London 2012 blog

On August 24th next year, during the Closing Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, there will be a moment when the Olympic Flag is passed from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London. That moment marks the official start of the London Olympiad and its four year programme of Cultural, Educational and Ceremonial events.

I was delighted, therefore, to have the opportunity to join Bill Morris, Director of Culture, Ceremonies and Education and Martin Green, newly appointed Head of Ceremonies on a visit to Beijing for meetings with our counterparts in the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (BOCOG) exactly one year out from that date.

Myself (left) and Bill Morris (centre) with Lisa Li, Wang Ning and Zheng Wen of the BOCOG Ceremonies Team:

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I have been despatched to the wonderful city of Berlin for the day on a fact finding mission. Earlier in the year the International Paralympic Committee invited me to come and have a look at the festivities to mark Berlin's International Paralympic Day.

It's the first time I have been back to Berlin since my student Inter-Railing Days back in 1990 - what a truly transformed city!

Read more of “Celebrating International Paralympic Day in Berlin”

Last week I took a trip down to the Greenway, the public walkway and cycle route between Stratford High Street and the Hackney Cut Towpath to view the first installation of London 2012 branded hoardings.

Read more of “A large canvas...”

Following what was reported as a very successful PanAmerican Games in Rio the first ParaPanAmerican Games is being held (12-19 August) using the same facilities and Village.

Read more of “Presenting at the Para PanAmericans”

Working in a calm, quiet, air-conditioned office in Churchill Place, my 'normal' life as a secondary school teacher, seems very far away! Since September 2006 I have been a Languages Teacher in a North London Comprehensive on the 'Teach First' programme. The chance to complete a summer internship is one of the highlights of the programme, and I was delighted to be selected to work at LOCOG, in the Education Team.

Read more of “Teaching and learning”

Last week I was lucky to be in Beijing as to mark one year to go to Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony.

This was the first time that this event had taken place in the host city as it is usually marked with a small ceremony at the IOC in Lausanne. On this occasion the event was held in Tian’anmen Square in downtown Beijing and was attended by the President of the IOC, IOC Members, Beijing and BOCOG dignitaries.

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With performances on six stages, a funfair and hundreds of stalls selling food, clothes or other services, four members of London 2012 staff joined an estimated 75,000 revellers to enjoy a sunny Sunday afternoon at the London Mela this weekend.



Organised by the boroughs of West London and the Mayor of London, the London Mela offers the most wide ranging programme of any Asian festival anywhere outside the Indian sub-continent and shows off the richness of South Asian culture in London.

People visiting the London 2012 information stall came from all over London and the UK - our first visitors were Tower Hamlets residents who had their own stall as part of the festival and once the gates had opened we had visitors from Westminster, Ealing, Nottingham, Cornwall and all points in between.

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London really turned on the style at the World’s largest triathlon last weekend with temperatures reaching 30 degrees under a beautiful blue sky. It was so hot, that the Royal Victoria Dock actually looked really inviting!

This was my second year competing in this great event and after surviving a very physical 1.5km swim leg in the sub-2.30 category, it was a real privilege to be able to cycle the 40km route along the Embankment to Big Ben on closed roads and with such a supportive crowd.

The heat meant that conditions were tough for the 10km run, but with Heather Small’s “Proud” blaring out over the loud speaker, there were plenty of impressive sprint finishes. And with two Brits winning the overall races, namely Tim Don and Michelle Dillon, this is a sport with great medal prospects in Beijing next year and in 2012.

Read more of “ExCel-lent triathlon action in London”

Woke up this morning to the most amazing views of the Cornish coastline from our hotel in Newquay. Why Newquay? Because that's where the Roadshow is this week. I know, it's a hard life.



The location for this week's stop (one of 27 during the 10-week tour) is truly amazing. Technically it's a hotel car park, but a more accurate description would include grassy slopes (perfect for some of the sports people are trying out today) overlooking the beach and sea. Just incredible.

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Do you fancy spending a week in an outdoor pool, in Spain in July? Well, of course, my answer was yes, (although when I left last Sunday the whole of UK was like an outdoor pool!)

I have just returned from the Junior European Synchronised Swimming Championships in Calella, a small beach resort on the Costa Brava, where I was the Great Britain judge. The excitement of travelling with the British Junior Synchro Team where many of the athletes were competing in their first major meet, was almost tangible.

Jaz, Asha, Helen, Ellie, Jenny, Beth, Vicky, Tash, Lisa & Emily have been training together in Synchro’s centralised venue for just 5 weeks. Lolli, their Italian coach, along with her assistants Jessica from Canada and Britain’s Kate Coupar had been challenging the athletes with demanding 8 hour training days, learning 4 new routines and getting them ready to face the tough European competition.

Read more of “Synchro-ing in the Sun”

Last Friday I was at the Crystal Palace London Grand Prix, the Athletics annual event. It’s always a sell out with world class athletes in abundance – 100m world number one Tyson Gay, Pole Vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva and 400m legend Jeremy Wariner.

There was also a special ‘On Camp with Kelly’ 800 race – featuring the young athletes being mentored by Kelly Holmes - they’re all future hopefuls for 2012 and this was an excellent chance for them to compete in front of a large crowd.

Read more of “A great night of Athletics”

In our staff meeting this week, we held a boxing match! Well, not quite, but we did get a fantastic demonstration from some of our 2012 hopefuls.

Between now and 2012 we'll be having a series of briefings on all the sports that will feature at the 2012 Games - Olympic and Paralympic: it’s important for us to understand the sports we’re delivering in 2012 and to remember what we’re about.

The rules of boxing are some of the least understood in Olympic sport yet boxing itself has given us some truly inspirational heroes – from Cassius Clay in 1960 to the UK’s own Amir Khan in 2004. We were joined by another inspirational boxer, ex-international Tony Cesay who is currently involved in training the next generation of Boxing hopefuls. He works with young people in East London, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, getting them off the streets, giving them a focus and something positive to do with their lives.

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When I asked for work experience, I was given a placement in the ODA’s communications department. To get this straight, it was a good thing! I was -sometimes literally- lead by Tim Daniels from the ODA, who organised my days, buzzed me in every time I went through those annoying security checks and introduced me to the 20 or so other people I would be working with (or just sitting near!).

The most prominent memory I have of my first day, was the sheer amount of food that everyone kept by their desks - I almost wondered where all the stationary was! However, then I saw the special “store room”, which is more like a canteen for the paper-hungry, and all became clear.

I did actually do work after eyeballing such things! The Comms team kept me occupied with layouting documents and proofreading the exciting new website, but I generally just got to ask lots of questions, which was nice. I must have read every single page of the website and so know how much work goes on and I was also converted to a “logo-liker”!

Read more of “Being part of something big”

Last Wednesday, I travelled to Sunderland, Gateshead and Newcastle to meet some of the individuals and agencies who are working together to ensure the North East makes the most of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities the 2012 Games offer.

I also met lots of very enthusiastic children from local schools who had come along to the Tyne and Wear festival of sport. Having addressed a lunch meeting of Local Authorities about the sorts of opportunities we believe the Games will generate, it was great to then go out into the stadium and see so many young people being encouraged to try out different sports - building towards the increase in participation that we are hoping to achieve. I was also 'cheer-led' by a local troop who had come along to show off their talents, which was certainly unexpected and a first!!

Read more of “A passion for sport in the North East”