Olympic Recap

2012 will go down as a historic year in the United Kingdom for many reasons (not just that the Powell’s live here). The Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee as only the second royal to ever reside on the throne for at least 60 years (Queen Victoria was the other). The Shard was completed and now stands as the tallest building in all of Europe at 1,016 feet high.  And the Olympics and Paralympics came to London creating an epic summer of sport.

One of the more fascinating things to watch this past year has been the regular updates on all things Olympic. Leading up to the games there were daily stories covering the Olympic torch as it made its way around the country. We even got to see it as it came through Bristol. There was constant coverage on the ticket scheme that left several million citizens decrying about their inability to purchase tickets to events. As the opening ceremony got closer news broke that the company hired to provide security (coincidently the same firm who does security for Amanda’s office building) had failed to provide enough properly trained individuals to ensure the safety of athletes and fans alike. In the week leading up to the games, temperatures in the UK soared to an unheard of 80-85* which caused problems on the railway lines as they became too hot for the trains to run.  And there was rampant speculation as to what the opening ceremony would be and how it would portray the nation to the rest of the world. Not to mention a running debate on how Team GB could be expected to perform at a home Olympics.

All of this made for highly entertaining television but I must say with about a week to go we were all pretty well ready for the speculation to end and the games to begin. And begin they did! The opening ceremony did an excellent job of capturing the British mentality and then displaying it for the entire world to see. From the opening pastoral scene depicting Glastonbury Tor to the rise of the Industrial Revolution the ceremony imparted a spirit of inner strength and determination that is decidedly British in its attitudes towards work and progress. The ceremony even managed to poke some fun at the countries own sensibilities towards the Monarchy as the Queen was accompanied by the world most famous secret agent 007. In fact people around here still react in a state of disbelief whenever we mention that part of the Ceremony.   Mr. Bean (aka Rowan Atkinson) made an appearance that was quintessential of British humor. There was the odd tribute to the NHS which has truly become a national institution across the UK and then there was the music, I’m not entirely sure how to describe the music scene on this side of the pond but if you paid any attention to the music being played throughout the ceremony it pretty well fits what’s played on the radio every day.

The progression of nations was pretty similar to that of every other Olympics I’ve ever watched but the most greatly anticipated event of the night for me was the lighting of the torch. Every opening ceremony I make a point of hanging around long enough to see the torch being lit, always in hopes that some country will top the 1992 Barcelona torch lighting in which Antonio Rebollo shot a flaming arrow from inside the stadium over the torch which is constructed outside the stadium and more than a hundred feet above him. It was an amazing shot and has been seared into my memory from the moment I saw it. Lillehammer’s torch entrance in ‘94 was impressive as was the sheer precision of the event surrounding Beijing in 2008 but none have yet to beat Barcelona. I was hopefully that London would finally manage a more amazing lighting spectacle. Unfortunately it, like most things British, was a far more subdued and considered torch lighting than that of Barcelona. However the actual caldron itself was easily the most uniquely beautiful Olympic cauldron’s ever seen and more than made up for the lack of lighting pyrotechnics.

The first week of the games actually coincided with our summer trip to Scotland so we didn’t see as much live as we had hoped. Thankfully the BBC was up to the task. I haven’t heard much about how the Olympic coverage was back home but having been forced to watch previous Games broadcast by NBC, I can’t imagine it was anywhere close to as comprehensive as what the BBC pulled off. The BBC established 24 individual channels strictly devoted to covering every event live with commentary.  And, with all things BBC, there were absolutely no commercials.  It was entirely amazing. So when we got home from our trip to Scotland our DVR was overflowing with swimming prelims, semi finals and finals, canoe slalom, and (most importantly) beach volleyball.  The second week of the Olympics was must watch TV in the evenings as Team GB began to flex some underappreciated muscle in athletics, rowing, cycling and sailing. Going into the Games many were openly questioning whether Team GB could come remotely close to their medal totals in Beijing but by the time the games were done they had finished fourth in the overall medal count and third in the Gold medal count.

Which brings me to a rather peculiar difference between coverage hear and coverage in the states. Back home the medal count generally focuses on the total medals won and the tables rank each team in that order. The coverage over hear takes a different approach by ranking nations according to the number of Gold’s that are one. So in the US the medal count shows the US in first, China in second and the Russia in third with Great Britain nearly 20 total medals back in forth. However, the ranks in the UK have the US in first, China in second and Great Britain in third with the Russia being 5 gold medals down and finishing in fourth. Apparently the home town team really wanted to finish the games on the podium.

Another difference between coverage here and coverage in the states are the events that are promoted. Swimming, Gymnastics and Track and Field have made up a majority of the stateside coverage for years while coverage over here substituted Gymnastics with Rowing and Cycling. Of course they have a few contemporary track and field heroes’ now in Jessica Ennis (gold medal in the heptathlon) and Mo Farah (gold medal in the 5000m and 10000m) to help encourage others young athletes to become interested in track and field as well.

As is the norm the Olympics ended with the medal ceremony for the marathon followed by the closing ceremony. I didn’t find the closing ceremony to be as entertaining as the opening ceremony was but it remained a fitting celebration of British pop culture and was in line with the overall feel of the games. Overall the general feeling here is that the London 2012 Olympics were a resounding success and to be completely honest I am in absolute agreement. Yet for as proud as everyone is about the Olympics they are equally pleased with the record setting attendance figures for the Paralympics. They have truly put forth a remarkable effort to support both Games so well and I am definitely pleased that Amanda and I got to witness the Games from their perspective.