My admiration and dedication to the BBC’s Olympic coverage is second to none. I’ve spent far more hours than intended in front of the box admiring and rooting for Gymnasts, Swimmers, Athletes, People on Bikes, People In Boats etc etc.
A phrase that has become a little wearing however is that “History” has been made. Every time GB wins a medal (particularly if they got one last time) the implication is that an entry in the school History syllabus is being made as we speak. At what point will we have too much History to cope with?
Having grown up during the 60’ 70’s and 80’s when GB’s success in Olympic sport was minimal, it is brilliant to see a system that is attracting young people from all walks of life (not just the University elite) and providing the training and facilities to compete. We’ve got something right. Now that is History.
While I’m on the subject, having heard it multiple times over the last week, who’s the silly bugger that put the wrong chord in half way through the national anthem?
Amazing to think that only 20 years ago, at Atlanta 1996, the Great Britain team achieved the grand total of one gold medal…
I’ve really enjoyed the sprints in the cycling. It’s a bizarre thing, each cyclist waiting for the other to make their move. Sometimes they’re practically at a standstill.
Not like it used to be. The rule these days is that after 30 seconds in a track stand, the rider in front must move off.
They used to track stand for minutes at a time. Chess on wheels.
Wrong, but your confusion is understandable: Chess was the one with the lads from ABBA, Starlight Express is the one on wheels…
The insinuation that I was quoting Lord Lloyds Bank is a foul slur, sir. At dawn, with pistols….
I know they have a lot of hours to fill but I think all the BBC presenters were issued with the Dummies Guide To Talking Bullshit before they boarded the plane. Probably preloaded on their Ipads. I’m amazed at how brave it apparently is to dive into a pool, swim fast and get out again!
Oh, and while I’m on a negative Olympics rant, for all the Team GB Bollocks the broadcasters spew out, it seems like most competitors (especially the winners) are doing it for themselves or their dead rabbit (or similar)
Agree on the inane commentary but I suppose when you have space to fill it will happen. Interesting that the commentator on the 400 metre world record from Van Niekirk did not twig that he was going to win it until about the 300 metre mark and hardly mentioned him. Then said, ‘Van Niekirk has gone out fast’, by which time he was going away from the whole field rapidly! Aren’t they paid to see these things?
Hazel Irvine and Helen Skelton et al have absolutely perfected the Blue Peter-style of addressing the audience as if we were 8 year olds. This, coupled with their desperately unfunny ‘quips’ and feeble attempts at humourous inserts (always accompanied by a mirthless chuckle) ha e me reaching instantly for the channel changer. I’ve broken several ‘personal bests’ in doing so, you’ll be impressed to hear.
The punditry from the assorted ex-athletes, with the notable exception of the peerless Michael Johnson, makes Alan Shearer and Mark Lawrenson sound like Wittgenstein and Nietzsche. Staggeringly shallow, inane, childish, vacuous, utterly lacking in any worthwhile insight.
I watch Hazel and Helen with the sound turned off. Much, much better.
The British national anthem – never mind wrong chord, who decided to take the ‘dah-nah-nah-nah-nah’ bit out that we always sing along to like it’s ‘Hey Jude’?
I’m with you there too
It’s annoying isn’t it? Mind you, at least the extra note that’s in the version they use at the F1 isn’t there (that sounds horrible).
Atr least they use the edited version. The Italian anthem goes on forever – it’s almost as boring as Yes.
I think we have run out of History. Last week I watched a programme with an earnest talking-to-camera-while-walking presenter discussing seismic events that shaped the course of the modern world. From the nineties. It’s just one thing after another.
Was that the documentary about “Friends”?
Sturdy bloke, lovely Parka – spent a lot of time doing that hand-gesturing thing to assert the significance of one thing or another.
Dominic Sandbrook
In which case it was the eighties.
Indeed.
No. It’s not history. It’s the hyperbole of the moment. Excited and happy sports fans having a great time.
From what little I’ve seen none of it has struck me as irrevocably permanent. All I see are fit and well lads and lasses doing Games and winning. They look pleased. Good for them.
Not history.
Was the coverage always so jingoistic? I am mainly watching on Canada’s CBC and while not as bad as NBC, the Canadian slant is important. When you watch the Games in other countries you realise that the BBC does the same. Bolt is excepted from this as he is a legend and an apparently clean athlete who wins.
And for GB each medal costs 5.5 million pounds. That’s why they win more.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/15/brutal-but-effective-why-team-gb-is-winning-so-many-olympic-medals
One revolting innovation we’ve copied from the Yanks is the X Factor-style backstory, accompanied by a soupy soundtrack, so that we can ‘identify’ with our plucky Brit.
Hopefully not delaying “live” coverage to peak times to maximise advertising revenue. I have heard that there has been some consternation at BBC chopping and changing channels. Can’t they give Eastenders a break for 2 weeks? And why in this day and age are events “promoted” to BBC1?
Here CBC have cleared their schedules for the duration.Coronation St on a break!
I know many people that watch BBC1 are creatures of habit but that’s not the case with BBC2. Why not just make BBC2 the main Olympic channel and credit most viewers worn a bit of intelligence that they can find the event they want to watch. Anyone that can’t change channels must surely be used to missing stuff they want to watch so why pander to them?
There seems to be a change of approach among British Athletes / Sportspeople in general. It’s become ok to win. The Olympians, Rugby, Cricket, Golf seem to have adopted an attitude where it’s not “sad” to want to be the best. Hasn’t permeated to football yet. I for one can’t pinpoint the change but it’s one I welcome, It’s good to want to do the best you can. Kenny, Murray, Whitlock, Bolt, Farrah made history, the rest are just part of it
You are showing a British slant there. Two old strong world records broken in these games, eg Van Niekerk last night in the 400m. History!
Hi Dai and other doom merchants. Why shouldn’t we revel in our success? This country has a habit of doing itself down and knocking success – it makes a nice change.
I don’t see it as jingoistic to have pride in success – its not like we are advocating an invasion of France.
And as for world records – our cyclists broke 2 in quick succession in the heats for Christ’s sake.
With you lot of moaners around am surprise we bother turning up.
Well, all winners of medals deserve praise, whether British or not. Our cyclists are indeed doing well, but so they should given the 10s of millions spent on Velodromes in different parts of the country.
Great piece in the Daily Mail today from martin Samuels about the reaction around the world to our cyclists “peaking” at the Olympics again. Much disquiet among our European friends especially about how we disappear for 4 years inly to come in to form for the Olympics.
Drugs?
The smell of Sour Grapes from France is quite pungent. Has been getting stronger ever since our recent domination of their wonderful Tour De France.
Such audacity from us to go and win it back to back.
Our European friends should reflect that, whilst the British cyclists have a system that brings them to peak form for the Olympics, for the most part their own form has fallen away since the World Champs in March. Very few have performed to their peak potential.
As ever, those coming second make unfounded insinuations.
As long as we all understand that it was Donovan who really ‘made’ history – he invented it. Before that there was nothing.
Uppity Up! 🙂
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Nile Rodgers is becoming the new Donovan?
Nail. On. The. Head.
Maybe, but Nile Rodgers is likeable.
Swedish commentators are also fond of “historic” events, but even more fond of the use of the word “first”. Everything is apparently “the first time *name of nation* will win a medal in *name of sport*” and you’re suitably impressed until you think “hang on a minute – that’s not true, I’ve seen them do that in other Olympic games!” What they usually mean is that it’s the first time a bald man in his thirties from *name of nation* will win a bronze medal on a Tuesday in this particular weight class/length of race/subdivision of discipline in *name of sport*…
Indeed! Some of these ‘sports’ also seem artificially contrived – like ‘walking’. I mean, you might as well have a three-legged race – it’s no more absurd that putting a stricture like ‘no running’ on how fast someone can get from A to B. Also, that ludicrous cycling thing where they’re all bumbling along behind a man on a go-slow moped for a few laps. They might as well dress them in chicken suits and see who can get from A to B like that.
You seem to have missed out “rolling around on a big mat” and “dancing horses” in the category of made up sports.
I understand Echo & the Bunnymen invented that last sport, John. Though, obviously, Donovan disputes that.
He’s fighting it out with Nile Rodgers…
Three-legged race? Well the obvious next step (pun intended) from steroids is genetic modification – a French high jumper with actual frog’s legs, perhaps?
Lots of history is occurring, but the Olympics is a good couple of weeks for it to sneak out with less commentary than it would otherwise generate, and sporting “history” is utterly arbitrary in a way that, for example, the complete works of “Grand Funk Railroad” clearly isn’t.
We’re coming to your town, we’ll help you party down
The ludicrous hyperbole ‘they’re rewriting the history books’ (usually shouted out by commentators as someone heads towards the end of a race) actually means that, the next time a sporting memoir or pub quiz questions book is published, this tiny new bit of information will be added/will replace a previous tiny bit of information. At no point do we ever go to a cutaway of someone *actually* feverishly re-writing a history book.
I’m glad someone else has started this thread, because it has saved me the job. My wife has started to get very annoyed with me ranting at the screen every time the word ‘history’ is uttered by a lazy/useless commentator.
I just look forward to watching Mastermind in 20 years time to see the contender struggling for the answer to “which historical event occured on 17 June 2015?”, only to hear the answer was “England ladies football team qualified for the last 16 of the World Cup”! Honestly, I nearly threw something at the telly when I heard the ruddy “made history” line wheeled out for that one. What was wrong with “England ladies beat Norway today to reach the last 16 for the first time”?
I don’t know if this is happening on UK TV, but here in Australia they’ve started scrolling tweets from viewers along the bottom of the screen. It’s bad enough hearing the asinine rantings of the commentators, without having to read the 140 character semi-literate droolings of the armchair Oscar Wildes out there in the suburbs.
More often than not the tweets are couched in the toe-curling textspeak of a 12 year-old and appear to come from people who never finished high school. So we get life enriching stuff like:
@Collingwood4eva – Legend mate! No one can catch U now, except perhaps the Flash LOL. U R the best eva #bolt #gold #olympics
Not for the first time I say, beam me up Scotty.
Going over to politics for a moment (never too wise a move), whatever the outcome of the Presidential election in the US, the result will be “making history”. Hilary is playing the History card for all it is worth and I won’t deny that a female president would be a gamechanger.
And if Trump wins, it will also be historical: he’ll be the first president with no previous political experience at all. A kind of Portsmouth Sinfonia presidency?
If Trump wins he will be the first president with the IQ of a rocking horse. Oh second thoughts……
Some of my best friends are rocking horses and I’m sure they would find that comment rather offensive, Steve! Rocking-horsism on the AW! What next?
Can you post me some of their droppings? I can’t seem to find them anywhere around here?