Lasting impressions of the London Olympics

[Warren]

Now it's over,
lasting impressions
of the London Olympics

​

 

[Warren]

Better than Sydney?
Maybe.

 

[Lumutqueen]

I think I'll see what the CC has to offer before leaving my impressions. The one thing I will of course remember, are the athletes; Ennis, Farah, Bolt, Rudisha, Hoy, Grainger, Standing, Phelps to name but a few and I so wish I could name them all.

 

[Artemisia]

I was infected by the positive and cheerful atmosphere! For whatever reason, I became a supporter of Team GB and every single success (and there have been many) felt like very special to me as well. I discovered many new sports, witnessed athletes setting new records and leaving a legacy that will not be forgotten, saw old legends and birth of new ones...

London 2012 - definitely something I will always remember with a smile and great fondness. The last couple of weeks have been pretty much magical.

 

[Warren]

And the atmosphere, the excitement, the enthusiasm, the sheer joy that was generated by the spectators from the smallest of venues to the Olympic Stadium itself when they became involved and the emotions were tangible.
Very special moments indeed.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

For me, the best thing about the 2012 London Games were the Royal families from around Europe in attendance and how enthousiastic they were about their respective teams.

Not to mention all the LOVED UP couples..Haakon/Mette-Marit, Will/Kate, Guillaume/Stephanie, Louis/Tessy, Albert/Charlene...I was enchanted by watching them more than the athletes!
It was the most romantic Games I can ever remember!

 

[Daria_S]

I was infected by the positive and cheerful atmosphere! For whatever reason, I became a supporter of Team GB and every single success (and there have been many) felt like very special to me as well. I discovered many new sports, witnessed athletes setting new records and leaving a legacy that will not be forgotten, saw old legends and birth of new ones...

London 2012 - definitely something I will always remember with a smile and great fondness. The last couple of weeks have been pretty much magical.

That's the gist I got as well. The atmosphere was very uplifting and positive. You could tell from pictures alone.

For me, the best thing about the 2012 London Games were the Royal families from around Europe in attendance and how enthousiastic they were about their respective teams.

Not to mention all the LOVED UP couples..Haakon/Mette-Marit, Will/Kate, Guillaume/Stephanie, Louis/Tessy, Albert/Charlene...I was enchanted by watching them more than the athletes!
It was the most romantic Games I can ever remember!

I loved seeing all the royals interacting with one another. Also loved seeing the couples together, having a good time, and showing some affection (Will and Kate, Guillaume and Stephanie, and Frederik and Mary come to mind).

 

[Iluvbertie]

The brilliance of Bolt and Phelps and Mo along with the strength of British equestrian and cycling.

The disappointing performance of Australia compared to the hype we had before the games started but the Ugandan marathon winner.

The spirit of the games was wonderful with the atmosphere being infectious.

 

[An Ard Ri]

And the atmosphere, the excitement, the enthusiasm, the sheer joy that was generated by the spectators from the smallest of venues to the Olympic Stadium itself when they became involved and the emotions were tangible.
Very special moments indeed.

Couldn't agree more!

 

[NGalitzine]

The change in British attitude. Before the games it was "waste of money, it wont be any good, no one is interested, our teams wont win, its all so inconvenient etc etc", now people are smiling, cheering on our athletes, have a generally positive attitude, are being nice to visitors etc. It has been a nice change in attitude and hopefully one that will last a bit beyond these 2 weeks.

 

[An Ard Ri]

And the British wasn't as bad as many thought,yes it did rain but there was plenty of sun too.

 

[dbarn67]

I loved loved loved the interaction between all the royal houses. I loved watching these families embrace the games and each other. I think this is the first time in a long time that I've seen King Constantine, Queen Sofia and Princess Irene together. I like that the royal families were so warm and familiar with one another. Also, I loved seeing all the royal children brought along for the fun!


I loved the exceptional performances of Mo, Bolt, Phelps, Gabby Douglas, the first woman runner from Saudi Arabia and I love the modern pentathalon. These games highlighted the brilliance of female athletes. In the U.S. at least, the woman outperformed the men for the first time.

I really rooted for the British athletes to do well. They did well and then some. CONGRATULATIONS TEAM GB!


I've visited London once and had a wonderful time. I was thrilled to see that these Games highlighted the beauty of London. Through the marathon, the cycling etc you can see the beauty of the scenery and wonderful architecture.

I loved everything, even sports I don't normally watch kept me glued to my tv.

Most of all I love the Olympic spirit!

 

[COUNTESS]

The American Women's Basketball Team!!! They have spirit.

 

[COESpiral]

Great Britain put on an amazing games!! More often than not if there weren't any Americans in an event, my next cheer went to the British athletes. I'm so glad they had such a successful result and they should all be so proud!

The athletes that stood out most in my mind: Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Jessica Ennis, Gabrielle Douglas, Alexandra Raisman, Allison Felix, Oscar Pistorius, Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings.

Looking forward to Sochi in 2014 and Rio in 2016!

 

[RubyPrincess168]

The Good Memories:
Misty May Treanor & Kerri Walsh Jennings winning their third gold medal, with their teammates getting the silver. "Grip it and rip it!". McKayla Maroney's near perfect vault in gymnastics qualifying round. Aly Reisman knocking Jordan Weiber out of contention for the All-Around. The Queen's James Bond moment from OC. The remote-controlled Mini-Coopers at the Track & Field events. TONS of royal sightings. Andy Murray beating Rodger Federer at Wimbledon, even though it wasn't really Wimbledon and Rodger may not have been trying to win very hard.

The Bad Memories:
The Fierce Five's overuse of the word 'defintely' in interviews, and their inability to punctuate their thoughts by stringing everything together with 'and', 'but' and 'so' until it becomes one loooooong sentance. (This is why school is important, kids!) Both of USA's Men's Beach Volleyball teams being eliminated before the medal games. NBC's live streaming online making you sign in with your cable tv account (hey, if we had cable, we wouldn't need/want to watch stuff online!). The Shop London 2012 link kicking me straight to Shop Team USA's website (if I wanted to shop Team USA, I wouldn't be clicking on Shop London, now would I?). Ryan Seacrest and his lame Social Media Updates.

 

[AuroraB]

I'm glad you mentioned getting kicked off Shop London 2012. I emailed them, the reply was that the IOC would not allow items to be shipped to USA or Russia. Sorry, but Team USA did not have the t-shirt that I wanted to purchase for a birthday gift FOR a person in the UK

 

[Daria_S]

I'm glad you mentioned getting kicked off Shop London 2012. I emailed them, the reply was that the IOC would not allow items to be shipped to USA or Russia. Sorry, but Team USA did not have the t-shirt that I wanted to purchase for a birthday gift FOR a person in the UK

OK, now I'm glad I wasn't the only one that had issues accessing Shop London 2012. First I thought it was a site glitch, but then when I tried several more times, it proved to be the actual deal. Very annoying and frustrating, when you're looking to buy something that had nothing to do with Team USA .

 

[Artemisia]

I had the same problem.
While they do ship to Armenia, they do not accept credit cards registered outside the EU, which rather beats the purpose. I had to use my brother's French credit card (with his permission, of course) to get the souvenirs I wanted. Although I might have overspent a little.

 

[sirhon11234]

I enjoyed watching the tennis games and seeing Serena and Andy win. I enjoyed everything about this Olympics. I also enjoyed watching the soccer, Usain Bolt winning gold and Kirani James winning gold for Grenada in track. And also seeing USA's Dream Team #2 winning the gold medal this morning. I disliked NBC's lack of live coverage on the Opening Ceremony though. Also I loved the swimming races and diving. Michael Phelps is an amazing swimmer.

 

[RubyPrincess168]

I'm glad you mentioned getting kicked off Shop London 2012. I emailed them, the reply was that the IOC would not allow items to be shipped to USA or Russia. Sorry, but Team USA did not have the t-shirt that I wanted to purchase for a birthday gift FOR a person in the UK

No Mini Cooper merchandise either at Team USA shop, only the black cabs. Fortunatey I have a friend who looked for me, found a couple things but they're sold out, and will keep checking for me. Are they afraid of people buying out items and reselling them on ebay, etc? That's a legit concern, I guess, but it sucks for the rest of us. I could buy souvenirs after the Vancouver Games. Do I just have to wait a few months?

 

[dbarn67]

No Mini Cooper merchandise either at Team USA shop, only the black cabs. Fortunatey I have a friend who looked for me, found a couple things but they're sold out, and will keep checking for me. Are they afraid of people buying out items and reselling them on ebay, etc? That's a legit concern, I guess, but it sucks for the rest of us. I could buy souvenirs after the Vancouver Games. Do I just have to wait a few months?

More likely it's licensing agreements between and within the countries. I remember trying to get merchandise from Canada during the Utah Winter Olympics. I couldn't buy that country's merchandise because Nike restricted the purchase. I was able to get stuff a month or so after the Games ended.

 

[RubyPrincess168]

Loved John Lennon's 'Imagine' in the CC - so appropriate!

 

[EIIR]

I'll admit, I was worried about the Games beforehand. We British are a cynical lot, and on top of that we love nothing more than to rip our own country to shreds. One of the most common remarks you'll hear from Britons when discussing our country is 'this country's going to the dogs' - i.e. in meltdown.

The last few weeks demonstrated that's not the case. The British people came out in their millions, supported Team GB, but also athletes from other countries. The venues were great, as was the transport, the volunteers and armed forces are worth their weight in gold.

I've loved every minute, hope everyone else did too.

Quote of the Games for me - Nicola Adams on becoming the first female gold medallist in boxing: "it's made my day". British understatement at its best.

 

[Daria_S]

More likely it's licensing agreements between and within the countries. I remember trying to get merchandise from Canada during the Utah Winter Olympics. I couldn't buy that country's merchandise because Nike restricted the purchase. I was able to get stuff a month or so after the Games ended.

Good to know . I'll keep an eye out starting in mid-September then .

 

[LadyFinn]

I love to watch sport, I have always loved it.
The games very fabulous, the atmosphere at the arenas was fantastic, the british people and the tourists watching the games were great, they cheered for everyone. There were many great athletes, who did magnificent performances. Of course there were many disappointments for me also, when my favourite athleted didn't win. One of the greatest things is that already in the morning at heats and preliminary rounds the sport venues were full of people. There has been a unique aura in these games, when you think just sport.
Greatest moments for me were Usain Bolt and his three golds, David Rudisha's world record and the basketball final USA-Spain. I enjoyed also watching sailing, we had many Finns competing there.

It was fun to follow all the royals during the games.
But to me the opening and the closing ceremonies were quite big disappointments, I didn't like either of them.
Many of the performers at the closing ceremony were totally unknown to me, I have never heard them singing or never heard of them. Since I don't listen to this kind of music, the closing was too long. And there was nothing olympic at the closing ceremony, just too much cars, which isn't very athletic. And I missed the big dancing numbers at the other ways empty stadium. Now there was too much stuff at the stadium. I feel that I didn't see the soul of Great Britain in the ceremonies.

But Great Britain can be proud - when you think of just sport and the athletes and the audience, the games were a big success.

 

[wanderingnana]

Great Britain did a fabulous job. I really enjoyed watching these games, not only for the athletes, but also the enthusiasm of the British. I never did hear of any of those major problems that were supposed to be disasterous- as usual, the British did everything well and for a supposedly reserved nation, were warm and hospitable and totally charming. Well done!

 

[Queen Penelope]

Everyone involved in putting on the games should be really proud...truly well done!

My favorite moment was probably Tom Daley's bronze medal. To see the joy on his face and to see how excited he was to win the bronze was wonderful. His dad is looking down on him bursting with pride!

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

Two things will be lasting in my memory: HM & the James Bond stunt and the Usain Bolt show.

 

[Empress Merel]

I loved these Olympics. I didn't really follow the Games in Beijing as I was 14 at the time and really only interested in the Equestrian side.
But I watched as much as I could and I would've loved to be there. The atmosphere was great and quite a lot of surprises too. There were new records, new athletes hitting the scenes, a few scandals. It had a bit of everything.

My favorite moment was probably Epke Zonderland in the final of the Men's High Bar in Gymnastics. Not only was his routine immensly difficult (he's now the only Gymnast who can do that routine) but the reaction of the commenter was just brilliant. Every Dutch person will know what I'm talking about.
And Salinero's goodbye, seeing how Anky was so emotional and content and the crowd thanking Salinero for his achievements. I cried like a baby. Anky's been competing at the Olympics since 1988. What a woman!

Emotional Anky van Grunsven looks at her performance - London 2012 Olympics - YouTube

London Olympics 2012 filmed by me Epke Zonderland on Mens Horizontal Bar August 7 2012 - YouTube

 

[Madame Royale]

Not surprised by GB medal haul. Home advantage does count for something and they competed very very well. Deserving of all their success.

The US and China always make up the top two nations so there was no surprise there and Russia also fairs pretty well overall.

I was somewhat surprised by Australia's lack of gold in the pool, but I think it's a certain wake up call for the AOC and some athletes. For all of Australia's swimming success in the past, many countries are well and truly caught up and it is now time to regroup, reevaluate and 'up the ante' if they don't want a repeat in four years time. They were pipped at the post fair and square on more than one occasion. That said, silver is a wonderful achievement and bronze is not something to be dismissed in any way, shape or form. They are our elite athletes and have done us proud by just participating.

I was delighted though by Australia's boating success at these games. They are definitly a new found presence.

I didn't watch as much of the games as I'd have liked due to work and comitments but from what I did see it was a smooth running event and one Britain can be proud of.

The marathon through the streets of London was very enjoyable to watch. I've not been back in a couple of years now so I felt in part connected to a city which is very very close to my heart.