Tag Archives: torchrelay

Useful Olympic links for May 21st through June 7th

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Olympic news roundup for 11:21:

Useful Olympic links for March 8th through April 25th

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Olympic news roundup for 17:51:

Useful Olympic links for July 25th through July 27th

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Here are the Olympic-related links we’ve been looking at over the last week from July 25th through July 27th:

  • The Olympic Torch and how to game an eBay auction | The Albert Memorial is still there – Looking at the actual bidders in the actual auctions for each individual torch, the auctions are set to either private (so the usernames of the bidders are hidden), or from bidders apparently new to eBay with low feedback scores or histories of buying other items. There is also no indication of a behaviour of bidders bidding for one torch, being outbid, and then moving on to a torch with lower current bids – all the bidders seem to be clustered around just the one torch their bidding is attached to. What this indicates to me is that actually most of the bidding on London 2012 Olympic torches is not genuine – that most of it is being carried out by sock puppets, false eBay identities created in order to artificially up the bidding of items in order to create the impression of higher demand and a high value.
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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 →

Useful Olympic links for June 28th through June 29th

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Here are the Olympic-related links we’ve been looking at over the last week from June 28th through June 29th:

  • Why does the north remain so unimpressed by the Olympics? | UK news | guardian.co.uk – Analysing the results of the ComRes polling, it is clear that northern England is simply not engaging with the Olympics. Asked to what extent they were excited about the games, people in the north east mustered 42% of Yes-es, the north west 44% and Yorkshire and the Humber merely 36%. This compared with the 56% who disagreed in the north east, 53% in the north west and 60% in Yorkshire and the Humber. To make things worse, despite coming under budget, across all three northern regions over 60% of respondents felt that the games weren't delivering value for the taxpayer's money. Less than 20% thought that the Olympics would spur them on to engage in sporting activity themselves.
  • Protecting the Olympic Torch | Anglia – ITV News – The TST travels with the Olympic flame, from the moment it is handed over to LOCOG in Athens until it arrives at the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony. The same team will then travel with the Paralympic flame.

    It is made up of around 70 staff and officers, including 35 ‘runners’ – a number of whom are from the Anglia region. Other members include motorcyclists, senior officers to make command and tactical decisions, communication officers to relay messages to the torch security team and operational planners.

    Looking after the torch security is no mean feat, and members of the TST have been through 18 months of gruelling training to prepare for this unusual role.

  • ORG Zine | The Olympics Organising Committee Run Rings Around Transparency – This lack of transparency was highlighted recently when it emerged that Lia Hervey, Sky Sports News’ Olympics producer, had attempted to seek further information about the breakdown of Olympic tickets to the public by sport and session. Of course, as Locog is not obliged to provide this information due to its status as a private company, it has refused to provide this information, despite concerns that savings from the public sector package appear to be trickling over to Locog. However, whilst it is a private company, Locog has been in receipt of public funding to the tune of £183m.
  • Olympic expenditure – a Freedom of Information request to Powys Council – WhatDoTheyKnow –
  • How many vehicles does it take to escort one Olympic flame on 300 yard dash? 47! | Mail Online – So how many vehicles does it take to marshal a single Olympic flame for a 300-yard dash? Answer: 47. I counted them all in, and I counted them all out.

    There are 16 ‘core vehicles’ assigned to accompany the torch for its epic journey – which last night saw the unlikely figure of US rap star Will.i.am, the Black Eyed Peas singer and a judge on BBC talent show The Voice, carrying it through Taunton.

    But everywhere the procession goes, a small army of support and ancilliary vehicles is also called into service. In Cornwall on Saturday, for example, the convoy was escorted by police motorcyclists bearing the emblems of five separate constabularies. In south Devon, an ambulance, local dignitaries, firearms officers and police ‘safety officers’ on BMW mountain bikes joined the parade.