Aaso said on July 6, 2005 12:46:

I was really praying for that :))

ncurran said on July 6, 2005 12:59:

i was hoping Paris would win actually but never mind

Vixzter said on July 6, 2005 13:55:

Now I think i will be inspired to try out for the hockey team, atleast we’ll qualify this time as hosts ;-)

ncurran said on July 6, 2005 14:45:

because i can see the whole project turning into another millenium dome or scottish parliament. British officials are useless at organising things

Jud (moderator) said on July 6, 2005 15:10:

Congrats!!

I actually don’t remember how it was to have the games in Barcelona in 92, I guess I was not so much interested in that by then, with my 15 years.. I didn’t see anything, just some on TV. Now I realise it was a big thing.. where was I that summer?? *puzzled*

Anyway, Switzerland (Basel, Berne, Geneva, Zurich) and Austria (Vienna, Salzburg, Klagenfurt and Innsbruck) organise the Euro 2008 (I wonder why two countries at once?), if we are still living here, I guess I’ll go to some matches (or sell the tickets if they get high bids :P - maybe we should rent the flat too?) - So far, they are building many stuff here in Vienna which is nice, of course!

ah well, Madrid can still get it another year :)

Vixzter said on July 6, 2005 16:06:

Chirac automaticaly handed the Finnish vote to any other country but his own ;) and when New York went out that meant their votes went everywhere but Paris, would be intresting to see who voted what but then i guesse that would cause all sorts of political ramifications ;-)

*sings* we beat the french we beat the french la la la la la we beat the french ;-)

i’m such a child LOL but its nice to have something to cheer about

ncurran said on July 6, 2005 17:17:

Great idea Olddag, why not hold it in Saudi Arabia, a key US ally.

I continue to be bemused by your ability to turn any topic into a debate on the war on terror. The people in your life must get so pissed off listening to you all day

Oldag75 said on July 6, 2005 22:56:

You’re right, I’ll stop mentioning the war on terror here. But if someone else mentions it, I will feel free to ask questions.

The Olympics were honorable, long ago, when all the competitors truly were amateurs (not paid for performance). That changed with the Cold War, when the Soviets fielded “amateur” Russian athletes who were trained full-time under communist government programs, while holding nominal “careers” such as baking, sewing and so forth. All that sorta peaked in the 1960s, when we saw those East German female Olympic swimmers with nineteen-inch necks... Lord they were cute babes! (Though they might have been disqualified from competing as females, if anyone had bothered to check their chromosomes.)

Everyone in the Olympics nowadays is a paid professional.... like that Chinese basketball slave, Yao Ming, who plays professionally for the Houston rockets (and sends his paychecks back to China).

The only true amateur athletes remaining the US are those in high school, who compete for the love of the game. And they’re fun to watch, because high school kids play with a reckless abandon you simply don’t see in more mature folks.

There’s a great book about Olympic training for female gymnasts called “Little Girls in Pretty Boxes,” which details all the abuse they endure, and the destructive regimens they inflict on their bodies, developing their Olympic skills.

on_a_mission said on July 6, 2005 23:25:

Oldag, I have to agree with neil. You can be sceptical, but the rest of us will sit back and enjoy the sporting fun and economic growth.

On The day the world can be change with repetitive right wing cynicism I’m sure the MAN will call you.

Don’t hang by the telephone.

Jud (moderator) said on July 7, 2005 05:42:

my dad (almost 64) loves to swim, so do I. He loved to see swimming competitions, he adored them. Now he hates them, he says that’s not swimming anymore, they are only worried about those milliseconds, not about the art and beauty of swimming. He will always go back to the first Tarzan and his freestyle ;)

He’ll say the same about football. He used to play in the village team, they used to jump on a truck on weekends and go play to the next village. Or even go and see the Barça as a big event..

It’s the same with many sports. Unfortunately

Vixzter said on July 7, 2005 07:39:

crikey i only wanted to express my joy at London getting the olympics and it turned into some big political debate *snore* ;)

@ally77: one of them stupid men that kicks footballs around actualy helped with the London bid ;) that possibly swung a few far east votes in our favour.

onlywhenidream said on July 7, 2005 10:18:

things this morning put that in a slightly different light :o(

ncurran said on July 8, 2005 13:50:

There’s been some discussion that if they included Golf as a new olympic sport, it could be played in scotland in 2012