Olympic Cheer

They had them in Beijing four years ago. Now they’ve got them in London: Cheerleaders at the Summer Olympics.

There was a lot of noise about this earlier this summer. “Team GB” convened a committee to select the “Official” Cheerleaders of the 2012 London Olympics. The committee got to work and narrowed the field to five teams:

1. North London Wildcats (Independent competition team)
2. Panache Bullettes (Dance team for the Bradford Bulls rugby club)
3. The Crystals (Cheer team for the Crystal Palace Football Club)
4. The BBL Babes (Dance team for the British Basketball League. Yes. One team for the whole league.)
5. Sheffield Hallam Cheer (from Sheffield Hallam University)

The committee asked the public to vote for their favorite team. (Although they did note that a celebrity member of the committee would make the final decision.)

So what happened?

The public voted.

And then the committee overrode the public vote.
Scandal! Controversy!

The vote came down to two teams, the Wildcats vs. the Crystals. It was collegiate style vs. NFL/NBA style. The results were clear.

Crystals: 33% of the vote
Wildcats: 26% of the vote
The other three teams: 41% (collectively)

Which team got the job? The Wildcats. The celebrity panelist, one Alisha Dixon, decided the Crystals were a bit too sexy for prime time. The public was outraged. (Or at least the 5,000 blokes who voted for the Crystals were outraged.)

Some felt that the Crystal’s youtube version of Carly Rae’s “Call me Maybe” is what ruined it for them. (The “Call me Maybe” craze hit the UK a little later than here in the states.) Too sexy? See for yourself.

(In my opinion, this was a good effort. But I do have to point out that compared to the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders, these girls are pikers.)

Personally, I don’t care who cheers at the Olympics. I don’t care if anyone cheers at the Olympics. But the Olympics are a BIG DEAL. The Crystals thought they were going – until Alisha shifted them to the “reject” pile. I’m sure the Crystals were brokenhearted.

But none of that is really the point of this post. I seem to have gotten off track. What can I say? I like a little backstory. All I wanted to do was point out that photos of the Official Olympics Cheerleaders are starting to pop up on the internet.

Here

Here

Here

and Here

It does appear that they are doing some stunting – in the most…umm…”eye-catching” cheer costumes I have seen in a long long while. Hello, that is a dude on the right. No one with XY chromosomes should ever have to wear an outfit like that in public. Come to think of it, neither should anyone with XX chromosomes. (Cirque du Soleil cast members excepted)…

But they’re also doing this, which is much more like an NBA kind of style

And they’re also doing this, which seems to be a combination of the two. (And looks a little painful.)

Aside from that, they appear to be big fans of the Conga line, which seems to be going over well with the volleyball crowd.

You know what is weird? I don’t think any of those women are Wildcats. Or Crystals. Go figure.