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So how do we feel we will do compared to China in the duty of hosting the next olypics?

I personly think we wont be able to do anything near it, and with our current climate do we really want the 100's of millions thrown at it that it will need to be great when this money is needed in much better places?

It will be much, much better for people going to watch it live.  I also think the atmosphere at the events will therefore be much better.

The legacy of the Olympics will be far better for England London than it was for Beijing.  IMO of course.

Yep wp Great Britain, we get the olympics in the middle of the CREDIT CRUNCH.
To be fair the Chinese spent $40bn on the games and we are planning to spend a mere $20bn. There is no chance it will be as spectular but London will do a good job.

Pretty much the only place left in the world capable of putting on something as expensive and spectacular as Beijing would be somwhere like Dubai.

i'll post a bit more about it in 3 years time

I watched the closing ceremony of the olympics last night as it was the first chance I had had to see it. Slightly embarrassed by our 'invite' to London. A red bus, dodgy dancers doing something artistic, graphics put together by some underprivilidged group and a girl chosen from Blue Peter viewers.

I know we haven't got the money to do anything as spectacular as China but when will we learn that to others looking in it doesn't mean anything - we have to be more corporate. I would have been happier seeing something iconic such as morris dancers tbh that they might relate to - the bus and Beckham excepted of course.

Boris looked as untidy as possible with his jacket undone but at least he had combed his hair.

We are so unprofessional when it comes to these things - seriously - if we had our way the Olympics would include a charades championship and a pass the orange under your chin game.

I might watch them if they did that.

negative negative negative ... why oh why dont we as British subjects have a bit of optimism and see the Olympic games as a chance for great redevelopment of run down areas and a legacy of facilities and infrastructure that will benefit generations after the Olympics has finished ?

Bring on 2012, bring on the worlds greatest sportsmen and women, bring on the worlds media ... London 2012 WILL deliver.

It will deliver.  It will be a different approach to the Beijing games, and will be better for it.  The peoples' games  for want of a better term.

I mean more of the money.. Do we want the £20bil invested in trying to get our country out of the shit now, or do we want it spent on the olympics.

The chinese could call on 1000's of slaves for want of a better word to build whatever they want, the british with have to employ every polish person on the planet. Then at the moment the traffic, public transport cant cope with the normal day to day running without the extra stress of the olympics.

I am fiercly patriotic but I can see us setting ourselfs up to look stupid.

I was a bit (unsure of emotion) to find out that they are considering pulling down the billion pound main stadium after the Olympics because it's too expensive to keep on.

I think we'll do an excellent job.  The Chinese do great shows, that's what the Chinese do, we don't have to compete with it, we just have to host a terrific Olympics and that's what we'll do.  The ceremonies that China put on have never been seen before and probably never will be seen again.

I knew I would get that response and tbh I am normally a lot more positive about stuff as you well know - but we didn't exactly make a brilliant start and I have to go on the evidence as it's presented. If it had been fabulous I would have said so but a red london bus, beckham and a blue peter viewer isn't exactly getting me excited!

I hope it gets better and that someone remebers to clear up the horse poo from horseguards parade before the volleyball starts.

No democracy will ever put on a games as spectacular at Beijing, they just couldn't justify the cost to the voting public. We will do a great games in our own way, one of the reasons we got it in the first place is because of the legacy it will leave for the country, all the facilities will have a use after the games, regeneration of a run down part of London etc.

I mocked the 8 min segment at the closing ceremony as well, but you have to accept that it was unimportant in the grand scheme of things to come.

The Olympics will bring so much to London in terms of facilities and has a long term objective which is so much more important than opening and closing ceremonies ... they are just glitz and bullshit ... think of the bigger picture. I forced myself to do just that and am optimistic and proud that the Olympics are coming to our country.

The Olympics is so much more than the opening and closing ceremony. 

It's also more than a mere TV spectacle. 

2012 will be brilliant.

I saw a submission to parliament about what the different parts of the Olympic legacy are intended to be - unfortunately I can't remember where I got it. But the gist was that it was all fairly impressive.

Hey listen - I intend to start a prop bet and have to colonically irrigate at least one athelete from each discipline (excluding horses obv)  and I intend to enjoy the olympics and embrace it as a wonderful thing. But I think we have to think bit and spectacular and this just wasn't a promising start. Hopefully they thought the same way as you - that it's not that important and we're saving to good bits for last.

What facilities?

The Olympic stadium will be scaled down to 25,000 seats and might become home to Leyton Orient. Wooo!
The O2 centre will host a load of stuff - it's already there and will go back to hosting music concerts afterwards.
The Excel centre will host 7 sports but will go back to being an exhibition centre.
The new hockey centre will be put back in its box afterwards and shipped off to Eton.

Long term, we're getting a swimming pool, a velodrome and the handball arena will become a community sports centre. That's it. That's what we get for £9bn.

bloody credit crunch

I met a couple of irish navvies on the train the other day - they would  do it cheaper. I have their number.

I'm sure 2012 will be a fantastic and well organised Olympic Games even if not so extravagantly spectacular as Beijing. There will be a lasting legacy not just for London but the whole of UK sport. It's also a great opportunity to be able to get along to a few events and I look forward to seeing a lot more live action than I did from Beijing.

I can't believe so many people are so negative about it especially after a great result from the British team in Beijing. Their results alone will be enough to encourage some youngsters to put down their playstation or wii and try a real sport, maybe some of them will be on the podium in 2016 or 2020 inspiring others to do the same.

Racist ban IMO

Some shops have reported over a 90% increase of sales in some sporting goods (particularly to do with swimming and cycling) since the Olympics

QFT.

We like to do ourselves down as a country,but we did reasonable job of Euro96 and Manchester02' (best commenwealths ever?). We won't match Beijing open and closing ceremonies.Also we won't have the olympic flame extingusihed on every leg of its tour, or have our human rights record brought into question.

2012 will be a good olympics imo.

I agree.

Lets give Britain a little love. We'll do a great job of hosting the games on a 'prudent' budget. It'll re-generate areas of London for which it was long overdue. The investment will provide work for a lot of people during these tricky times. We'll be left with some good sports venues and hopefully a renewed passion for sports manifold.

WP Britain - now get it won.

Anyone watch the opening for the paralympics ? you almost forget that they are also on but I normaly prefere them its always a tear jerker.

The only thing that worries me is actually being able to get from one side of London to the other...bad enough on a normal day.

to be honest the olympics coming to london etc is a prime reason why i want to GTFO of this country at the minute.

if they really gave a shit about national morale etc they would take the 12bn its going to cost, send a few astronauts to the moon to write in huge, visible from earth letters, the words "piss off germany"

and they could put the change towards actually improving the lives of people in this country

or maybe they could just take all the jobseekers allowances etc to fund it. i dont see why i should foot the bill for the olympics or for lazy people to live on the dole (disability etc fine, not working because your lazy, not fine)

saying that, when the bidding for it was taking place, i was praying that paris and the french would suffer the cost, not us, to top it off i voted tory, campaigned for the tory gits and everything. and now i just want to leave the country ive lived in for a significant portion of my life and leave it to fester. sigh /rant