The Official Olympic Thread

[Chazza]

Brilliant

[Chazza]

ariq panja @tariqpanja
Bolt on Rogge saying he's not legend:What more do I have to do to be legend? Ask him what more Usain needs to do what no human's ever done'

[dww]

On the BBC earlier Rogge clarified his comments - he meant that you should only apply the label at the end of an athletes career. I think he worries that Bolt might lose his desire now.

[Gibbo]

I'm honestly gutted it finishes tomorrow.

[ChesterDave]

Here he is winning
[ATTACH]2065[/ATTACH]

No diving sign behind him

[ChesterDave]

finishes tomorrow. 4 years wait for Rio. Devastated

[Vermilion]

My god the speed on these is incredible wtf, that is mad and brilliant. GB guy that got gold had arms going like they were a cross between a windmill and a propellor.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18912478

.

[Tee]

Don't get too down the Olympics are nearly finished....next week the footy is back on. Proper sportsmanship!!!

TBH, for the past 2 weeks I have not watched anything else but the Olympics on telly and I have been very fortunate to attend as well. I can honestly hand on heart say that during these 2 weeks football really was the poor relation.

All said and done I am sure after the next few weeks we will be so engrossed in the new season and the Olympics will be nothing more than magical memories.

How right Kenneth Branagh was with the opening dialogue of the opening ceremony, it was a great 2 weeks!!

Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

[ChesterDave]

I think it may be a games too soon but if we could get a swiming and athletics programme together then we would be serious challengers to second place on the medal table in Rio and for a nation our size that would be absolutely astonishing

[ChesterDave]

Son surprised dad with tickets

http://thechive.com/2012/08/10/son-suprises-his-olympics-crazed-dad-with-last-minute-tickets-video/

[ChesterDave]

Re SPoTY...

Tought choice. If Murray wins US Open I think he could be given it and 'Team GB' will win that to avoid the thorny issue of picking a winner between so many outstanding performaces.

[Boogs]

Didn't see the posted else where and not really worth it's own thread.
Guardian link

London 2012: seven Cameroonian athletes go missing from Olympics
Team officials say that five boxers, a swimmer and a footballer have disappeared, possibly to claim asylum
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Matthew Taylor, Sam Jones and Afua Hirsch
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 7 August 2012 18.51 BST

The Cameroonian team at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Games. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/EPA
Seven Olympic athletes have disappeared amid fears they have fled the London 2012 Games to claim asylum, according to team officials.

Five boxers, a swimmer and a footballer from Cameroon were reported missing earlier this week leading team officials to suggest they had "defected."

"What began as rumour has finally turned out to be true," David Ojong, the Cameroon mission head said. "Seven Cameroonian athletes who participated at the 2012 London Olympic Games have disappeared from the Olympic Village."

The Cameroonian athletes have not broken British immigration rules introduced for the Olympics that allow competitors, their coaches and families to stay in the country until early November.

But the athletes' disappearance and Ojong's comments have received widespread attention in Cameroon, where people said they were embarrassed by the news but understood the predicament facing the athletes.

"The conditions in Cameroon are very difficult – there are no opportunities here and if you have the chance to go the UK, it's understandable that you would want to stay there," said Henri Tchounga, a tour guide in Yaounde. "But my fear is that now Cameroonians will have a bad reputation and in future we will not be able to get visas. It's good for them but a serious problem for the rest of us."

Ojong said a reserve goalkeeper for the women's soccer team, Drusille Ngako, was the first to disappear. She was not one of the 18 finally retained after pre-Olympic training in Scotland.

While her team-mates left for Coventry for their last preparatory encounter against New Zealand, she vanished. A few days later, swimmer Paul Ekane Edingue disappeared along with his personal belongings.

Ojong added that five boxers eliminated from the Games, Thomas Essomba, Christian Donfack Adjoufack, Abdon Mewoli, Blaise Yepmou Mendouo and Serge Ambomo, went missing on Sunday from the Olympic village. It was reported that four of the athletes were last seen at a team reception at the Royal Garden hotel, next to Kensington Palace, west London, on Friday.

Ojong is understood to have held talks with the sports minister Adoum Garoua at the Olympic Village on Tuesday.

It is not the first time Cameroonian athletes have disappeared during international sports competitions.

At past Francophonie and Commonwealth games as well as junior soccer competitions, several Cameroonians have quit their delegation without official consent.

In June, an Ethiopian torchbearer, Natnael Yemane, 15, also disappeared after he went missing from a hotel in Nottingham.

Meanwhile three Sudanese athletes who hoped to compete in the Games were last month reported missing amid claims they would apply for political asylum.

Flaubert Mbiekop, an economist from Cameroon, said: "The bottom line is to look at the economic conditions in Cameroon and see how hard the system is for many people, especially the athletes who don't receive any support from the government. London presented an opportunity; I'm not at all surprised that they took it."

[Chazza]

Steve Cram's commentary and reaction

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19226904

[Shaggy]

That Cram footage/commentary brought tears to my eyes last night - just watched it again with the same result. Absolutely brilliant.

[Tee]

Missed all the athletics last night because I went to the boxing. Seems like I missed a very special night at the Olympic Stadium. Loved the Mo Farah and Usain Bolt celebration swap.

Absolutely gutted this is the last day of London 2012. It was better than I ever thought it would be, and so many amazing moments and memories.

There can be no doubts at all that it has been anything but a total success!