Who Will Light the Torch in London During Opening?

[DrJay]

That was one underwhelming torch lighting.

Agreed. I stayed up for that? Pass it from one legend to another to another to another, like in Atlanta. (If they could have gotten Ovett to come over, he could have given the finger to the press corps once again! )

And now Sir Paul is looking rather dated.

[DrJay]

Anyone wanna bet against Sir Elton as the headliner in the closing ceremony?

[Daisy]

Why have the likes of Daley Thompson, Kelly Holmes and Mary Peters standing there in the shadows?

Because the sales pitch was always about the next generation.

‘Seb’s final speech at the voting in Singapore focused on how you needed young people to be interested in sport to create the next generation of champions and that London engaged best with the youth.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympi ... Payne.html

[Per Andersen]

Loved the ceremony ; so much more individualistic and very British we thought than the brilliant but humourless, nationalistic approach by the Chinese.

Agree!
Two things on the minus side: 1. McCartney. His voice has been shot for years but this was even more embarrassing than his Super Bowl gig of a few years ago.

2. Did not care for the cauldron lighting by committee.

[26mi235]

story now posted on front page says bookies stopped taking bets after a huge amount went down on Bannister.

My opinion:

Banister is not only the best known British athlete, he has had a better post-athletic career than anyone up for possible consideration, possibly by a large margin (Coe is not under consideration).

[shivfan]

Loved the ceremony ; so much more individualistic and very British we thought than the brilliant but humourless, nationalistic approach by the Chinese.

Agree!
Two things on the minus side: 1. McCartney. His voice has been shot for years but this was even more embarrassing than his Super Bowl gig of a few years ago.

2. Did not care for the cauldron lighting by committee.

I agree about McCartney, but I disagree about the lighting of the cauldron. I liked the idea of the athletes of tomorrow lighting the cauldron. I was getting put off by this silly debate of it should be Steve Redgrave-Daley Thompson-Roger Bannister-David Beckham etc. I'm more likely to remember this cauldron lighting than previous ones.

I only remember one cauldron lighting - Muhammed Ali in 1996 at Atlanta. How many others can you guys remember without using google?

[shivfan]

Several days ago I almost nominated Mr. Bean, but thought you guys already had enough of my silliness.
It appears I wasn't that far off.

I was on another messageboard, and you would surprised how popular that Mr Bean skit was....

[Jon]

I agree about McCartney, but I disagree about the lighting of the cauldron. I liked the idea of the athletes of tomorrow lighting the cauldron. I was getting put off by this silly debate of it should be Steve Redgrave-Daley Thompson-Roger Bannister-David Beckham etc. I'm more likely to remember this cauldron lighting than previous ones.

Completely agree. While the likes of Redgrave & Thompson would have been more than deserving, it wouldn't have been a surprise at all.

I only remember one cauldron lighting - Muhammed Ali in 1996 at Atlanta. How many others can you guys remember without using google?

Freeman was memorable, but I agree with your point. Many past flame-lighters have been chosen for symbolic reasons (the Barcelona archer, etc). London 2012's slogan is "inspire a generation" and this fitted in with that, while also incorporating some Olympic legends. And the way the flame itself was formed was absolutely breath-taking.

Overall I thought the OC was pretty good. Some parts did not blend so well, and I imagine some references may have been lost to non-Brits, but I'm happy they did something different. They could have gone the predictable route of large dance troops, drummers and sporting montages, but what Danny Boyle did was more memorable (for better or worse).

[DrJay]

If they wanted to include the up and coming youth, have two people light it together, a creaky old legend like Bannister and a 15 yo age group athlete girl.

[fromage]

Had friends from abroad ring me up and say how refreshing and imaginative the Ceremony was even though they did not understand certain references, but it was for the British audience frankly.
Anybody who knows Danny Boyle's style and political views knew full well that we were not going to get the Beijing OTT grandiose stuff. Deep down I really believe that the audience of mainly Brits did not care too much what the rest of the world thought of their show, unlike the Chinese who were definitely doing the Nationalist posture approach.

It had its weak moments such as McCartney who was poor; also one or two moments I thought did not come off.

[Trackrunner]

Well the London Olympic organizers did say they weren't going to try to outdo Beijing, and boy, they weren't kidding.

The dancing nurses, bouncing sick children and huge hospital beds were just...just uh never mind.

[Flumpy]

Just what???

All of that stuff was fabulous.

[Conor Dary]

i don't want to see a load of kids light the flame i want to see the people who (pretended) to nominate then.Anti climax

So, this is how the debate ends...Not with a bang, but a whimper.

Sort like the favorite athletes thread...

[Dutra5]

Why have the likes of Daley Thompson, Kelly Holmes and Mary Peters standing there in the shadows?

Because the sales pitch was always about the next generation.

‘Seb’s final speech at the voting in Singapore focused on how you needed young people to be interested in sport to create the next generation of champions and that London engaged best with the youth.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympi ... Payne.html

When I was the next generation, I was inspired by the previous generation. I understand the PR angle but it was very unimpressive to me.

[TN1965]

I liked the idea of the athletes of tomorrow lighting the cauldron. I was getting put off by this silly debate of it should be Steve Redgrave-Daley Thompson-Roger Bannister-David Beckham etc. I'm more likely to remember this cauldron lighting than previous ones.

I only remember one cauldron lighting - Muhammed Ali in 1996 at Atlanta. How many others can you guys remember without using google?

Certainly, Barcelona was the most memorable of all. But otherwise, I agree. Here is the list of people who have lit the cauldron. It does not have to be great Olympians of the past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pe ... c_Cauldron

[John G]

Every other OC has left me cold. I hate pomp and circumstance and had no interest in the Royal Weddings or various jubilee celebrations in my lifetime. But last night had me in bits from beginning to end. Best show I've ever seen. It summarised everything I've ever loved about my country and made me more proud to be British than I've ever felt. Arctic Monkeys, Sex Pistols, New Order, NHS, Suffragettes, The Jam, Chelsea Pensioners, multiculturalism. Fantasic. The cauldron is beautiful and I loved the fact a bunch of kids lit it.

Sorry if you lot didn't enjoy it. I helped pay for it and you can all piss off (I mean that affectionately).

[Conor Dary]

When I was the next generation, I was inspired by the previous generation. I understand the PR angle but it was very unimpressive to me.

Really? Maybe the guys a few years older, like Ryun or Pre but beyond that forget it. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I met Bob Schul in 1975 at his running store in Ohio. I was 21 and a keen distance runner then, and Schul was 37 and I felt like I was meeting some ancient duffer. You could appreciate what he did, after all he did win the gold medal only a few centuries before, but no one I knew went around dreaming to be the next Schul, or even Mills. As for guys from the 1950's like Santee, that was more like some ancient biblical story.

[JRM]

I fell asleep before the cauldron lighting, so I had to fish around on the web this morning to figure out who it was. Interesting opening ceremonies, certainly. Of all the things Brits can be proud of, the chose to highlight their national healthcare system (take note!).

One thing I did wonder, though: what were John Lennon and Paul McCartney doing in a montage with William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin?

[user4]

I fell asleep before the cauldron lighting, so I had to fish around on the web this morning to figure out who it was. Interesting opening ceremonies, certainly. Of all the things Brits can be proud of, the chose to highlight their national healthcare system (take note!).

One thing I did wonder, though: what were John Lennon and Paul McCartney doing in a montage with William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin?

Perfectly juxtaposed to accent and highlight the precipitous decline of western civilization.

[Marlow]

The Industrial Revolution and National Heath Care parts dragged on and were totally non-engaging, but yeah, I'd rather have this stuff than the impersonal Beijing 'art'.

[Flumpy]

I loved most of the ceremony it was just the last 20 mins that I hated.

[Conor Dary]

Thank goodness it is over. Now we can start a new thread. Who will light the torch in 2016?

[Dutra5]

When I was the next generation, I was inspired by the previous generation. I understand the PR angle but it was very unimpressive to me.

Really? Maybe the guys a few years older, like Ryun or Pre but beyond that forget it. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I met Bob Schul in 1975 at his running store in Ohio. I was 21 and a keen distance runner then, and Schul was 37 and I felt like I was meeting some ancient duffer. You could appreciate what he did, after all he did win the gold medal only a few centuries before, but no one I knew went around dreaming to be the next Schul, or even Mills. As for guys from the 1950's like Santee, that was more like some ancient biblical story.

I met Emil Zatopek the day prior to the NYC marathon in the late 70's when he sat next to me during a conference. He just happened to come down the aisle and park himself next to me. I was probably 21/22 at the time. I could barely speak. He was great.

My main frustration was the fact that they had all those medalists out there but they really didn't use them. If they wanted to really integrate the youngsters and have them light the torch that would be fine but have their "sponsor's" take a half lap and hand off to them or something like that.

[Randy Treadway]

Thank goodness it is over. Now we can start a new thread. Who will light the torch in 2016?

Easy. Pele.

[Conor Dary]

Meeting the great Z must have been something.

Maybe Coe didn't have the big stars do the final lighting, primarily because, their egos were already big enough and didn't need anymore boosting. After all that is sort of the British thing. You had your time, now bugger off!

[Dutra5]

Meeting the great Z must have been something.

Maybe Coe didn't have the big stars do the final lighting, primarily because, their egos were already big enough and didn't need anymore boosting. After all that is sort of the British thing. You had your time, now bugger off!

"If I'm not lighting it, nobody lights it!"

[preston]

Updating my picks from January viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45820&hilit=cauldron

Best Opening Ceremonies (there really are no bad ones [except London]...3-5 are virtually tied, imo)
1. Beijing 2008 -Drummers, Tai-Chi, Printing press (OMFG!!!) ...not even close!
2. Barcelona 1992 -Tenors, circque-du-soleil/dr.seuss
3. Sydney 2000 -how high up is that little girl?
4. Atlanta 1996 -The colonel on stilts? more cirque/seuss; Oh, yeah, Ali
5. Athens 2004 -kind of expected, no real surprises but very, very good.
6. London 2012- That was HORRIBLE!!! Colonel on stilts and chromed out pick-up trucks was better.

Best Cauldron lighting
1. Barcelona 1992 -Archer sends arrow from acoss the stadium
2. Atlanta 1996 -Muhammad Ali!
3. Athens 2004 - joint-shaped Cauldron defers to athlete (imagery? metaphor?)
4. Beijing 2008 -Athens had already done the man/men on a wire thing to preview theirs
5. Sydney 2000 -Concept was there, execution and hype...not so much
6. London 2012 -Derivative! kid thing, the interminable "line" of the flame was done in L.A. and Atlanta

Best Olympics
1. Sydney 2000 -the PEOPLE!
2. Barcelona 1992 -the city!
3. Beijing 2008 -the money!
4. Athens 2004 -the history!
5. Atlanta 1996 -The debt (or lackthereof)!
6. London 2012 -????

Best Stadium
1. Beijing 2008 (design)
2. Sydney 2000 (110,000 seats)
3. Athens 2004 (great design)
4. Barcelona 1992 (historic, old, small)
5. Atlanta 1996 (Baseball Park)
6. London 2012 (Queen's crown, no concessions, sight lines)

[Rog]

I thought the opening ceremony was great. It got one of the highest tv audiences in the history of broadcasting here, despite the late hour and the proliferation of channels we now have, so it seemed to go down well in general.

My highlight was the "Abide With Me" dance - I thought it was tremendous, and very, very moving. There was a general emphasis on youth, but this part of the ceremony seemed to emphasise that youth eventually grows old and dies - a serious message for a big sports ceremony. So in that sense it combined well with having kids light the flames, which after burning splendidly eventually flicker and die.

As a Northern Irishman I was gutted that I missed Kenneth Branagh - I wasn't back from the pool in time to see the very start. Great though that he and Mary Peters were prominent.

The only downside though was having Bruce Jenner screw up "Hey Jude" at the end I believe the popular joke is that no-one can accuse Paul McCartney of lipsynching!