Absurdities of Olympic proportions!

This is the thread for weird Olympic shit.

Whatever - strange things competitors do, dodgy judging or ridiculous rules, and the lengths the IOC will go to in protecting their ‘brand’ and the highly lucrative cash stream from their sponsors. Stuff like that.

I’ll start:

Fish and chips are very popular in the UK, and hot chips have always been a huge seller as a snack for spectators at sporting events.

BUT the IOC has demanded that every one of the 800 fish and chip vendors at the 40 Olympic venues are NOT allowed to serve chips on their own (ie. without fish) - as McDonald’s is the “official chip maker” of the Olympic Games.

BT is the “official communications services provider” for the Olympics, and has 1500 paid Wi-Fi hotspots at Olympic sites, with prices starting from £5.99 for 90 minutes. To protect this cash cow, the London Olympics organising committee has banned “personal/private wireless access points and 3G hubs” from Olympic venues. That means NO wireless hotspot on your smartphone so you can get online on your laptop or tablet in between matches, and NO portable Wi-Fi hotspot devices either.

This is a pic of one of the “Olympics Wi-Fi police” who are charged with seeking out unauthorised Wi-Fi hotspots with big red detectors.

Did anyone hear an Australian rowing athlete was arrested the other night for property damage!!! WTF was he thinking!!!

My guess is he was thinking (if at all) “geez I’m drunk”. A super strict no alcohol training regime can seriously mess you up when you finally let loose and have a few drinks.

Drunk and dazed after a night spent commiserating his dashed Olympic dream, Australian rower Joshua Booth allegedly smashed windows at two English businesses, apparently thinking he was breaking into his own home.

The Olympic debutant, 21, from Melbourne, must now answer to British police after being arrested for alleged criminal damage in Egham, southwest of London.

The men’s eight crew member will also have to face the Australian Olympic Committee, whose officials had warned them to “behave appropriately”.

“From what he had said to the policeman, he thought he was at home and was trying to get into his own home, just drunk and disoriented,” said a worker at B.W. Dartnell and Associates, where Booth allegedly used a large planter box to break a patterned glass window.

Dressed in his gold Australian tracksuit, Booth had been out drinking with fellow rowers on Wednesday after his crew finished last in their final at nearby Eton Dorney.

The worker at the small engineering company, who asked not to be named, was called by police about 2am (BST) and alerted to the damage. Australian team boss Nick Green got a phone call from police at 3.30am.

Green said he was told Booth had fainted and hit his head after being arrested and taken to Staines police station over the alleged criminal damage.

The athlete was taken to hospital as a precaution, but was later released.

Booth has not been charged by police but must front up for questioning on Friday.

Green declined to comment on whether he would be disciplined by the AOC, saying he was awaiting the outcome of the police investigation.

“We would be reminding our athletes again, because we reminded them on their arrival, that we expect athletes when they have finished their competition, to consume alcohol in a correct manner and behave appropriately,” AOC media director Mike Tancred said.

The B.W. Dartnell and Associates staffer said no-one from the Australian team or the Olympic movement had contacted them, and the damage bill was expected to be about £500 ($A750).

“These athletes have got to be able to take defeat, not just glory,” she said.

Two doors down, a window at Hugo’s Restaurant was also smashed.

Men’s eight Coxswain Toby Lister confirmed some members of the crew had been out for a “few beers” after their race.

“We’d all been disappointed. You don’t want to go to the Olympics and finish sixth,” he said.

chucky, those first two absurdities are bordering on ridiculous. That’s just crazy! I don’t know whether to laugh or not.

^Awesome

We all know about the IOC’s obsession with banning non-sponsors’ logos on competitors’ outfits and equipment, but this one’s just plain sad - there’s a rumour that they’ve taped over the logos on the hand dryers in the toilets at some Olympic venues.

That is rediculous about the Wifi!!!

seems quite ironic for an event that is all about competition.

Some of the things that commitees come up with are so dumb. Why do people feel the need to expoilt.