Last night the clocks in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham were turned back 100 years as the council celebrated success in Beijing and aspirations for the 2012 Games by commemorating the White City Games in 1908, the first time London hosted the Modern Olympic Games.
After canapes inspired by the dishes served at the opening banquet of the 1908 Games, guests were treated to a display of fencing; the chance to mingle with some of Team GB's Beijing medallists including James DeGale; the return of competative Tug of War to the borough; and a man dressed as a...
Read more of “If I could turn back time”
I'm one of the Young Ambassadors promoting London 2012 – spreading the message of how great the Games are going to be and using them to inspire young people to be more healthy and active. This is my journey over the last year:
September 2007
I went to a conference at Derby FC where I met Olympic champions and learnt what my role as young ambassador would be. This completely inspired me and I knew from this day that I wanted to inspire and excite children about sport, health and fitness as well as London 2012 just like I was inspired....
Read more of “My journey as a Young Ambassador”
Hello our names are . We are part of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA)
Construction Crew and it is a very big opportunity for us both to take part in this project. As members of the Construction Crew we get to learn about what is happening on the Olympic Park and communicate what we have learnt to our school.
Us on the left (pictured with ODA Chief Executive, David Higgins in the middle):
Read more of “Telling our school about the Olympic Park”
The preparations for this year's Make Your Mark Challenge, part of the London 2012 Inspire programme, have been more exciting than ever before. As an avid Hollyoaks fan you can imagine my amazement when I heard that Max and OB from Hollyoaks (they don't have real names!) were coming to the Make Your Mark office to film a teaser video clip.
Read more of “Getting ready to find the top banana”
On Friday I attended the last in the series of
health and safety workshops that have been held at secondary schools near the Olympic Park over the last few weeks. The session I attended was in the London Borough of Newham and was attended by about 30 pupils from Year 7.
Ria and Andy performed a theatre workshop which demonstrated the importance of staying safe when living and playing near to construction sites. This was followed by an exercise where the children reflected on the issues raised in the workshop and thought of ways to keep themselves safe, especially when playing out over...
Read more of “Staying safe near construction sites”
Mark, Nortel, 24 October 2008
I'd probably describe myself as something of an adventure sports enthusiast and not so much of a sporting spectator. So, when the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games arrived this summer, I didn't really have plans to watch too many of the events - until I learned from the media coverage just how well our British athletes were doing. National pride kicked in and I was as jubilant as anyone in the UK to witness just how many medals we took home.
Suddenly, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has taken on a whole new meaning, and I'm now really...
Read more of “Meeting sporting heroes as Nortel partnership launches at Dorney Lake”
This week I spoke at a business forum organised by the Confederation of British Industry to help galvanise support from the business community. It was a chance to show businesses how they can set about accessing opportunities created by London 2012 and champion the Games.
Ian Barlow, Chair of the London Business Board, Mike Mulvey, CEO of the London Business Network, and Brendan Dineen, 2012 Director for Think London, also contributed.
One of the themes that came out of the forum was of the ability for the Games to stand out as an inspiration for businesses in the challenging economic...
Read more of “Business opportunities in a tough economic climate”
The 2012 Editor, 24 October 2008
Watch a video of the first new permanent bridge being lifted into place on the Olympic Park.
Read more of “Video: First new permanent bridge lifted into place”
Early morning in Beckton, and the walk along from the DLR station to Gallions Primary School is accompanied by the strains of the turboprop engines on aircraft at nearby London City Airport. But the further I walk up Warwall the noise starts to change and music from an adidas 'Slam Van' starts to take over.
Two vehicles are parked next to the new adiZone - one playing music for the launch, and the other with a basketball hoop attached - and this is my destination, the official opening of the adiZone in Newham.
Read more of “An adiZone launches in Newham”
One of the pleasures of working in our offices at Canary Wharf is the view afforded over a great sweep of the Thames and the occasional sightings of special ships passing through. This week we arrived to the sight of
Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior anchored at South Quay, in full view of our office.
This is a boat with history. It even has an Olympic connection; back in 2000, the Rainbow Warrior anchored in Sydney Harbour during the Olympic Games and one evening Greenpeace Australia hosted a reception for the IOC's Sport and Environment Commission on board. As a volunteer with...
Read more of “Rainbow Warrior anchors in Canary Wharf”
The venue for Wheelchair Archery and Wheelchair Tennis during the Games, Eton Manor, has a strong sporting heritage, as we discovered recently.
Firstly, the sports ground used by the Eton Manor Boys’ Club will form part of the London 2012 site. Secondly, the running track from Wembley used for the London 1948 Olympic Games had been re-laid on the Eton Manor site.
The running track:
Read more of “Eton Manor - the sporting heritage of the Olympic Park”
Following their successful performance in Beijing, the Great Britain Olympic and Paralympic teams took part in a parade through the streeets of London.
Read more of “Londoners cheer for Beijing heroes”
It was pleasure rather than business today which saw me out and about in London today for the athletes' parade. It was always going to be a special day – but when I saw the blue sky with that precious sun shining in it, I knew it was going to be spectacular.
Watching the parade and seeing the Olympic and Paralympic athletes, brought back some wonderful memories from four years ago when I was actually on one of those floats - celebrating my silver medal from Athens. So I know exactly how those guys felt today – I remember how...
Read more of “A spectacular day for our Beijing heroes”
Beijing was a fantastic experience for me – it totally blew Athens out of the water. Not only did I captain the squad but I feel like there was better preparation and we felt more like team. I think it was also a better experience for me because it wasn't my rookie Games and I knew what to expect.
The parade today was great – I've never done anything like it before. People were shouting and screaming at us and it was an amazing feeling. It was good to be with our Olympic counterparts and it was fantastic that we...
Read more of “Being shouted and screamed at - the Athletes' Parade”
'Sport without culture and education is like the body without the soul.' These words started the 6th World Forum on Sport Education and Culture, focusing on the 'now' generation, concentrating on the relationship between young people, sport, culture, and education.
Prepared in collaboration with the Metropolitan City of Busan and UNESCO, it sounds rather formal - and it was - but it was also a fascinating few days listening to members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), dignitaries from UNESCO, UNICEF and National Olympic Committees and academics from all over the world question and discuss just how sport, culture and...
Read more of “Sport and education for the 'now' generation”
Over the past few days the Olympic Stadium has undergone a dramatic transformation. From across the Park there are now towering steel rakers that dominate the Olympic Park skyline:
The steel rakers form part of the terracing supports for the 55,000 seats of the upper tier seating. Weighing 35 tonnes each, one by one the rakers are effortlessly hoisted into position by the Stadium cranes:
Read more of “Latest photos: Olympic Stadium transformation”
The 2012 Editor, 15 October 2008
Take a tour of the Olympic Stadium with Project Sponsor, Ian Crockford.
Read more of “Video: tour of the Olympic Stadium”
It has been a busy few weeks since I joined the External Relations team at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and yesterday was no exception. It was an early morning starting preparing for a visit from the vice Mayor of Beijing who was here for a tour of the Olympic Park before he met with London Mayor Boris Johnson over at City Hall. The Park visit was followed by something I have been looking forward to since I joined - a trip to Westminster to host a drop-in event for MPs from the north west .
Having arrived a few minutes early I...
Read more of “Making my Parliamentary debut”
The new parliamentary term has started. After a hugely successful party conference season with other 1,000 political figures from across the political spectrum attending out events, LOCOG is kicking off the new term with a series of Autumn 'Drop-in' events for politicians from the three North English regions.
Last night it was the turn of the North-West. We were competing against some hefty parliamentary business, with the Commons listening to a statement on banking and the credit crunch, and the Lords debating counter-terrorism measures. We were not too worried, as the North-West has a great heritage leading...
Read more of “North-West MPs and a Curve at St Moritz”
On 7 October I was lucky enough to join other members of the
Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA’s) Borough Transport Forum on a visit round the
Olympic Park.
I last visited the Park in August 2007 when the site had been secured but most of it still had to be cleared and there was little sign that this was going to be the site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It took quite a stretch of the imagination to try and picture what things would look like in 2012.
Well things have certainly changed now. The Olympic...
Read more of “Talking transport and visiting the Olympic Park”
