The Olympics, singluar or plural?

[keannu]

Congratulations on the London Olympics!!! Still, I have a doubt on its number. I have seen both forms like the following.
I think "Olympic games are diverse" can make sense as "games" are inherently plural. In terms of "Olympics", which is correct?

1. The Beijing Olympics were held in 2008.(plural)
2.The Olympics is quite an impressive event, isn’t it? (singular)

 

[Raymott]

Congratulations on the London Olympics!!! Still, I have a doubt on its number. I have seen both forms like the following.
I think "Olympic games are diverse" can makes sense as "games" are inherently plural. In terms of "Olympics", which is correct?

1. The Beijing Olympics were held in 2008.(plural)
2.The Olympicsisquite an impressive event, isn’t it? (singular)

"The Olympics" means "The Olympic games." It's plural.

 

[emsr2d2]

I agree with Raymott but I can't help but think that "The Olympics are an impressive event ..." is a very odd statement and begs the question "Do we follow it with "aren't they?" or "is it?""

We are left with the following possibilities:

The Olympics are impressive events, aren't they?
The Olympics are an impressive event, aren't they?
The Olympics is an impressive event, isn't it?

Some of the problem stems from the fact that the Olympic Games are made up of many individual events (sporting competitions, opening and closing ceremonies, medal ceremonies) but one single Olympic Games is an event in itself.

For the sake of simplicity, I would be inclined to say "The Olympics are impressive, aren't they?" and leave out the word "event" completely. That could, of course, be the grammatically cowardly way out.

 

[5jj]

Grammatical cowardice rules, OK/isn't it/doesn't it/don't they/does it?