Category Archives: Links

Useful Olympic links for July 12th through July 17th

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Here are the Olympic-related links we’ve been looking at over the last week from July 12th through July 17th:

  • Sam Fraser: The Torch Relay – The Olympic Ideal in Flames– And then arrives a convoy of coaches. One badged with Samsung logos, bearing pretty young girls waving and texting on Samsung phones. Next, a coach in the livery of Lloyds TSB bearing pretty young girls waving. No sign of any thanks for the bail out. Finally, a huge red float sponsored by Coca Cola, featuring a team of pretty girls waving and holding Coke bottles. They head up the drive where the coaches turn around and let all the pretty girls out for a loo break. Continue reading →

Isle of Wight Olympic torchbearer mystery picked up by Ventnor Blog

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The mystery of story-less Olympic torchbearer Aslan Khabliev has been picked up by Isle of Wight news site Ventnor Blog.

The site reports that although Khabliev – who is likely to be this director of Sky Media among other things – was originally-listed as taking part in the Newport leg of the torch relay.

Continue reading →

Olympic tickets ‘for young people’ given away to universities – after students have gone

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50 tickets to Olympic events will be given to every higher education institution in the country as part of an “extension” of the Ticketshare programme to get young people to the Games – even though most students will have gone home for the summer.

The allocation is managed by the Further and Higher Education Unit for the 2012 Games, Podium, which has a commitment “to ensure that as many young people as possible get to attend the Games”.

And it seems that the students aren’t the only ones on a break – phonecalls to three members of Podium’s media team this week went unanswered when we tried to contact them about the initiative.

The announcement comes in the wake of reports that two-thirds of Olympic football tickets at Hampden Park remain unsold and that thousands of unsold tickets have been offered to sponsors after sales as a whole slowed down.

50,000 other tickets will also be given away to sport clubs, charities and youth projects in Scotland.

Useful Olympic links for July 11th through July 12th

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Here are the Olympic-related links we’ve been looking at over the last week from July 11th through July 12th:

Coe says Olympic sponsors need a better “narrative” about their role (while interviewer Martin Sorrell prepares to carry Olympic torch)

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Sebastian Coe says Olympic sponsors need a better narrative

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.

Continue reading →

Useful Olympic links for July 6th through July 9th

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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.

Argus investigates Olympic torchbearers in Sussex

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The Argus reports on corporate 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

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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

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Corporate Olympic torchbearers investigated in Dorset

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 →