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

[MarsLady]

LONDON

Ha Ha! Up yours Jaque!

I can't possibly read this whole thread but is it just me (I know, I sound like a 5 year old waiting for Christmas) that can't get excited about this because it's just too far away in the future? Ds1 will be 15 and ds2 will be 10! I can't think beyond getting through the Summer holidays at the moment

Yay! I'm extwemely chuffed.

SHR

There have been some Olympians around aged 15 irrc - what sport does he play?

Message withdrawn

training my ds so he can enter!!!!! lol

FIMAC - not much at the moment, perhaps I need to get him into something obscure like male synchronised swimming if there is such a thing!

I was watching an interesting discussion on TV5 last night (french), where they were analysing why France had lost to London.

First there was a lot of agonising about whether they lack the Anglo Saxon fighting spirit.
Then they agreed that London's bid had looked to the future, whereas Paris had presented itself as an eternal city, with emphasis on French tradition. They also floated the idea that this was all part and parcel of the same reasons why France rejected the EU constitution (scared of Turkey joining, scared of the future).

Interestingly, they thought that Britain generally was more certain of its future than France, Germany or Italy.

An English journalist then pointed out how many English people are moving to France. Ah, said a canny Frenchman, they are moving here to live. One goes to London to do. France, he thought, risked becoming a museum of the art of living...

this is approximately true in our case, we moved to France so that our children would grow up in better surroundings. And I can certainly confirm that there is a considerable amount of agonising over the future in Germany at the moment. And I think that Britain's greater confidence with our multi cultural society will mean that Britain will support Turkei joining the EU - a good thing IMO.

HOw intersting NN!

I'm with Nutty and Gomez - I fail ot see how will it benefit the majority of the county outwith the South east corner of England.

The UK is becoming increasingly London-centric and this will only exacerbate it.

I'm sure that London will do a good show and they will fantiastically well organised - but I resent the fact that Gordon Brown has written a blank cheque with our (ie all the UK) money, as the goverment is acting as guarantors to the event. So if it makes a loss, we all pay.

We'd have gone to the Olympics if it were in Paris - now we probably won't go.

And BTW - London is not my captial - Edinburgh is.

According to teletext Wales this am, 'Newport Velodrome, Swansea Pool and Cardiff Millenium Stadium are all expecting aboost from pre-training events, and it is anticipated that many pre-training camps will be located in the area'.

I know that Millfield School in Street (from near whence I hail) isa lso over the moon as they are anticipating more input from top international athletes.

i just hope it really will benefit those who live in East London. I know in Atlanta the poor areas where totally excluded from any benefits from the Olympics.

PeachyClair - are Millfield offering their facilities for training purposes then or are they expecting a huge influx of students keen to begin their Olympic training?

According to The Guardian , the main reason Paris lost is because of Seb Coe's relationship with Juan Samaranch - after Madrid was knocked out the votes that had gone to them went to London. (And also the NY delegation had Hillary Clinton, and votes for them were also handed on to London.)

I guess they got the 2 Finnish votes too

Yoyo, according to the News last night (we can't get Welsh news here LOL) theya re expecting lots of visits, motivational stuff, that sort of thing but I would not be surprides if they let their facillities out for training purposes, Dh had a friend who was a PE teacher there, and I know how good the facillities are supposed to be. One of the local UNi's (no sure if Bath or Bristol?) also has a sports excellence centre, so I guess they are hoping for athletes to train in the region?

LOL at my typing.

Excellent speller, terrible typist, too lazy to check

I should think France is rubbing it's hands
A short journey to the Olympics without all the cost of staging the darn thing
Security also worries me terribly atm

Ooh- I think it's fab. My boys do too though my son Joe earnestly explained that their school sports day next week will be just as good if not better. I love the posts from wilbur, blu and bloss. I do think it's a brilliant thing for the East End. People maybe tend to think of London and Londoners as pampered, rich and brilliantly resourced, which I think is why Nutty, for example, is so unenthused. Actually though, London still has some of the most deprived areas in Europe and the regeneration opportunity is really exciting I think.

Think it is absolutely awful news. This money is not coming from the ether, it's coming from general taxation, and that means it isn't going to fund many, many other things. A friend who works quite high up in heritage was told that this means reduced funding for arts and heritage (the stuff about the UK that does make me proud btw) - all same department you see.
I think London/the UK needs a 10billion pound three week sporting competition like a hole in the head. And as for the security implications...I don't think I need to say more today, do I?

doesn't a lot of the money come from private sponsorship deals too though?

aloha, lots of people asking for you today. On the calling City and London MNetters

ooh aloha oyu old grouch
this will put paid to enids pan pipe troups

here you go. all calling for you

aloha - the security implications would be the same wherever the olympics. Despite what happened today, I imagine London does security better than most places.

luckily have just sneaked in large Arts Council grant for Pan Pipe Extravaganza next year