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2020 Olympic Games awarded to Tokyo


Saint-Armstrong
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No. I really wasn't bothered about it and most people I know felt the same way.

 

I think if you took a nationwide poll that the vast majority would be of the opposite opinion. Before the games I felt much the same as you but my opinion was completely changed. It was an utter triumph and made me proud to be British.

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I think if you took a nationwide poll that the vast majority would be of the opposite opinion. Before the games I felt much the same as you but my opinion was completely changed. It was an utter triumph and made me proud to be British.

 

I think you'll find that the vast majority were totally indifferent to the Games, much as they are over the World Cup, The Ashes, the death of Princess Diana...

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I think you'll find that the vast majority were totally indifferent to the Games, much as they are over the World Cup, The Ashes, the death of Princess Diana...

 

Nah I don't agree. Also the death of Diana has absolutely nothing to do with the world cup or the ashes. I reckon a vastly higher percentage of people felt positively about the games than the other things you mentioned. It showed Britain on the world stage in a positive light and was better than most people's expectations. Many with no interest n sport that I spoke to thought it was great.

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Nah I don't agree. Also the death of Diana has absolutely nothing to do with the world cup or the ashes. I reckon a vastly higher percentage of people felt positively about the games than the other things you mentioned. It showed Britain on the world stage in a positive light and was better than most people's expectations. Many with no interest n sport that I spoke to thought it was great.

 

My point is that these other events are seen as extremely important by some groups of people whilst others are totally indifferent. In my, admittedly limited, circle of acquaintances most took no interest in the Games whatsoever, yet will agree that they were a success for those who took part. But living down here on the south coast we do tend to have a different perspective to the London-centred media that dominate British economic and political life. I think this article probably sums up my attitudes best, and I never thought I'd say that about The Socialist World.

 

http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/6379

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Nah I don't agree. Also the death of Diana has absolutely nothing to do with the world cup or the ashes. I reckon a vastly higher percentage of people felt positively about the games than the other things you mentioned. It showed Britain on the world stage in a positive light and was better than most people's expectations. Many with no interest n sport that I spoke to thought it was great.

 

I agree with you. London was buzzing. I was there when Mo won the 5,000m gold one of the most (correction the most) exhilarating sports moment of my life. 80,000 people on their feet roaring him on. The bloke next to me sat down after, looked at me and said 'Fu@k I'm knackered' such was the backing Mo got.

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Wll, they did a bloody good job for those of us lucky to get to the WC back in 2002, and sure they'll make it a cracker.

 

Matt Slater couldn't resist a sly dig at Spain & Drugs Testing on Twitter which may have had an influence.

 

Only loser I can see is Toke's who's gonna have to dramatically increase the quantity, vocabulary and frequency of his Japanese Lessons to get us all up to fluency in time.

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Wll, they did a bloody good job for those of us lucky to get to the WC back in 2002, and sure they'll make it a cracker.

 

Matt Slater couldn't resist a sly dig at Spain & Drugs Testing on Twitter which may have had an influence.

 

Only loser I can see is Toke's who's gonna have to dramatically increase the quantity, vocabulary and frequency of his Japanese Lessons to get us all up to fluency in time.

 

I have had Hanna doing vocal exercises all morning so she is ready for the oral overload.

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I can only speak for the people in my street, the people I work with and have dealings with and others that I come across. None of them was bothered about the Games either way.

Weird. I don't know anyone who was anything but totally engrossed with the games. Some who were people who couldn't give a shiny one about the Olympics beforehand, and since. The effect it had was remarkable.

 

I remember watching Mo winning gold on a weekend night in a packed pub, everyone in there roaring him on. I simply can't remember anything similar happening with Athletics before or since.

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Weird. I don't know anyone who was anything but totally engrossed with the games. Some who were people who couldn't give a shiny one about the Olympics beforehand, and since. The effect it had was remarkable.

 

I remember watching Mo winning gold on a weekend night in a packed pub, everyone in there roaring him on. I simply can't remember anything similar happening with Athletics before or since.

 

Not weird, just normal :)

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Not weird, just normal :)

Clearly not normal, no. In fact I simply don't believe that you canvassed all of "the people in my street, the people I work with and have dealings with and others that I come across" and failed to find one single person who enjoyed the Olympics. Although quite why you'd make something up like that is bizarre.

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Clearly not normal, no. In fact I simply don't believe that you canvassed all of "the people in my street, the people I work with and have dealings with and others that I come across" and failed to find one single person who enjoyed the Olympics. Although quite why you'd make something up like that is bizarre.

 

Quite so, I would'nt make it up. Let's take my 85-year old neighbour for a start. He doesn't care about the Olympics in the same way that he doesn't care about football or golf or a hundred and one other things. He only really cares anout his cats and his garden and you won't find him in a pub cheering on Mo Farah. Then there are the people who work for me, a secretary in her 40s, my co-director in his 40s and a young apprentice. They all have other priorities and it's the same with my suppliers, they really couldn't give a toss.

 

That's not to mean that I don't know people who enjoyed them or took an interest in them One of my sisters did but she used to do the pentathlon for Enfield Harriers and lives on the fringes of London so it's not surprising. All that I'm saying is that there is a whole group of people out here for whom the Olympics were an irrelevant distraction and who never watched one minute of them. Nothing wrong with that.

Edited by Whitey Grandad
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How much of the cost are you upset about having to pay for yourself? What I mean is, how much came out of your pocket for it that you are so dead set against?

 

I've just seen this post. I have seen various figures up in the range £9bn to £11bn. Some of this was lottery money but it's difficult to get anyone to admit to the real figure. From my point of view I don't want to pay for one penny of it, but I would like to see better sports facilities at local levels and this I would be prepared to pay for.

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I can imagine a lot of people just playing along with Whitey and lying about what they thought about the Olympics just to stop him going off on one, quite frankly.

 

You could be right, it would explain a lot :eek: Of course it could be the other way round and it's everybody else that gets a false opinion. How else could you explain the alleged popularity of Strictly Come Dancing or Big Brother?

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For those who got tickets I'm sure it was superb. Personally watching it on telly made no difference if it was in London or Tokyo.

We have posts on here about people striking in the public sector for higher wages, well some of the reason they cannot have those is down to the debt we added to having the luxury of the Olympics. Tourism dropped last summer as people don't want to go to the city holding the Olympics.so there was other hidden costs eg less tax revenue.

I'm with Whitey,

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For those who got tickets I'm sure it was superb. Personally watching it on telly made no difference if it was in London or Tokyo.

We have posts on here about people striking in the public sector for higher wages, well some of the reason they cannot have those is down to the debt we added to having the luxury of the Olympics. Tourism dropped last summer as people don't want to go to the city holding the Olympics.so there was other hidden costs eg less tax revenue.

I'm with Whitey,

 

Reports vary, but some suggest that whilst numbers dipped, revenue was pretty flat as those that did come spent more than average.

 

Public sector wages and the Olympics don't have a huge bearing on each other. There are plenty of other black holes in the public coffers that swallow up much more funds with far less return.

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For those who got tickets I'm sure it was superb. Personally watching it on telly made no difference if it was in London or Tokyo.

We have posts on here about people striking in the public sector for higher wages, well some of the reason they cannot have those is down to the debt we added to having the luxury of the Olympics. Tourism dropped last summer as people don't want to go to the city holding the Olympics.so there was other hidden costs eg less tax revenue.

I'm with Whitey,

 

I am pretty sure this is exactly it. To be fair, you didn't really need tickets just a bit of effort. I got into it early on with the road race. My mate lives near a pub on a road the race went through. We spent a full day in there following it. The race came through on both directions and it really added to it. To be fair 'team GB' did really shit, might as well put me and bear on a couple of BMXs as some kazakh on smack legged it throu for the gold. Still had a good day out and loved it though. Will probably go to Tokyo and enjoy that too. Might take Kelvin's glove as he is such a Japanese Peopdohpile. He can pay for the tickets, I'll set him up with my mate's kids. Win win.

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Did anyone cry at any of it?

 

I mean, I didn't, but I was just, you know, curious.

 

For a friend.

A "friend" might have found himself shedding a tear after a couple of bottles of red watching the opening ceremony. "He" was quite surprised that after all the anticipation and expectation of it being a bit sh*t, it was actually incredible.

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