London 2012 Olympic Games Review Part Two

Compare and contrast - looks vs gold medal



Paraguay's Leryn Franco finished 18th in the women's javelin.


This woman beat Valerie Adams to win a gold medal but has been criticised in New Zealand for her looks. Poor form!

7) Should the medal table be so weighted in favour of gold medals? This meant that we had the ridiculous situation where Australia had secured far more medals than us, but because they had less golds, they were considered inferior. We did well on various medal projections including per capita where we finished 4th, while we were 16th the overall medal table. We finished ahead of countries like Spain, Brazil, Canada and Sweden. It is crazy how some countries do better than others. Countries like Canada, South Africa and India always seem to struggle based on population alone. I guess it depends how wealthy countries are and what sports they are good at.

8) It was great seeing so many superstars in one place. Some highlights were Usain Bolt, the USA Dream Team, Federer vs Murray in the tennis final, the list goes on!

9) Is the 50km road walk the most demanding event at the Olympic Games? After watching the people collapsing once they crossed the finishing line, I would suggest so, although I still wonder why more of them aren't pulled up for cheating. Some people think it shouldn't be an Olympic sport, but I disagree. The argument is that people should be going as fast as possible to get to the finish. My argument is that in swimming there are different strokes like breaststroke which is slower than freestyle but still in the Olympics.

10) London did a great job. I think the facilities and scenery were brilliant and I think the climate agreed with our athletes more than in some other venues. There are also heaps of kiwis in London which means there were always supporters there. The London 2012 Opening and Closing ceremonies were great, but I guess the British do have plenty of famous singers from years gone by including Coldplay, The Spice Girls, George Michael, One Direction, Freddy Mercury and Monty Python. London mayor Boris Johnson was even caught dancing to the Spice Girls (below)!


11) The Olympic Games is always interesting from a geography point of view. As a demographer of some repute I find it fascinating how some countries are really poor, yet have some athletes in quite expensive sports like sailing, rowing or equestrian. Borat gave me certain pre-conceived ideas about Kazakhstan being very poor and I was surprised when they ended up in 12th spot on the medal table with seven gold medals. Maybe money from tourism associated the movie was pumped into their sports. I also find it interesting how it is always people from the same countries doing well in the same events. The African long distance runners, the USA and Central American sprinters etc. it is hard not to draw stereotypes.


Was this a drug affected world record?

12) I wonder how many more athletes will be done for doping. It seems that there were several medal winners especially in athletics and cycling who have had a history of doping and lets just say that I wouldn't be surprised if some medals were overturned. Apparently the Jamaican committee are very laid back when it comes to drug testing their own athletes and one of their top sprinters from this Olympic Games Yohan Blake was suspended for just three months for doping in 2009. Watch this space, it could take years for some Olympic athletes to get caught and I think there are plenty of others who don't get caught! Anyway, we will leave this in the hands of the professionals before further speculating!

13) Has the Olympic Games become far more sexualised and showmanship like than previous Olympics? I guess it is about the overall entertainment package, hence why you get the showponies in the Men's 100 metres.

There have been some talented athletes on display, but there seems to have been more emphasis placed on looks than ability in many cases. These probably aren't helped by skimpy uniforms in many cases which don't leave much to the imagination in both men's and women's competition. Compare and contrast the appearances and ability of Paraguayan javelin thrower Leryn Franco who finished 18th yet was far more popular with fans than Nadezhda Ostapchuk the gold medalist in the women's shotput from Belarus who defeated Valerie Adams. Surely performance is more important than looks. I would like apologise for New Zealand's negative reaction to the woman that beat our Valerie Adams for gold in the shotput.

Speaking of sexualised, each athlete was given 15 condoms for the Olympic Games. I guess when you get that many young people most of whom are in very athletic shape, there is bound to be more fireworks than the opening ceremony.

What did you think of London 2012 Olympic Games? What were your highlights or lowlights?