Olympics 2016

How will they beat the spectacle of some bushes growing out of filing cabinets though?

One of the biggest video game franchises for the past 30 years, I'm pretty sure they'll expect most people will have heard of it, unless they've had their heads in the sand since 1985.



I'd like to hope that post is a joke too. Unless you've been living under a rock for the last 18 years. neither Super Mario or Pokemon are remotely obscure. They're two of the world's biggest media franchises.

If you haven't heard of Pokemon Go, I'd really like to know where you've been the past couple of months!

A small point really but it's a shame the BBC's theme music was so poor this year, nothing like as good or memorable as what they had for Athens, Beijing or London. I'd be tempted to say the BBC should use First Steps for every Olympics like NBC always uses the John Williams theme, except I'm interested in hearing what they come up with for Tokyo.

Agreed about First Steps. Having gone to the bother, and expense, of creating a 7 minute epic I'd have thought they might have used it for a number of subsequent Games. I was very surprised it didn't turn up in any Team GB medal montages this year either.


Also agreed about Tokyo. Whilst I'd like to hear First Steps again I'd also be interested to see if they use this again, the first iconic BBC Olympic theme:



The BBC used it for their coverage of the 1991 World Athletics Championships so it's not a totally left-field suggestion.

Nonsense - it's a huge card to play in terms of popular culture.

The whole point of these ceremonies is to showcase elements of the host country's culture to the wider audience. If there's a section of the audience ignorant of some of these iconic characters, they can be educated via the commentary.

As a case in point prior to the ceremonies I had never heard of Santos Dumont. Now I have I'm fascinated by his story.

The effects of the cloudburst were evident, much of the projected images were clearly designed for helicopter shots, it seems that they managed to get one airborne towards the end but that was it. The closing ceremony really seemed to drag at times, despite under-running by 30mins.

The Tokyo2020 sequence was imaginative and yet graphic heavy. These ceremonies need to ensure that the in stadia audience, who traditionally pay very highly, get a satisfactory show too. Sochi despite it's 'state show' covered, admittedly at cost, this aspect well.

As for the coverage, fine despite obvious economies. The one big headache was the final Saturday evening which really was upset by the Daley failures in the Semi Finals, perhaps in retrospect the BBC should have run with the Diving final anyway.

The IOC and GOCs need to look carefully at the last few days of the schedule, the games really do stumble their way to a conclusion, The additional sports in 2020 might resolve this. They also need to examine whether the spectators get value for money, the session lengths average two hours which needs looking at.

Anyway on to Pyeongchang, Tokyo and Beijing.

I think the Rio stuff was too far the other way. 20 minutes of samba dancing will have been amazing in the stadium but was extremely tedious to watch. When Tokyo did they're bit it actually woke me up by being visually interesting (it looked like the Tokyo logo form up was also scuppered by the lack of helicopter).



Many of the outdoor sports have the last couple of days reserved as overflow days in case of weather related difficulties. The IOC would rather have a couple of quieter days at the end than have competitions unable to be completed before the closing ceremony. It also helps with getting people away from the Games by finishing some sports earlier, reducing the pressures on the transport systems (which get a battering on the day after the closing ceremony).

I've been living the same life as I have since 1985 - here in a perfectly normal town in Hampshire. Why do you assume everyone leads their life with their faces constantly stuck in front of a screen of some sort. I have heard of Pokemon Go, but I have no idea what it is other than it's obviously something to do with people playing some sort of computer game. Please don't feel the need to explain what it is as I come from a generation who are happy with their own thoughts.

What is the Olympics? I believe it's a relatively new sporting tournament started by the Greeks?

Back to the actual TV presentation and I have to say that the closing ceremony felt - just like the opening - really personal and well produced, given the low budget. The performance near the end with the flame being extinguished by Amazonian rainwater and a tree growing felt pretty moving. The flame looked stunning in the rain and shining metal.

I wasn't a fan of it in the promos but it really grew on me. To be fair you can probably say the same for each theme over the last 20 years - the event makes you like it more.

Although I wouldn't like the same theme from games to games I've always thought the opening fanfare for the Sydney theme is something that could be carried through - it would work with most of the themes IMO, though perhaps not this one.

Wonder if Beijings theme will be resurrected for 2022, which is somehow now closer than their summer games.


Apparently after all the issues with the stadium design they forgot to integrate a cauldron in to it so I suspect the current trend will continue.

You're the one who started asking what Super Mario and Pokemon was! And then implied they shouldn't have been in the ceremony because you hadn't heard of them.