OneTimeOnly

Excuse me? You insult and devalue the athletes all the time. If you had your way, there would be NO athletes in the Olympic Games. Typical Baron, talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Seems like the Aquatics center went from being a square box to something sort of resembling the London velodrome.

That thing is so ghastly.

What is the "Athletes Park" venue for?

The last thing the world needs is ANOTHER multi sport event. Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, African Games, Medi-fucking-terranean games, YOG's. The list goes on ad-nauseam. All of them completely superfluous and unnecessary. Get rid of them all. The Olympic Games and the World Championships for each sport are more than enough. Oh, and someone tell FIS that in an Olympic year, *you don't need to have a freaking world championships*. I meant ISU, not FIS.

Fly is my most admired stroke. Very cool stroke that's fun to do - when you don't start DYING ~12 meters (long course) from the wall (like I always do ) Most difficult and strenuous stroke, lots of upper body strength and core. I love beautiful freestyle form, however. Did you see Sun Yang set a new WR in the 1500m free this morning/tonight in Shanghai? He seemed to effortlessly glide through the water. Looked really nice.

I agree with you kevzz. Just finished watching FINA Worlds and I didn't care for the temp pool in the cavernous sports arena. The Water Cube was huge but MADE For swimming.

Rome *was* outdoors, and it was supposed to be the last one *uncovered*. You could still be outdoors. Barcelona was a last minute replacement for 2013 so they are going to be uncovered again too, I believe, but there shouldn't be any more.

Huh??? I'm a registered member of USMS and swim with a local masters team. How much of your life did you waste not doing any exercise? I mean, you're still fat....would love to get a look at your technique, and btw, how's your 'fly?

Well for those that may be unfamiliar: Lanes are always numbered 1-8, or 0-9 (for Worlds and Olympics) from right to left on the end that the swimmers are starting from. Swimmers are always seeded in the lanes thus: Lanes: RIGHT 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 LEFT Seeds: RIGHT 0 7 5 3 1 2 4 6 8 0 LEFT Lanes 4 and 5 are marked by three yellow lane lines. Lanes 3 and 6 are marked by yellow and blue lines. Lanes 2 and 7 are marked by blue lines Lanes 1 and 8 are marked by blue and green lines There is usually a red mark on the lane lines 15 meters from the end walls. This marks the limit that swimmers may kick underwater. If you kick past this you are DQ'd. At 5 meters from each end are the backstroke flags. The false start rope is at 15 meters from the starting end.

If you don't know swimming very well, I can see that it might be hard to follow. You have to understand which way the lanes are numbered, and how the swimmers are seeded in the lanes, and how to keep track of which lanes are which (hint: the lane lines are colored, and there are other markers). Agreed with this about London, I've always maintained it's success after the games.

Okay Fair enough. Beijing still offered a better spectator experience than London will. That hasn't changed. You weren't sitting under an oppressive sloping roof, forcing you to always be looking down. Yeah, Maria Lenk has no roof. I believe FINA requires swimming at the Olympics and World Champs to be covered now though, but not the rest. In Shanghai last week, diving was outdoors too.

I don't even mind temporary wings, and it's not even the aesthetics as much as it is the quality of the experience for all spectators, something which Beijing, and as I've said, even Atlanta, succeeded better in doing. And just as a side note, at least half or more of the seats in the Water Cube have been removed, it no longer seats the same capacity that it did during the Beijing games. Low roofs with extreme tunnel vision sight lines a la Sydney and London will never make sense to me and it boggles the mind why anyone would do it that way, or would choose a design that would necessitate doing it that way. To me, it's NEVER acceptable.

Alright, my biggest problem with LOCOG and London 2012 has been design choices, both graphically and venue wise (well the one that is the subject of this thread). Let me list some positives about London 2012 and LOCOG: Organization (both pre games time and I have no doubt during games time as well) Completing the build out on time. An Olympic Park that is obviously going to be quite beautiful when fully complete (ugly orbit tower notwithstanding, which I believe wasn't LOCOG's fault) As for looking at things through rose tinted glasses, I guess that's something I just tend not to do. I, as an American, am ashamed of the Atlanta games, and have never hesitated to say so. And let's say San Francisco hosted an Olympic Games in the future (which I'd obviously wish to see), or any other American city. I'd be happy, but if they produced crap for a logo, look, etc, I'd fully heap on the criticism, trust me, I most certainly would. Now, I would totally agree with that.

Yeah, got your pvt msg Rob. Whatever. LOCOG's made it's fair share of blunders when it comes to design choices, and you're never particularly harsh on them, you DO always try to find a way to make an excuse for them, ALWAYS, and qualify the situation somehow.