer he said it was quite boring as he was driving VIPs around all day. At least he got to watch a part of the games as he had to take some people to Wimbledon and as he had to wait to bring them back he was allowed to watch the tennis.

When the torch came to Pompey on a Sunday night I was supposed to see it arrive in the Naval Base and I was supposed to dress up as Henry VIII. Because it was a Sunday night with hundreds of people around and the bus routes all closed my wife and I said forget it and we left work early to avoid the crush.

Regards

Arthur

[Hawkswill]

I live in Alabama just outside of Montgomery. I don't go to Atlanta if I can help it. No fun at all. I have to go through when I go to Greensboro for convention, which I missed this year. But it is the only way on the ground to get there from my house. No way will I go there if I can help it. I won't go there this weekend to see the Dodgers (I'm a fan). Just hate that town.

Cheers Hondo

DUH...don't know why I thought you lived in Atlanta. I think someone on the list does. Anyway, I know exactly how you feel. As I said, I left in 1969 when it got way to big for me. It has far outgrown those boundries now! When I visit old friends, I am lucky that they thought about the future growth and built their houses far outside the city. Of course, the are in it now, but on the outskirts around Jimmy Carter Boulevard. So, when coming down from NC, I just hit the north part and don't have to go through the town itlself. Back in the sixties, it was a nice town to live in. My father was with a large architectural firm and did the specifications for a great many of the monster buildings downtown. He even figured a way to build the Alexander Memorial Colliseum which was home of the GA Tech basketball team.......no center posts in the entire building....just a large dome...first one of its kind. No, don't blame you at all. At least you can take the bypass now. I don't because it adds too much time. I just plan my trip to hit Atlanta in the wee morning hours, (around 3 or 4 AM on a weekday. Traffic is at a minimum, and I still remember the main route through downtown from years ago. You know, when they built the very first freeway, my Dad's firm told them they should move the bridge supports much farther back so that more lanes could be added as needed. No one would listen. Thee lanes on each side, back then, was considered quite enough.............they ended up having to take out and replace a lot of the bridges, LOL!
You mentioned a convention in Greensboro....assume that is NC. Are you in the furniture business....lots of that up here? I am about 45 minutes from Greensboro. Would be fun to meet for lunch if you make it up here this time. If you had any spare time, could probably arrange for you to see my friend's film collection. He is quite the "buff", has thousands of reel to reels, two theaters one in each house and posters and memorabilia he still hasn't found space to display. He built a film wing at Appalachian State college in Boone and occasionally teaches classes there. Here is an early bit about John's project: http://films.appstate.edu/pagesmith/25
Have a good one, Keith