Entries tagged with olympics

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olympics

Noguchi!

I watched the second half of the Olympic marathon. ("I contradict myself? Very well I contradict myself. I contain multitudes") and it was pretty amazing. Now this is what I call sport. No drugs- because bigged-up muscles would be absolutely no use in an endurance test like this- just strategy and strength of character. I thought Noguchi had blown it by going out in front so soon, I thought her style looked ragged- those flapping arms- compared to the tightly compact African runners who were on her heels, but she held on and held on and she came in first. Afterwards I felt good about being a human being.

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Cool It, Britannia

I haven't been following the Olympics. I don't see why I should take an interest once every four years in sporting events that otherwise interest me not a jot.

Today Britain won a gold in some sort of bicycling dash. Great, fine, let the good times roll.

And the nationalism gets under my skin. Maybe I'm becoming a bore on this subject, but I've always been hostile to those whom Kipling (of all people) called "jelly-bellied flag-flappers". And "God Save the Queen" is such a bloody awful song.

I want us to calm down. I want us to forget the tunes of glory-or at least relegate them to the past- and relax into being a cool, unimportant, unaggressive European nation like Holland. OK, once upon a time we ruled the waves, but that's all over now. If we must brag of national achievement lets brag about the things that endure- like Shakespeare and Stilton cheese.

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olympics

Come Back Leni Riefenstahl- All Is Forgiven

The guy who was favourite to light the Olympic flame (a national hero in Greece) is under suspicion of being a drugs cheat. Here we go again!

Who cares whether this years crop of pampered darlings gets to run a little faster or jump a little further than their predecessors did four years ago? It's a freak show- and the nationalism is disgusting.

I watched the Sydney Olympics for the scenery. I don't remember any of the sports events, but I remember the blue waters of the harbour and the the beautiful palm-lined streets. I guess Athens should offer something similar. It's the events that take place outside the stadium that I'm looking forward to- olive groves, crags and ruined temples, with lightly-clad bodies moving elegantly across the foreground.