Athens 2004: What did you think?

[Dan]

There was female wrestling but without the mud and with the clothes on. It was still better than the male wrestling, because it was freestyle and the men wrestled in Greeko-Roman style.
Of course judo was best:-)

[KennyR]

MrZammler wrote:
Well, the Games are over, greatest moment when the little girl blow the torch... feels sad...

And I bet the rest of the Fantastic Four weren't happy!

Err, never mind. :-P

I can't say that the olympics had me glued to the set, but I did get caught up in the drama of it sometimes. The sports are often silly, but most people fail to realise its not the sport that matters, it's the competition.

[asian1]

>Closing ceremony

Hello
What is the title of one of the last songs (lyrics: yassi or something) with picture of moon? The melody is famous but the lyrics is in greek.

The budget is US$ 13 Billion and Greek government and people must pay for US$ 7 Billion debt for several decades, similar to Montreal Olympics 1976.
Should IOC reduce number of games and athletes on the future Olympics to reduce cost? Can small / poor countries afford to host future Olympics?

[KennyR]

@asian1

The revenue collected from tourism alone due to the prestige of having the olympics outweighs any cost. Why do you think countries are tripping over themselves trying to host it?

[Speelgoedmannetje]

asian1 wrote:
The budget is US$ 13 Billion and Greek government and people must pay for US$ 7 Billion debt for several decades, similar to Montreal Olympics 1976.

:-?:-?:-?
!
wtf!!? I mean, one huge commercial event leaves a country to it's neck in debts? That can't be can it?

[bloodline]

KennyR wrote:

MrZammler wrote:
Well, the Games are over, greatest moment when the little girl blow the torch... feels sad...

And I bet the rest of the Fantastic Four weren't happy!

Err, never mind. :-P

You almost got away with that Kenny :-D


Olympics are boring...

[Dan]

asian1 wrote:

The budget is US$ 13 Billion and Greek government and people must pay for US$ 7 Billion debt for several decades, similar to Montreal Olympics 1976.
Should IOC reduce number of games and athletes on the future Olympics to reduce cost?

It´s more costeffective to reduce the IOC :lol:

Can small / poor countries afford to host future Olympics?

Greece is a small country, and no country which doesn´t have the infrastructure already in place will ever get it.
Olympics in Mauretania or Mali? Not in the next fifty years :lol:

[manicx]

iamaboringperson wrote:
I thought it was crap!

The worst show ever!

It was terrible!

I hated it!

It couldn't get worse!

My dog could make a better show than that!

I could pull a better show out of my butt!

I'd rather watch paint dry!

I'd rather wait for alien life to land!

A 4 hour train trip is better than that crap!

I never saw it.

Erm mate, just one question:

You say iw was crap but then you say that you didn't watch it? Are we talking about some kind of telepath(et)ic powers here?  :-D  :lol:

[asian1]

>Title of the song.

Hello
Today the local TV re-broadcasted the opening & closing ceremony. According to my friend, the title of the beautiful song is "Never On Sunday", the winner of OSCAR in 1960 (best theme song for a movie with the same title).

Andy Williams got a top hit in 1962, based on the classic Greek song.

The best events in Olympics are synchronized swimming and gymnastic (with music/dance).

[Glaucus]

KennyR wrote:
@asian1

The revenue collected from tourism alone due to the prestige of having the olympics outweighs any cost. Why do you think countries are tripping over themselves trying to host it?

Not if all the Werstern scardy-cat sports columnists are predicting doom-and-gloom before the games. Some actually recommended their viewers/readers NOT to go to Athens. As a matter of fact, tourism in Greece was better last year.

  - Mike

[Glaucus]

Today the local TV re-broadcasted the opening & closing ceremony. According to my friend, the title of the beautiful song is "Never On Sunday", the winner of OSCAR in 1960 (best theme song for a movie with the same title).

Is it? I don't think that's what it's called in Greek....  I'll have to check it out. There's an English version with that melody but the lyrics don't match the Greek lyrics. I'll have to re-watch it to double check...

As an aside, I did buy the Athens Olympics official CD called Phos (which means light). This is the one whith Greek singers, and it's not bad, kinda melow, but okay. There's another CD with crappy English singers (Unity) and a 3rd one with an orchestra (Harmony) - that last one might be good too. Unfortunately, that "Never On A Sunday" song isn't on any of them. In fact, I don't think any of the songs sung at the ceremony are on the CD, but some of those singers are. I particularly like track 14: Drapetsona - Antonis Remos. No idea what "Drapetsona" means, but the song rocks.  :-) My only complaint is that Giannis Savidakis wasn't featured at the ceremony - he's my favorite Greek singer.  :-)

  - Mike

[Glaucus]

Oh, and as for my favorite moment of the Olympics...  There were so many actually... One thing that most non-Greeks missed was actually before the games, when they took the Olympic flame across the water to Piraeus using an old-style trireme. That was kewl.

As for the Olympics themselves...  the drumming was cool, and I liked the moving statues in the parade. The Centaur who started it all off was neat too. Ah, it was all good, I'm waiting for the DVD to come out!  :-D Yup, that and the UEFA 2004 highlights.  :pint:  :-D

  - Mike

[Bodie_CI5]

@ Glaucus

"Drapetsona" is a suburb in Athens IIRC. It's actually a title taken from an old Rembetiko song by... ummm... can't remember by whom (Markos Vamvakaris possibly?).


Yup, can't wait for the DVD of both the Olympics and UEFA :-D

[Cyberus]

Heh, no surpise that computer users don't like sport.

A load of fat pasty faced geeks that are welded to their chairs don't have time for physical exertion...
C'mon guys, sport makes you feel alive!!

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Cyberus wrote:
C'mon guys, sport makes you feel alive!!

tis more the attitude around sport wich spoils the fun, I mean, the "Ubermensch" attitude.
If you're bad at gym at school when you were a kid, they'd learn you that sport is about anything but fun.

[Cyberus]

Speelgoedmannetje wrote:

Cyberus wrote:
C'mon guys, sport makes you feel alive!!

tis more the attitude around sport wich spoils the fun, I mean, the "Ubermensch" attitude.
If you're bad at gym at school when you were a kid, they'd learn you that sport is about anything but fun.

Actually, I understand exactly what you mean. I used to get that at school too, but then I found sport that I was good at - rugby and cricket.
Since I left school, I have started playing football, with friends. Its fun, no-one cares if you're good or not. I hated it at school though - as soon as you got the ball, there was someone shouting at you to pass it to them. If you had a shot at goal and missed, they would come and scream at you. But now I play with friends, and I've improved a lot.

Running/jogging you can do alone.

I play badminton with friends, only some of us are good. I don't give a sh!t what other people in the hall think. I'm not there to look good, I'm there to have fun. Sometimes, I miss the shuttlecock wildly, but I'm not afraid of trying.