Cyprus-Forum.com

[bill cobbett]

What a tremendous and extraordinary Opening Ceremony to the London Games!

Danny Boyle, you are a Geeeeeeeneeeeeeus!!!!

Everything about it was completely out of the box.

It was soooooo goooood it'll soon be available as a boxed DVD set.

There were tears in the eye at the start with that most angelic rendition of Jerusalem at the start. Gosh, that really was sooooo moving.

Masterful how England's Green and Pleasant Land was literally wrapped up and transformed in to the dark vision of those Satanic Mills with those tall, smoking chimneys and engines. This really was a warts and all portrayal. You have to be pretty comfortable as a nation to do that.

The molten metal pouring out of the foundry and being cast in to the Olympic Rings was so impressive... how on earth did they do that???!!! You could almost feel the heat of the metal.

Then there was the never been done before and often tongue-in-cheek humour. Cracked up with Rowan Atkinson on the keyboards and Mrs Windsor jumping out of the helicopter took some bravery and again you have to be pretty confident as a nation to put in that amount of humour, and often self-deprecating in the finest English tradition .

... and the whole lot against a background of some of the world's most-loved music.

The Cauldron had to be the most imaginative ever. To bring together 204 elements in that way was soooo spectacular.

Was very pleased to hear Jacques Rogge, the President of the IOC, acknowledge the great contribution of GB to sport, particularly he said to its very long history of including sports in school curriculums, he said this was something with a 150 year old tradition and it was particularly gratifying to hear him pay tribute to the codifying of the rules of so many modern sports in GB.

... so it was particularly and really great to hear Mr Rogge bring all this together in conclusion, by saying that...

"The Games have Come Home"

[CBBB]

I am glad I don't have to pay their gas bill!

[bill cobbett]

Some personal reflections of the first day of the London Games...

Was naturally disappointed with the Men's Cycle Road Race. Guess it's a matter of team tactics and in the wake of the Tour those team tactics were clear to the other teams. Predictability ain't always good.

The Judo athletes are so impressive with their respect for their opponents and for the judges with all the bowing. Competitors with so much self-control. Pro footballers could learn a lot from them.

Those Archery bows are remarkably complex. A simple bow made out of wood from a yew tree seems to have evolved in to what look like modern combat weapons, ones presumably now made out of high tech materials... and must find out what all those extensions, those attachments on them are all about.

[Get Real!]

Having just climbed down from my attic where it was 65°C trying to fix a faulty air conditioning system (and still unsuccessful), I somehow cannot relate to your excitement over the bows and arrows used in the Olympics…

[bill cobbett]

Having just climbed down from my attic where it was 65°C trying to fix a faulty air conditioning system (and still unsuccessful), I somehow cannot relate to your excitement over the bows and arrows used in the Olympics…

Archery seems to be one of those sports where mental coolness is very much called for... so Our GR had best not take it up.

Excellent bit of said coolness from the Italian archer who needed a bulls-eye ten to win Gold over the USA and he got it! Very calm and cool.

Can't say am a great fan of Tennis... a bit too middle-class.

[kimon07]

Having just climbed down from my attic where it was 65°C trying to fix a faulty air conditioning system (and still unsuccessful), I somehow cannot relate to your excitement over the bows and arrows used in the Olympics…

Archery seems to be one of those sports where mental coolness is very much called for... so Our GR had best not take it up.

Excellent bit of said coolness from the Italian archer who needed a bulls-eye ten to win Gold over the USA and he got it! Very calm and cool.

Can't say am a great fan of Tennis... a bit too middle-class.

And very wet too!

[B25]

Having just climbed down from my attic where it was 65°C trying to fix a faulty air conditioning system (and still unsuccessful), I somehow cannot relate to your excitement over the bows and arrows used in the Olympics…

You mean you put the compressors in the attic??? Plonker.

[kimon07]

... so it was particularly and really great to hear Mr Rogge bring all this together in conclusion, by saying that...

"The Games have Come Home"

1. You dictated that to him. I remember you starting a thread with the same title. Shameful to be influencing his excellency like that.

2. Didn't he say the same for the Athens Olympics?

3. You think he will tell the same to the Turks or the Japs or whoever gets them next? Or he is saying it only to countries which got them before and get them again?

[bill cobbett]

Weightlifting... Tremendously impressive athletic performance by the North Korean, Yun Chom Om, in winning a Gold in which he lifted three times his own body weight! Guess it's a matter of perfect technique as well as strength. The way the bar bends! Mind boggling performance.
Well done to the Olympian Mr Om.

[bill cobbett]

Was watching a little of the Canoe Slalom yesterday. Most of us will know of the strength and power of masses of water when rivers are in flood and these chaps were negotiating gates in all that white-water, sometimes having to paddle upstream against that soooo powerful flow with just a paddle for steerage. Guess they have to use skill as much as strength to make use of the power of all that water to their advantage.

Once again we are reminded that we are seeing athletes of the highest calibre in action and although all the sports we are watching have their own World Championships, none approach the standards of the Games.