TorchbearerSydney

I can see the censored Muslim coverage of the Rio opening.... Countdown. Parade of Nations Flame and fireworks. Everything else is deemed tooo sexy!

I think it was a bold and fantastic gesture to have the Central desert woman in their traditional 'clothing'.... small details like that made Awakenings a very spiritual journey for Australian an the world. It was authentic and beautiful.

There was full top half nudity in Sydney during Awakenings, not to mention 50 drag queens at the closing!

Opening Ceremony on at 8AM Saturday in Sydney- very civilised.. As for the competition hours, from about midnight to 10AM, not so civilised!

good question..I thought their factory was in Western Sydney...and their is a large Russian population there! Maybe just say "Australian made'.

The 3 mascots at the closing came from Sydney!......

None of this detracts from how utterly amazing the Sochi ceremonies were... never thought about the challenge of its relatively isolated position.

They were obviously constellations (so I thought)...they were beautiful, and synced with the music to a big finale... Then the torch ambled around the floor and then out the end of the stadium and the momentum was lost.

I like the idea of the continental Games being held the year before the Olympics as qualifying events. It makes the process more logical and transparent for fans and viewers- qualify for continentals, then have a chance to qualify for the Olympics. Gives a reason for these Games as well. The PanAms and Asia Games, and no doubt the European Games are huge enterprises.

Wow- plants and grass grow fast in tropical Rio- it would take 5 years in a temperate climate for a course to look like that.

Salt Lake City had the best bid money could buy......

Actually being honest and admitting it will be a tough race to finish everything in time 3 years out is a responsible and mature thing to do- it helps add urgency and transparency to preparations. Pretending everything is alright for years on end leads to the Athens or Delhi drams- where you have to throw billions at everything in a few months.and hope and pray things turn out all right.

Question- does SA have a high performance cycling centre with velodrome? I don't know the answer. If not, then building one in Durban makes some sense. No reason why the nation shouldn't have 1 world class facility.

There are other ways to add that vertical dimension without over head stadium wires- inflatables, mechanical lifts, built structures etc that have been used from Beijing to Manchester. Rios Carnivale has plenty of vertical costumes with the only wires being the under wires of bras! Innovation is more exciting than endless repeat.

I would like a ceremony without aerial, high wire effects. It has now been done to death since Sydney...

Sydney had school and college holidays across Australia too during the Olympics too- to relieve traffic congestion, so people could go to the Games, so people could watch the Games on TV and to free up all the school buses across Australia for Olympic transport in Sydney.

It is not that bad here, I visit many worse chat sites, and no one has ever really criticised or offended me personally. I appreciate what people bring to the Olympic discussion. Olympic bids themselves seem to be getting crazier and crazier, with referendums, withdrawls, bids from left field etc.... maybe we are reflecting a bit of that! There are a couple of stirrers that are mainly harmless- ignore them and they will go away!

Vancouver's cauldron count was only one and three quarters ...... More than one cauldron is no big deal..

Atmosphere...... Australia just hosted the Asian Cup, and the atmosphere at every match was amazing, mainly due to the large expat populations. The Iran and Iraq match was the highlight, capacity crowd and amazing match. As were the Korean, Chinese, Japanese matches..... what could have been

Sydney got very nervous about international performers after the marching band was 'exposed' as mainly from overseas. All the Acts were Australian, with no foreign international big names invited. We are very insecure and inward looking, and not very 'global' in cases like this.

And Granada is one of the most beautiful and magical little cities in Europe. It has a marvellous town square surrounded by cafes and bars. Why didn't they just march the teams into the town square, raise the flags, set off a few fireworks from the walls and Alhambra above, and have free concert - all open to the public? They should have consulted us first!!!

Velodrome...tick, tick, tick.......

And to win a Summer Olympic Bid Race you send your 'A' Team- you go in with all guns blazing. So it has to beautiful, majestic, world famous Paris.

THAT WAS BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! Why did they bother? What was the invisible flame? Couldn't they afford a singer, or some stage lighting.......

I have been to more than 50 countries- RIO is by far the most beautiful big city in the world The Olympics will be spectacular!