And the winner of the Olympic bid is..........................................

[MarsLady]

LONDON

LM - couldn't othe countries give their help here for free - especially with all the help for africa being spoken about at the moment.

Soupy, I would be amazed if there wasn't at least a huge short-term impact from it. I doubt that any investment is currently planned though - let's face it, the news is only hours old. But isn't that the point - this opportunity will actually spur fresh interest. If sport was already so highly regarded we wouldn't get the same amount of benefit?

Soupdragon: re croydon - I thik Crystal palace has been earmarked for some events, and one side of the park is bordered by Croydon, so you should see something of future use in your borough.

If it was that simple to offer help to African countries, especially in terms of laying on transport infrastructure (to cope with an additional 0.5m people for 8 weeks or so), then Live8 etc woudl be unecessary. Even Bob Geldof ackniowledges that it is no longer shortage of moeny that is needed to solve Africa's problems.

I'll be queueing for tickets to get our family in to see some of it that's for sure. I think its great but I knew there'd be loads on here who wouldn't. People who type on here every day don't strike me as the sort to get off their backsides and partake in sporting events much

HMC - I think it's coming back to me now!!
Call it thesis avoidance
I am supposed to be writing a dissertation at the moment, but I seem to be finding other things to write about.

I'm afraid that I feel that because we are the fourth wealthiest nation in the world - "We can't afford it" is no excuse. If we can't, it should be cancelled.

I guess my feeling is that what would give the most benefit is small scale investements over a large area rather than a tiny number of huge projects which will eventually fail financially and fall into disrepair. Wasn't the current Crystal Palace sports centre in financial difficulty not long ago?

The olympics simply aren't going to give that wide scale ivestment and therefore, IMO, won't actually benefit very many people at all. Oh, there'll be a flurry of excitemtnet and interest but that will die down and then fade away completely.

Bosscat, are you saying that typing whilst jiggling toddler on one knee and doing "Power Racnger" kicks with the other leg is not energetic?.

Well, don't laugh everybody but the olympics has given me such a heady rush of excitement that I have literally just downloaded the entry form for the Swindon half marathon on 16th October.

I must be barking mad....

i was quite shocked when i last went to crystal palace, the fabric of the place was so decrepit, it's been waiting for just this kind of revamp, i'm glad it won't just be stratford

I am SO EXCITED about this!!... Im excited for my children, without a doubt there will be more focus on encouraging children into sporting activities, and also even though i live in the midlands i can see the potential for tourism in this area which can only help the local economy.

Its great news and hopefully we can put on a games to be proud of.

Well I think its fab and all I can say to the doubters is bah humbug, go and stick your heads back up your backsides.

Us Brits love sport, the games will be packed, it will be a huge boost for grass roots sport all over the country.

I don't come on here and whine about contributing to tax credit, income support and all the other things that my tax contributes to which do not and will not directly benefit me. Anyway annoyed at negative posts so will now go and put my head under the parapet.

Anyway I have just contributed to the olympics by getting myself a job so now paying my taxes again and the olympics is welcome to them.

ladymuck, absolutely spot on! Should be an Olympic sport now you come to mention it ....

Hmmm, did spend 2 minutes wondering what I could do... When I feel as if the only event I could even start to train for is the shot put I think that I'll stay a spectator!

From Ken's london website from a while ago....

so it turns out that actually, a large portion of the funding will actually come from olympic lottery games and other lottery funding rather than the government.

'The Mayor of London and the government have agreed a funding package for the 2012 Olympic Games. Under this package no public money will be spent on actually staging the games, but will be invested in improving transport and other infrastructure and on building the stadium venues. Three quarters of public money for infrastructure improvements will come from the National Lottery and a quarter from council tax in London. It will cost the average London household no more than 38p a week.'

(the concern of course is that, like other Olympic games, it ends up costing a lot more than they originally thought)

"all I can say to the doubters is bah humbug, go and stick your heads back up your backsides"

Charming.

Another thing the olympics will do is bring out the best in British debating skills

Apparently not if anyone who had reservations has to stick their heads up their own ar$es. Would be rather one sided.

one arse comment and a couple of french-bashing comments aren't bad for a 360-post debate though.

Normally someone would have called someone else a selfish bith and someone esle would have flounced by now.

I would flounce but my head is up my ar$e so I can't see where I'm going Have a direct mind link to MN though so can still read and post.

And you're all a bunch of selfish biths

Soupy, you can always go on holiday for the 5 weeks or so, and rent out your house for a huge sum.

I'm just looking forward to not having to think about "what to do" for most of the school holidays for at least one year!

It's not just London; Newport velodrome gets a look in, as do venues in Swansea and Cardiff.

My lad loves athletics and is starting to look as if he has a real talent for it, I hope this feeds back to some opportunities for him, he'll be 17 at the time- gold for us??

DEFFO BRILL peachy