Follow that Rio....

Just a brilliant games, I know I am biased but it was really up there for me. Rio will do well to get near that.

Bravo London, and especially Lord Coe, who has just done it all perfectly

My favourite out of the ones I have seen, may be some bias due to Ireland's performance but anyway, a tough act to follow, will be a bit more colourful I'd say and a bit more of a party style but probably not better.

I don't think Rio will get near the passion and support shown in the stands by the British crowd. That last lap of Farah's 10,000m was just awe inspiring, wish I would have been in the Stadium that night

Each Games should vary and be distinctive. Comparing them like-for-like is unnecessary. London did well by not trying to outdo Beijing.

Rio will definitely be different, esp as its the first one ever in South America.

I think the whole oneupsmanship is unnecessary. If every games are going to be "Not as good as London" or anything like that it just makes you seem petty and Brit-centric. They will be different, but still very good. The fans help the games but don't make them. The athletes do.

This is why Rogge never says "best games ever" in his closing speech, unlike his predessor. Wonder if Seb Coe has a chance of replacing Rogge, seeing this was his last Games?

I think Rio will be a very different Games - hopefully they'll be able to capture some of the liveliness of their city in the same way that London managed to showcase both some of the traditional and some of the modern.

Beach volleyball just won't be the same though - I mean, imagine having a beach to stage it on...

Can't think of a better place for beach Volleyball than in the bay at Rio.

The Galveston Giant wrote:Can't think of a better place for beach Volleyball than in the bay at Rio.

The beach at Margate for one.

TM Moot wrote:This is why Rogge never says "best games ever" in his closing speech, unlike his predessor. Wonder if Seb Coe has a chance of replacing Rogge, seeing this was his last Games?

I read yesterday that it's unlikely as Coe isn't a member of the IOC, and since GB have 4 members already (including Princess Anne), it was unlikely that we'd get a 5th member. The other route would be to become president of the IAAF, which then carries a role on the IOC, but their elections don't take place till 2015.

The favourite to replace Rogge is apparently this guy.

http://www.olympic.org/mr-thomas-bach

Some of these things I don't know enough about, but Rogge last night looked like an undertaker. On a night where Eric Idle stole the show it was probably almost Pythonesque to see a dour, unsmilling 70-year old Belgian monotonely call on the youth of the world to meet up in Rio.

Rio's opening ceremony will be spectacular, but I can't see the actual games matching London's effort, not to mention the performance of the host nation.

I really hope that the BBC doesn't suddenly lose enthusiasm for the Olympics now that these games have ended. Swimming was probably the most boring of the games for me, always the same individuals and countries at the top. Rio is a city that are obsessed with sports, they will do a top job.

One thing I worry about Brazil hosting the Olympics is that they are a football mad country, although they may have lost a bit of enthusiasm if Brazil do poorly at the World Cup two years before.

I think Rio will do a great job. There will be problems along the way and the doom-mongers are likely to predict all sorts of disasters, just like they did in London.

Do we all remember how we were told that the London transport system would never cope..? How anti missile batteries put on top of flatblocks would shoot down airliners with massive loss of life as they fell on council estates in East London.

Do we all remember how we were told that the security was a mess and the entire Olympics was an open door for every terrorist on the planet.

The doom-mongers told us there would be inner city riots on a similar scale to last year, that Londoners would never take to the Games, that the so-called Zil Lanes would bring traffic in the capital grinding to a halt, the tube and rail links would collapse and that nobody was interested in the Games anyway and nobody would come here to watch them so it would just be a total disaster.

The reality was, In the end, that it all went off jolly well, I think.

And so to the city of the January River and I expect all the same doom and gloom predictions to be thrown wildly into the air. As usual. But somehow, the predicted disasters never seem to happen, do they..?

In all probability, Rio will produce a Games that go off like clockwork, with a Latin American flavour the like of which will be a first for the Olympics and leaves us stunned with the colour, vibrancy and excitement that the Cariocas have brought to their football and Carnival year after year.

I'm looking forward to it.

.

Brazil will get the same type of people bagging there games and talking down there hosting ability. Its kinda sad we live in that world. London showed these people up and I am sure RIO will as well(PS . it wont be better than my home towns one to me - nothing ever will - but thats because i am a londoner even if one day we get the most golds in an olympics- it still wont be the same as it being here:thumbsup:, )

Has there always been this panic about the games running smoothly, or just when it appeared at these shores. I'm sure Brazil will embrace it and not be looking at all the negatives.

The Galveston Giant wrote:Has there always been this panic about the games running smoothly, or just when it appeared at these shores. I'm sure Brazil will embrace it and not be looking at all the negatives.

There were plenty of concerns before Sydney and Athens (some of the Greek venues' construction times cut things very fine). And LA (the 84 games were entirely privately financed, on a relative shoestring) and Seoul too from memory

TM Moot wrote:This is why Rogge never says "best games ever" in his closing speech, unlike his predessor. Wonder if Seb Coe has a chance of replacing Rogge, seeing this was his last Games?

Coe is looking to become the head of the IAAF now.

Cheers Pete.

Rio probally wont worry so much as we did. But it might end up being a bit of nightmare for many touristst as the euros ended up being this year. Some countries just dont care as much as we do. Which isnt that bad a thing i suppose

The big problem for Brazil is that they're struggling to complete their venues in time for the World Cup, let alone the Olympics

well when it comes to fifa- they will help out if needed as they did for south africa

The one issue that Rio may have is financing, for all the worries about our economy we are still one of the richest countries in the world with one of the best infrastructures in the world, it's a small concern and one that is based on pretty much no evidence. However when I look at Sydney and Athens I can't help but see the difference in money between the two countries that made Sydney a far superior games.

The running of future games may surpass London but I honestly don't think we'll ever see such a passionate crowds until it's next held either here, America or Australia, the three main sporting mad countries. I wasn't a massive fan of the Beijing games for very much that reason it lacked the uncontrollable passion of Sydney and London went on to surpass it by a mile too.

Imperial Ghosty wrote:The one issue that Rio may have is financing, for all the worries about our economy we are still one of the richest countries in the world with one of the best infrastructures in the world,

not sure about this, i'm no economist, but hasn't Brazil just surpassed the UK in the world's leading economies table?

although i think city infrastructure will be an issue, Rio only has 2 metro lines presently, so travelling around to diferent venues could prove to be a challenge

They did, just as we were giving them the last payment in aid for grop growth.

This might be a wrong opinion take here, but if Brazil has 3 times the population, that if their GDP has just equaled ours, they're only 1/3 as developed.

Your right in terms of gdp per head yes. but being more developed isnt just about having a large gdp or even a large gdp per head- offcourse it helps. Factor is distribution of wealth, PPP etc and you get a better idea without needing to look at the infrastructie.

However having a large GDP is all that is realing needed when it comes to getting money to put on a show. Chinas GDP per head wont be much more than brazils either or even less