1) As Rio bids farewell with the closing ceremony on Sunday night, the country faces the difficult trick of pulling off the finale after the excitement of the Games. The absolute pinnacle was, of course, Los Angeles in 1984, when the city went the whole hog in a show of such preposterous, outlandish proportions it defies belief even today – exemplified by the entirely straight-faced arrival of a UFO descending into the stadium, who proceeded to congratulate humanity on its sporting prowess. Beijing in 2008 had an extraordinary display of light, colour and choreographed numbers; Sydney a host of Aussie pop stars in a song and dance spectacular including Midnight Oil and, of course, Kylie doing Dancing Queen; Moscow in 1984, a giant crying, then flying bear called Misha; Barcelona in 1992, a fire festival; but London 2012 was a very poor show in comparison - not least in indulging George Michael to play new songs at interminable length – it was especially a let down after the magnificent opener. The Spice Girls, however, turned up on top of taxis as this insider viewpoint from the driver of Posh shows: “If I tip her off in front of a million people it’s not going to look great.”
2) Young BMX rider, Tyler Fernengel, takes to the abandoned Silverdome stadium in Pontiac, Michigan and puts the once grand venue to good use again. Impressively, also features a superb opening voiceover from the stadium itself.
3) Fine editing and fine footage on show here in a timely fashion as gymnastics enjoys its brief time under the spotlight for the Olympics: a really well-assembled montage of the development of the uneven bars from the 1950s to the present day, set artfully to the music.
4) Dutch cyclist Laurine van Riessen escaped a huge accident by inches during the the women’s keirin at Rio when she quite literally rode the barrier; but perhaps what was even more remarkable is exactly how entirely cool this man in the blue shirt remained as he sat watching it happen right in front of him.
5) Bong! Big boot on ball between USA and Bahrain leads to boisterous brawl.
6) Japan’s Hiroki Ogita fails to complete his pole vault in Rio when a certain part of his anatomy appears to get in the way.
Highlights from last week’s blog
1) Brilliant stuff from the BFI. Who would have thought the coal industry had a monthly cinemagazine back in 1948 in the first place, let alone one featuring Dunfermline miner Tom Syme, an Olympic hopeful in training at his local rink before he played for Great Britain at that year’s Winter Olympics. The wonderfully-titled “Coal on Ice” also contains entertainingly gratuitous lady-skaters section in the middle – “who wouldn’t, in this company?”. And from sublime to ridiculous - a piece of classic eighties ice hockey nostalgia that has to be heard to be believed – a paean to goaltender “King” Richard Brodeur, who had his own tribute song for the Vancouver Canucks before the 1982 Stanley Cup. It didn’t work out – they lost to the New York Islanders, for whom Brodeur had previously played, and have still yet to win the cup. The A-side was a version of Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.
2) Giant basketball freestyle rope swing. Of course it is.
3) When boxers go bad: some very late punching in this collection of illegal knockouts.
4) Huge hitting here from Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins – a 504-foot home run. He has form in this department, going 510 feet in the 2014 Gillette Home Run Derby and here with ten further monsters. It has not all been plain sailing however, as this painful biff to the face proves.
5) Lovely spot of split-screen snooker that puts a Ronnie O’Sullivan 147 break up against Peter Ebdon doing the same. Who do you think finishes first?
6) Some magnificent silky skills on show, unfortunately set to the obligatory EDM soundtrack. Will someone, just for once, do similar but to a spot of Prolapse?
Spotters’ badges: Vesuvial, BlackCaeser, GrahamClayton, whobroughtoranges.
