Not being the most athletic member of the LOCOG team, although very passionate about the Games, the time has now come for me to do my bit!
What with new staff incentives for cycling to work and with the announcement of adidas as our new sportswear partner reminding me that somewhere in the depths of the wardrobe is an old adidas top (which still fits!) I decided the time has come to choose sport!
So out came the old push bike; cobwebs removed, tyres inflated, new batteries in the lights, a new cycle helmet - and the old adidas top washed! I...
Read more of “Inspired to choose sport yet? … well getting there!!”
The 2012 Editor, 26 September 2007
Find out what happened last week when members of the public looked around the Olympic Park during Open House weekend in London.
Read more of “Open House - behind the scenes”
Just to remind us all of the benefits of sport in the wider community. Cathy Hughes and I were invited to attend North East London Mental Health Trust’s (NELMHT) Annual Sports Day at Goodmayes Hospital. Getting staff and service users involved in sport has been an objective of the Trust’s Chairman, Jane Atkinson, since taking up her post 2 years ago. The hospital has extensive playing fields which were underutilised and there is some evidence that people with mental health problems benefit greatly from sports participation to aid their recovery.
So NELMHT have developed links with Leyton Orient Football Club...
Read more of “Health through sport participation”
Every great enterprise must have them….those weeks of endless meetings, hard graft and little to show for it – two steps forward and three back ….we’ve all been there…
And then there are weeks like this one!
Read more of “Just an average week in September?”
After an unforgettable two week induction with 9 of my fellow school leavers, I have been chosen to work in the Culture department specifically in Education. I will be spending three months in the department as part of my first rotation.
Me at the Olympic Park site:
On the last day (Friday 14th) of my induction I was given an emergency briefing by my new department buddy Erin. She made me aware that my first week would be very action packed, full of meetings, presentations and paperwork. It was at that moment I realised the honeymoon period of the...
Read more of “Let’s get down to business”
Athletics is the biggest sporting event of all time. I've always enjoyed watching but most importantly taking part.
I started off just competing and representing my school, then that led from one thing to another. I started competing all around the country, which was great fun because this gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of different people and just learning about different parts of the country that I didn't even know existed.
I did the normal training sessions, and competed on Saturday or Sunday, sometimes both days. My main events were 100m and 200m. I remember seeing competitors...
Read more of “Living the dream at LOCOG”
Today, Adidas was announced as the new sportswear sponsor for London 2012. As a Starting Block trainee in the Communications team, I got to go along and help out…
After a few speeches and the announcement, the fun bit came… grabbing some of the sports stars for a quick chat! Unfortunately my colleague [*shakes fist*] had already interviewed the GORGEOUS Louis Smith (who’d earlier performed an amazing routine on the still rings) so I had a few words with 100 meter sprinter Craig Pickering and gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci.
Craig told me about how he believed the London Games would not...
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We were delighted to announce our investment in London 2012 today - we're perfect partners.
Our relationship with London 2012 is all about igniting people's passion for sport and their desire to get actively involved - not just in global, played-on-every-street corner sports like football or the mass participation sports like running, but in everything from fencing to weightlifting, hockey to archery, from Luge to Biathlon.
It's well documented that sport participartion is in decline in the UK and we have a real challenge when it comes to the long term state of the nations' health. Yet athletes for the GB Teams...
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The 2012 Editor, 20 September 2007
We were delighted to welcome adidas as Sportswear partner today...to celebrate, top athletes were out and about in London showing off their skills, including Louis Smith showing off his gymnastics on Marble Arch:
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The European Paralympic Committee (EPC) Conference and General Assembly in Crete last week was the last in my reports to Regional PCs, which started with Asia in Kuala Lumpur last November, followed by Africa in Cairo in January this year, then Americas in Rio last month. [Apologies are extended to our antipodeans that I didn’t make it this time…maybe I’ll get down under in the next version of these Assemblies in 2009.]
The EPC Conference kicked off the first day with presentations from a number of organisations involved with the session theme ‘Youth Sports Development’ – a theme very close...
Read more of “Inspiring Paralympic Committees”
I love watching athletics so I'd always thought I had it pretty much figured out…how wrong was I though…!? Yesterday we had presentation for staff on the sport – one of a series that will help us learn about each of the Olympic and Paralympic sports featuring in the 2012 Games.
It gave me a great insight in to the different aspects of what makes athletics such an amazing sport as well as getting me in the know about some remarkable facts about the Olympic and Paralympic Games that I never knew!
The presentation started off with a quick history...
Read more of “The rundown on athletics”
I volunteered for the Open House Weekend not really knowing what I was letting myself in for as we welcomed the public to see the Olympic Park for the first time. But I thought that if I want to develop at Reception when handling enquiries, I need to learn more. The best way to do this is to throw yourself in to opportunities like this and give it your best!
I arrived on the Saturday not expecting to have a crowd. Boy, was I wrong! As soon as I arrived, the room was full of people; I dropped my bag and jumped right...
Read more of “Opening up our 'house'”
Last week saw NBC the American Broadcaster visit London for the first of its orientation meetings. NBC are one of the Olympic broadcasting rights holders who have the exclusive television rights through until 2012. They are part of the GE Group which operates in over 100 Countries and employs some 320,000 people.
At the beginning of the week we met with the production team who are responsible for all logistical arrangements leading up to 2012. They are looking for 1,000 rooms to accommodate camera crews, reporters, makeup artists, chefs, doctors and runners.
On Monday we welcomed the team to London 2012...
Read more of “Showing off London to NBC”
Recently a group of us from different LOCOG departments embarked on the IOC’s Test Event (‘TE’) Observer Programme to Beijing. There was representation from Sport, Transport, Security, Technology, Communications, and Venues and Infrastructure.
As part of the Venues & Infrastructure team I was there to observe and gather information relating to venues and how they were operated in a Test Event situation. Observing the IOC delegation as they observed BOCOG, and understanding what they will expect when it is our turn to put on our rehearsals was an insightful opportunity.
Read more of “Testing the Test Events”
The 2012 Editor, 14 September 2007
Watch a video of comedian Lenny Henry talking about his cultural education.
You can also hear from comedienne Shazia Mirza and actor John Barrowman
Read more of “Culture and 2012 video: Lenny Henry”
The 2012 Editor, 14 September 2007
Comedienne Shazia Mirza speaks on video about her interpretation of culture and how London 2012 can bring different cultures together.
Read more of “Culture and 2012 video: Shazia Mirza”
The 2012 Editor, 14 September 2007
Watch a video of actor John Barrowman explaining what culture and sport mean to him.
Read more of “Culture and 2012 video: John Barrowman”
The 2012 Editor, 13 September 2007
Find out about the VeloDream competition for schools in a video featuring Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell and David Higgins, Chief Executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority.
Read more of “VeloDream competition launched”
Today I visited the South West of England and witnessed first hand how
local organisations are using the excitement generated by London 2012 to catalyse local projects and deliver community benefits.
I started the day at Bath University, where I was honoured to open a new Biomechanics laboratory which will enable scientists to analyse athletes movements and work with them to improve their sporting performance. This sort of thing, which was in its infancy in my day, is now a vital part of an athlete's preparation for achieving that tiny advantage over their competitors.
Whilst on campus, I also addressed the annual...
Read more of “Biomechanics and circus skills”
Here at Bath University we have serious ambitions that students and Bath based athletes will win medals at the 2012 Games. We have a great record in sport - for example Kelly Rudman trained here prior to her silver medal at the Turin Winter Olympic Games, and we supported three modern pentathletes in their preparations for Olympic medals. We are working hard to maintain this level of achievement.
Today is very rewarding for me as it's a tangible demonstration of our efforts to bring academic sport science together with elite sports preparations, which in the past have been much more separate....
Read more of “Sport and sport science in Bath”
