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It's that time again, ladies and gentlemen. Athletes from all over the world will gather in London tonight to compete for the pride of nations. This kind of event only comes around every four years, so let's get down to it.

First of all, this is the opening ceremony:

The opening ceremony is titled: "Isles of Wonder." And while security around the rehearsals has been relatively tight, it is known the that ceremony will celebrate the nation's green landscape dotted with farms and cottages, William Shakespeare, pop culture (Mary Poppins, James Bond, and Paul McCartney), and darker segments of British history, such as the industrial revolution.

Discuss

Obligatory.

Still don't see it.

Fun Fact: Iran threatened to boycott the games because the symbol looks like it spells "Zion," which is another name for Israel. I do see that, for some reason.

Also what the fuck is up with the mascots

While the torch was being carried through the country what I think was last month, I actually saw the torch itself. The planned route passed right by where I live, so I didn't even have to go anywhere.

So far, the opening ceremony's been pretty good.

Rowan Atkinson cheers the Ceremony :D

That bit had me in stitches

I called that Dizzee Rascal would come out singing a few minutes before it happened. Bow down before my omniscience, mortals.

Wait, the opening ceremony's already happened?
Goddammit, I thought they'd be showing it live. Fucking American timezones.

Yeah, we have to wait. Unless you're watching it on livestream.

Rowan Atkinson was pretty great.
But oh well, I'm a sucker for his Mr. Bean-sketches, so no wonder I loved it…

I'm currently at the countries, they're at N. Oh boy I'm up!

Just got through the Mr. Bean part. Funny.

But that healthcare skit is kind of terrible and clumsy.

I don't remember much about the Bejing Opening Ceremony except the drums and the torch lighting. But so far the ceremony is awesome.

Giant balls to distract the inbred audience from the embarrassment going on below.

Now I know why Britain will sue you if you insult the Olympics on a website with the link of the Olympics website on the same page.

Silly RandomMan. Dutchland doesn't start with "N".

Created the olympic logo in Java back when I was still programming.
For programmers and curious people. Source code here

Its kinda awesome to see what you can "draw" using only code.

I am going to modify the code to make this look much more awesome before the damn 2012 olympics end.

I made a Totally Looks Like post involving the Olympic Torch since the torch was so ugly.

http://cheezburger.com/6463196672

Hey, at least their cauldron was original. Not sure how it's gonna be visible…are they gonna move it up above the stadium or is it gonna be at ground level?

Has anyone heard of th Yahoo Sports blogger Chris Chase? If you read any of his articles, especially the Olympics articles, then you're going to have a bad time.

A possible meme could Rowan Atkinson's appearance during 'Chariots of Fire'.

You think you've got problems; I had to wake up at 4 in the morning to watch it live. Australians get the chewed end of the pencil of international events just because we're on the other side of the world.

>That feel when every country sings with Paul McCartney at the Olympics.

The Queen is so hyped for this.

HOLD ME, I CAN'T HANDLE ALL THIS SWAG!!!

HM is totally a meme now.

Probably the second-best part of the ceremony. This is the first:

Magnificent.

NOW BOW DOWN, INTERNET, TO YOUR LORD AND MASTER!

So…where is the cauldron going to go now? Are they keeping it in the center of the stadium or will they move it to an elevated area in the stadium

[Possible spoiler if you haven't seen the Cycling (road) yet.]

Well, The Cycling surely was suprising. Didn't expect Vinokurov to win.

But then again, a large part was that they weren't allowed to wear speakers. During the Tour de France the Sky Team really dominated thanks to those. But during this Olympic race, the participants had to use their own intuition, as they weren't allowed to wear speakers. And Vinokurov's experience simply made him dominate in that. Uran Uran made the wrong decision of looking behind him at the final moment, there is no worse time. Vinokurov saw this and used it.

But we of course can't forget that Cavendish rode right into a wall. That costs time and energy, espeically with his shoulder.

So overall, a suprising and exciting race. This was Vinokurov's last race, I can't think of any better closure.

Naturally, the Dutchman would be the one to comment on cycling.

Who are your top athletes, by the way? The ones you expect to do well?

Canada better win something

Didn't it take almost a week and a half before Canada won something in 2008?

MFW Michael Phelps is on screen

And that torch lighting ceremony was beautiful. All teh symbolism and stuff.
I'm pretty excited for the swimming finals tonight, hope that USA can bring home another gold medal.

USA! USA! USA!

It is on! USA! USA! USA!

So, any bets on who wins the second most medals?

USA.

China or Brittain will most likely be first.

I will not argue that Britain will most likely win the most medals, but I'm not so sure about China beating US just yet. If I remember correctly, USA has more athletes in the Olympics this year than China, and the skill level is pretty easily matched between the two. It's a tough call.

I was going to make this, but procrastinated.

I literally went to Wimbledon and watched the tennis.

I wish I had gotten into the Centre Court when Roger Federer was playing, but I saw a good British player vs a very good finalist playing for Denmark. (Obviously, she won, but the game was pretty good)

I saw Argentina vs Serbia for the first game and that was pretty cool too. I really wish we had proper tickets for the Centre Court as Federer was playing and Andy Murray was there too I think.

---

By the way, ask me anything on the Olympics if you wish; I live in London, after all, just minutes away from Stratford.

That is pretty amazing.

Anyone see the first swimming medley? Lochte crushed the competition, including Phelps.

Ryan Lochte brought USA a gold medal!

USA! USA! USA!

Alright I'm done being obnoxiously patriotic for now.

I knew Michael Phelps
Puts on hipster glasses
Before he was famous. But I was 4 years old then.

Apparently the world record for women's swimming by a girl from China.
I didn't see it myself, but that is pretty frikin cool. :3

@crimsonlocks
I was surprised when she set the world record. She saved her stamina until the end, and it really paid off. She was only 16, too, so that's cool. I was also disappointed, because Beisel, who is on Team USA's swim team, was close to getting the gold. Beisel still got silver, so it's all good.

As a small country, we don't have much we shine in. So I'll just update you along the way for any big stuff.

Best thing we did today was Epke Zonderland who qualified himself for the high bar finals by getting the highest score (15.966) while he even started first. The country has high hopes for him, but with this score he already delivers.

We also had some qualifications for the half-finals in rowing, but neither of those scored first place. We'll see how far they make it.

Despite the fact I'm American, I don't like the fact we dominate the Olympics. This is why just about everyone else in the world hates us. We dominate control of the world, and we're more self-rightous than Serbia.

Congratulations, I hope our nations can meet in competition.

Also, Zonderland is the best surname I've ever heard, so you guys have that going for you.

Well at least they got a medal in weightlifting.

I think it was on at 10pm here, and yes, USA were doing very well.

Yes, please, let's bring world politics into this

But really, America doesn't "dominate" the Olympics. We are very strong competitors, but we are basically on equal ground with the other large countries such as China and Great Britain. I think the only things we really dominate in are swimming and beach volleyball, which is why they show it on our tv all the god damn time. I think your understanding of what the world thinks of us is based on stereotypes, and if there is any time to bring up which country hates which other country it's definitely not during the Olympics.

Don't forget basketball