Most of the hundreds of torchbearers who have no nomination story have no picture either. But the table below shows those who do.
Can you help identify them? Here’s how: Continue reading
Author Archives: Paul Bradshaw
Shop Direct boss becomes 8th adidas torchbearer with identical story
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Shop Direct boss Mark Newton-Jones carried the Olympic torch in Liverpool – with the same story as seven other adidas torchbearers
Retail boss Mark Newton-Jones is the latest executive to emerge as one of adidas’s Olympic torchbearers – with the same nomination story as seven other torchbearers.
Coe says Olympic sponsors need a better “narrative” about their role (while interviewer Martin Sorrell prepares to carry Olympic torch)
Sebastian Coe talking about Olympic sponsors – image from Brand Republic
Olympic sponsors have been “reluctant” and “shy” in promoting their role in staging the London 2012 Olympics, according to the LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe – and need to tell a “coherent and compelling narrative”, BrandRepublic reports.
The remarks, made at the Cannes Lions Festival, blamed negative coverage of sponsors’ involvement in the torch relay on a “willful refusal [by journalists] to understand the nature of the Games’ funding arrangements”.
It is not clear what element of their involvement was being covered negatively.
How to: identify mystery torchbearers
Despite the promise of 8,000 torchbearers “all with inspirational stories”, hundreds of Olympic torchbearers have been listed on the official Olympic Torch Relay site without any nomination story at all. We’ve identified dozens who share their names with senior staff at sponsor organisations and their commercial partners. Here’s how to do it through some advanced search techniques: Continue reading
Useful Olympic links for July 6th through July 9th
Here are the Olympic-related links we’ve been looking at over the last week from July 6th through July 9th:
- Fernandes blazes trail with Olympic torch in London– The AirAsia Group CEO said he was overwhelmed by the support of the locals who came in droves to watch him carry the torch along Hartford Road near Huntingdon.“Fantastic experience running. Proud to represent Malaysia. Despite the rain, the English came out in full force. A real experience,” he said in an e-mail statement to The Star.
The torch run became a reality after Fernandes, who is Caterham F1 team principal, was invited by the racing team’s official partner GE, to take part.
- Welcome To The Security Games | Games Monitor – Most military and all private security personnel will work inside the ‘ticketed areas’ of the event venues, according to promises made by the London Olympic organisers. Whether this turns out to be true in practice is one of the issues that the community civil rights group Newham Monitoring Project (NMP), with whom I have been an activist with for twenty years, will keep a close watch upon. However, in the streets surrounding the Olympic Park in Stratford and the ExCel Centre in Canning Town, it is the massive policing operation and its impact on local people that is of our greatest concern.
- Red Mittens & Red Ink: The story of how the 2010 Olympics came and went –
- Olympic bargains galore as London’s theatres and hotels slash rates –
- Guelph Olympic Torch Relay videos still off-limits to the public – In response to an appeal of that decision, the Guelph Police Services Board informed the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario that the criminal matter linked to the video evidence was “no longer ongoing” but that release of the material would still adversely impact when and how the police service could use video surveillance as an evidence gathering technique.
THES: Vice chancellors grabbing university Olympic torch places {updated}
Times Higher Education reports on senior university managers “getting in on the act” of carrying the Olympic torch, after Samsung allocated 3 places each to 31 universities. Continue reading
Argus investigates Olympic torchbearers in Sussex
The Argus reports on corporate torchbearers in Sussex
The Argus in Sussex is the latest newspaper to ask questions of the allocation of Olympic torch relay places: “between the charity fundraisers, world record holders and people who have dedicated their lives to helping others,” reports Tim Ridgway and Charlotte Pemberton, “there will be Olympic officials and representatives from multinational corporations who live abroad. This despite organisers promising it would “enable local communities to shine a light on the best their area has to offer”.”
The Argus report comes on the heels of yesterday’s investigation by the Daily Echo in Bournemouth and Help Me Investigate’s work on the subject last month.
Among torchbearers identified by the newspaper are: Continue reading
Useful Olympic links for July 3rd through July 6th
Here are the Olympic-related links we’ve been looking at over the last week from July 3rd through July 6th:
- London 2012: even Beijing didn’t put an army on the gates –
- Olympic Torch storm: locals shunned in favour of corporate nominees (From Bournemouth Echo) – • Four Olympic staff members – a venue health and safety officer from Epping and three people who work for the Olympic Broadcasting Service.
• A Basingstoke councillor, who is also a senior manager at Lloyds Banking Group.
• A Belgian, nominated for having an eco-home and driving an eco-friendly car.
• A Vodafone account manager, who says on an online profile that he was nominated to carry the Olympic Torch because of his strong sales performance.
• A man from Ballymena in Newport, who has no nomination story but does appear to have a profile on a website called British Sex Dating.
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• A Met Police constable. - Police told cinema worker dressed as Batman to stop | Stratford Observer – The Stratford Picturehouse staff member dressed as the caped crusader, who like the hero wishes to remain anonymous, was stopped by Community Support Officers (PCSOs) working in the town on Sunday, when the Olympic Torch came to town, because they were concerned he might be part of a protest group. Read more: Police told cinema worker dressed as Batman to stop | Stratford Observer
- Chelsea School of Sport | University of Brighton – Chelsea School of Sport has an excellent national and international reputation for teaching, research and consultancy in sport-related studies. Courses are taught by leading researchers in their fields as well as coaches and sport scientists who work with top athletes.
- IASE – Home – Purposes of IASE (extract of the status): ¨ Promote the economics of sport ¨ Encourage academic exchanges among researchers ¨ Offer to members all the necessary means to improve their knowledge and skills in the economics of sport ¨ Supply expert analyses in the field of the economics of sport
Corporate torchbearers in Dorset revealed
The Bournemouth Echo has picked up the baton in investigating the Olympic torch relay, and found more unusual choices for the honour of carrying the torch. Among torchbearers in Dorset they identify:
“Four Olympic staff members – a venue health and safety officer from Epping and three people who work for the Olympic Broadcasting Service.
• A Basingstoke councillor, who is also a senior manager at Lloyds Banking Group.
• A Belgian, nominated for having an eco-home and driving an eco-friendly car.
• A Vodafone account manager, who says on an online profile that he was nominated to carry the Olympic Torch because of his strong sales performance.
• A man from Ballymena in Newport, who has no nomination story but does appear to have a profile on a website called British Sex Dating.
• A Met Police constable.” Continue reading
Get the data: Coca Cola’s US torchbearers for “health, community, environment”
23 of the places that Coca Cola allocated through public nomination went to these US citizens through the Live Positively campaign. As part of our investigation into how places were allocated, we’ve re-presented the data in a more usable format.
The Live Positively site provides nutritional information on Coca Cola products to medical professionals, including information for patients on low-calorie sweeteners (PDF). Continue reading