London 2012 blog

So, one of the first roles in my new job (having made the move from HR) has been to review the sports equipment lists from Athens, Sydney and Beijing. With over a million pieces of kit involved, there’s a lot to review! The inner-geek in me (which is probably not that inner) is loving the various equipment peculiarities and oddities that each sport has to offer.

Towels have been in the news this week as Wimbledon announced they lost about £60,000 worth of towels each year. I am not sure how many they have for each Championships, but I know Athens had somewhere in the region of 80,000 - not for showering in the Village (which of course they had too), but more for athletes and officials during events. So, for example, Tennis players wiping their hands between points in games or archers before they let fly.

Elsewhere, my favourites have included the need for 3 metal detectors at the Beach Volleyball – presumably to retrieve lost belly button piercings? – and I am determined to get to the bottom of why they needed 60 crossbars for the high jump.

Each sport presents its own little treasure trove of trivia – I'm hoping that aside from anything else it'll come in useful at the next LOCOG quiz night.