The Olympics

The Olympics

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News, information and stories about the Olympics.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Muse - Survival The Official Song Of The London 2012 Olympic Games



The official song (dirge) of the Olympics.

Feel free to vent your views/opinions abpout it.

To me it sounds rather like a mish mash of ELO meets James Bond theme.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

A Disaster In The Making

Seemingly, according to , one million extra people will use London transport during the Olympics:
"Did you know that one million extra people per day are expected to use London's busy transport network during the Games?"
Given that the transport infrastructure cannot cope with its normal load, this influx will be a disaster in the making!


Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Friday, June 22, 2012

Olympics Greedfest Bus Strike

Warming up for the Olympics greedfest, thousands of London bus workers have taken a leaf out of the tube workers' book and have gone on strike today.

For why?

They want a £500 bonus for working during the Olympics.

Transport for London (TfL) said more than a third of bus routes were running but "many routes were disrupted".

It's going to be a long and tedious summer in the capital!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Police Investigate Large Scale Olympic Ticket Touting

The Telegraph reports that the police have compiled a new “watch list” of nearly 1000 Olympic ticket touts, many of whom are linked to serious organised crime, and 30 sites outside Britain suspected of being involved in illegally selling tickets for the forthcoming Olympics.

Almost 200 people have been arrested for a range of offences, with warnings of further raids over the coming weeks as interest in the Olympic Games intensifies.

I assume the the police will also be investigating those individuals and organisations involved in the ticket touting bonanza that I wrote about just two days ago?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Monday, June 18, 2012

Olympics Ticket Touting Bonanza

In June 2010 I wrote the following:
"In a rather amusing development, the IOC has all but accused four (albeit unnamed) countries of touting tickets for the recent Vancouver Winter games.

National Olympic Committees (NOCs) receive a quota of tickets that they can sell to the public in their home country. However, some NOCs have been in the habit of passing the tickets on to touts for profit.

Gilbert Felli, an IOC director, has stated that four countries would be punished (they will receive a reduced ticket allocation for the London games) for the way in which the sales of their Vancouver allocation were handled.
"
Here we are some two year later in June 2012, and it appears that the International Olympics Committee (IOC) have yet to get their house in order; and that the illegal touting of tickets by Olympics nations, officials and authorised ticket distributors has become more widespread (or at least is now more prominently visible in the public domain).

The Telegraph reports that Olympic officials were selling tickets on the black market for up to 10 times their face value.

It is alleged Greek national Olympic committee President Spyros Caprolos claimed he successfully lobbied Locog chairman Lord Coe to give Greece a fresh batch of premium tickets to the Games on the pretext that demand in the country had outstripped expectations. Locog deny this allegation, which if true would be rather "ironic" given that in July 2011 Lord Coe made an appeal for Olympics grandees to return unwanted tickets so that UK residents could buy them.

Other allegations (that cover 54 countries) include:

- Serbia's official ticket reseller was prepared to sell 1,300 prime tickets for £80,000 to a Middle East buyer, and attempted to circumvent scrutiny from the IOC or Locog by falsifying information from 1,400 Serbian passports;

- China's official ticket reseller, Caissa, had purchased top-level seats to the Opening and Closing ceremonies, diving, gymnastics and athletics from the official UK hospitality reseller Thomas Cook, which it was prepared to sell on at inflated prices of more than £6,000 each;

- Cyprus and Israel’s ticket reseller was offering 525 seats at the best events for £66,000;

- The Lithuanian ticket reseller was willing to sell all of the country’s remaining tickets to a Middle East buyer; and

- An executive from one major ticket reseller in multiple countries, Cartan Tours, advised a prospective buyer to set up a company in one of the 40 territories in which he has the right to sell tickets.

The Telegraph now reports that in the wake of this expose, the IOC is trying to buy time and will approach a major audit/law firm to conduct a review of the failings.

Why didn't the IOC take decisive action to improve its procedures after the Vancouver touting scandal reported in June 2010?

As I have noted many times before, the Olympics are not about sport but about money!
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Great Olympics Budget Con



The beleaguered Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt (on whom bookmakers suspended any further bets in April on him to be next Cabinet minister to leave office), is cock-a-hoop with himself over the announcement today that the Olympics is coming in at almost £500M under "budget" at approximately £9.3BN:
"With only 44 days to go before the Olympics, it is fantastic news that there is still £476m of contingency funds left. Britain has proved that not only can we put on a great show for the world to watch like, we did with the Jubilee, but that we can also deliver big construction projects on time and on budget."
This is remarkable arrogance from a man whose own colleagues, from the Liberal side of the coalition, abstained in today's vote on whether he should face an independent investigation into claims that he breached the ministerial code wrt the BSkyB takeover.

Hunt would do well to remember two things about the Olympics "budget":

1 The original "budget" was in fact £2.4BN, and

2 The £9.3BN figure that the government would have us believe the Games are costing, excludes £2.2BN running costs; the Olympics will in fact cost at least £12BN.

What was that you were saying about being "on budget" Mr Hunt?

It is rather surprising that Hunt isn't very good at budgets/financial matters, given that he seems to be pretty skilled at arranging his tax affairs (wrt Hotcourses)  in a "tax efficient" manner.

 Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Green and Pleasant Olympics

The BBC reports that the Olympic Stadium will be transformed into an idealised "romanticist's" view of the "British countryside" for the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Games on 27 July.

Seemingly a cast of 10,000 volunteers will recreate country scenes, against a backdrop featuring farmyard animals and landmarks like Glastonbury Tor. Up to 30 sheep, 12 horses, 10 chickens, 10 ducks, 9 geese, 3 cows, 3 sheepdogs and 2 goats will also appear.

The opening ceremony, costing £27M, will be called "Green and Pleasant".

The organisers appear to have little sense/understanding of British history, some 200 years ago Britain went through an industrial and agricultural revolution that transformed its way of life and its economy. To ignore a development that has enabled us to "afford" to pay for the £12BN Olympics, and has transformed our way of life, is to ignore the last two hundred years of this country's history.

Why do the organisers want to sweep the last 200 years under the carpet?


Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Friday, June 8, 2012

The Threat of Water

Aside form all the issues that are already threatening the "smooth" running of the Olympics (eg lousy transport system, poor weather, greed and terrorism) it seems that water has to be added to the list.

Congratulations Thames Water for giving London a "wet" run re what might happen again in the future, eg during the Olympics, wrt the Central Line flood yesterday!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Guidance For Selling Olympic Torches

Given that the forthcoming Olympics are about making money, rather than sport, HMRC has very wisely issued some guidance to those people who are thinking of selling their Olympic torches.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Half-a-Million Screened

In the largest security screening operations of the last 70 years, the backgrounds of half-a-million people have been screened for accreditation to the London 2012 Olympics.

The Telegraph reports that over 100 applications have been refused by the Home Office for a number of reasons, mostly due to concerns about extent of an individual’s criminal records.
The vetting process covers those who wish to work at the Olympics (eg security guards, athletes, coaches and other officials).
 
The fear of terrorism, as demonstrated by the security effort being made, rather knocks on the head that theory that the Olympics brings nations and people together in the spirit of friendship and peace!


Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"