There are definitely negatives as well as positives but one of the positives that small businesses may well be overlooking is the increased business that they may well get after the Olympics have been and gone, with the increased foot-fall to the venue and an increase in residents.

Managed to get tickets for an evening at the athletics followed the next morning by the canoeing & kayaking (which I admit to knowing nowt about) at Eton. £100 for a B&B in Ascot (will probably get there about 1am leave at 8am). I expect the travelling to be horrendous (Park & ride from/to Lakeside then 60m drive to Ascot to the B&B). Priceless.

And lets not forget the Blair promise that the olympics would benefit the whole country and not just London.

We've got the Chinese team based in Leeds.

I wonder if they think that Leeds is a sort of suburb of London ?

Obviously not as old as your jokes

But that's where your problem starts ...

I'm still looking forward to seeing the mountainous forestry course that they've built from scratch for the Olympic Mountain Biking event - they were offered the use of Keilder Forest and its real life 1900 foot summit and fifty or so kilometres of forest route, already built and ready and waiting for an Olympic event - or indeed any course in Wales or the Lake District, or the Peak District.

But no, it had to be close to London, it being for the benefit of the whole country and all that, so they've built a bit of a hill in Essex, that well known area for hills and stuff, and thats where the Olympic "mountain" biking will be held.

Its just a good job that they didn't bid for the London Winter Olympics as well.

In all fairness, they have picked a particulatly hilly bit of Essex, probably the hilliest bit of it. Used to do a lot of cycling round there when I Was a kid, and it gets up to about ohh, 1:10 at times.

Not a lot of trees though.

They were also offered the world class course at Ben Nevis.

All the 'wonderful news for 'Britain' didn't last long did it.

Don't panic! There still intending to hold the Sh!t-Shovelling competion at Caravan Park.

Well Scotland will have thousands of athletes in various training camps.

One of the fears is the decreased footfall in areas that are not slap bang in the middle of the Olympic area – but will still be impacted by increased parking limits and some of the road restrictions mentioned previously. An extraordinary amount of the whole borough of Hackney is going to be affected by such things – even though it's nowhere near the Olympic site and won't, for instance, feel the impact of the subsequent increase in residents.

Is any of this Olympics thingy going to be on TV? if so, I might not actually pay anything or go anywhere, but open a beer and put my feet up.

I believe the Beeb announced they they are showing every single minute of every Olympic sport via 24 HD channels on the red button so the best place to watch the games really does seem to be on the sofa!

You could apply that argument to any televised sporting event. The Grand Final, the Challenge Cup Final, any regular round of SL when your team is on the telly. Hopefully I'll be able to watch the next several Olympic Games on the box, this time it will be LIVE!

The Beeb is pretty good at televising athletics ... and if Michael Johnson is still on the commentary team, you'll get some real no-nonsense insight.
On the other hand, the Beeb have sometimes dropped John Inverdale into athletics coverage, I really don't know why, because he adds feck all to the proceedings, indeed he badly detracts from the presentation with his utterly stupid questions and ruggerbugger attitude.

I used to love watching the olympics, when it was contested by amateurs who contested events based on speed, strength and enjurability. Now it has become a money making regime, and has lost all of its original purpose.

This London olympics just stinks of greed and commercialism, and is not for the country at all. I for 1 have no interest in it, as it would seem, neither do 2/3rds of the country.

How many events are actually being staged away from the south?

I'm really pleased for London and how they got the Olympics but up North i couldn't really give one. The most ill watch of it is the Cycling, Kayaking and the Usain Bolt roadshow.

The biggest winners in the whole Olympics are Black cab drivers in London. Notch that meter up to 11 and watch the tourists roll in!

You're aware that the Olympics are awarded to a city rather than a country, right?

The football events are reasonably widely spread. The others, as you'd expect, are clustered as close to the city that was awarded the event as possible. Just like pretty much every other Olympics.

Yes, I am aware of that, but, all I keep hearing from the pluggers is, " It will benefit the whole country", which, it obviously will not. And what the hell has football got to do with being an olympic sport?

Actually it might well benefit the whole country. The economics of Olympics are complex and there's a significant contribution just from extra tourism. Not everyone who visits the UK for the Olympics will spend their entire time in or around London and the South.

As far a Soccer is concerned - nor argument from me there.

Did you also only enjoy rugger when played by amateurs?

Since black cabs will not be allowed within a mile of the venues, that's debatable. Most of the ones I've talked to in recent months are dreading it, for all the reasons mentioned previously – and many are simply intending to take their holidays then.

Strange, Glasgow, Cumbernauld, Sheffield, Leeds, Weymouth, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton (and those are only the ones I know of) are all hosting training camps and team facilities before and during both the events. Places are benefiting not just because they are hosting sports you know.

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Live Wired wrote:I used to love watching the olympics, when it was contested by amateurs ...


Did you also only enjoy rugger when played by amateurs?

I enjoy RL at all levels from schoolgirls to Sl standard.

Strange, Glasgow, Cumbernauld, Sheffield, Leeds, Weymouth, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton (and those are only the ones I know of) are all hosting training camps and team facilities before and during both the events. Places are benefiting not just because they are hosting sports you know.

Training centres, but no events? Wow. So wheres the benefit for those of us outside of the home counties? The 1966 Brazilian World Cup team stayed at the Lymm hotel in Warrington, certainly did'nt boost industrial output in Warrington.