O
onemorechance
live free or die
Silver Level
***The London 2012 Olympic Games***
I'm an incredibly cynical person, but even I cannot pretend not to be excited at the fact the Olympics arrives on these fair shores in just a few days time (today in fact, the women's football kicks off in just a few hours). Over the next couple of months, 12500 athletes from 205 teams will compete in 302 events across 26 sports
Beijing in 2008 went all out to impress, to show off. I suspect London won't take itself so seriously. It'll be more toned down, somewhat more self-deprecating, more wet, more, well... British.
But that is not to say we do not have an interest in winning our fair share of medals. Last time out we had one of our greatest games of the modern age, with 19 gold medals and 47 in total putting us 4th in the table. A repeat performance would do very nicely. In fact, it is likely Team GB will take its first gold going this coming Saturday – in the Men's Cycling Road Race – where just like in the final stage of the Tour de france on the Place de la Concorde, Bradley Wiggins will lead Mark Cavendish into the sprint to the finish line. And nobody beats Cav in a sprint.
Elsewhere on the bikes we'll be looking to Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Ed Clancy, Victoria Pendleton and Laura Trott to maintain the British dominance on two-wheels that has been led by the genius that is Dave Brailsford.
Chris Hoy
Victoria Pendleton
Victoria Pendleton
We could also be looking at a few gymnastics golds, with Louis Smith and Beth Tweddle leading the charge. While out on the water, once again we'll be looking to the rowers in various disciplines and indeed in the sailing, where GB could haul in gold in plenty of the classes on offer.
'Yes, yes' I can sense you are saying 'but what about the places people really care about? The track, the field and to a notably lesser extent the pool?' Well to you I say be patient, we're getting to that now.
In the pool we have Becky Addlington, a current world record holder, while Liam Tancock is world champion in the 50m back...
Oh, you really want me to get to track and field don't you? Ok. Well, if there was one minor disappointment in 2008 for GB it was that not many of our medals came where you really want them to, in the Olympic Stadium. Well that's going to change this year. Mo Farah will beat the Kenyans and the Ethiopians at their own game and win both the 5,000 and 10000 metres golds
Christine Ohrougou will retain her 400m crown, Phillips Idowu will finally put together the performance he's always been capable of and take gold in the triple jump, Dai Greene will follow his gold in last year's World Championships with a win in the 400m hurdles, Paula Radcliffe will overcome age, injury, a body and mind that has taken a phenomenal amount of knocks and show why the world record she set in 2003 is still 3 minutes faster than any of her contemporaries have been able to achieve, Holly Bleasdale could cause a huge upset in the pole vault and last but not certainly not least Jessica Ennis will show she's the best all-round female athlete of the world, winning the heptathlon and in the process becoming the darling of the games
Philips Idowu
Jessica Ennis
Jessica Ennis
As you may have noticed, this OP has been rather GB centred, but this is our games dammnit. This is our year, this is our chance. Our chance to prove we can take ourselves and our sport seriously, we can win, we have athletes who are feared above all others by their opponents, we can put on a show that is the envy of the world, we can prove all those naysayers wrong, those who say 'Oh but it was overbudget' 'Oh but there's been problems with security, transport, blah blah blah'
Please shut the **** up, because I don't care. This is the ****ing Olympics, and this year it's ours. Let's enjoy it.
Great Britain. Take the stage.
Last edited:
