Feel slightly guilty at not having an interest, for some reason.

and if they all come off I shall have to take a couple of weeks off work, not to speak of the tidy sum involved.

Each to his own, as it were, but I take the view that it's definitely happening; and it probably won't happen again this close to home in my lifetime so I'm going to choose to enjoy it.

It's also my 50th birthday smack in the middle of the games, and I hope to celebrate it with my family by going to a few events together - before the kids all get too old.

The idea of not taking my 12 year old son (and his Mum) to the Olympics seemed such a daft one that I felt it was the sensible thing to do. Hopefully, some cycling, athletics, basketball, boxing and football. Also the opening ceremony (but I'm not holding out too much hope).

Can't wait.

lots of people including me took a very high-handed view - all that money wasted, our lives disrupted etc. And while I didn't change my mind about either of those things, there was a lot to enjoy about it in quite a childlike way - who can run fastest is a pretty basic human endeavour.

What was really great however, were the Paralympics which were held in the two weeks immediately after. Most events were free or really cheap, and I went along with my then primary-school aged kids as they encouraged schools to go along. Something about seeing disabled people achieving something despite their situation really gets to you when it's right there in front of you.

My two bobs' worth...

My ticket tactic was all or nothing: I applied for the opening ceremony, and lots of men's finals: the session that includes the 100m final, the session that includes the 4x400m final, the football final, the table tennis final, the basketball final, and the handball final. I suspect I'll be watching all of these on TV.

I have no interest in the Olympics - the FPO watches it a lot though. Even she was put off by the high prices and the bizarre non AV style ballot (and she's happy to shell out for premiership football matches!).
I would quite like to go, just so I can see it first hand but I suspect that it's going to a be a total nightmare getting to the new stadia (I couldn't see to point in going to the other venues as there's nothing special about them.
If there are tickets available closer to the time (and I suspect that some people will offload their cheaper "backups") so that we actually know what we're going to get then we may go.

Went for everything too - but my figure is x5 due to there being 5 of us.... Once in a lifetime though.

I wasn't overwhelmed with delight when London bid and subsequently won the right to host the games, but win it did. We can moan all we like about there being better uses of public money (which, of course, there are plenty of), but it's happening now.

So... why not just enjoy it? I live 30 miles away from London; chances are the Olympics are never going to be so accessible for me, so I've applied for a fair few tickets.

I adore central London anyway; there's something about the place that makes me feel alive just walking the streets. It's got an atmosphere and a pace that I haven't experienced anywhere else in the world (I'm not particularly well-travelled, admittedly). I can only imagine that feeling being multiplied come the Games. I may not have been best pleased about in 2005, but I can't wait now.

I think the Olympics will be great a marvelously fascinating spectacle with unexpected moments of humanity and straightforward joy.
As to the cost most normal people rather newspaper columnists and internet carpers know that 20-30 quid for a sporting ticket is hardly extortionate it costs that much to see a dull championship match.
As to UK team's potetntial success well that's one of the joys of sport if we knew the outcome already we wouldn't have to run the race.

and Wilson's doing the field events, I couldn't give a toss.

I'm half an hour from Stratford but can't work up any great enthusiasm. For some reason this is treated as heresy by some people I know. 'But it's a once in a lifetime occaision!' they say. Well, yes it is. But it's a once in a lifetime occassion which has no particular interest to me. That doesn't make me a bad person. I'll watch on television if at all.

Again I went for some biggies - swimming and athletics finals plus the tennis at Wmbldn. I am fully expecting to experience the Olympics at home or in the Hyde Park Fan Park.

for its utter surrender to mammon. I can understand the desire to compete at the highest possible level, but the rank commercialisation of sport, for me at least, goes against the grain of what should be the very spirit the games seek to celebrate.

I write also as one who has seen the simply outstanding amateur layers of a sport, built up over years of dedicated effort and a love of the game, casually dismissed by those on committees and commissions in favour of organisational amalgamations with the aim of aiding the ascent of the tiny minority of the most talented to the Holy Podium of the Rings.

/rant

Holy Podium of the Rings - TMFTL

The OP is being a tad disingenuous comparing twenty years worth of athletes with the current crop. How many proper golds did that lot contribute against full strength fields? Two of those mentioned won gold whilst up to their gills on steroids. Why no mention of Dame Kelly Holmes? Do the genuine gold chances of Jess Ennis and Paula Radcliffe mean nothing?

I've applied for a few tickets for me and the FPO. Total exposure of £850, worst case.

I love the Olympics. For some reason, though, I just didn't apply for any tickets, partly because of low funds, partly couldn't be arsed. Then on the very last day, I thought Oh what the hell, let's go for it. And of course I couldn't get through the traffic on the site. So I'll be watching it on telly. And I'll probably have more than a pang of regret that I'm not watching any of it in the flesh.

One of the few occasions when I've welled up at an athletics event was at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The women's marathon was won by Naoko Takahashi of Japan; as she stepped up to the podium to collect her gold medal, the little smile that appeared on her face - diffident but proud, modest but immensely satisfied - melted me a little. It epitomised all that's good about the Olympics.

much more than the royal wedding firistance. It IS going to be a one off experience and like a lot of people here, my kids are just the right age to get excited about it.

The GLW refused to let me put multiple applications in for the ladies beachball competition. I cannot think why.

I live in one of the participating London boroughs, and I'm going abroad for the duration of the Olympics. I'm almost entirely against the whole shocking waste of money, and I'm fairly sure that being here for those two weeks is going to be little if any fun. So I'm looking forward to a holiday somewhere hot and sunny and quiet, and without a television.

And before anyone asks, no I am not renting out my house. The shutters are coming down and we are CLOSED! (goes off muttering...)

if I get all I asked for, which seems unlikely (1/4 chance maybe?). There are 5 of us, so I've gone for half a dozen sessions all over one long weekend and all on the Olympic Park. This'll be our main summer holiday - we'll come down for a fortnight and stay friends and family while we're here. The children are really keen to go and I am too. A good athletics meeting is a great day out and this is as big as it gets.

I'll also have at least a couple of days on the site and probably do the 'free' ones (the bike road race and the marathon).
Being in one of the host boroughs, I'm rather hoping our council do a few freebies for the residents, like Brent Council did for the first game at the New Wembley.

I'm quite positive about the Limpics cos ten years ago Stratford was a dive and the rise of a new building every other day is really quite exciting!

in Horse Guards Parade. What's not to love?