The new London 2012 brand is coming soon.
Want to be one of the first to see it? Go to
http://www.london2012.com/ ...
Follow the clues and you can also get a sneaky peek of what it's all about.
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I have just spent two days in beautiful Riga, on the west coast of Latvia.
I was attending and presenting at the European National Olympic Committees (NOC) Seminar for Secretary Generals and ‘Chef de Missions’ (essentially the Team leaders). It’s always a good meeting for me, with many familiar faces and old friends from past Olympic and Olympic Winter Games.
Everyone accepts much of the best work is done in the bar and increasingly the ‘jeans’ outnumber the ‘suits’ – my kind of meeting!
This forum is key for all OCOGs (Organising Committees) to communicate and disseminate key logistical and operational...
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Unseasonally rainy weather couldn't dampen spirits yesterday in Trafalgar Square as Londoners and tourists together celebrated Africa Day.
Food stands selling a range of African cuisines and market stalls with a range of commemorative and traditional goods complemented the entertainment on stage, with music and dance acts from around the continent and the wider diaspora.
The London 2012 information stand was out again, helping visitors to the event to understand the benefits of the 2012 Games for all Londoners.
On this occasion we were able to bring with us a model of the Olympic Park after the Games, helping visitors (including Olaseni,...
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I was lucky enough on Friday to attend a Boccia tournament involving 70 primary school children from Hackney.
The tournament organisers – East End SportsAbility with the help of Hackney Council’s Sports Services - worked with the schools to coach the youngsters in the art of Boccia, a Paralympic sport that is similar to the French game of boules or petanque.
The day-long tournament was held at the excellent Space sports centre at Hackney Community College and was as a chance for the youngsters to put their new skills to the test.
London 2012 organised for Zoe Edge, a Boccia silver medallist for...
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Each year the Mayor of London is required to make a presentation to Londoners and answer their questions on any topic.
This year that opportunity arose on Saturday at the 'State of London' event, an all-day conference in Westminster.
The whole event covered a range of topics including climate change, education and security but one of the first sessions was on the London 2012 Games.
An audience of several hundred Londoners heard from Paul Deighton, David Higgins and LDA Chief Executive Manny Lewis as well as Olympic Gold Medalist Denise Lewis and then had the chance to ask any questions they wanted...
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This week saw unprecedented media coverage of a woman who has come to symbolise how far Paralympic sport has progressed in the last twenty years.
You could hardly pick up a paper or magazine and not see the smiling ‘demure’ face of the girl of Korea 1988 who had become such a famous woman, Tanni Grey-Thompson.
What is unknown is that from those early days it could have gone so terribly wrong.
Her first Paralympic Games, Korea ’88 were my third as Chef de Mission and I looked on concerned as I saw her fall-in with the roughs of the team, the field-eventers....
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This weekend, Manchester saw the climax of a week long festival of world-class Paralympic sport.
The Paralympic World Cup is in its third year of existence and once again demonstrated Paralympic athletes ability to excite, entertain and inspire through their sporting performance.
The Manchester Aquatics Centre hosted the swimming programme, which included competitors from 25 countries. British athletes enjoyed success on many of the events, including clean sweeps in both the Men’s and Women’s S6 200m Individual Medleys. World stars Natalie du Toit (RSA) and Jessica Long (USA) didn’t disappoint their fans with strong performances to take Gold.
Sunday saw Athletics at...
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About one and half months ago, I was sent an e-mail by the athletic club captain at Oxford Uni, asking whether or not I’d be interested in running a mile race at the Iffley Road track when Roger Bannister and Seb Coe re-opened it.
Unsurprisingly, as a distance runner, I responded very quickly that I would!
In the build-up to the race, I didn’t really have time to get nervous – spent time working and just treated it as an ordinary race approaching. It did really strike me what an unique experience this was going to be on the morning of the...
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I've had the pleasure of marking the achievement of two remarkable athletes in the space of two days - Fanny Blankers-Koen and Sir Roger Bannister.
These are people who inspired generations to take up sport - exactly what we aim to achieve through the Games.
Yesterday I was in Holland to unveil a statue of Fanny Blankers-Koen at the stadium in Hengelo named after her.
Opened by Fanny herself in 1981, the stadium honours her huge contribution to sport and encouraging women to partcipate in sport.
At London 2012 we've also acknowledged her achievements - from my desk I can see the...
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Culture to me is an encapsulation of everything that makes us complete. The way that we sound, speak, relate to each other, eat. It excites me as in this enormously and increasingly complex world, these ciphers become important to understand and to share.
My love of culture is aligned to my own background, and my interests in making the society that we live in a more inclusive and understanding place.
For many years, as a practising artist, I worked in Carnival (Notting Hill, Leeds, Bristol and Trinidad). I was drawn to the spectacle and the feathers, the huge sound systems with...
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I joined the Culture, Ceremonies and Education Team back in January as a secondee from the Clore Leadership Programme – a unique two-year opportunity for professional development and leadership training.
The challenge was to learn how to turn a vision into a reality, how to facilitate high-level partnerships and to support a project’s development through what may at first appear to be insurmountable practical obstacles.
However, the challenge soon became negotiating the glistening towers and rabbit warren underground passages that are Canary Wharf.
Spending half my week putting up exhibitions in a converted warehouse in Bethnal Green, it was indeed a...
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There is an interesting article on the BBC today about the search for 2012 talent.
In Feburary this year, the search was launched for people between 16 and 25 years old, 6ft 3in or taller for a man and 5ft 11in or taller for a woman.
150 potential handball players will be put through their paces over the bank holiday weekend in Nottingham to see if they can make it to the next stage.
Read more on the BBC site.
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More beautiful weather in the East End. So what better way to enjoy the evening than by visiting one of the 2012 indoor venues? But this one is rather special: the completely renovated and rejuvenated Dome.
And we even had a project alum giving us the tour in the shape of our former Director of Marketing and Sponsorship, now Chief Exec of the Dome, Phil Beard.
Now I’m sure there are lots of people out there who would love to work on the 2012 Games and very few who would relinquish that opportunity should it arise. So why would someone leave?...
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As we sat at 30,000 feet on our flight home from Beijing, Hugh, Paul and I reflected on a fascinating trip and all we learned from those preparing for the 2008 Games.
It was an action-packed five-day trip. Thirty minutes after arriving at our hotel on Saturday afternoon, we were whisked off to the Olympic Green to see the now-famous 'Bird’s Nest' Olympic Stadium (as picture below) and aquatics centre.
Both venues are truly impressive; the Olympic stadium with its inspiring and yet intricate structure and the aquatics centre, clad in lighting panels which will project fabulous images at Games time.
We...
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