Did anyone go to the London Olympics?

All this talk of the Olympics has reminded me how great the London Olympics were.  We went to the Paralympics and saw tennis, basketball and a game for blind people called goal ball.  The atmosphere was amazing and the volunteers made me really proud to live here. 

Did anyone else go?

Does anyone else feel the massive change in atmosphere now than we have Brexit?  I don't feel all that proud now.

All this talk of the Olympics has reminded me how great the London Olympics were.  We went to the Paralympics and saw tennis, basketball and a game for blind people called goal ball.  The atmosphere was amazing and the volunteers made me really proud to live here. 

Did anyone else go?

Does anyone else feel the massive change in atmosphere now than we have Brexit?  I don't feel all that proud now.

Do you want to talk about the Olympics or just rehash the Brexit discussion?

I certainly don't want to rehash the Brexit thing, there's another thread for that.

I'd like to hear if anyone else went to see the games in person  and what they saw. 

I'd also like to hear if people agree or disagree with my feeling that there was a vastly different vibe then.

All this talk of the Olympics has reminded me how great the London Olympics were.  We went to the Paralympics and saw tennis, basketball and a game for blind people called goal ball.  The atmosphere was amazing and the volunteers made me really proud to live here. 

Did anyone else go?

We did! We saw the US women's basketball team play the Czech Republic, and GB women's basketball play France, but the highlight was watching the US women's soccer team winning the gold medal match against Japan.

Tried to get tickets to other stuff, but no matter how many tickets the website said were available, there were never any when it came time to check out. (I'm not still bitter about it.)

The vibe is definitely different, but of course the Olympics are something nearly everyone can get excited about. Brexit, on the other hand, has split the country. (Or it was split already and Brexit just displayed the split so we could all see it.)

I went!

I also saw the women's US team win gold again Japan in football.

I saw the synchronised swimming team final, so I got into the Olympic Park and the Aquatics Center! 

An old classmate from high school made the men's freestyle wrestling team for his weight category and I saw his match as well.

The weather was gorgeous the weekend we went to London.  Without question the best time I've had since arriving.  On the Saturday afternoon/evening we went to Hyde Park and watched Mo win his second gold in the jumbotron.  Well, I watched the backs of everyone around me and jumped along with everyone (height is not on my side).  Mobots galore.  Was SO fun!

I love the Olympics.  London was the third games I've attended and hopefully not my last!

Does anyone else feel the massive change in atmosphere now than we have Brexit?  I don't feel all that proud now.

Well I'll tell you, it is different. But I have a sneaky little US patriotic streak when it comes to the Olympics....drawn like a moth to the ointment to tears on the medal podium. Getting misty typing it.

So I am a bit of a biased observer.

I went!

I also saw the women's US team win gold again Japan in football.

I saw the synchronised swimming team final, so I got into the Olympic Park and the Aquatics Center! 

An old classmate from high school made the men's freestyle wrestling team for his weight category and I saw his match as well.

The weather was gorgeous the weekend we went to London.  Without question the best time I've had since arriving.  On the Saturday afternoon/evening we went to Hyde Park and watched Mo win his second gold in the jumbotron.  Well, I watched the backs of everyone around me and jumped along with everyone (height is not on my side).  Mobots galore.  Was SO fun!

I love the Olympics.  London was the third games I've attended and hopefully not my last!

How did London compare with the other ones?

I envy you going to the aquatic centre, that must have been fun.

The best part of my day was the goal ball, which is an event for blind people to play. The ball has a bell in it and the teams take turns rolling it towards the other teams goal.  The other team tries to block it by laying down.  We had to be super quiet while the ball was rolling, but after the shot they wanted us to make a lot of noise so they could tell if they made it.  The audience easily had as much fun as the players.  Sometimes the teams would trick the other side by running to the other side of the court and shaking the ball, then quietly sneaking back.

Second favourite was the wheelchair tennis, there was a guy almost as disabled as Stephen Hawkings who was killing everyone.  He could hardly move but he sure could play tennis.

Funny you say that.  I applied for thousands of £££ of tickets only to get a handful.  SO MANY PEOPLE made fun of me getting tickets to synchronized swimming, including my now-husband who was my boyfriend at the time.  He sure didn't mind being my plus one and getting into the Olympic Park and the Aquatics centre though!   

The entire Olympic Park was fantastic.  HUUUUUUUGE!!  Such a shame you couldn't get in if you didn't have a ticket.  I couldn't get tickets to go up the Orbit thing.  But there were large expanses of lawns to watch jumbotrons of live feeds outside each venue.  It really was an electric feeling.

Hyde Park was also fantastic.  We walked for days to get to the entrance but just awesome to have thousands of people out celebrating the Olympics.  London really did themselves proud.  Everything was exceptionally organised.

I went to Atlanta in 1996.  My parents surprised me with tickets to rhythmic gymnastics (team final).  I'm a dancer, so I loved it.  The stands were VERY empty for that though.  Needless to say the US isn't big in rhythmic gymnastics.  We also went to the village.  VERY VERY small compared to London.

I went to Salt Lake City in 2002 and saw several events.  Again, very small Olympic village with massive queues to get into the shop, so I left without a t-shirt!  Really well done games and very clean and organised.  But London wins by far in my eyes!

Nothing wrong with synchronised swimming, I just listened to a podcast where they said it was one of the hardest sports going with a high risk of concussion.  Apparently the routines are getting much tighter in terms of space each year, making it more dangerous.  I can't guess exactly how you could get a concussion but what do I know?

Irish boxer Conlan......totally unfair. But....not unusual in the boxing world. Big problem with events that are "judged".

Irish boxer Conlan......totally unfair. But....not unusual in the boxing world. Big problem with events that are "judged".

I was watching the post match commentary although I just missed the actual fight.
Apparently there was an even more blatant example of the same last night.
Both the "winning" boxers were Russian...