36 degree heat, unbelievable humidity, overlooking the Indian Ocean, wearing a kilt, caked in sun block with the Union Jack tied around my London 2012 T-Shirt – I was standing amongst a crowd of well over 50,000 spectators.
Last week I swapped my spreadsheets and sums at LOCOG Finance for sunshine and shades as I along with 10 other members of East Kilbride Athletic Club made our annual trip to the World Cross Country Championships.
Cross Country usually conjures images of wet, windy and muddy conditions but with the 35th IAAF World Cross Country Championships being held in Mombasa, Kenya on Saturday the 24th of March – it was inevitably hot and sweaty.
Last week I swapped my spreadsheets and sums at LOCOG Finance for sunshine and shades as I along with 10 other members of East Kilbride Athletic Club made our annual trip to the World Cross Country Championships.
Cross Country usually conjures images of wet, windy and muddy conditions but with the 35th IAAF World Cross Country Championships being held in Mombasa, Kenya on Saturday the 24th of March – it was inevitably hot and sweaty.
Sydney's hopes for London 2012
The 2012 Editor, 29 March 2007
Last Wednesday the LOCOG Programme Management and Risk Team spent the day at the headquarters of the International Paralympic Committee or IPC in Germany.
We journeyed to Bonn to review in detail the LOCOG project plan - our 'Master Schedule' - and the final draft of the high-level organisational plan - 'the Games Foundation plan'.
We have been working with Arno Wolter, the Paralympic Games Director, and his team for the last few months. This work has been groundbreaking for two reasons.
To start with, this is the first time there has ever been one consolidated plan managed by an Organising Committee containing all the Olympic and Paralympic specific tasks.
Secondly, this is the first time that, where they're appropriate, tasks that are common to both Games are integrated and tracked together.
We journeyed to Bonn to review in detail the LOCOG project plan - our 'Master Schedule' - and the final draft of the high-level organisational plan - 'the Games Foundation plan'.
We have been working with Arno Wolter, the Paralympic Games Director, and his team for the last few months. This work has been groundbreaking for two reasons.
To start with, this is the first time there has ever been one consolidated plan managed by an Organising Committee containing all the Olympic and Paralympic specific tasks.
Secondly, this is the first time that, where they're appropriate, tasks that are common to both Games are integrated and tracked together.
It's a very busy time for us in the Olympic Delivery Authority's Human Resources team, as we are still doing lots of organisational set-up work, including reviewing our HR policies and recruiting staff.
Because of this, I don't seem to get much opportunity at the moment to get out and about to meet people outside of the ODA and our partner organisations. This week was therefore a bit of a treat for me in that I went to two separate external events.
My first foray was to do a presentation to about 50 HR people at an event on leadership and talent management. My talk was about how we have approached setting up the ODA, our achievements to date and challenges for the future, and how HR supports the business.
When you talk to people about how exciting our London 2012 vision is, the challenges we face and how we are tackling them, they seem really interested, and also very positive about the 2012 Games and their legacy.
Because of this, I don't seem to get much opportunity at the moment to get out and about to meet people outside of the ODA and our partner organisations. This week was therefore a bit of a treat for me in that I went to two separate external events.
My first foray was to do a presentation to about 50 HR people at an event on leadership and talent management. My talk was about how we have approached setting up the ODA, our achievements to date and challenges for the future, and how HR supports the business.
When you talk to people about how exciting our London 2012 vision is, the challenges we face and how we are tackling them, they seem really interested, and also very positive about the 2012 Games and their legacy.
It’s a wonderful vision.
The whole of the UK linked together by Live Sites - a permanent network of 2012 giant outdoor screens in public squares? A piece of dedicated space in major cities and county towns around the UK?
So when the Lloyds TSB partnership was announced last week which included their wish to be involved with the Live Sites, it was a very helpful early indication of how others are also seeing the concept as an imaginative way of ensuring that the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games connect with the rest of Britain.
The whole of the UK linked together by Live Sites - a permanent network of 2012 giant outdoor screens in public squares? A piece of dedicated space in major cities and county towns around the UK?
So when the Lloyds TSB partnership was announced last week which included their wish to be involved with the Live Sites, it was a very helpful early indication of how others are also seeing the concept as an imaginative way of ensuring that the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games connect with the rest of Britain.
This week has marked the end of the statutory consultation period on the Olympic Planning applications and as expected the emails and letters giving comments have been flying in thick and fast.
At one point on Monday our email enquiries inbox completely jammed because of the size and amount of documents being sent. We've received going on for 300 responses so far, with quite a pile still to go through, count and book in.
During the consultation the Planning Decisions Team spent 8 days standing with our exhibition in local shopping centres and libraries in the four Boroughs talking to lots of people and answering questions. We also gave presentations to councillors and officers in the four Boroughs as well as at various community events.
Towards the end of the process we reckoned we'd done 16 events in 23 days. My knees certainly knew it from all the standing up.
As you'd expect there was a wide range of reactions - from those who don't like the Olympic concept to those who think it's fantastic - but overall the reaction was positive, just like during the pre-application stage.
At one point on Monday our email enquiries inbox completely jammed because of the size and amount of documents being sent. We've received going on for 300 responses so far, with quite a pile still to go through, count and book in.
During the consultation the Planning Decisions Team spent 8 days standing with our exhibition in local shopping centres and libraries in the four Boroughs talking to lots of people and answering questions. We also gave presentations to councillors and officers in the four Boroughs as well as at various community events.
Towards the end of the process we reckoned we'd done 16 events in 23 days. My knees certainly knew it from all the standing up.
As you'd expect there was a wide range of reactions - from those who don't like the Olympic concept to those who think it's fantastic - but overall the reaction was positive, just like during the pre-application stage.
Getting young people active in the East Midlands
Jeff, Chair, East Midlands Steering Group, 21 March 2007
We were delighted to welcome Seb Coe to the East Midlands on Tuesday.
A gloriously sunny day greeted Seb as we took him to Boston to visit one of the region’s Pre Games Training Camp hopefuls, the Princess Royal Sports Arena.
At Boston we were taken around the completely accessible facilities and Seb met some of the town’s school children, who were enjoying a whole range of activities in the vast sports hall and out on the running track.
Boston has the unenviable reputation as being the least active town in the country and a great legacy of the Games for our region will be to inspire more people to take up physical activity.
From Boston we headed to Loughborough University where 130 of our partners had been invited for the launch of our consultation on the East Midlands Strategy for the 2012 Games.
We have now set down a marker for how the region can play its part in ensuring the legacy of the 2012 Games has a lasting impact on all sectors of our society.
We also met a number of Loughborough’s most promising athletes who hope to compete and win medals for GB in London.
A gloriously sunny day greeted Seb as we took him to Boston to visit one of the region’s Pre Games Training Camp hopefuls, the Princess Royal Sports Arena.
At Boston we were taken around the completely accessible facilities and Seb met some of the town’s school children, who were enjoying a whole range of activities in the vast sports hall and out on the running track.
Boston has the unenviable reputation as being the least active town in the country and a great legacy of the Games for our region will be to inspire more people to take up physical activity.
From Boston we headed to Loughborough University where 130 of our partners had been invited for the launch of our consultation on the East Midlands Strategy for the 2012 Games.
We have now set down a marker for how the region can play its part in ensuring the legacy of the 2012 Games has a lasting impact on all sectors of our society.
We also met a number of Loughborough’s most promising athletes who hope to compete and win medals for GB in London.
Read more of “Getting young people active in the East Midlands”
Posted in East Midlands Permalink
Statements on the budget announcement
The 2012 Editor, 15 March 2007
Celebrating our first sponsor
The 2012 Editor, 15 March 2007
We were delighted to announce Lloyds TSB as our first domestic partner for the Games today.
As the official Banking Partner, Lloyds TSB now has exclusive access to the British Olympic and Paralympic teams between now and 2012 and will benefit from exclusive marketing rights.
The announcement is indicative of the progress we have already made and will continue to make on the Games. Signing domestic partners is of course vital to us as it provides part of the £2bn cost of staging the Games, as well as personnel, technology, infrastructure and other essential services.
As the official Banking Partner, Lloyds TSB now has exclusive access to the British Olympic and Paralympic teams between now and 2012 and will benefit from exclusive marketing rights.
The announcement is indicative of the progress we have already made and will continue to make on the Games. Signing domestic partners is of course vital to us as it provides part of the £2bn cost of staging the Games, as well as personnel, technology, infrastructure and other essential services.
Lloyds TSB shares the inspiration
The 2012 Editor, 14 March 2007
Posted in Lloyds TSB Permalink
This morning it was exciting to be at head offices of Lloyds TSB in Scotland for the Banking Partner announcement.
I met employees and gave my view on why the project is so important, but they needed no convincing. There was a great sense of celebration, a real feeling that it was a special day and a real sense of pride amongst the staff that their company was the first to get on board.
With a branch on every high street, Lloyds TSB are perfectly placed to make sure this enthusiasm reaches everyone in the UK.
Whenever I've been on the road I've found that people are genuinely excited about London 2012 - today was no exception.
People were interested to see a gold medal I'd brought along but they were just as interested to hear what hosting a Games can do for a whole country.
I met employees and gave my view on why the project is so important, but they needed no convincing. There was a great sense of celebration, a real feeling that it was a special day and a real sense of pride amongst the staff that their company was the first to get on board.
With a branch on every high street, Lloyds TSB are perfectly placed to make sure this enthusiasm reaches everyone in the UK.
Whenever I've been on the road I've found that people are genuinely excited about London 2012 - today was no exception.
People were interested to see a gold medal I'd brought along but they were just as interested to hear what hosting a Games can do for a whole country.
The first ever IOC publications and editorial services workshop took place in Vancouver last week.
Facilitated by the Head of Media Operations for the IOC, the primary objective was to give the publications teams from the Vancouver, Beijing and London Games the opportunity to learn from Torino and Sydney, as well as to discuss and debate the future strategy around publications e.g. electronic vs hard copy print.
It was a great example of the Olympic Games Knowledge Managment (OGKM) in action.
The OGKM was introduced in Sydney 2000 and is a comprehensive handover of data, information, lessons learnt and recommendations based on invaluable Games-time experience.
Facilitated by the Head of Media Operations for the IOC, the primary objective was to give the publications teams from the Vancouver, Beijing and London Games the opportunity to learn from Torino and Sydney, as well as to discuss and debate the future strategy around publications e.g. electronic vs hard copy print.
It was a great example of the Olympic Games Knowledge Managment (OGKM) in action.
The OGKM was introduced in Sydney 2000 and is a comprehensive handover of data, information, lessons learnt and recommendations based on invaluable Games-time experience.
Posted in Vancouver 2010 Permalink
Delivering the 3Ds
David, ODA Chief, 13 March 2007
I was delighted to accept an invitation from Sports Minister Richard Caborn MP to speak at the UK Trade & Investment’s Global Sport Conference last week.
The conference was a good opportunity to tell some of the leading figures from sports and industry about the excellent progress we have made over the past year – our Transport Plan is in place; the Olympic Park Masterplan has been locked down; major demolition work on the site has begun; and the planning application for the Olympic Park has been submitted which outlines our vision for one of the largest new urban parks in Europe for 150 years.
This year we are focused on clearing the site, cleaning up the land, securing planning permission for the park, preparing the site for building, and locking down detailed designs for venues. It is an important step forward and what I call “Making the Park 3D – Demolition, Dig, Design”.
The conference was a good opportunity to tell some of the leading figures from sports and industry about the excellent progress we have made over the past year – our Transport Plan is in place; the Olympic Park Masterplan has been locked down; major demolition work on the site has begun; and the planning application for the Olympic Park has been submitted which outlines our vision for one of the largest new urban parks in Europe for 150 years.
This year we are focused on clearing the site, cleaning up the land, securing planning permission for the park, preparing the site for building, and locking down detailed designs for venues. It is an important step forward and what I call “Making the Park 3D – Demolition, Dig, Design”.
This morning I was shown around the Dome - they've just announced they're due to open in June, ahead of schedule.
We have a great view of the building from London 2012 HQ, but I had no idea the scale of what they've done inside - it's quite extraordinary, there's a whole city under there.
For us the centrepiece in 2012 will be the arena, hosting the 2012 Gymnastics and Basketball events. But surrounding the arena will be a whole community, with shops, restaurants and entertainment.
We have a great view of the building from London 2012 HQ, but I had no idea the scale of what they've done inside - it's quite extraordinary, there's a whole city under there.
For us the centrepiece in 2012 will be the arena, hosting the 2012 Gymnastics and Basketball events. But surrounding the arena will be a whole community, with shops, restaurants and entertainment.
At the end of last week, the Culture, Ceremonies and Education Team set off on an adventure to Eton Dorney for their first Team Strategy Away Day.
Not only was this a useful day for introducing those members of the team that hadn’t yet met (!), but it also gave us the opportunity to update each other on recent progress and planning for the Culture, Ceremonies and Education Programmes, away from the frantic pace of Canary Wharf.
During the day, we rattled through our current plans for the Cultural Olympiad, our Ceremonies Programme – and in particular, the Beijing Handover Ceremonies (just 17 months away…and counting!) and the Torch Relays, plans for the Olympic Park and the Education Programme.
This is not to say all our planning is done – far from it – but it was an extremely helpful opportunity to sit down as a whole team and to set next steps and priorities for the coming months.
Not only was this a useful day for introducing those members of the team that hadn’t yet met (!), but it also gave us the opportunity to update each other on recent progress and planning for the Culture, Ceremonies and Education Programmes, away from the frantic pace of Canary Wharf.
During the day, we rattled through our current plans for the Cultural Olympiad, our Ceremonies Programme – and in particular, the Beijing Handover Ceremonies (just 17 months away…and counting!) and the Torch Relays, plans for the Olympic Park and the Education Programme.
This is not to say all our planning is done – far from it – but it was an extremely helpful opportunity to sit down as a whole team and to set next steps and priorities for the coming months.
It was fortunate that the downpour had subsided to a light drizzle.
8.15 in the morning is a bit early for the great and the good of the UK cultural sector (or any sector frankly) to gather outside London’s Tate Modern Gallery waiting to be seated in the cavernous Turbine Hall for a landmark speech by the Prime Minister about culture.
Why all the fuss? Well, no one there could remember the last time a serving Prime Minister had delivered a keynote speech solely on the subject of Culture and the Arts.
There were, of course, cynics who put this down to Tony Blair managing part of his legacy.
That’s too easy a hit. The reality is that his main theme, the success story that is the UK’s cultural sector, deserves to be told – indeed it's well worth shouting about.
8.15 in the morning is a bit early for the great and the good of the UK cultural sector (or any sector frankly) to gather outside London’s Tate Modern Gallery waiting to be seated in the cavernous Turbine Hall for a landmark speech by the Prime Minister about culture.
Why all the fuss? Well, no one there could remember the last time a serving Prime Minister had delivered a keynote speech solely on the subject of Culture and the Arts.
There were, of course, cynics who put this down to Tony Blair managing part of his legacy.
That’s too easy a hit. The reality is that his main theme, the success story that is the UK’s cultural sector, deserves to be told – indeed it's well worth shouting about.
I went to Switzerland yesterday to visit FIFA in their brand new headquarters next to Zurich's zoo.
Charles-Henry Contamine, FIFA's Head of New Media, was extremely helpful and gave us lots of useful insight.
FIFA's World Cup new media team was 60-strong at peak and reached 40 million users during the 2006 World Cup tournament.
The meeting dovetailed with our site visit to UEFA's very impressive new media production facility in London, where they produce live Champions League coverage for 36 mobile operators, a broadband service and an extensive digital library.
Football has invested significant resources in building new media platforms and will reap the long term rewards. We cannot afford to be left behind.
Charles-Henry Contamine, FIFA's Head of New Media, was extremely helpful and gave us lots of useful insight.
FIFA's World Cup new media team was 60-strong at peak and reached 40 million users during the 2006 World Cup tournament.
The meeting dovetailed with our site visit to UEFA's very impressive new media production facility in London, where they produce live Champions League coverage for 36 mobile operators, a broadband service and an extensive digital library.
Football has invested significant resources in building new media platforms and will reap the long term rewards. We cannot afford to be left behind.
Last week I attended the 'Health and 2012 Forum' held in London - my first event as the Chief Medical Officer for London 2012.
There were more than 100 delegates from a background of sports and exercise medicine, London Ambulance, NHS, Department of Health and Public Health.
It was the third forum held by the NHS to discuss using the 2012 Games to promote health of the nation initiatives; mitigating any potential health problems related to preparing for the Games; planning the delivery of health care during the Games; developing the legacy and, lastly, measuring the impact and effect of all of these initiatives.
There were more than 100 delegates from a background of sports and exercise medicine, London Ambulance, NHS, Department of Health and Public Health.
It was the third forum held by the NHS to discuss using the 2012 Games to promote health of the nation initiatives; mitigating any potential health problems related to preparing for the Games; planning the delivery of health care during the Games; developing the legacy and, lastly, measuring the impact and effect of all of these initiatives.
I write to you still fresh from the National Outdoor Event Association (NOEA) Annual Conference held in Droitwich Spa in the West Midlands.
A relatively eventful journey up included sitting in the on a bench in the office of a taxi company, watching the ten o’clock news on the TV in the corner of the room with the woman running the ‘operation’ (which consisted of just two cars). All slightly surreal and for those fans of the League of Gentlemen a little ‘Royston Vasey’!
I eventually got my taxi and we made our way in the darkness, through the impressive grounds of the Chateau Impney, where the conference was held. The lighting on the chateau made it look a little like Disney’s Cinderella Castle. Again, adding to the surreal nature of my journey.
A relatively eventful journey up included sitting in the on a bench in the office of a taxi company, watching the ten o’clock news on the TV in the corner of the room with the woman running the ‘operation’ (which consisted of just two cars). All slightly surreal and for those fans of the League of Gentlemen a little ‘Royston Vasey’!
I eventually got my taxi and we made our way in the darkness, through the impressive grounds of the Chateau Impney, where the conference was held. The lighting on the chateau made it look a little like Disney’s Cinderella Castle. Again, adding to the surreal nature of my journey.
Posted in West Midlands Permalink
Seb's Birmingham baton relay
The 2012 Editor, 2 March 2007
Seb Coe visited Birmingham today to attend the 29th European Athletics Indoor Championships in the National Indoor Arena. See his visit in pictures.
Today the London 2012 blog comes from Berlin, where we are on a fact-finding visit to understand how the city managed transport during the Fifa World Cup 2006.
As we have developed our plans for the Games, we have looked to learn from the experiences of other Host Cities as well as from other major events so that we can deliver world class transport for London 2012.
Berlin hosted the final of the 2006 World Cup as well as a number of group games at the Olympic Stadium.
Through the Tiergarten at the heart of the city, was the “Fan Mile” – 2 miles of city street converted to become a huge live site complete with big screens showing matches for fans who could not get tickets. For the Cup Final itself 1 million people packed the streets. The key for Berlin was to ensure that the city kept moving whilst ensuring the safe transport of spectators and fans.
As we have developed our plans for the Games, we have looked to learn from the experiences of other Host Cities as well as from other major events so that we can deliver world class transport for London 2012.
Berlin hosted the final of the 2006 World Cup as well as a number of group games at the Olympic Stadium.
Through the Tiergarten at the heart of the city, was the “Fan Mile” – 2 miles of city street converted to become a huge live site complete with big screens showing matches for fans who could not get tickets. For the Cup Final itself 1 million people packed the streets. The key for Berlin was to ensure that the city kept moving whilst ensuring the safe transport of spectators and fans.
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