London 2012 (Feedback)

Well, this week has certainly seen a controversial start to the Olympics, with the Chinese swimmer being accused of drug-taking by the Americans, and eight badminton players being disqualified! Until the middle of the week, the British media were complaining about our lack of medals, but we have won quite a few over the last couple of days, so everyone is happy now. The biggest hero in the UK right now is Bradley Wiggins the cyclist. About a week and a half ago, he became the first British rider ever to win the Tour de France, and on Wednesday, he won a gold medal in the time trials at the Olympics. I’ve actually been doing a lot of cycling recently, so I have enormous respect for professional riders. This week, I rode 30 km on Monday, 30 km on Tuesday, 50 km on Wednesday, and then 40 km last night with an American friend. My legs were killing me last night, so I can’t imagine how these professional riders are able to do such huge distances at ridiculous speeds day after day. On TV, it is difficult to see how fast they are going, but in the time trial, they are averaging something like 50 km/h. I would struggle to keep up with that in my van!

When I ride, I use an app called “Endomondo” on my iPhone to measure all the data. It uses GPS to measure speed, average speed, and distance, and it also calculates the number of calories used and how much water you need to drink. Because it uses GPS, it traces your route on a map so that you can see exactly where you went and what your speed was at each point. I also use a heart rate monitor that connects to the iPhone via Bluetooth, so I can see my average heart rate and my maximum heart rate. As you ride, the app “speaks” to tell you every time you finish a kilometre. It says something like “10 kilometres in 25 minutes. Lap time 2 minutes 20 seconds.” The “lap time” is the time of the last kilometre, so you can always tell whether your speed is falling or going up. Here is a screen shot of my iPhone at the end of yesterday’s ride.

You can set the app for whatever sport you are doing, so I can use it for running as well. I can listen to music on my headphones as I run, and then the app will butt in to tell me my split times as each kilometre passes. It’s a great training tool, because it forces you to keep pushing yourself. By the way, the slow average speed yesterday was because we had to climb a huge hill. At the moment, my average speed is usually about 26-27 km/h, so I’m working on getting that up to 30 km/h as soon as possible.

Anyway, here is some feedback on your comments.

I wonder how do the organisation allocate the tickets.
I wonder how the organisation allocates the tickets. (A-Z: Do you know?/I don’t know)

Men’s 100m run final, swimming races and men’s marathon race.
All of these need “the” because you are talking about specific events.

Before the Olympics have started, you heard about various kinds of problems.
Before the Olympics started, there were various kinds of problems.

While I was watching the ceremony, I thought to myself, “This is it!”
Nice sentence.

I prefer doing sports to watching them although I’m not good at any sports.
It doesn’t really fit here, but just to let you know that if you are not good at sports, you can say, “I’m not very sporty.”

I just watched the digest of it on the news.
I just watched the highlights of it on the news.

I don’t have any favorite athlete.
I don’t have a favorite athlete.

And I felt scared to see that she waves her hand to the audience with smile unconcernedly.
And I felt scared to see her waving to the crowd as if nothing was wrong. (A-Z: with)

Yes I did…but only the last part of it.
Nice sentence.

Judo. I can’t go out in the evening of this week!
Judo. I won’t be able to go out in the evening this week.

I didn’t know him before he won the bronze medal, but… Hagino Kosuke!
I had never heard of him before he won the bronze medal, but…
or
I didn’t know much about him before he won the bronze medal, but… (A-Z: know)

Yes, I read the news. I’m not sure if she used drugs or not, …
I heard a scientist on the radio this week describing how the latest technology involves altering the DNA of athletes to make them stronger. You can find out about it by googling “gene doping.” That is quite scary stuff, and it cannot be detected by drug tests.

I was interested in the ceremony since I had heard that Danny Boyle would direct it.
… since I heard that Danny Boyle would be directing it.
or
… since I heard that Danny Boyle was going to direct it.

but this time, his atmosphere was different from those ones. I’m
I think the best translation of 雰囲気 is probably “his aura.” We don’t use “atmosphere” to talk about people.

an American friend of my eldest daughter said that …
That is an interesting expression. I hope you all noticed it.

Thank you for explaining about the tickets problems.
“the ticket problems” or “the problems with the tickets.”

So, finally I don’t understand why some events are included and the others are excluded. I have a feeling that it has a lot to do with money(Olympic sponsors).
Unfortunately, it is all about money. I don’t think any event should be included in the Olympics if the Olympics are not the highest level of achievement in that sport. The Olympics are just a bit of fun for soccer players and tennis players, so those sports should not be included.

I noticed I had made a mistake of your name.
I noticed that I spelled (AE) / spelt (BE) your name wrongly.

Ticket for the closing ceremony is ￡650!?
With a French full course dinner and a door-to-door pick up service!?
That’s ridiculous!!
Indeed.

Have a great weekend, and feel free to ask me if you have any questions about the feedback, or about anything that I didn’t correct.