Leicester_H Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Q1. Why are some announcements made in French before they are made in English ? (Some of opening ceremony was like this as well). Why French ?? Why before the language of the host nation ??? Q2. How does the badminton group to knock-out stage work ? In football, say, the winner of a group plays the runner-up of another group (so winning group has a theoretical advantage of meeting a supposedly weaker opponent in the knock-out stage) - so all try to win. Works well - I assume badminton must be different as those players were trying to lose ! H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue_F Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 It's French because a Frenchman invented the modern Olympics I think don't know about badminton sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looney Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 French is an official Olympic language along with English. It might be protocol to announce in French first when the Games are in an English speaking country? Or perhaps it is always spoken first regardless of the country? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 French and English are both official IOC languages. Where English is not the national language, the announcements are made in English, then the local language. Where English is the national language, the announcements are made in French, then the local language, which is English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfer_chicken Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Thanks for explaining the language thing, I was wondering the same while watching the opening ceremony. No idea how the badminton works though, but I was shocked to hear about the teams deliberately trying to lose. It's no wonder the crowd booed them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyhas3chucks Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 thanks Fred now I can tell everyone else... you are the only person with an Answer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicester_H Posted August 4, 2012 Author Share Posted August 4, 2012 Thanks Fred. Badminton thing - Chinese players didn't want to play other chinese players in next round - so wanted to lose. But opponents didn't like it, so tried to lose as well. Simply not cricket!! H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluekarin Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Lots of answers to some Olympic questions here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...