To think that Olympics people going to work are not more important than anyone else going to work?

[AKMD]

Seb Coe on R4 this morning was justifying the Olympics Lanes, sayign how important it was for:

• IOC members to be able to get to the venues on time, because they will be getting there very early in the morning.

• Athletes to be able to rely on exact travel times between the athletes' village and venues so that they can time their warm-ups and get to races on time.

• Broadcasters to be able to get to venues on time to set.

Please tell me I am not the only one thinking "Eh? Why can't they get up a bit earlier like everyone else trying to get to work? I'd love my employer to set up special traffic lanes for me because I am just soooo important and I'm sure everyone else would too but fat chance." and imagining the roads if we had a lane for each company :o

I don't live in London btu this has irritated me. AIBU?

msrantsalot - so you're saying that the achievements of people who are naturally gifted should not be celebrated? That's pretty much all of art and music out of the window then.

And the idea that running (or cycling or jumping or throwing presumably) takes no skill and is purely down to innate genetic ability is just laughable.

Your DDs might be quick - it's an awful shame that you won't even give them the chance to demonstrate that :(

yanbu it seems really unnecesary. like you say, they could have all stayed nearer to east london. even making them use helicopters is not too bad an idea!

No my DD was last, half a field after the rest. Kids don't laugh at people who are not so good at music and art. Even the adults were sniggering at her. I let my other DD stay off but DD2 wanted to go. Ended up crying. Of course it down to genetic ability, how many ginger heided pale faces do you see in the 100 meters?

mrsrantsalot that's shameful!! You keep your own dc off school on sports day because of how you felt about sports ( and clearly still do)

Agree with kungfoopanda

You bloody miserable fuckers!

It's 2 weeks!

Disruption? So what?! Great, bring it on!....gawd forbid anything disrupt the tedious monotany of day to day routine huh?!

What a perfect excuse for being late to work too!

My ginger haired dd.... That's who!!!

And she excels at football...

rant
Are you saying Scottish people are genetically no good at running??

Is that VAT thing true? No wonder people laugh at the idea of making a profit out of the Olympics never mind recouping the costs.

Fwiw I'm pretty ambivalent about the Olympics, although I think it's a great opportunity for the less commercial sports to get some exposure. I certainly would'nt have particularly cared if we'd spent a fraction of the current budget and done without all the dressing up and advertisement (does the Olympic brand really need thousands poured into it - it's already iconic without flag coloured snot characters representing it).

We could have stood firm and bought it back to being about the sport after chinas turn, but no, we got all competitive. Saying that I will be getting the Lisa Simpson blowjob symbol when they're all half price in a few weeks. It just makes me laugh!

mrsrants do you mean to sound so racist?

mal skill AND a phenomenal amount of hard training

yeah, because everyone can just decide to take two weeks off, no matter what their deadlines or what their employer thinks about it.

(Scottish notes aren't "legal tender", msrantsalot.)

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/banking/2010/05/true-or-false-scottish-notes-arent-legal-tender

Anyway, don't forget that the Commonwealth Games are in Glasgow in 2014, and I imagine there will be similar things, like lanes, then there.

rant

You think there is no skill involved in football???

Scottish bank notes may not be legal tender (didn't know that till looking at BartletForAmerica's link!), but contrary to msrantsalot experience, I live in the north of England, travel to and from Scotland frequently, and I've had no trouble spending Scottish notes in the north of England.

But getting back to the main topic, I agree, if it's so important for IOC members / athletes to be there on time, why can't their accommodation be closer to the venues?

If moaning, whinging and bellyaching were Olympic sports, Team GB would be top of the league table.

I am seriously fed up of all the moaning.

The olympics are coming here, to us. We should be celebrating and enjoying, not constantly picking over the negatives.

And yes, I live very near London with an Olympic venue less than 2 miles away. It may well be chaos but when we all look back, I bet we remember the fantastic atmosphere and achievements of the athletes, not the traffic.

and rant if I remember rightly the last white man to win an Olympic gold medal at 100m was Scottish. HTH

What I am saying Dreaming is the opposite of racist. What I am saying is that we should not judge people by their genetic traits.

I'm confused rant

The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will indeed have dedicated traffic lanes to give priority over other traffic. I don't see many Scots up in arms about that? (other than mrsrantsalot, whose name is looking extremely apt at the moment).

As for Scottish Athletes - well, Allan Wells won the 100m at the Olympics in 1980, so he's obviously managed to overcome his huge genetic disadvantage as have the 51 Scottish Athletes picked as part of Team GB. This, at 9% of the total, is pretty much the same as the % of the UK's population represented by Scotland, suggesting that Scots are just as likely as the English, Welsh or Irish to attain Olympian status.

Patricia I remembered Alan Wells as well. He didn't look like some Caledonian slow coach to me!

I've never seen or heard anything about him for about 30 years. I wonder what he's doing now

I disagree with treating any sports people as celebrities

So do I as celebrities do sweet f**k all and sports people work and train hard for four years to get a slim chance of getting to the games.

I wouldn't ever like the two to be confused or associated with each other.

Another one here who wants to agree (and click on a 'like' button!) for KungFuPanda's posting. My thoughts exactly.

why can't their accommodation be closer to the venues?
because they have requirments for sporting venues to use - and each team needs these types of sporting venues and they will not train and practice togehter.

Jamacian and US teams are in B/ham atm

Swimmer need venues with suitable pools - the UK is very poorly supplied with 50 meter pools and so they will be spread about.

Okay rant, so when you said that running is a genetic trait, and pointed to the ethnic makeup of people participating in running events, you were not in any way implying that some races are better at running than others?