Olympics opening ceremony - no spoilers please!

[MontyVeda]

It went a lot better in our household when we found the broadcast on one of the special BBC Olympic channels had a red button option to turn off the commentary.

John

You'll have missed the bit where the commentators all fell silent when the Kazakhstan team made their entrance... I'm sure all each of them could think of saying was "And here's the Kazakhstan Team... I hope we don't play the Borat version of their national anthem should they win a medal!"

 

[MontyVeda]

...
as a very young kid, Moira Stewart scared the living s*it out of me because, with all the makeup and everything, she was like nothing I'd ever seen before!

...

off topic but you're absolutely right, she wore bonkers eye shadow.... almost like she'd just looked through a pair of comedy binoculars with ink around the rims... I couldn't concentrate on the news coz i was too busy thinking "what the feck have you painted around your eyes!"

Back to the ceremony.

I honestly thought it was going to be an embarrassment... but I'm happy to be wrong!

 

[Night Train]

Hmmm. Ever been to Leeds, Bradford, Liverpool or Manchester?

Sometimes it can be a relative thing though.

I grew up on the border of London N1 and E8. When I moved to Manchester I found I missed all the West Indian, Greek, Turkish, Jewish, and Sikh faces as those were the ones I saw most of in my life.

Anyway, from my point of view, I didn't see any problem with the multi cultural aspect of the ceremony.

 

[Arch]

North of about Manchester.... Certainly when you cross the border anyway. Things have changed slightly over the years with asylum seekers and what have you, but at school, about the only 'multiculturalism' you came across were the Indians, Pakistanis and Chinese running the local takeaways and news agents!

Black people genuinely were a novelty.

Some people ight not like what I have written there, but it was perfectly true! We just weren't used to black people, and as a very young kid, Moira Stewart scared the living s*it out of me because, with all the makeup and everything, she was like nothing I'd ever seen before!

I am not even going to apologise for what I have said there because I have nothing to apologise for.

I'm not disputing your facts - just pointing out that the phrase multicultural encompasses those Indians, Pakistanis and Chinese too!

I grew up at first in Belfast in the 70's, where it wasn't multicultural, only sectarian, and there's nothing remotely good about that! Moving to Leicester when I was 10 was like a whole new world!

Then the athlete's parade, it's nice to feel like a citizen of Earth for an hour or so. Interspersed with thinking "Where exactly is Xxxxxx?"

And then to think about how many of those nations send athletes despite having domestic situations we couldn't imagine. It would be interesting to see medal success related to per capita income, and things like that.

Also, so many nations have such cool national hats!

 

[Theseus]

One of the things that I noticed was the way the athletes were treating it as a big party, it almost had the same vibe as a closing ceremony. I remember watching previous openings where they were all marched in and made to line up in neat rectangles in the centre of the arena.

Also good to see that a) all teams had female competitors and b) Team GB is taking part in every event.

 

[NotthatJasonKenny]

We have always been a melting pot from the Vikings to the French and from the Romans to the Irish, true multicultural I suppose.

However, white skin is still the majority (and I'm not going to apologise for pointing out a fact - no racism implied thank you very much!) and if we were showing off a true representation of the country as a whole, not just six or
Seven cities I think that should have been more prominent.

Unless it was being used as an invitation, which isn't a bad thing, I love the idea of planet earth being out home not the country.

Again, I don't know the stats but it would be interesting to know the ethnicity mix of our athletes as that could be a good reason for the focus.

All in all though it's a piddling ilittle ssue which doesn't really matter.

 

[MontyVeda]

I saw it as a celebration of London first... and East London being the primary focus seeing as that's where the games are being held... it is after all, The London Olympics and not the English, UK or British Olympics.

Being at a loose end last night, i downloaded the Beijing opening ceremony from 2008... now that had some seriously impressive choreography too.

Edited highlights...

 

[Ajay]

I thought the Arctics were really cool (sorry)
They were singing to the athletes assembled below, not the rest of the world, telling them how good they "look on the dance floor", referencing Rio etc, perfect song. I don't think I need to explain the Come Together lyrics!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Anyway, from my point of view, I didn't see any problem with the multi cultural aspect of the ceremony.

I had no problem with it, although I was wondering whether there were so many black guys working with Isambard Kingdom Brunell at the time....

I'm not disputing your facts - just pointing out that the phrase multicultural encompasses those Indians, Pakistanis and Chinese too!

I actually was responding to your 'North' thing. When I say north, I mean NORTH, and not Manchester etc which are in the middle of the country anyway! I was also pointing out a noticeable drop off of multiculturalism in any sort of amount when you get to, say, Glasgow.

up at first in Belfast in the 70's, where it wasn't multicultural, only sectarian, and there's nothing remotely good about that! Moving to Leicester when I was 10 was like a whole new world!

The first time I went to London... WOAH!!

Sectarianism is bad, I (and no doubt everyone else will) agree, and it is still there to a certain extent in Belfast and also Glasgow too, but that is Sectarianism, and that is only one aspect. If you take sectarianism away, does having only limited multiculturalism really have to be such a bad thing?

I don't feel aggrieved because there wasn't, say, a Jamiacan community on my doorstep.

And then to think about how many of those nations send athletes despite having domestic situations we couldn't imagine. It would be interesting to see medal success related to per capita income, and things like that.
Also, so many nations have such cool national hats!

I saw the likes of Syria go by and wondered if only people loyal to the regime were entitled to go...

 

[MontyVeda]

...
I saw the likes of Syria go by and wondered if only people loyal to the regime were entitled to go...

when the bigwig from the IOC said 'this is the first Olympic games where every participating team has female athletes' ... i wondered if that was due to a new IOC ruling or genuine global progress.

 

[Arch]

when the bigwig from the IOC said 'this is the first Olympic games where every participating team has female athletes' ... i wondered if that was due to a new IOC ruling or genuine global progress.

As I understand it, it was a demand from the IOC, but that's maybe how progress starts...

 

[MontyVeda]

As I understand it, it was a demand from the IOC, but that's maybe how progress starts...

fair enough... what took 'em so long?

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

fair enough... what took 'em so long?

If you are to look at when woman finally were allowed to compete in certain sports, the rest of us in the world can't exactly comment!

 

[Brains]

As I understand it, it was a demand from the IOC, but that's maybe how progress starts...

It was a "request" from the IOC, they have made the same request since at least the 1980s the final countries holding out such as Saudi Arabia were made to look a little silly in that they were the only ones with male only teams. The sole Saudi Arabian athlete is a girl from California, I'm not sure what sport she does but as it no doubt involves something unladylike such as showing her face even if she wins a medal it won't be on telly in Saudi

 

[Arch]

There seem to be two - judo, and 800m running.