2012 London Olympics

Edwards lands 2012 Olympics buildup role

2008-09-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

Triple jump world record holder and Olympic gold medallist Jonathan Edwards has been given a leading role in the build-up to the London 2012 Games.

Edwards, who is already on the board of the London organising committee (LOCOG) was named deputy chair of the 2012 Nations and Regions Group on Wednesday.

His role will include visits and speaking engagements in each of the nine English Regions as well as Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

source: reuters

Police on alert for 2012 Olympics scams

2008-09-02T01:58:00.000-07:00

With almost four years still to go until the London Olympics, police have been put on alert for widespread fraud after receiving reports of scams ranging from websites offering fake tickets to “boiler rooms” selling shares in companies with fake games-linked contracts.

Steve Wilmott, City of London police’s head of economic crime, said the internet air ticket scam suffered by the parents of Rebecca Adlington, the British swimmer who won two gold medals, was a telling sign of frauds that could flourish around London 2012.

source: ft.com

London Olympic torch will not tour world

2008-09-01T01:03:00.000-07:00

British officials say the 2012 Olympics in London won't need a world torch relay tour, and possible repeat of protests that plagued China.

The Olympic flame will be carried around Britain, however, with organizers also promising a series of buildup events before the official July 27, 2012, Opening Ceremony, The Times of London reported Sunday.

British Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell told the Sunday Times she had "a lot of enthusiasm" for the torch being taken through interested "villages, towns and cities in the UK. ..."There would be no more powerful way of making them feel part of the Olympics, would there?"

The London Olympics will be much more intimate the Beijing Games, Jowell said. She also pledged venues would be filled and every Londoner given a chance to attend an event.

source: upi.com

London 2012 Olympic plans set to start

2008-09-01T00:59:00.000-07:00

UGANDA’s preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games in London start next month with different federations looking to the Commonwealth Youth Games to gauge their athletes. The games, due October 12-18 in India, are exclusively for athletes under 18 and who are expected to be ready to take on the world’s best in London.

According to Uganda Olympic Committee treasurer Salim Musoke, a team will compete in athletics, boxing, table tennis and weightlifting in the India games. “The different federations have selected their best talents for the games,”

Musoke explained in an interview yesterday. Musoke said that the best performers in India could get Olympic Solidarity scholarships for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic games.

The India-bound team includes athletes Moses Kibet, Doreen Chesang, Ramadhan Akula, Alex Cherop, Dickson Huru and Juliet Chekwel.

Table tennis players are Eddie Omongole, Zura Kauka and Amina Namaganda.

The weightlifters are Milly Kaitesi, Roger Mukwenda and Charles Ssekyaaya.

source: newvision.co.ug

Malaysian cyclists may train in London to prepare for 2012 Games

2008-08-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Malaysian national cyclists can look forward to a new training base overseas in their programme for the 2012 London Olympics.

The Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) are looking at using London as the gateway to more competitive races in Europe.
Previously, the cyclists were based in Melbourne under the charge of Australian John Beasley.

MNCF deputy president Datuk Naim Mohd said that the switch of venue and exposure to competitions in Europe were needed to strengthen Malaysia’s preparation for the London Games.

Track riders Azizul Hasni Awang, Josiah Ng, Mohd Edrus Yunus and Mohd Rizal Tisin raised hopes of a first Olympic cycling medal at the recently concluded Beijing Olympics. But they came up short.

Despite the disappointment, Naim said that the team had done well to raise the profile of Malaysia in world cycling and the immediate plan was to raise the bar higher.

New £2 coin marks London 2012 Games

2008-08-27T20:20:00.001-07:00

The Royal Mint on Wednesday unveiled a coin to mark the Olympic handover from Beijing to London.
The two pound coin features one hand passing the Olympic flag to another, as well as the logo of the London 2012 Olympics.
It echoes the scene when London Mayor Boris Johnson received the flag from his Beijing counterpart Guo Jinlong during the handover segment of the closing ceremony on Sunday. Johnson gave Guo one of the coins to mark the occasion.
It also carries an extract from the traditional closing words of the Olympic Games calling on "the youth of the world" to assemble in four years' time in the next host city.
The limited edition coin, which features Queen Elizabeth II on the other side, will be legal tender in Britain and is the first of a series of commemorative coins being minted in the run-up to the 2012 Games.

news coming from afp

Taiwan begins preparations for 2012 London Olympics

2008-08-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

The Sports Affairs Council (SAC) has proposed a new preparatory program for the 2012 London Olympics, as part of its 2009 budget plan which was submitted to the Legislative Yuan yesterday.

The SAC's NT$1 billion (US$31.73 million) proposal came in the wake of what was seen as a disappointing performance by Taiwanese athletes in the recently concluded Beijing Olympics.

Of the total budget planned for the 2012 Olympics preparation program, NT$100 million will be allocated for spending in the first fiscal year, the SAC said.

The SAC proposed spending NT$5.6 billion in 2009 on projects such as increasing the sports population,reinforcing training for athletes, constructing premium sports facilities, and bidding to host international sports events and to join international sports organizations.

In its proposal, the SAC listed plans to construct 10 sports centers around the country in 2009 in an effort to realize President Ma Ying-jeou's election promise of building 70 sports centers during his four year tenure that began May 20.

source: chinapost.com

London's Olympics: Tough Act to Follow

2008-08-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

The Dome. These two words should be whispered into the ear of every hubristic politician proclaiming the inevitable excellence of the 2012 Olympics. Blair's successor, Gordon Brown, has promised for the opening ceremony "the biggest and best rock show the world has ever witnessed," a vision of actuarial optimism featuring such youthful artists as Elton John, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones. London's mayor, Boris Johnson, who at least proved he knows how to entertain Olympic audiences with his fumbled, tangled wave of the Olympic flag handed over to him in Beijing, swears that the London games will be "fantabulous."

Brown and Johnson sit on the Olympic Board alongside the Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and other "stakeholders," who will advise and oversee Olympics planning. Two further bodies, the Olympic Delivery Authority and the London 2012 Organizing Committee (LOCOG), have been given budgets of 9.3 billion pounds and 2 billion pounds, respectively, to build venues and infrastructure and for preparing and staging the event. A creative director will be appointed "in a year or so," says a spokeswoman for London 2012. "Obviously on any creative plans we'll want general agreement from stakeholders and everything will be signed off by LOCOG."

source: time.com

Boris Johnson's blond ambition key to London 2012

2008-08-26T01:16:00.000-07:00

If London wanted to come over as informal, funny and self-deprecating, then Boris Johnson in an unbuttoned suit looking like a dishevelled sixth-former from The Dandy was the perfect contrast to the stiff-backed starchiness of his Chinese hosts.

The mayor followed up his flag-waving duties with an address that made Gordon Brown look as light on his feet as the 35-stone judoka from Guam. Chairman Mao gave wittier speeches than our Prime Minister.

When it came to presenting a friendly face of London, Bo-Jo had won the gold medal, but he returns from China to the dull grind of organising and administering the London Games. It is a four-year marathon for which we cannot yet know if he is fully equipped.

source: timesonline.co.uk

Beijing farewells the Olympics in style

2008-08-24T20:59:00.001-07:00

China has said goodbye to the Olympics with an elaborate closing ceremony in Beijing.
The Birds Nest stadium lit up for a final time with music, dance and some famous faces as well.
Kiwi gold medallists the Evers-Swindell twins became the first pair to carry a flag in the history of closing ceremonies at the summer Olympics.
The president of the international Olympic committee closed the games declaring it an achievement for sport and for China.
The Olympic flag was then taken down and passed from Beijing to London, the host city for 2012.

Then it was Great Britain’s chance to present a teaser of what is in store.
Pop star Leona Lewis paired up with rock legend Jimmy Page for a duet of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love.
Football superstar David Beckham was also on hand to help kick off London's Olympic fever.
A spectacular fireworks display lit up the sky around the Bird's Nest stadium before China waved goodbye to the games that have placed it under so much scrutiny.
The focus now switches to London 2012 and no sooner was the baton passed, than Britain dropped it.

Read more about it here

Political and Athletic Predictions for the 2012 London Olympics

2008-08-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

Bill Katovsky has a very brave predictions for the next Olympics:

Political and Athletic Predictions for the 2012 London Olympics
Soon, many of us will be experiencing post-Olympics withdrawal once the Birds Nest blaze is snuffed in Beijing.

There will be no more Misty May and Kerry Walsh passing, digging, and spiking volleyballs and then celebrating with hugs. No more Jamaicans leaving the rest of the world behind in their speedy colorful wake on the track.

No more emoting about gymnastics and its awful judging by the passionate Bela Karoyli in his thick Romanian accent to NBC's Bob Costas.

Since it's never too early to start looking ahead to the 2012 London Olympics, allow me to make some predictions. I'm sticking to my Huffpost landing with these premature observations.

Madonna wages a fierce and costly public-relations campaign to perform at the opening night ceremony in London. Instead, her request is declined, and so she petulantly decides to move to Australia where she opens a kabalah center in Sydney.Gold medal giant China continues to fast-track its successful Soviet-style sports program, focusing in track and field where it still lags far behind traditional powerhouses like Kenya, United States, and Jamaica. The Brits will have to get used to hearing the Chinese national anthem, "The March of The Volunteers," being played over and over at the medal ceremonies.

Pity those Chinese athletes who only managed to take home bronze or silver in Beijing. Many were sent off to their respective sports academies just one day after the jaw-dropping closing night ceremony. They were told they couldn't go home to visit their parents, but were instructed to immediately begin training for 2012.

Worse off were Chinese athletes who failed to medal in Beijing. They were shipped off for several years to "political re-education through labor" detention camps where they joined incarcerated activists, dissidents, and journalists.

Flying the flag for London 2012

2008-08-17T06:34:00.000-07:00

On 24 August, more than 400 flags will be raised the length and breadth of the United Kingdom to mark the moment they become the next host of the Summer Games.

Flags will be raised at places including Local Government Buildings, Army Barracks, Whitehall Departments.

They will also fly at the points furthest north, south, east and west in the UK.

Outside the UK, the flag will be flown at overseas missions from Vancouver to Tokyo.

This activity will follow the moment when London Mayor Boris Johnson is symbolically handed the Olympic Flag, officially marking the start of London’s tenure as Summer Olympic Host City.

London 2012 Organising Committee Chair Sebastian Coe said: 'When the Mayor of London accepts the Olympic Flag on 24 August, the eyes of the world will turn to London and the UK as the next Summer Host City.

'It is a very important and exciting moment for us, and we want as many people as possible to join in the Handover celebrations. We are delighted that so many local authorities share our excitement and are proudly displaying the Handover Flag to mark this very special moment on our journey to 2012.'

source: www.london2012.com