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Message board > Members' Opinion Polls > Members' poll: London hosting the Olympic Games in 2012 is... 
  

London hosting the Olympic Games in 2012 is...
a good idea  81%
a bad idea  14%
something I'm not sure about  5%
Total: 21 members' votes
by Dubya - Mon 23rd Aug 2004, 10:47pm
Let the French pay for it!
by jpd - Mon 23rd Aug 2004, 11:56pm
Dubya said: Let the French pay for it!
But doesn't hosting the Olympics actually boost a country's economy? (don't quote me on that, it's just something I seem to remember hearing). If so, letting the French have it is the last thing we want to do.
by Dubya - Tue 24th Aug 2004, 9:32am
jpd said: But doesn't hosting the Olympics actually boost a country's economy? (don't quote me on that, it's just something I seem to remember hearing). If so, letting the French have it is the last thing we want to do.
It should increase output in the short term, like any massive government spending programme.
by Ingers - Tue 24th Aug 2004, 12:28pm
My vote for 'a good thing' is purely selfish as it would be great to easily go along to events. However, it could be a comedy nightmare in a city as sh*te as london - can you imagine:

"... and here is the final of the hundred metres; all 3 competitors present are assured of a medal today owing to a signal failure on the Northern Line, a defective train on the Victoria Line and a person under a train on the District Line [my personal favourite of the usual excuses] ..."

"... and here we are at the Triathlon in the Docklands, with the news that the favourite has dropped out after ingesting a condom in the swimming stage..."

"... and it's day 15 of the beach volleyball in Hyde Park and we're about to commence the second set of the opening match after yet another rain delay."

I could go on...
by RTT - Tue 24th Aug 2004, 12:34pm
Ingers said: I could go on...
I would say this: In 2012 noone died.
by gf - Tue 24th Aug 2004, 12:43pm
RTT said: I would say this: In 2012 noone died.
In the shooting, there was the incident with the pigeon...
by dw229 - Tue 24th Aug 2004, 10:17pm
"The upcoming 100m final will be delayed by approximately 5 minutes - this race is being regulated"
by mjb - Wed 25th Aug 2004, 8:11am
I hope that's not a dead horse ...
by Dubya - Wed 25th Aug 2004, 2:18pm
I have 104 friends.
by Simon - Wed 25th Aug 2004, 7:23pm
Ingers said: However, it could be a comedy nightmare in a city as sh*te as london
Having been in Athens, I'm now even more convinced that having the Olympics in London would be astounding and that we could pull it off. Athens doesn't have a reputation for being organised but the games seem to have worked well - the only issues I came across were on Saturday morning when 10,000 people turned up at the rowing at once (most of them British - hoorah!) and when there was a 25 minute queue for a tram to get to the beach volleyball (ironically, 3 then turned up at once). Otherwise the travel was more or less like London but with air conditioned trains and busses. Bear in mind TfL shifted 1 million people out of central London at 10pm on the night of the jubilee bank holiday a few years ago - I'm sure we could cope with an Olympic family.
But best of all is the obvious sense of pride that the Greeks have taken in the Games and the fact that the whole world is watching them. It would be awesome to bring this to London
I was in the Olympic stadium on Monday and the greeting the Greek 20km walk winner got as she went to get her medal was breathtaking... After the Greeks, it seemed like there were more British people than from anywhere else and the support for Kelly Holmes later in the evening both when she won and when she picked up the medal was astonishing - it would be so cool to have the world watching London instead.
Also very cool to see so many people I knew there - plenty of ex-First and Third, plus various other rowing bods. I think we should start saving now for a BPBC trip to Beijing!