London Olympics 2012 Mark Cavendish has opportunity to win Britain

The London Olympics Mark Cavendish will be a strong favourite off to a flying start with Britain's first medal of the 2012 Games.

Cavendish, the good cyclist who has won more stages in the Tour de France than any other Briton, will take part in the men's road race on the morning of Saturday, July 28, the day after the opening ceremony.
From the London Organising Committee the race will be one of the first events as officials of the Olympic Games (Locog) want to have a strong British medal opportunity for the local audience, coupled with an event to showcase the capital city for an international audience of billions, to kick start the Olympics.
The 240km (150 mile) men's road race will pass much that is London starting at The Mall and heading past Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park, before going through Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham, out to Surrey with a couple of loops around Box Hill before returning into the city via the King's Road. The women's road race, a shorter version at 130km (80 miles), will be held the next day.
But though the road race will be the first to start, it will not be the first to finish. Indeed the first medal of the London Olympics will come in the shooting, though the schedule for that has not yet been released.
Among other free spectator events, the marathons will be held on days nine and 16 and the triathlons on days eight and 11.
It is understood the women's triathlon will be held on the middle Saturday, Aug 4, with the men's event in midweek. The middle Saturday, with its overlap of swimming finals and the start of the athletics programme, including the men's 100m final, will be the most congested day of the Games.
Locog director of sport Debbie Jevans said the first event on the Olympic programme would be football, with matches starting two days before the opening ceremony. The ranking competition of the Olympic archery, its preliminary stage, has been moved forward a day to start on July 27, the day of the opening ceremony.
Jevans said there were 59 more sports sessions than at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, even though there would be two fewer sports, with the omission of baseball and softball. This was to maximise the number of tickets available to the public.
Meanwhile the director of Olympic security, Sir Ian Johnston, said it was probably that officials would ban spectators and officials from bringing liquids, including bottled water, into the Olympic venues.
Johnston said there would be exceptions, with items such as baby food and small bottles of suntan lotion being allowed into the Olympic Park, but added: "There will be a no liquids policy. I think people will understand that it is for their safety."
He said security arrangements were being based on a 'severe' threat level, one down from the most extreme level, 'critical'.

Olympic London: Austerity bites in London with two years to go

The 2012 London Olympics opens in two years' time but while the construction of stadiums is on track, the massive project faces a financial squeeze as Britain's austerity measures bite.
The world's finest athletes will do battle from July 27, 2012 in a once depressed area of east London which has been transformed by a vast programme of stadium building and urban regeneration.
The venues may be less spectacular than at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but the arrangers of the Games in London intend to leave a legacy of improved housing and urban infrastructure rarely created by a sports event.
Sebastian Coe, the former Olympic champion credited with helping to win the Games for London and very much their public face, is treating the daunting 24 months ahead in the same way as he approached his medal laden athletics career.
Coe, the chairman of the London Organising Committee (LOCOG), likened the project's progress to being at the 600 metre point of an 800 metres race, the event in which he held the world record for 16 years.
"We are just entering the back straight on the second lap and of course the killing zone in an 800 metres is between 500 and 600 metres. That is the platform that you build for what happens in the finishing straight.
"This is where a lot of what you do in the finishing straight and what it looks like when you get across the line is shaped. This year is a very important one for us," he told AFP in an interview.

Volunteers are interested to learn new skills - London Olympics 2010

Volunteers are being keen to learn new talents and increase experience of national and international events prior to the London 2012 Olympics.

The British Swimming Volunteer Training Programme, which will begin in January 2010, intent to provide volunteers with the opportunity to facilitate major s to prepare them for applying for volunteer tasks at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The programme is under the London 2012 Inspire Mark. This recognises non-commercial projects and events inspired by the Games.

Although the official London 2012 volunteer application process opens later in 2010, Saturday 19th June saw almost 60 of the 100 recruits on the programme descend on British Swimming’s offices at SportPark in Loughborough for the initial induction day.

He explained how all British Swimming athletes are confident to give workers just a smile during their day to make sure they are acknowledged and feel delightful. Through a question and answer session the Olympic medallist shared his memories of Athens and Beijing and his hopes for London in 2012.

Olympics London 2012: Chief rules out clash with soccer season

London Games chiefs said on Thursday the start of the 2012-13 English soccer season will be delayed so as not to clash with the 2012 Olympics.
The Olympics start on July 27 and end on Aug. 12, while the Premier League season traditionally opens with the Community Shield curtain raiser in early August.
Organising committee chief executive Paul Deighton said he had held talks with the Football Association (FA) and Premier League to discuss the matter.
"We have been in discussions with all the sports bodies responsible for sports schedules in 2012 and we are on track to meet our obligation," Deighton told reporters at the end of a four day visit by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to inspect London's progress.
Pushed on whether the Premier League and FA would agree to a slight delay, Deighton replied: "Yes".
Olympic host cities agree to abide by IOC requirements that no other major sporting events take place at the same time.
The FA said on Thursday they were in talks with the London organising committee (LOCOG) about fixing a date for the Community Shield, traditionally played at Wembley Stadium between the league champions and FA Cup winners.
Wembley will host the gold medal match in the Olympic soccer tournament on the final weekend of the Games.

ASHES SERIES
The Olympics could also have implications for the cricket schedule. England are hosting Australia in the Ashes in 2012 with the first match of the series usually reserved for Lord's which will be the venue for Olympic archery.
Denis Oswald, the head of the IOC's co-ordination commission, said he was happy with London's progress.
"Two years before the Games you are at the turning point from conception and construction to the operational phase," Oswald told reporters.
"We are entering a crucial period in the coming months but we are convinced that London will have a very successful Games."
IOC president Jacques Rogge toured the 2012 Olympic Stadium earlier this week and met Britain's new Prime Minister David Cameron.
Oswald played down the 27 million pounds ($41.01 million) of cuts to the Games budget currently announced by Britain's new coalition government, saying: "The new government is fully backing and supporting the Games."
Asked to compare London's progress with past host cities, Oswald described it as "top of the league" after a dig at Athens.

Danny Boyle unveils 'epic and intimate' 2012 Olympic opening ceremony

Danny Boyle, the Oscar-winning film director overseeing the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, has set out his vision for an "epic and intimate" launch event.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Boyle, whose films include Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting, said that the ceremony would be “full of spectacle and marvel”, and would feature pop and rock music from Britain’s greatest musical acts.
Boyle was announced as the artistic director of the opening ceremony last week, and will head up a creative team which includes the film-maker Stephen Daldry, who directed Billy Elliot and The Reader.

“Music has to play a big part in the ceremony,” he said. “For such a small country, we have the most extraordinary tradition of music, and people look to Britain as a beacon of music. It’s a big thing for young people, and the promise of the games was to bring sport and a sense of inspiration to young people. I hope one of the ways we’ll be able to do that is through music.
“Just think about who we’ve produced - the likes of David Bowie, Jimmy Page - and all the bands from Manchester where I’m from, like The Smiths, The Stone Roses and New Order. I love that world of music, it’s a big part of my life and many people’s lives, and you would imagine it would be a big part of the ceremony because pop music is freeing and inspirational.”
British films, he said, would also play a part in the opening ceremony, which will take place at the 80,000-capacity Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London, on July 27, 2012.
He said: “You think maybe there should be some bits of British films in the ceremony, and there are some wonderful iconic British films that you could use - Chariots of Fire would be the most obvious one for obvious reasons. But just because Stephen and I are involved in film, I don’t think it should be a movie-themed thing.”
Boyle also hinted that winning acts from the television show Britain’s Got Talent, including Diversity and Spellbound, the dance and gymnastic groups, could also feature in the ceremony.
He said: “What’s extraordinary about those talent shows is the group work. Diversity are at such a level of professionalism, and I’ve been hugely impressed by that and you would hope to harness some of that talent. People love to see that kind of group work and I think there should certainly be some of that in the ceremony.”
Boyle, 53, who lives near the Olympic Stadium in east London, said that he would not attempt to “compete” with the extravagance of Beijing’s four-hour opening ceremony in 2008 which is thought to have cost more than £70 million and featured 22,000 performers, 43,000 fireworks and a 16-ton globe rising from the ground. Instead, he will stage the event to highlight Britain’s “idiosyncracies” and to showcase London as “a welcoming city without prejudice”.
He said: “Beijing is clearly the zenith of that type of ceremonial opening - you cannot get bigger than that and I don’t think you could probably get better than that, so it’s wrong to try and compete with Beijing.
“What’s wonderful about London is we have an opportunity to show that there is something idiosyncratic about our country, and we do things our own way, and re-think some of the traditions.
“It will have scale, because 80,000 people in the stadium deserve some kind of scale. It should be full of spectacle and marvel, full of promise and looking forward.
“I’d love to be able to sit here in two years time and say that the opening ceremony felt both epic and intimate.”
Boyle, who is renowned for making low-budget films that go on to make millions at the box-office, said that there were “strict budget limitations” for the ceremony and that it would be “inappropriate” to produce an overly “extravagant” event.
He said: “Again, it’s a contrast with Beijing, it’s a different time and a different place. China’s economy was in huge expansion, but it would be greatly inappropriate to attempt to do something on that extravagant scale and spend that amount of resources.
“It’s still a huge amount we’re spending in a difficult time for the country, so it should be spent well.”
Boyle described his new role as artistic director of the opening ceremony as “a massive responsibility and honour” that was “exciting and daunting”.
“I’m a huge fan of the Olympics, and this is a way that the cultural community of Britain says “welcome” to the games and to this city. I missed the Commonwealth Games in Manchester because I was away filming, and ever since then I’ve wanted to make amends, so when they said about doing this, I was thrilled and jumped at it.
“I have spent some time in the Stadium, and found it very inspiring. We will be able to produce something wonderful.”

Danny Boyle: from Slumdog to the Olympics

The job of directing the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics comes with a lingering whiff of the Leni Riefenstahls. In Beijing, the gig fell to Zhang Yimou, a one-time dissident film-maker who has since been repurposed as a kind of in-house director for the state authorities. Zhang was judged to have executed his task with aplomb. His reward was a commission to direct a state-sanctioned blockbuster to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, and to manage a firework display in Tiananmen Square.


So who is to pick up the baton in London? Reports suggest the committee's first choice is Danny Boyle, a man once accused of peddling "moral depravity" via his 1996 film Trainspotting. Today our own former dissident is reformed, largely thanks to the runaway success of Slumdog Millionaire and his endearing, Tigger-like celebrations at the 2009 Oscar ceremony. All of which has made him a favourite of Seb Coe, and the ideal person to oversee the 2012 curtain raiser in Stratford. Boyle, for his part, is playing coy but sounding positive. "I can't say any more," he cautions. "[But] it would be lovely, wouldn't it?"

London Olympics 2012: Meet Wenlock and Mandeville, drips off the old block

In the end they were neither animal, vegetable nor mineral. Nor, as some cynics had predicted, did they resemble white elephants.
Instead, Wenlock and Mandeville, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic mascots, elicited mostly baffled reactions as to just what they were at their unveiling today.
With a metallic finish, a single large eye made out of a camera lens, a London taxi light on their heads and the Olympic rings represented as friendship bracelets on their wrists, they resemble characters dreamed up for a Pixar animation.
But London 2012 organisers, for whom the launch of the mascots marks the start of a crucial period in which the games will become public property, pointed to the delighted reaction of a hall full of primary school children at today's launch as evidence that they would connect with their target audience.
"They remind you of aliens, which is really weird and cool," said 10-year-old Ali. "It reminds you of the Olympics, which is worldwide so it's something you'll want to remember forever," added 11-year-old Zanyab as they cavorted with life-size mascots for the cameras.
The pair are based on a short story by children's author Michael Morpurgo that tells how they were fashioned from droplets of the steel used to build the Olympic stadium. They will be crucial in raising funds and spreading messages about the games.
Wenlock, named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock that helped inspire Pierre de Coubertin to launch the modern Olympics, and Mandeville, inspired by the Buckinghamshire town of Stoke Mandeville, where the Paralympics were founded, will become very familiar in the next two years. The chairman of the London organising committee of the Olympic games (Locog), Lord Coe, said the mascots were aimed squarely at children and designed with the digital age in mind. He said they had the most positive reaction in workshops to road test them.
Among the designs rejected at the start of an open pitch process were anthropomorphic pigeons, an animated tea pot and a Big Ben with arms and legs.
Children will be encouraged to interact with the characters, inviting them via Facebook, Twitter and the web to visit their school and, said Coe, inspiring them to take up different sports.
"The story itself is very rooted in the nations and regions. Young people will be able to decide where they go, what sports they pick up. There is a real interactivity there, it is a language and a flexibility that is driven by young people," he said.
The pair were introduced in an animated film that followed their story from the Bolton steelworks where the frame of the Olympic stadium was made. They will become a range of up to 30 cuddly toys, including versions based on celebrities and sports stars, as well as adorning badges, T-shirts, mugs and more.
Organisers hope Wenlock and Mandeville will rank alongside the more fondly remembered mascots, such as Waldi the dachshund from the 1972 Munich games and Misha the bear from the 1980 Moscow Olympics – rather than the much maligned Izzy of Atlanta 1996. "The games have got a few stupendous assets – the mascot, tickets, the volunteers, the torch relay – and you have got to really use those to bring home your key messages," said Locog's chief executive, Paul Deighton.
"If you link them together you begin to have a really powerful story that people will respond to."
The unveiling of the bold London Olympics logo in 2007 was controversial, with many criticising its graffiti-like design. Organisers, who hired Wolff Olins at a cost of £400,000 to design it, stood firm, arguing that it was supremely adaptable and perfect for the digital age. But they were forced to withdraw a launch film after it emerged that it had the potential to trigger epileptic seizures.
The mascots, conceived by London design agency Iris and costing, said Deighton, just "a few thousand pounds", are an important staging post from a financial and marketing point of view. They will pour up to £15m into the coffers of the organising committee via dozens of licensing deals, part of an overall licensing target of £70m to £80m towards Locog's £2bn privately raised budget.
In 1984, the Los Angeles games ushered in the money-spinning Olympic era. The event was the first to use its Disney-designed mascot to raise funds, since when they have become a cash cow for organisers.
But the story behind the mascots is also designed to help make the Olympics relevant to the whole nation. That will be crucial if organisers are to maintain support for a project that is also costing the public £9.3bn, particularly as cuts in public services begin to bite.
After a spell of behind-the-scenes work devoted to raising £700m in sponsorship revenues, Locog is entering a more public phase when everything it does, from the unveiling of the mascot to its ticket pricing policy, will come under scrutiny.