The_Torch

The whole idea of having the cauldron hidden inside the stadium makes no sense to me at all. How and why was this seen to be the best and most creative option? The most iconic imagery of any Olympic Games is seeing the Olympic flame burning over the city skyline. I'm all behind Vancouver and know they will stage a fantastic games, but I'm not sure history will look kindly on the 'hidden cauldron' concept.

Forgive me, but I've not bee following this story and am therefore a little confused. If the torch is being built into the centre of the stadium, is this permanent during the games or is the venue to be used for other Olympic events? If the flame is to be moved after the opening ceremony, then where to?

Do Canadians really want her to open the Games? Do they feel she has any relevance to modern day Canada? Can't say that I'm a fan of the monarchy personally.

I think it highly unlikely that the Queen will have any involvement in the Vancouver Olympics. Also, her husband hates opening and closing ceremonies. If it were a Commonwealth Games, then maybe yes, but otherwise not a chance.

London 2012 will be a very expensive affair for North Americans wishing to visit. You guys lose half your currency in conversion. It wasn't long ago that £1=$2, though it's around $1.50 in the present financial climate. I'm sure by 2012, the Pound will have regained it's strength, making it an expensive trip. Of course LOCOG have pledged 'affordable' ticket prices, but we all know these will be few and far between. I'm already debating which part of my body to sell on Ebay to pay for tickets. Perhaps I can find me a rich sugar-mama to supplement the cost. mmmm.....

agreed.

Is there a difference in area of ice used for Ice Hockey compared to figure skating? From the photos, there seems to be little or no room around the ice for judges or officials. I presume a few rows of seats will be lost to compensate for this? Or does Figure Skating require less ice space? As for it not looking impressive, isn't this the arena that hosted the World Figure Skating Championships in 2001? If so, the arena looked pretty good to me. Was it also the venue for the Vancouver 2010 decision? If so, again the arena looked very impressive to me, as did the celebrations. One thing that does strike me from the photos however. What are all of those towers being constructed around it? Residential?

It's simple. The Olympic Games have become too big and too expensive. It's just a matter of time before another host city bankrupts itself to stage the Games. The bubble will burst at some point, and when it does it will be a huge wake up call to the IOC. Paris 2012 had the right idea, and prepared a bid utilising existing venue structures. Instead the IOC turned their backs on their own ideals and opted for brand new, impressive, start-from-scratch, cost a fortune Olympic Parks. Hey presto....London 2012. The IOC need a boot up their backside and need to change their mindset.

Rest assured, Vancouver will create a Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony to make Canada very proud, and the rest of world impressed. You can't really compare Summer & Winter Opening and Closing Ceremonies, it's like comparing Apples with Oranges. The size and scope of the Stadiums are usually much different. Having said this, from what I hear the venue for the ceremonies in Vancouver is a huge arena, so I'm certain it will be an amazing ceremony.

it sounded much better than the feed I could hear on BBCHD. Love the fact that the French fed into the crowds on the Mall too. Nice one.

Yeah but you didn't strap Avril to 20 foot pole and expect her to rock-it-out. Poor Leona. She was completely out of her depth and looked so awkward.

Yes, it's operation 'Look But No Touchy' for any Russian Athlete until the Closing Ceremony. It's killing me to see the Russians only 1 Gold medal behind Team GB. We simply cannot allow them increase their Gold medal tally. I'd be thrilled with 4th place overall, but 3rd would be freakin wonderful! Does anyone know how many strong Gold medal chances* Russia has between now and the Closing Ceremony? *athletes widely believed to win Gold based on previous form or competition

So he is. I happily stand corrected. Though GB were hot favourites to win the Mens 10K swim and Mens Triple Jump yesterday, but had to settle for Silvers instead.

It looks like Russia will take 3rd in the medal table (based on number of Gold medals won). With only three days to go, there are some strong Russian contenders still to compete in different events. Great Britain only has one more sure-fire chance of a Gold, and that's in the Womens BMX. There are also medal chances in the Canoe Flatwater, Taekwondo, Boxing and Pentathlon, but none of them are realistically considered to be Gold medal chances. Though this is the Olympic Games, so anything can happen. At best GB will finish with 18 Golds and if we're very lucky 19 or 20. 4th overall. I'll take that anyday!

In all fairness though, GB had no chanceof retaining their title up against the USA or Jamaica. They are in a different class right now. It would have taken a major mistake for GB to have retained the title. Dissapointing to be disqualified though. Dissapointed for Odowu too, as I really felt the Gold was his for the taking.

I know this is a discussion that has been had many times over. However, I was wondering how your nation ranks the Olympic Medal table. In UK and Australia we rank them by greatest number of Golds, as opposed to quantity of medals overall. Yet in the United States, they rank their medal tables the opposite way. Is America the only country to rank medals like this. How does your country rank the medal table?

Free condom supply? Really? There must be all kinds of hanky-panky going on in Olympic Village. All of those hot, fit and prime bodies.

Yes it's a shame many athletes feel uncomfortable about coming out. I guess they don't want their achievements overshadowed by an ignorant media, who simply seek to pigeon-hole and stereotype them. We all know there are many more Gay and Lesbian athletes in Beijing right now.

I'm not encouraging gambling, but I thought I must share my good fortune. I put £1000 on Usain Bolt to break the World Record just after his first heat. The odds were still pretty good and the man was on Fire!. I was convinced the record would be broken. The rest is history, and as we all know he broke the record and made me a tidy profit. However, I must say that his decision to slow down in the last 10 metres did have me pulling out my hair, whilst screaming at the television. Stupid man! What kind of athlete slows down in a final? Anyways, I've decided to donate half of the profits to my local Athletics club: Newham & Essex Beagles. They're based not a 10 minute ride from the London 2012 site and have an excellent program for developing young talent in schools. It's not thousands of pounds, but if it can make a small difference in any capacity then I'll be happy. *Disclaimer* Gambling is naughty. Don't do it. Buy food instead, it's tastier. Never gamble more than you can afford, or attempt to sell any relatives of a pensionable age to supplement gambling habits. We love Usain Bolt. He's the man. God Save The Queen and all that Jazz.

I think considering Great Britain will be the next hosts, it's only right that we try and improve upon the usual 9th or 10th place positioning in the medal table. I'm very pleased that we're doing so well. It's testament to some great athletes, seeing as the UK has in the past suffered from a very poor sporting facilities. We're still not where we should be, but London 2012 has brought about a great deal of investment into creating better facilities. For such a small island nation, if we finish 3rd overall it will be an amazing achievement. This will be even better than the 4th overall position Team GB were wanting for 2012. However, it's only 3rd in terms on Gold Medals. Networks such as NBC are all about quantity, not quality. In terms of quantity I think we're currently 5th or 6th. In this context, other European countries such as France and Germany are having a storming Olympics. Team GB is nowhere near those kind of quantities just yet.

How much money does the IOC actually accumulate and where does the money go? Secondly, even though NBC pay the largest sum of money for television rights, why should they be allowed to effect the integrity of the Games themselves. ie. having the Swimming competition schedule completely changed, so that the swimmers are racing their finals to coincide with US Primetime? The simple response cannot be..'..oh because NBC bankrolls the IOC' If NBC can get one event schedule changed, what's to stop them from putting pressure on the IOC to change other events? It's wrong. Plain and simple.

The Parade of the Athletes takes so darn long because they're all walking. We need to speed the process up for London. I had to laugh at Team USA during the Beijing parade. The first few rows of athletes that entered the stadium used the entire width of the track. This was quickly followed by rows of 3 or 4. This created a huge snake-like formation and definitely slowed the sequence. It made me wonder if the American team were given instructions to make their numbers look at big as possible. Of course, I'm not for one moment saying that other teams did not do this, but the USA team were so huge, I immediately noticed this formation. Can't they put the athletes on trolleys of some kind or moving platforms with wheels? Something must be possible to shuttle them in, and around. (I'll leave the Baron to come up with a little picture to give us an idea of what this could look like)

Yes I agree. I don't think you'll ever see anything as simple and as effective as lighting of the cauldron in Barcelona. Genius. Also an extremely cheap option. Just goes to show that it doesn't have to be all bells and whistles either. My favourites are: 1_Barcleona 1992 2_Beijing 2008 3_Sydney 2000 4_Athens 2004

We must have been watching different ceremonies, because I thought it was a triumph. The 'scroll & picture' narrative was wonderfully imaginative and very symbolic. Furthermore, the ceremony was that much better for not being just like a conventional Olympic ceremony. It was refreshing not to see a segment on the birth of the Games or Athenian culture. We've been there and done that at every ceremony already. This made a refreshing change. Instead the Chinese offered us a slice of their past, present and future (albeit selective and santised). They stayed true to themselves and the theme, and for me, everything flowed perfectly. Indeed it didn't feel anyway as near as segmented or as confused as other ceremonies I've watched. The lighting of the Torch was stunning. It was original, innovative and visually effective, and it wasn't a 'cauldron' on top of the stadium, but a Torch. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the global contention is that the ceremony was the best yet. Indeed those were the words of ITV news in the UK. If you ask me, London will do very well to even get close to what Beijing presented to the world.