BRAVO CHER AMI MAIS IL Y A DES CHOSES QUE TU PREFERES TAIRE ET CE N'EST PAS BON POUR CES MILLIERS DE JEUNES DONT TU AS LA CHARGE DE FOURNIR UNE BONNE EDUCATION. IL TE FAUDRA AUSSI LEUR DIRE DE LIRE L'ARTICLE SUIVANT, SURTOUT POUR TES ELEVES QUI FONT LE 'GENERAL PAPER':
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/07/27/london-2012-an-investiga...

Please refer to the scandals in boxing when the referees tolerated boxers who were holding opponents to avoid boxing and ended up becoming winners! Even British commentators condemned the ineffective referees.

Pour ameloirer l'esprit sportif des J.O.,
on devrait accorder un prix de consolation pour les athletes qui n'ont pas eu de medailles mais qui se sont heroiquement surpasses(surtout venant d'un pays pauvre)

Dear Rajiv I have only one message for you keep it up Your idea your mind is top.

Sir, I don't know what kind of influence you command in Mauritius but I find your opinion about the Olympics game misguided and your loyalty towards England to be even more misguided considering that we were once enslaved by those you elevate to a semi-God level.

You talked about the opening ceremony, you measured it against the Chinese 4 years ago. Yet, you failed to mention that England hypocritically avoided to mention the slaves that fuelled their economy, you failed to even acknowledge that their Industrial revolution came at the expense of driving down and destroying the economies of other nations, like the huge tariff imposed on Indian cotton so their cotton industry could take off, while barely a few years before they lowered the price of the same Indian cotton so their people could bask in its luxury.

I wish you had mentioned that the rate of malnutrition in the world is going up. Meanwhile the world spends billions on a sports event, totally ignoring that there are children who are going to bed hungry. Where is the priority of those nations that you are lauding as great?

Finally, from comments posted, I take it that you are an educator. That, Sir, is a shame because you are endowed with the responsibility of feeding the brains of these children under your care with humanity rather than be an apologist to a nation that built its wealth and power on the sweat and blood of other people who just didn't happen to be white.

EVERY THING THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD !! EVEN AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL.

Every human being looking through a window is bound to see a particular landscape based strictly on his visionary faculty, his analytical skills, and the size of his/her brain and to what extent he or she has been brainwashed over the years and what ulterior motives one may harbour. True, 10 persons looking through the same window will see 10 different landscapes. Mais force est dadmettre, quil ny a pas daveugle que celui qui ne veut pas voir !
Quote : Cest en ce sens que les Jeux ont une porte trs inclusive et fdratrice, car il ny a ni calculs ou stratgies politiques, ni desseins obscurs, comme cela peut arriver au niveau dautres organisations internationales. . Modern Olympic games, be it London 2012, Beijing 2008 or the next one Rio 2016, is anything but inclusive et federatrice. The authors depiction of the London2012 Olympic Games is flawed on more than one count. I suggest he takes a look at a useful article by Professor Alan Tomlinson, entitled The Commercialization of the Olympics: Cities, corporations and the Olympic commodity. [ http://alantomlinson.typepad.com/alan_tomlinson/files/Tomlinson_YoungBoo... ]. herewith some extracts from the article : . The bidding process and the marketing strategy of the IOC are two dimensions of a single process: the intensifying commercialization and commodification of the Olympic product. . Rather than quoting selectively, De Coubertin also said Almost all the stadiums built in recent years are the result of local and, too often, commercial interests, not Olympic interests at all . He was against athletics as a show, implying that commercially-based large-scale events would corrupt the amateur spirit: drawing upon promotional budgets and generating large crowds to justify the investment in the event, these oversized showcases are the source of the corruption at the root of the evil Beyond the usual Olympic rituals (Olympic Torch, Opening and closing razzmatazz Tracts Events or Medals ceremonies etc), the BIG HANDS OF POLITICS AND BIG BUSINESSES are never far away. Indeed SELINA O'GRADY, writing for OPEN DEMOCRACY, correctly stated Through the Olympic rituals our politicians are trying to make us happy, devoted subjects, as politicians have always done whether they use religion, sport, or celebrities to do it. If the Olympics leave us, at least for a little while, slightly more contented subjects, and THEREFORE A LITTLE MORE RECONCILED TO OUR CORRUPT AND CORRUPTING BANKS, MPS, AND A JOURNALIST, then the billions spent on the Olympics is not wasted at all, it would seem. If the games were really above politics, then why was Germany and Japan, two defeated countries of the WW2 not allowed competing in 1948? Why did the US lead a boycott for the Moscow 1980 games? And the tit-for-tat Soviet Union response for the 1984 Los Angeles Games! Professor Tomlinson summed it up nicely when he wrote: the rivalries at the apex of Olympic performance are both a political narrative and an economic one. Developing competitive sport became seen as a political necessity by the world's two dominant superpowers. And this never came cheap. And now China is fast on the TRACT to do likewise! And India, too will soon realise that they should be playing the Geopolitics GAMES as well. Perhaps then, we can ALL SEE TREES OF GREEN .RED ROSES TOO, SKIES OF BLUE, CLOUDS OF WHITE and we can all sing WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD ! ( for the very few more equals than equal like Rajiv Roy !) . On a personal note : I went to London to watch the games ( yes, I admit, I too am a victim!) I can bear witness what a Rip off, this whole business is all about. I was charged 4.75 for a Cheese and tomato Ploughmans sandwich and 2.00 for a cup of Tea. My relative told me a Ploughmans sandwich at Tesco supermarket costs 1.80! A Cold drink ( Coca Cola is 3.80 ! It costs 60p in any Corner shops!!Fair Competition, did you say Rajiv!! McDonalds, one of the few usual corporate sponsor insisted with the organisers that no one else should be allowed to sell chips in the Olympic Village. And they dont allow you to bring in Homemade sandwiches !! No wonder these BIG Corporate Sponsors STRUCK GOLD ALL THE TIME !! FAIR GAMES !!

You are right and think in the same wavelength as me. Being an educator too, I wish to reveal you a few points: 1. LAWS The British teach laws which their admirers take as master copy to write their own constitutions across the world. Moreover, mainly people having studied British laws are accepted as lawyers in several ex colonies. In the west, people can hardly live without getting a high dose of brainwashing by different means. This implies that the gentlemen having had received a high level of brainwashing are catapulted to power across the world. To be added that so many countries calling themselves independent are still dependent on Britain when it comes to solving some legal matters (refer - privy council). Indirectly we can understand by which means the sun is maintained shining and is unauthorized set in that empire. 2. GP TEACHERS The English language teachers are the very ones responsible for brainwashing the innocent kids. That is why they are often made to influence kids to be exposed to western news media which remain biased politically in favor of west as there is no reliability in news published. Had I been the head of a school, in the GP classes I would have liked youngsters to learn about science from a science teacher, commerce from a commerce teacher, history from history teacher, etc for relevant topics. But matters remain strange when English language teachers are given the responsibility to teach General Paper (based on general knowledge)! I have learned that engineers are not allowed to teach up to HSC level because they have not studied any subject teachable up to HSC level. If that hols true then, a simple question arises; have the GP teachers learned anything such during their tertiary education? 3. ENGLISH LANGUAGE Do you realise that there is only one national language in Mauritius? Why do you think when recruitment is done for public posts, a particular attention is given to the English Language results? All this indicate how favoritism is practiced widely without people paying attention to it. The author is nothing but an innocent product of the system for which he should not be blamed. I am sorry for any minor inaccuracy but the main idea has been conveyed.

the opening ceremony was boring. just good for the commonwealth games.

To Mario, You wouldnt say it was boring if you knew their history..

In 1982 Asian Games, Indira Gandhi came on an elephant. I wonder if this action was copied to contribute to bore audience in the recent olympic!

@JP : Yes I do know their history, I am a living proof of it !!Carving up the Middle East with France, Exiling the Chagossians from their homeland, establishing Slaves colonies which would become the backbone of Modern British economy, Instigating Coup d'Etats, Exiling Head of States ( even to Mauritius!), Occupying Foreign Lands ( in search of WMD) , to list but a few, are all facets of British History which did not feature in the Opening ceremony !

Firstly, congratulations to the Author for this balanced and timely article about the 2012 Olympics & Paralympics. The inspirational power of the Games for the present and next generation cannot be underestimated. All these comments (dixit Mario/Ploum Ploum/patriot etc etc) in reference to big business / commercial / slave heritage / western brainwash etc are, in my humble opinion very unfair, negative and misguided. The organizers have been working really hard to put on an excellent show, many of the gamestime logistics are performed by volunteers (the Gamesmakers) and the athletes are performing/excelling and inspiring our youth to take up sport and bringing a positive outlook to the world. Im not going to make any excuse for slavery, bad politics etc but these are serious issues which should be dealt elsewhere. The London 2012 Games have been really successful so far, and safe, no one can deny this and take this away from London, a vibrant, multicultural city where everyone who tries hard can succeed legitimately. An important fact from any Games is the legacy it brings to the organising city - for example the Olympic Park was built on reclaimed waste land and in one of the poorest region of the country; this whole area of east London has now been regenerated and created new jobs and will improve quality of life for many (a great proportion are descendants of immigrants). By the way, Mr Ploum or Mario, the reason for not allowing you to bring food into venues is for your own security and the pricing of goods reflects the economic value of goods associated with the once in a lifetime experience of being present. After the creative show put on by Danny Boyle at the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony is going to as entertaining. Come on guys, you can't tell me you did not enjoy watching Lightning Bolt from Jamaica (a country built from slave ancestry) winning gold and do his trademark antics, watched by millions around the world. Enjoy, be inspired and think positive, be part of it! All the best.

No one is contesting athlete's performance! We are talking about the organization. You can refer to referees' decisions during boxing matches to diagnose the shortcomings. For me, the games help not only in camouflaging the scars created by imperial powers but also make some forget about present day imperialistic actions - actual illegal occupation/invasion of lands across the world & exploitation of resources under the excuse of bringing democracy, liberating the people from their tyrants, etc.

@patriot: please allow me to clarify a few facts for you.. whilst you are entitled to your own opinion, i strongly think you are mixing issues and platform. The Games's organisation has nothing to do with imperialism, politics, wars etc, though these exist undeniably, agreed. The Games are organized by NON-POLITICAL organizations (OCOG) and the host city gets to host the games after making a competitive bid to the IOC which has very strict rules about everything. London's bid was the first one which capitalized on infrastructure legacy (many previous cities have built white elephants); regeneration of poor areas and creating jobs, and soft legacy (youth around the world inspired to take up sport and make peace). Gamestime organisation and logistics are heavily dependent on volunteers, ordinary people from all walks of life giving their own time generously. As nothing is free in life, the funding is raised through sponsorship, taxation and lottery funding (in the UK case), but the organisation is definitely non-political. The overwhelming view is the London 2012 Games organisation have been very successful and a Games for all. Now if these games contribute in helping all the nations to come together for 2 weeks and celebrate peacefully what unite them rather than making wars, invading other countries and what not, that can only be a good thing, don't you think? More importantly, the Games (both Olympics and Paralympics) are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many to showcase their best skills, others to be involved in any positive way and to inspire the next generation. Whatever the politics or imperialists do in their own spare time cannot and should not be associated with the Games. I wish you all the best.

When a wolf wears a sheep's mask, I do consider things from a wider angle and a deeper way than to talk about only one mask at a time. I do not see the things as the wolf have loved to.