The dancing was a bit straggly in the " London " routine . Afterseeing all the cyclists taking part,the Chinese will think "Nobodycan afford cars in London "
The British "teaser" was ok, but we were disappointed to seethe performer in the wheelchair was not in fact disabled but wasleaping around later in the dance.
Did anyone else this the 'London 8 minutes' presentation was -dare I say it - rubbish!? Leona sang her heart out on top of aladder, on top of a bus whilst 20 contemporary dancers did theirstuff way below. It was just so low key relative to what had goneon beforeit.
But oh, our offering at the closing ceremony was embarrassing.Ared bus,a pop singer, an ageing rocker and an overpaid ball kickerwas awful. Where was our great Island heritage portrayed in allthis flummery?Organisers - please do betterfor us in 2012.
And why can't Boris button his jacket? Too fat or badtailoring?
I've just watched the Olympic closing ceremony, and as I feared,Britain's contribution was embarassing and totally pathetic - Ijust hope they manage to do better in 2012. It will obviously beimpossible to rival the spectacular pageant that Beijing provided,but I thought the dancing (if you can call that dancing) and theLeona Lewis/Jimmy Page effort was just pitiful. Hopefully, we canditch all this government inspired 'Cool Britannia' garbage andpresent something a bit more slick and professional.
I agree that Adrian Childs was poor: he seemed to think that hewas on the One Show. The London Bus routine was pretty much rubbish ... the music waspoor and everything smacked of pop culture. Period.
The Games themselves were superbly run. The BBC was teetering onthe brink of overblown nationalism, however.
Jimmy Page and David Beckham have been massive icons of Britishpopular culture. I'm not especially a fan of either, but theyperfectly suited to the ceremony.
Not bothered either way about Leona whatshername, but the chiefembarrassment, reducing us instantly to laughing stock of the worldand diminishing at a stroke the achievements of our athletes, wasthe presence of Boris Bloody Johnson!!! This man symbolizeseverything wrong with Britain - a deeply untalented buffoon, with athoroughly sinister interior. Get him off the stage once and forall.
When I heard about the plans for the London presentation,including the "arrangement" of the national anthem and the rehashed70s rock music, I thought "it can't possibly be as bad as I'mimagining it". Well, it wasn't. It was a thousand, toe-curlinglyhideous times worse. Against the dignity, seriousness and power ofthe Chinese displays, it was so far beyond embarrassing, my brainhas already almost forgotten it, in a desperate paroxysm ofself-defence. omg, I hope our eight minutes during the closing ceremony is nota foretaste of the tackiness to come in four years time. "
It felt a lot longer than eight minutes..... Every cringe andevery gasp of horror made it feel like a lifetime!
If that is all we have to offer, lets hope the rest of the worldhas popped out down the pub when we take centre stage.
Our athletes deserve much better than this, they did us proud inBeijing (lets not forget the Paralympics too) and will continue todo so.
Mind you, from the wretched logo to the vacuous miming chick toDavid Bloody Beckham, it was all a perfect reflection of London andEngland as they now are: cheap, tatty, shallow, and above alllaughing enormously at their own jokes while the rest of the worldlooks on with contempt. Perfect.
Now, 2012... where can I go to avoid it all? Please can I move toChina?
I have been glued to the Olympics constantly and very proud ofTeam GB but my god what on earth was that 8 minute section in theclosing ceremony.
The chinese put on a fantastic show and we have basically a redbus and a sparkler. Who ever put this together should be sacked before we areembarressed anymore.
By the way BBC should be given a gold medal for the coverage,first class.
I have a Grandson living and working in Beijing and I only hopehe stays under cover until the humilation dies down a little. Itcertainly will never go away.
In 8 mins we have become the laughing stock of the world.
—— Leona！ Poor girls must be so nervous! —— She sounds like a whale mating I didn't think it was possibly but this both sucks and blows.
Grow up London 2012 and stop trying to be so 'cool'. This isembarrassing.
The Chinese did it again the closing was amazing. First class andout of this world. The one negative was the London Show what in theheck was that. In Athens when the Chinese did there welccome toshow it was amazing and you knew you where going to get somethingspecial in Beijing. I hope that London does better than what theyshowed to-day.
Replicate it, we don’t have a chance it hell. For one thing we’llbe lucky to find 1% of the volunteers from Beijing. Perhaps all thepeople claiming on benefits should be forced to volunteer!!!
Smith, London Forget about the image of Myra Hindley. What about the image ofsome guy painting graffiti on a wall? What are we trying to sayhere? "Come to London, where criminal disfigurement of publicproperty is welcomed and celebrated?!"
Dont know what to laugh more at - the tacky 8 minutes of rubbishthe UK put on in Beijing or the smug comments on here about how "Atleast we are free.." Last time I looked the UK was the most watched(CCTV) nation on earth and we have a government that has used fearand hate to strip us of freedoms on a daily basis. The onlydifference between the UK and China is that they wasted billionsmore than we can afford to- but Im sure we'll waste as much as wecan. But freedom?? Dont make me laugh!
Terry Roberts, Shropshire
The Chinese people seem to love all things western (David Beckhamincluded by the looks of it) but in return all we can do is badmouth them and show no respect. What does that say aboutus. There’s an old saying, treat people the same as how you wouldlike to be treated.
Oops, I forgot about the fireworks. Weren't theywonderful!
I was so impressed by how they managed to create the OlympicRings in the sky - truly amazing.
Thank you China.
In my time I've witnessed countless Royal Variety Performancesand the opening ceremony of the Dome. This British fiasco was worsethan any of them, and even at only eight minutes seemedinterminable. No wonder London mayor Boris Johnson looked souncomfortable beforehand. He must have known what was coming.
I have two tips for you, Boris. Keep your hands out of yourpockets when attending high-profile events like this, and secondlyfire whoever responsible for this fiasco and hire proper showbizprofessionals – from Las Vegas if necessary – to handle the openingand closing ceremonies in 2012. Another toe-curling embarrassmentlike this would be unendurable. Well done China on a fantastic organisation of the games whichwas flawless and Team GB for their medal haul. Thank you China forputting the U.S into second place.
Well done, China! You have given the world a magnificent Olympicsdespite the efforts of the chattering classes in the Western mediato portray you as some Stalinist state.
The female who hugged Yao Ming was Lauren Jackson, an Australiabasketball player playing in WNBA. After Yao entered NBA, there wasrumor she had a crush on Yao, but Yao turned her down. There weremany gossip about them.
So, seeing them hugging at the closing ceremony really reallymade me laugh, because 4 years ago, at the closing ceremony ofAthens Olympic, Yao and his girlfriend 'Ye Li' came out togetherand that was the first time their relationship went public.
