2012 Olympic Games in London

[Iluvbertie]

As he is competing the next day it is highly unlikely that he would light the torch - and I suspect that that person was chosen some time ago.

It is normal for all athletes who are competing on the first official day of competition (soccer will have already been going for a couple of days before the Opening Ceremony) to not particpate in the Opening Ceremony. I believe that Zara has already said that she will be missing the Opening Ceremony because she is competing on Saturday.

 

[Tudur rose]

Is the opening ceremony on Friday ? If so then the next day is the women's road cycling. Men's is on Sunday .

 

[Lumutqueen]

Is the opening ceremony on Friday ? If so then the next day is the women's road cycling. Men's is on Sunday .

Yes.

And I'm still routing for a 1948 Olympian to light the torch.

 

[EIIR]

No-one could name a 1948 British Olympian, either in the UK or anywhere else. I suspect it'll be Chris Hoy or Steve Redgrave.

Originally Posted by Tudur rose
Is the opening ceremony on Friday ? If so then the next day is the women's road cycling. Men's is on Sunday .

The Opening ceremony is on Friday 27th. The men's road racing is on Saturday 28th, and women's is on Sunday 29th. http://www.london2012.com/cycling-road/

Is the lighting of the cauldron always at the very end of the ceremony? The Olympic village is right beside the Stadium in London, so there won't be much of a journey for most of the athletes after the opening ceremony.

 

[Lumutqueen]

No-one could name a 1948 British Olympian, either in the UK or anywhere else. I suspect it'll be Chris Hoy or Steve Redgrave.

Actually I'm pretty sure lots of people can, myself and the people themselves included, so you're quite wrong. I hope the same fate befalls this crop of athletes who win gold, that they're forgotten in years to come. The 1948 Olympics was incredible, and the achievements secured were amazing, many deserve that honour. Steve Redgrave won 5 golds, but it wasn't after a World War in a destroyed country. I'm expecting to be disappointed by the next month or so of events, it's already set in but the cauldron lighting will seal it. Roll on 2016!!

 

[ghost_night554]

I can officially confirm that practically the whole royal family will be at the opening ceremonies.

 

[Mirabel]

I wish the Summer and Winter games still took place the same year; somehow it seemed more special then.

 

[TortillaChips]

I wish the Summer and Winter games still took place the same year; somehow it seemed more special then.

Absolutely (although it is good now that we only have to wait 2 years for next Olympics but yes, totally)

 

[NGalitzine]

Another suggestion for flame lighter might be a junior olympian to represent the future athletes of the nation, or possibly a group of wounded veterans of the Afghan/Iraq wars such as the group the Prince Harry is patron of.

It is certainly a well kept secret which in this day and age almost deserves a gold medal itself.

 

[Lumutqueen]

I bet it'll be decided on the day, I'll be surprised if people know and it hasn't got out.

 

[Tudur rose]

No-one could name a 1948 British Olympian, either in the UK or anywhere else. I suspect it'll be Chris Hoy or Steve Redgrave.

The Opening ceremony is on Friday 27th. The men's road racing is on Saturday 28th, and women's is on Sunday 29th. http://www.london2012.com/cycling-road/

Is the lighting of the cauldron always at the very end of the ceremony? The Olympic village is right beside the Stadium in London, so there won't be much of a journey for most of the athletes after the opening ceremony.

That's odd. I have it in my diary for sat. As I have tickets to the women's road event. Better go home and check them .

 

[FanofMonaco]

I'm glad they separated the Olympic years. If you're a big fan it's too much tv to watch in 1 years time. I need the break. Can't wait for it to start. Wishing that all athletes will have personal bests.

 

[EIIR]

Actually I'm pretty sure lots of people can, myself and the people themselves included, so you're quite wrong. I hope the same fate befalls this crop of athletes who win gold, that they're forgotten in years to come. The 1948 Olympics was incredible, and the achievements secured were amazing, many deserve that honour. Steve Redgrave won 5 golds, but it wasn't after a World War in a destroyed country. I'm expecting to be disappointed by the next month or so of events, it's already set in but the cauldron lighting will seal it. Roll on 2016!!

Most people don't remember where the Olympics were held in 2004, let alone 1948. It's always a great achievement for an athlete to make it to an Olympics and to win a medal. The real heroes of the 1948 Olympics, in my view, were the organisers and volunteers who ensured the Games were a success despite the fact the UK was basically bankrupt following the War.

I just feel they're likely to pick a well-known figure with Olympic pedigree. Steve Redgrave is one of only 4 athletes ever to have won a gold medal at 5 consecutive Olympics. He managed to do it in an incredibly difficult endurance event, unlike swimming or track cycling where athletes have multiple chances to win medals. In addition, he did all this despite suffering from Type 1 diabetes (the most serious kind) and ulcerative collitis, which is a disease which can lead to sufferers having diarrhea almost constantly, and having bowel movements up to 10 times per day. This is the disease that has prevented Darren Fletcher from playing football for Man Utd for over 8 months and increasingly looks like putting an end to his playing career at the age of only 28.

If Steve Redgrave is not considered the ideal candidate to light the flame, I don't know who is.

 

[cepe]

I just feel they're likely to pick a well-known figure with Olympic pedigree. Steve Redgrave is one of only 4 athletes ever to have won a gold medal at 5 consecutive Olympics. He managed to do it in an incredibly difficult endurance event, unlike swimming or track cycling where athletes have multiple chances to win medals. In addition, he did all this despite suffering from Type 1 diabetes (the most serious kind) and ulcerative collitis, which is a disease which can lead to sufferers having diarrhea almost constantly, and having bowel movements up to 10 times per day. This is the disease that has prevented Darren Fletcher from playing football for Man Utd for over 8 months and increasingly looks like putting an end to his playing career at the age of only 28.

If Steve Redgrave is not considered the ideal candidate to light the flame, I don't know who is.

Sir Roger Bannister who ran the 1st 4 minute mile would be a great candidate

 

[LadyFinn]

David Beckham to take a last-minute role in the Olympics opening ceremony | Mail Online

 

[Lumutqueen]

Sir Roger Bannister who ran the 1st 4 minute mile would be a great candidate

Best idea i've heard in this thread.

Most people don't remember where the Olympics were held in 2004, let alone 1948.

Again I disagree, even this Olympic Committee has made a deal out of reminding people we held the Olympics in 1948. I'm surprised by the apparent ignorance of people that you claim, it's unbelievable for me that people can forget the past so easily.

 

[Iluvbertie]

The people in Britain might have been reminded about the games in 1948 but that doesn't mean people remember where the games were in 2004.

Unless you are actually into the games it isn't something that people remember. Some of the people I know know the games are starting next week but actually don't know where - it is the games they know about not the city or country that is hosting them - unless it is their home country.

 

[EIIR]

I'm surprised by the apparent ignorance of people that you claim, it's unbelievable for me that people can forget the past so easily.

It's much worse than not knowing where the 1948 Olympics were held. 20% of teenagers believe that Winston Churchill was a fictional character. A quarter, when asked who Churchill was, say the nodding dog who sells car insurance on the TV. 27% of those under 20 believe that Florence Nightingale was a mythical figure. A third of British children also think that Winston Churchill was the first person to walk on the moon.

It's also not just young people. Two thirds of undergraduates could not name the English monarch at the time of the Armada and 84 per cent didn't know the British commander at the Battle of Waterloo. When asked to identify who helped destroy the Spanish Armada in 1588, 13% of 16 to 24-year-olds credited Horatio Hornblower, CS Forester's fictional Royal Navy hero from the Napoleonic wars. And 20% said it was Christopher Columbus, while 6% thought it was Gandalf, the wizard from Tolkien's fantasy novels.

In light of all this, I'd be very, very surprised if many Britons could name a medalist at the 1948 games.

 

[Lumutqueen]

Well then I do hope the same fate befalls the medallists of this century. Apparently history means nothing nowadays.

 

[Artemisia]

It's much worse...

Going off topic, but that's pretty shocking statistics.

I could bet most Armenians known Winston Churchill, Wellington, Nelson, Drake (Gandalf, really?), or Elizabeth I. Granted, most of my generation studied English history at school (along with Russian and World histories, which are different subjects), but surely you just have to know important figures like that? If people don't know their own greats, those who saved the country and its values many times over, where is the country going to? It'd be like Armenians not known who Mamikonyan or Marzpetuni were - names entirely unfamiliar to foreigners, but engraved into our memories.

Sorry, the history lover in me needed to vent.

 

[Osipi]

Well then I do hope the same fate befalls the medallists of this century. Apparently history means nothing nowadays.

It just hit me. We live in a global society of 15 minutes of fame and forgotten and so many people are really trying hard to get those 15 minutes of fame these days. To top that out, we can all play 6 degrees of separation to that 15 minutes of fame.

 

[EIIR]

It's just an unfortunate inevitability that as the years go by, knowledge of historical events gets superceded by the here and now. Ask a 10 year old boy to name even half the England team who won the World Cup in 1966, and I think they'd struggle. Ask that same boy to name 6 members of last year's Manchester United team, and they'd likely have no difficulty whatsoever.

The lack of knowledge of British history is not at all surprising to me. The educational establishment, controlled by the teaching unions, have basically decreed that our history is something of which we should be ashamed. I remember history lessons (and a field trip) dedicated to learning about an entirely unremarkable local train track, because it was much more PC than the Empire etc. etc.

 

[Zonk]

Really its the same all around.

I am not sure how many Americans today could name the 1992 Dream team and that was 20 years ago.

I could name the Olympians from the 52 and 56 Olympics but really only in the sports that interest me. And that would be ice skating. I look for Carol Heiss Jenkins every time there is an ice skating event on television.

But really that's why we have history books (or encylopedias back in the day)...so when the 2012 London Olympics are over, its no longer on the television and the crowwds have gone on...the achievements of the winners as well as those with the personal interest stories will live on. I was watching the 30 Top Olympic moments on television last night and I forgot all about Cahty Freeman (the Australian sprinter) and the Jamaican runner whose father helped him cross the finish line. Sorry his name escaped me but those stories (if not all the names) live on.

 

[wanderingnana]

Hell's Bell's Zonk, when I was doing my student teaching, one of the first questions I asked (this was American History) was who was President when the Monroe Doctrine was issued. Noone knew James Monroe-and it isn't much better today. Very sad

 

[NGalitzine]

Yes, I saw on ABC earlier in the year a reporter asking some basic questions of people on the streets. One of the questions was who was the first American President......only 4 in 10 got it right. I was shocked because I had assumed that Americans just grew up knowing these things. I am definitely not an American but when I was in school in England we had to learn all 50 states and their capitals and we definitely knew Washington was the 1st President.
We do live in an age where many countries no longer feel the need to teach their own histories ( and no doubt we will pay the price in the future) and when people will do anything to achieve their own 15 minutes of fame. I am of sure why, but apparently fame for any reason and by any method seems quite important for some people. Probably someone has or will write a thesis on this need

Olympic fame has always been quite fleeting. Usually only 1 or 2 athletes in each Games really makes a name for themselves and in todays world they have very little time to capitalize on that fame.

 

[ghost_night554]

Kate Middleton's Olympic Agenda Revealed

 

[Daria_S]

It's much worse...

I may not be able to name any medalists from the 1948 Olympic Games, but I certainly know who Winston Churchill is, and can definitely name the monarch who ruled at the time of the Spanish Armada (Elizabeth I). I think it's very sad that today very few people have intellectual curiosity (and it's not encouraged in schools either, with all the standardized tests). Here, in the States, people can't name things like the Allied Powers or the current Vice-President, never mind the first President or the author of the Declaration of Independence. At this point, I'm not shocked that there are those in the world who are unaware of where the Olympic Games are held this summer.

 

[Iluvbertie]

I decided, as a result of reading this thread to do a straw poll of my students today on the Olympics.

Nothing scientific mind you.

I simply asked the following three questions:

1. Where are the Olympic games going to be held this year?
2. Who will open the games?
3. Where were the games in 2008?

I had a total of 85 students in my 4 classes today with the following results.

1. London 32/85; Don't know - 14/85; Beijing 2/85; Somewhere in Europe (a range of different European places - cities and countries - some who have hosted the games and some that haven't); various sites in North America 21/85 and Rio 16/85.
2. Obama - 46/85; The Pope - 3/85; The Queen 32/85; miscellaneous 4/85
3. London 41/85; Beijing 24/85; Athens 2/85; LA 5/85; miscellaneous cities that haven't hosted the games 13/85

A sad indictment of the general knowledge of our youth. Maybe some other teachers out there could try something similar - and hopefully raise our spirits.

 

[wanderingnana]

Well, I don't know about Australia and Great Britain, but here in the US, history doesn't seem to be taught until high school-if then. When I was in grade school, many many years ago, we knew the states, their capitals, the presidents, the three branches of government, not to mention the kings and queens of England and a few other countries. I guess those days are gone forever unless you home school the kids. It's very sad, because history is such an important subject. Part of the problem is probably that it is not made interesting- just memorizing dates really doesn't do it and really there are only about 15 dates that are really needed to be learned- events that changed the world= you know, 1066, 1215, 1453, 1492, 1776 and a few more. History can be made interesting- but here in this country, it is too often taught by foot ball coaches- who could care less.

 

[Lumutqueen]

We have something confirmed for Friday, Sir Chris Hoy will carry the Union Flag.
London Olympics 2012: Sir Chris Hoy will carry British flag at opening ceremony | Mail Online