Positives and negatives of the Olympics.

Giles Coren is indeed, a knob. It's not ironic or satirical, it's knobbishness, pure and simple.

Negative - Giles Coren's opinion piece in the Times today about women's hockey - at least half of which is about his opinions on which teams he fancies.

Someone should tell Giles that he is supposed to use his brain to think - not his genitals.

Yes yellow - Amir of course. Had a bad senior moment then!

Indeed he is.

Giles Coren is a nob.

Negative - Giles Coren's opinion piece in the Times today about women's hockey - at least half of which is about his opinions on which teams he fancies.

(talking of Amir Khan, I wish he had floored DC this afternoon instead of schmoozing him )

There were female judges for the men's boxing earlier.

good to know I'm not the only one then - I was beginning to think I was slightly unhinged!

messy I think I have sobbed more in the last 10 days than I have in a long time. Olympics makes me an emotional mess, especially when someone a. overcomes adversity b. is smiling madly (like when Kelly Holmes won in 2004) c. weeps at their defeat or d. weeps at their victory.

yellowraincoat. I was thinking the same thing. It's sooo tiring. I just want women to wear what they want to wear because they want to wear it and not be judged for it.

Anyhow, I watched Sara Attar finish her race and the crowd cheering her on - I don't think I can take many more of these emotional Olympic moments

That's great that Amir Khan (I guess that's who you meant?) and Lennox Lewis said that, nice to see blokes getting behind the cause.

Always have mixed feelings about women who are covered, especially since for some it is a choice. It's just good to see females competing but yeah, obviously being covered isn't ideal for sport. On the other hand, some have been complaining that the women in athletics aren't wearing enough. It seems we just can't help scrutinising what women wear. I haven't heard anything about what the men are wearing, apart from in comparison with women.

I read an interesting interview with Fatima Whitbread today, I didn't realise she'd had such a tough life (grew up in care, shunted about loads.)

Another positive....seeing Iram Khan one time and Lennox Lewis last night on Gabby Logan's show saying it was great and quite right that women's boxing should be in the Olympics - and these guys should know! Can't remember if it was Imran or Lennox who said that seeing them in the ring and because of their headgear etc. you couldn't tell if they were male or female and simply thought of them as boxers because the standards were so high.

So to both of you.

Did anyone have mixed feelings as I did on seeing the Saudi and Palestinian women compete this morning in the heats of the 800 metres?

On the one had I thought hooray for them (and sod off to those silly old Saudi men who tried to stop Saudi females from competing and only relented in the face of having their team banned if they didn't). But on the other hand I saw them struggling round the track wrapped up like Egyptian mummies - hardly better than trying to run with a ball and chain round your ankle.

Yes, they were painfully slow because they did not have proper training facilities, partners or support (although the Saudi athlete had trained in the USA) but being swathed in the equivalent of bandages on a sunny hot morning certainly didn't help.

So, on the one hand, it was a glorious 'up yours sunshine' to misogyny, a showcase for their personal guts and an opportunity for the world to see the sheer stupidity and injustice of the restrictions placed on women in certain countries: on the other though it made me squirm at seeing them struggling in their medieval wrappings behind women free to celebrate the physical strength and endurance of healthy female bodies.

totally agree with OhGood - women's bodies being admired without being sexualised.

plus stories like this:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185361/Olympics-2012-U-S-gymnast-Aly-Raisman-reveals-gold-medal-winning-routine-tribute-1972-Munch-Games-massacre.html

an article about a woman being a high achiever and caring about something that doesn't fall within the "accepted" interests of women such as fashion...

Seeing a half-naked woman's body in a positive light - strength and power and achievement and ability and self-ownership - instead of metaphorically being draped over a car.

Nice piece here, with some links to some not-so-nice pieces...

www.newstatesman.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/08/alan-whites-olympic-diary-can-olympics-put-end-our-terrible-treatment-female

It would be a pity if those who were put off in their teens were letting their daughters go through the same problems now. There is a lot of awareness on here, so maybe this problem is fixed.

namechangeguy - I don't suppose I ever discussed it with my parents, I don't remember doing.
It was easier once I was a bit older (14/15) and using tampons, but by then the focus was all on the people who were actually good at sport and playing inter-school or even county level. Those of us who were not naturally sporty were left to our own devices largely - which is ridiculous because we were the ones who could really have done with the exercise!

I have no idea what the current attitude is.

Is anyone else feeling a bit happy about all the support the women's boxing is getting from the crowd in ExCel? "3 times louder than a jumbo jet" apparently.

I hope that twat from the telegraph sees how popular it is.

Have any parents ever taken a school/teacher to task for this attitude towards periods and sports? It is a re-occurring theme. Does anyone do anything about it? Or is it no longer the case? Because it is a terrible reason not to be able to do sports.

New British record from the female hammer thrower this morning :)

I think that a lot of the non-participation of young/teen girls in sport at school is down to the atrocious way in which schools deal with girls starting periods.

I remember at secondary we were supposed to wear only gym knickers when doing indoor PE, which as one of the first girls to get my period in the class at just before 13 was horrendous. No privacy, no empathy from the teacher to have time to change a pad/check for leaks before lesson started, and certainly no allowance to wear even the PE skirt - never mind put shorts or tracksuit bottoms on.
It was easier to fake a note from my Mum saying that my asthma was bad so I didn't have to participate.

GB or GBR has long been our abbreviation for athletics meets etc. but it isnt an abbrebiation for Great Britain in this instance but for "the united kingdom of great Britain and northern Ireland". The channel islands thing is new to me!

UKR is the Ukraine so UK would be difficult.

The decision to promote "Team GB" is a PR one, however!!