London 2012 blog

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 'Blankers Koen' meeting room we have at 2012 HQ - amongst her successes were the medals she won at the London 1948 Games.

Unveiling the statue:



Getting there:



Unveiled! - I even went home with my own mini version of the Blankers-Koen statue - perhaps we'll give it a home in her London 2012 room:



This morning I was back in the UK - in Oxford to officially open the newly-refurbished and newly named 'Sir Roger Bannister track'. It was the site of his historic sub-four minute mile back in 1954, and he came along to relive the memories, albeit through some of the current Oxford students running an inaugural race on the new track. The winner, Ian, is pictured on the right: