Lakshmi Mittal and his son to carry the Olympics torch

Lakshmi Mittal is the main sponsor of the giant AreclorMittal Orbit near the Olympics Stadium and his trust has also been supporting Indian athletes.
Lakshmi Mittal said, "The torch relay is an excellent embodiment of all that the Olympic Games have come to symbolise - a celebration of the human spirit.
It needs to be added that created by noted artist Anish Kapoor, the ArcelorMittal Orbit is the tallest structure in the UK and Mittal's company has contributed 20 million pounds towards the creation of the structure.

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Posted in: 2012 London Games,2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 London Olympics

London 2012 Olympics Logo: An Emblem of Controversy

1 November 2011. Cheshire, United Kingdom. Since the official logo for the London 2012 Olympics was launched in 2007 it has caused a string of controversy and been met with a barrage of criticism. Not only was the London 2012 Olympics organising committee forced to withdraw its animated promotional video of the logo because it triggered seizures in people with epilepsy, but, with its arguably ‘distasteful’ shades of blue, green, orange and pink, and jagged 1980s-resonant typeface that is based on the date 2012, a petition of more than 40,000 names quickly circulated seeking the extraction of the logo following its launch four years ago.

The controversial logo was designed by brand consultants Wolff Olins, at a fee of £400,000. So intense was the objection that, just hours after it was officially launched, the Internet was swamped with alternative designs as thousands of outraged surfers blatantly outshone Wolff Ollins’ feeble official logo, by posting emblems they had designed themselves.

Despite the onslaught of criticism, Sebastian Coe, the 2012 organising committee’s chairman is quick to defend the emblem as being ‘visionary’ of what the Games are striving to achieve. “It’s not a logo, it’s a brand that will take us forward for the next five years,” Lord Coe told the BBC. “It won’t be everybody’s taste immediately but it’s a brand that we genuinely believe can be a hard working brand which builds on pretty much everything we said in Singapore about reaching out and engaging young people, which is where our challenge is over the next five years,” continued the London Olympics Chairman in 2007.

Despite Sebastian Coe’s optimism about the Olympics’ ‘ill-received’ logo, five years later the emblem is more contested than ever.

In light of its highly unpopular start, one would imagine the London 2012 Olympics’ logo’s destiny would have considerably improved. On the contrary, however, things have gone from bad to worse, for the logo that, in the words of the Olympics Committee’s chairman, “will define the venues and act as a reminder to use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people around the world.”

Personally, I cannot see how a jagged, brightly coloured, graffiti-style logo that bears no significance to British culture or sport other than simply stating the words ‘London’ and ‘2012’ and rouses absolutely zero motivation and inspiration, could possibly be seen as a ‘spirit to inspire everyone’. Whilst Lord Coe is adamant the brand will appeal to ‘young people’, the International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge believes the brand is an “indication of the dynamism, modernity and inclusiveness with which London 2012 will leave its Olympic mark.”

In reality, however, the Olympic committee bosses could not be further from the truth. Taking to the streets of London, I asked three young people their views about the ostracised logo just ten months before the Olympic Games will start. Rebecca Jones, a 27-year-old primary school teacher living in Brixton in the south of London is disappointed by the logo. “It looks like it could have been designed by a four year old,” said Ms Jones. “I don’t find its simplicity inspiring at all but rather a bit embarrassing for London.”

Russ Watkins, a website designer in his early thirties was equally as dissatisfied with the ‘brand’. “If the Olympics Committee can’t even chose a decent logo for the Games than it doesn’t instil much faith in them. It could at least make some reference to London’s uniqueness and inimitable identity. This logo could be a design for anywhere in the world,” said the Londoner.

Whilst in east London, the official ‘home’ of the Olympics, the air of discontent about the logo is as prominent as ever. When shown a photograph of the London Olympics logo, 18-year-old Tyrone from Tower Hamlets laughed out loud and sneered, “Is that the best they could come up with?”

Asides a large proportion of the British general public, particularly it seems Londoners, showing a discontent at the ‘uninspiring’ and distasteful Olympics logo, contention about the design expands well beyond Great Britain. The latest nation to voice their abhorrence and disproval towards the 2012 logo is Iran. In February this year Iran threatened to boycott the Games in protest of the logo’s alleged use of the biblical term ‘Zion’ for Israel’s capital, Jerusalem. In a letter wrote to Jacques Rogge, the Iranians spoke of the Committee’s ‘negligence’ in promoting such ‘racism’. “There is no doubt that negligence of the issue from your side may affect the presence of some countries in the games, especially Iran which abides by commitment to the values and principles,” the letter read.

Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been reported to refer to it as a ‘racist’ logo, which, he believes, has questioned the accuracy of Holocaust accounts. Jumping straight to its defence yet again, was Sebastian Coe who asserts that the logo represents the figure 2012 and nothing more, before reminding critics that as the logo was launched in 2007, “We are surprised that this complaint has been made now.”

Having been the alleged cause of 22 epileptic seizures, having been accused of representing a swastika, sexual act and, most recently, hidden pro-Israeli propaganda, and sparking an almost consensual embarrassment amongst the British people, let’s just hope that next year’s Olympic Games in London don’t follow in the footsteps of its ill-fated logo.

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

London Olympics Torch formally lit in Athens

The torch for the 2012 London Games was lit at Athens on Thursday at the site of the ancient Olympics.

In front of the ruins of the ancient Temple of Hera, an actress playing the role of a high priestesses lit the Olympic flame by the rays of the sun in a parabolic mirror.

Dignitaries at the ceremony included International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge and Sebastian Coe, chief of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG).

‘We promise to protect the flame, to cherish its traditions and stage an uplifting torch relay of which we can be proud,’ Coe said in a speech, adding that the event would ‘lift the spirits and hopes of people across Britain and across the world’.

The flame was handed over to the first torch-bearer, Greek world swimming champion Spyros Gianniotis, marking the start of an 1,800-mile journey through the country featuring 490 torch-bearers, Xinhua reports.

It will then be handed to London Games’ organisers May 17 in Athens’ Panathenaic Stadium.

The 70-day relay around Britain will start at Land’s End May 19 and end with the opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London July 27.

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

Sun god reigns over torch-lighting rehearsal

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece - Priestesses in pleated robes swayed under a scorching sun at thebirthplace of the ancient Olympics on Wednesday in the final rehearsal to light the flame that willburn at the London Games.

Far from the political drama embroiling debt-stricken Greece, locals and foreign touristsgathered at the ruins of the Doric temple to goddess Hera to watch as Greek actress InoMenegaki solemnly stooped to light the torch with a concave mirror.

The flame will serve as a backup if overcast skies loom over Thursday's official ceremony, butweather forecasts predict the event will be similarly blessed by abundant sunshine.

For the first time, male priests danced to the sound of a drum amid the temple's ancient ruinsinstead of limiting the choreography to the adjacent stadium, organisers said.

With her arms raised towards the sky, Menegaki - playing the role of high priestess - theninvoked the sun God Apollo in prayer before kneeling to light the torch in just a few seconds asthe sun's rays focused on the parabolic mirror.

On the slopes of the adjacent stadium where Greeks competed during the ancient games,priestesses swirled in a dance inspired by the mythological nymphs - nubile, young maidens inthe retinue of a god or goddess - while the male priests performed a version of an ancient wardance, minus the weapons.

Greek actress Ino Menegaki, playing the role of High Priestess, lights the Olympic flame during a dressrehearsal for the torch lighting ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the site of ancientOlympia in Greece May 9, 2012.[Photo/Agencies]

For many Greeks watching, the ceremony was an emotional moment, offering a reminder of theglorious past of a nation now mired in a deep political and economic crisis that threatens to pushit to bankruptcy and out of the euro zone.

"As I was watching the ceremony I was thinking that Greece was once a big power and has sincegone through a lot of hard times but as a country has always managed to stay afloat," saidVangelis Vanezis, a 35-year-old Greek who lives in London.

"And so it made me think that perhaps this crisis is something that will come and go and we'll getthrough it."

The rehearsal ended with the high priestess handing the flame and a fresh olive branch to thefirst torchbearer Spyros Gianniotis, a Liverpool-born Greek swimmer who won the gold medal inthe 10 km open water event at the 2011 world championships.

On Thursday, Gianniotis, who has a Greek father and a British mother, will run with the flame tothe monument where the heart of modern Olympics founder Pierre de Coubertin is buried beforecontinuing and handing the flame over to Alexander Loukos, a Briton of Greek origin.

The flame then covers 2900 km across over 40 towns in Greece, including remote ones nearthe Turkish border and tiny islands in the hands of 490 torchbearers.

It will also pass through five archaeological sites during its eight-day journey across Greecebefore it is flown to the United Kingdom for a tour before the Olympic Games start on July 27. 

An actress, playing the role of a priestess, releases a dove during the dress rehearsal for the torchlighting ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the site of ancient Olympia in Greece May 9, 2012.[Photo/Agencies]

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

London Olympic contingency tickets to on sale

Some 900,000 Olympic Games contingency tickets will go on sale on Friday,confirmed by the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games(LOCOG).

About 20,000 people, who were unsuccessful in the initial Olympic ballot application and thenagain failed in the second round of sales, will be given priority to have access to the tickets 31hours earlier than the rest of the eligible applicants, starting from 11 am on May 11 to 6 pm on12 May.

These tickets, to be sold on a first come, first served basis, will then be offered to the onemillion people who applied in the initial ballot but were unsuccessful.

They will then have an exclusive five-day sales period. Any tickets unsold during this period willgo back on general sale from 23 May at 11 am.

The tickets, available at www.tickets.london2012.com, include 5,000 to the Opening Ceremony, 6,000 to the Closing Ceremony, 50,000 to athletic events and so on.

Remaining tickets for the Paralympic Games will go on sale from 11 am on May 21, 100 daysahead of the opening ceremony of the Paralympics.

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

London 2012 Olympics: former BOA chief Simon Clegg lands top job with Guam to get ticket to Games

But Clegg, the former chief executive of the British Olympic Association, will have a very different role this summer to the one he envisaged when he led the BOA’s political lobbying campaign to persuade a reluctant Cabinet to back the Games.

The man who managed British teams at 12 Olympic Games, six as chef de mission, will be experiencing London 2012 as the official Olympic attaché for the Pacific island of Guam, one of the tiniest countries in the ‘Olympic family’ with a population of just 160,000. While Britain will be fielding a team of 550 athletes, Clegg will be looking after the interests of half a dozen.

It is a vivid illustration of just how much the landscape has changed since the Government, after months of prevarication, announced its intention to bid for the Games on May 15, 2003, and how some of the key figures responsible for this summer’s sporting extravaganza now find themselves on the periphery.

Clegg, who was made a CBE in 2006 for his contribution to London’s successful bid but who resigned from the BOA in 2008 after his role at the organisation was changed, has not received so much as a single ticket for London 2012 and so jumped at the offer of a job with Guam — and the perk of an access-all-areas pass.

“I’m still friendly with a lot of people in the Olympic movement – international colleagues that I’ve known for 20 years,” he said. “One of those colleagues kindly gave the opportunity to be the official Olympic attaché for Guam.

It’s not particularly demanding because obviously they are a small country with a tiny team and I will do whatever I can to support during the build-up and will continue to do so during the Games.

“The kind of jobs involved are speaking to people about uniforms, doing some work on the vehicles for them, and they’ve asked me to organise a team reception for them.”

Clegg, who has been chief executive of Ipswich Town since 2009, is not the only key player from nine years ago now on the Olympic margins.

• Where are they now? The key players in the decision to bid for 2012
• Sir Craig Reedie
  After playing a key role in London's successful bid to host the Games, Sir Craig retired as chairman of the British Olympic Association in 2005. He remains a member of the International Olympic Committee.
  Tickets for London 2012? Full accreditation.
• Simon Clegg CBE
  Having resigned as chief executive of the British Olympic Association in 2008, he is now chief executive of Ipswich Town FC and will take up a temporary role this summer as the official Olympic attaché for Guam.
  Tickets? Full accreditation.
• David Luckes MBE
  The former Olympic hockey player, who was the author of the original feasibility study for the London bid in 1997, is now head of sport competition for the London organising committee.
  Tickets? Full accreditation.
• Tessa Jowell
  The MP for Dulwich and West Norwood is the shadow minister for the Olympics and continues to sit on the ruling Olympic board. She will be working at the Games in a variety of roles
  Tickets? Full accreditation.
• Richard Caborn
  The former Minister for Sport, who played a key role in persuading the Government to back the bid, retired from politics in 2010. He is now president of the Amateur Boxing Association of England.
  Tickets? None.
• Ken Livingstone
  A keen supporter of the London bid long before the Government gave its backing, Livingstone announced his retirement from politics following his defeat in this month's London mayoral election.
  Tickets? Boris Johnson has promised to invite him to the Games.

After his defeat to Boris Johnson in the London mayoral election, Ken Livingstone will play no official part in an event that might never have got off the ground had it not been for his unwavering support for a London bid as a means of regenerating the east end of London.

His contribution has, however, been recognised by Johnson, who announced last week that he would be burying political differences by inviting Livingstone to the Games.

By contrast, Richard Caborn, the former Minister for Sport who helped lay the foundations for a London bid by garnering crucial support from Commonwealth sports ministers, has been offered no Olympic tickets other than an invitation by Camelot to watch the rowing.

“I don’t want to make a big issue of it but I haven’t got a single ticket to anywhere,” said Caborn, who retired from politics in 2010. “I’m not looking for it. I understand people move on. If I get it I’ll go but I’m not going to ask. If people think I’m not entitled, then I’m not entitled.”

Caborn’s political colleague, shadow Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, will at least have complete access to the Games after playing a fundamental part in persuading her Cabinet colleagues to endorse a bid nine years ago.

Despite Labour’s General Election defeat two years ago, Jowell retained her seat on the ruling Olympic board and will be working in a “troubleshooting” role at the Games with full accreditation.

Sir Craig Reedie, another key figure in the political lobbying that went on before 2003 and in the subsequent bidding process, will also enjoy privileged access as a member of the International Olympic Committee, while David Luckes, author of the BOA feasibility study in 1997 that formed the basis of the London bid, is now head of sports competition for the London organising committee.

Clegg, meanwhile, is looking forward to a less central role with his Pacific island charges.

“We were very, very close to calling it a day with the Government,” he said. “All the other cities had not only declared but were out there lobbying and we were still procrastinating and had been doing so for about two years. But in the end the Government did get over the line.

“I’m incredibly proud of the modest role I played in bringing the Olympics to this country. I’m convinced it’s going to be a fantastic Games.”

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

Brazil has 4 NBA players on list

Brazil's men's basketball team will be led by NBA players Nene, Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter and Anderson Varejao when it returns to the Olympics for the first time in 16 years.

The four players were included on the list of 15 by coach Ruben Magnano on Thursday. Also included was point guard Larry Taylor, who recently earned Brazilian citizenship.

Only 12 players will make it to London. But Taylor and the NBA players likely will be on the team because Magnano's list included two players who are there only to gain experience in practice and one other who has a knee injury and is not expected to recover in time.

Brazil's men last competed in the Olympics in 1996, reaching the quarterfinals in Atlanta.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

London 2012 Olympics: David Beckham says suggestions he would play for Team GB to sell shirts is disrespectful

The 37-year-old LA Galaxy midfielder and former England captain was a key member of London’s winning bid to host the London 2012 Games and has always said he will fight for a place to compete at the Olympics. He is set to be one of the three over-age players allowed in the squad, but he argued he would be picked on merit not because of glamour, newspaper sales or because he is a bigger commercial hitter.

Arriving with the Princess Royal to light the first Olympic flame on UK soil at RNAS Culdrose, Beckham said: “Whenever I have been asked about shirt sales or filling stadiums it has always felt a bit disrespectful. Throughout my career I have been pretty successful, I’ve played for some pretty big teams, represented my country quite a few times, and played for managers without sentiment.

“When you play for Sir Alex Ferguson, Fabio Capello, Sven-Goran Eriksson or other managers that I have played under, they don’t pick players because they want to fill a stadium or particularly to sell shirts.

“I have always found it an honour that people have wanted to buy my shirt and an honour that fans turn up to watch the team I am playing in. But no, I don’t want to be picked for shirt sales or as a stadium-filler, I want to be picked for what I can bring to the team. That has been the case throughout my career and I don’t want that to change.” He said he could offer invaluable experience to a young Olympic side.

Beckham’s high-profile role in the torch relay has garnered some criticism because he was representing a corporation – Samsung – rather than his 115 international caps after he arrived with a host of dignitaries to celebrate the arrival of the torch for the first of its 70 days, 8000-mile journey around the country.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games chief executive Paul Deighton defended the involvement of Samsung, Coca-Cola and Lloyds TSB as partners of the torch relay, denying that it was over-commercialising the concept. “I think we have struck the right balance there,” he said, describing the torch relay as the “golden thread uniting the country”.

A Sea King helicopter, the type flown by the Duke of Cambridge Prince William will be centre stage of the relay when it arrives at Land’s End early this morning to kick-start running legs of the relay. But officials say Prince William won’t be anywhere near the torch, with the helicopter instead flown by 771 squadron lieutenant commander Martin Shepherd.

Lieutenant commander Rich Full has been selected to carry the flame from the helicopter for the first torchbearer, Olympic gold-medal winning sailor Ben Ainslie at 7am. He will pass the flame to 18-year-old surfer Tassie Swallow from St Ives who is keen for her sport to become part of the Olympic programme in the first of 8000 torch ‘kisses’ on UK soil before the flame arrives at the Olympic stadium on July 27 for the Games’ opening ceremony.

Shadow Olympics minister Tessa Jowell told The Daily Telegraph: “It feels like this is the celebration that we were denied because of the 7/7 bombings, we have been waiting seven years for this kind of moment.”

Members of the Met Police’s 70 strong torch relay team slept overnight on the naval base to guard the flame and the Ministry of Defence protection unit who guard dignitaries were also in attendance.

Naval officers had tested the runway length at Culdrose two months ago to ensure that the specially painted British Airways plane would have sufficient landing room on the base that is normally used for helicopters.

Many of the navy officers were also keen to meet Beckham, but that greeting was restricted to 500 specially-invited guests of the navy including 100 local schoolchildren.

Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Chris Allison, in charge of Olympic security, said everyone was excited that the torch relay was finally underway. He revealed that so far, no groups had approached the police to request assistance with planned protests.

But assistant commissioner Allison warned protesters that while freedom of expression was a democratic right in the country, it did not give people the right to interfere with the torch or torchbearers.

David Beckham on Friday night dismissed as “disrespectful” suggestions that his selection for the Great Britain football team would be purely for commercial reasons.

Hot property: David Beckham holds the Olympic torch during the ceremony in Cornwall marking its arrival from Greece Photo: AP

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

London Olympics: 70 days to go; Iran prez wants to attend Games

Greece hands over Oly torch
Greece formally hands over the Olympic torch to a London delegation led by Princess Anne and including David Beckham on Thursday at the Panathenaic stadium where the first modern Games were held in 1896. Seb Coe, chairman of the London organising committee LOCOG, spoke of a ‘’massive, massive moment’’ as the clock ticks down to the Games opening on July 27 while London Mayor Boris Johnson was typically ebullient.

10,500 army men to be deployed
Britain’s armed forces minister says approximately 10,500 army personnel will be deployed to help protect the London Olympics. Responding to a written parliamentary question about how many army members will be on duty, Nick Harvey said on Wednesday that under current plans, about 1,700 army reservists and 8,800 regular army personnel will be deployed during the games, which run from July 27 to August 12.

Bolt confirmed for Zurich meet
Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt has been confirmed for the Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League in August, officials said. Bolt is the biggest drawing card in world athletics and will be defending his Olympic sprint titles at the London Olympiad which starts in July. The Weltklasse Zurich meet runs off August 30, just weeks after the conclusion of the London Olympics August 12.

‘No pressure to include Beckham’
David Beckham will have to earn his place in Britain’s Olympic football squad on skill and merit like any other player and can expect no special favours, London 2012 organisers said on Thursday. Speaking before the 37-year-old former England captain teamed up with a London delegation for the formal handing over of the Olympic flame, LOCOG chairman Seb Coe said there would be no attempt to twist the arm of Team GB manager Stuart Pearce.

Dix to miss Manchester meet
Double world silver medallist Walter Dix will miss Sunday’s showdown against British sprinter Dwain Chambers in England because of a tight hamstring, he said on Wednesday. Dix, favoured to run the 100 and 200 metres for the United States at the London Games, had been scheduled to race Chambers over 150 metres in Manchester. The American also pulled out of Wednesday’s meeting in Daegu, South Korea, as a precautionary move.

Iran prez wants to attend Games
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he hopes to attend the Olympic Games in London but that the British authorities were reluctant to allow him. “I would like to be beside the Iranian athletes in London to support them, but (the British) have issues with my presence,” Ahmadinejad said, without offering further explanation. “The enemies do not want our athletes to win medals, but our young people shall be present at the Olympic Games and give new reasons to take pride in Islamic Iran.”

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

Venues for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

During the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, events will take place at a variety of venues both across London and outside London.

Some of London's most iconic venues, such as Horse Guards Parade, Wimbledon, Wembley Stadium, Lords, Regent's Park and Hyde Park will have the honour of being turned into host venues for the London 2012 Games.

In addition, London will have some fantastic new sporting venues for the Games: the VeloPark, Aquatics Centre, Basketball Arena, and of course, the Olympic Stadium. Keep an eye on our news section for regular updates on these exciting new venues.

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Posted in: 2012 lon,2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 London Olympics,2012 london olympics tickets

Olympic Stamps on Sale Now and Diamond Jubilee Stamps Coming Soon

If you’re looking to boost your stamp collection, 2012 is the year to do it!

Royal Mail is issuing some interesting new collections featuring London events and figures this year, starting with the Olympic “definitive”, or everyday stamps, which go on sale today.

Olympic and Paralympic Stamps

The new stamps feature the Olympic and Paralympic logos, as well as an image of the Queen’s head, and are set to brighten up millions of letters.

After the Games, Royal Mail will issue a set of Gold Medal stamps to honour all Team GB victories.

Diamond Jubilee Stamps

Royal Mail will celebrate the Diamond Jubilee with three new stamp sets:

• House of Windsor stamps featuring the five monarchs from the start of the 20th century, issued 2 Feb
• A miniature sheet with six portraits of the Queen taken from banknotes, coins and stamps issued during her reign, including a 1st class diamond blue definitive, which replaces the standard 1st class gold definitive during the Jubilee Year, issued 6 Feb
• A set of eight stamps featuring images of the Queen during the six decades of her reign, issued 31 May

More London Stamp News

That’s not all! Look out for special Charles Dickens stamps in June to mark the 200th anniversary of the author’s birth, and an upcoming collection on British Fashion Designers (hope there’ll be a few Londoners there too).

While you await these new collections, keep your inner philatelist occupied at the British Postal Museum & Archive, where you can see stamps from all over the world.

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic Games,2012 London Olympics,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Logo

2012 Olympics Launches New Event: Competitive Tweeting

The website for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games just got a bit more rowdy. It now features an interactive contest designed to discover which country has the biggest online fan base.

The contest ranks the top 20 countries based on the number of tweets, YouTube videos and Flickr photos submitted. Fans already have submitted more than 20,000 tweets with Great Britain in the lead, followed by Brazil, the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands.

To be considered, tweets need to include the hashtag #1YearToGo, along with the three-letter code for your country. The aim of the contest: to promote the fact that we’re a year away from the opening ceremony of 2012 London Games on July 27, 2012.

As with past sporting events, social media will play a huge role in how fans participate in next summer’s 17-day festivity, whether they’re watching from home or at one of the 32 Olympic venues. We’ll have to wait to see if the level of tweets reaches the magnitude seen during this month’s FIFA Women’s World Cup final game, for example, when Twitter users set a new record of 7,196 tweets per second.

Last month, the Olympic Committee officially encouraged the 10,500 competing athletes from 200 countries to “take part in social media and to post, blog and tweet their experiences,” so long as their efforts are not for commercial purposes.

Tweets aside, the official Olympic website — London2012.com — has cranked up ways for fans to get involved well before the opening ceremony. In March, the website unveiled a feature in which users can create an Olympic mascot and share it on Facebook and Twitter.

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 London Olympics

Now the 2012 Olympic Games is faster, higher, stronger And FATTER!

The organisers of the London 2012 Olympic Games have sold out to McDonald's so spectacularly I wouldn't be surprised if Jessica Ennis collects her medal on the podium and is then asked 'Do you want fries with that?'

If you missed the grotesque development I'm referring to, allow me to provide a free refill - I mean recap. McDonald's has been allowed to open its largest-ever 'restaurant' right in the heart of the Olympic Park, a facility stretching 3,000sq metres across two floors, with three more of its burger outlets plonked elsewhere on the 2012 site.

Supersized: An image of the record-breaking McDonald's restaurant in the Olympic village at Stratford

Apparently this centrepiece McDonald's will have 1,500 seats and 'brightly coloured stools', which is an unfortunate by-product of selling all that fast food I suppose. There are also claims it will provide the largest peacetime catering operation the country has ever seen.

Well done everyone. Kerching! Defibrillators all round.

The Golden Arches of the American burger giants have been entwined with the five Olympic rings in a mutually beneficial death grip for so long we almost forget to be staggered by the strange marriage sport forges with junk food.

The idea McDonald's is even allowed to be a sponsorship partner for sport or pretend it in any way contributes to sporting prowess is simply illogical.

Talk about mixed messages. I haven't been this confused since my accountant told me I could save money by giving to charity. It's like tackling global warming by putting air conditioning units on the polar ice caps to keep them cool.

But there are times when a few words of sense remind us of the underlying idiocy behind these associations; step forward Olympic silver medal-winning boxer Amir Khan.

Asked about McDonald's massive presence at London 2012 he said: 'This is clearly sending the wrong signal to kids and young people. If we want them to be healthy and educate them to eat healthily, we need to think about approaching them in a different way, especially around sport.

'The Olympics are a great opportunity to show young people what types of food they need in different aspects of their lives. I think this is a mistake.'

And there you have it. Khan had landed one of the more meaningful punches of his life. A top athlete had reminded the 2012 organisers that their responsibilities extend beyond merely clearing a space for a burger giant in return for a supersized cheque.

McDonald's (and Coca-Cola and others) tip money into sport's pockets because it is a wonderful public relations exercise. They want you to make an automatic, often subliminal, link between their brand and sporting excellence.

At this point some paid lackey will be emailing me to point out how much money McDonald's puts into youth coaching.

One of its executives even argued recently that its initiatives offer youngsters a chance to burn off excess calories accumulated by eating junk food. (At places like, McDonald's for instance).

That may be the case. I will even concede it is possible to eat at McDonald's every single day and not gain any weight. And here's how you do it:

• Take your Big Mac and remove the meat slices...
• Place the two burgers carefully over your eyes...
• Lick the mayo off the underside of roll while eating the gherkin...
• Then nibble the remaining items while standing on one leg.

You might feel ridiculous as you do this, but you won't be half as ridiculous as the people who think you can eat McDonald's every day and not gain any weight.

The global companies would prefer you to forget their sweaty, artery-clogging burgers made from '100 per cent beef' - and definitely not ground up cow's lips, eyelids and bumholes as some claim - are unlikely to ever make you a champion. They hope you will forget their tooth-rotting fizzy concoction contains 10 teaspoons of sugar in every can as well.

They want you to believe Big Macs and Coca-Cola are a natural fit with sporting endeavour, which is why footballers are paid to kick a ball about in front of their logos and why athletes will swear a trip to McDonald's once in a blue moon won't do any harm, when they are at a McDonald's event.

Of course it won't. The odd burger is fine for someone doing regular exercise. But the target audience for these initiatives are usually far too busy eating McNuggets in front of the Nintendo to do any running about.

Childhood obesity has more than doubled in the last decade. One in four children is now officially obese. Diabetes is on the rise and a lack of education about dietary habits is a root cause.

Hanging a medal around Ronald McDonald's neck at the biggest sporting festival this country has ever held isn't going to reverse that alarming trend, although it might accelerate it.

This is not about food snobbery, either. I am not a vegetarian, a food Nazi or a 'fussy eater' (a euphemism for 'brat'). I eat anything and have a healthy appetite. Admittedly, that has caused problems . There was the unfortunate night in the French restaurant when I said: 'Waiter, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse' and he took the remark more literally than I'd intended.

But sports authorities are plain greedy. Football clubs run around selling alcohol brands on the front of their jerseys, yet fans can't buy a beer at the ground. Gambling is the preserve of the over-16s, but children have the names of various bookmakers on their football shirts.

Cigarette brands, once the mother lode of commercial partnerships, are now considered sponsorship lepers.

I don't suppose one cigarette every few weeks will do much harm to the system either, but they were still rightly banned from any association with sport because they were plain unhealthy.

Sport has obligations that go beyond making cash, but it has been surrendered here.

Naturally, the Government hasn't said a peep. It has stood idly by, salivating at the sweet smell of money mixed with deep-fried fat wafting towards them.

It made a mockery of the guff about how 2012 would bring great health benefits and be 'the real legacy of the Games'.

It's nothing new, of course. Back in Roman times, Emperors distracted the public from the issues of the day with food and spectacular contests at their colosseums, a policy the poet Juvenal described as 'bread and circuses'. It seems little has changed, except the price, although ' burgers and circuses' might be more accurate these days.

A brilliant Oscar win

There were two truly heartening Olympic stories this week. First among them was the sight of the incredible double amputee Oscar Pistorius qualifying for the 400metres at the 2012 Games.

The man erased boundaries between the Olympics and Paralympics with one astonishing run. It is a remarkable achievement. Pistorius is already a winner at London.

Blades of glory: Oscar Pistorius deserves his place at London 2012

The British have an Olympic sensation too. The world champion open water swimmer Keri-Anne Payne was the country's first athlete to qualify for 2012 and is sure to be one of the faces of the Games. I know how much hard work she puts in. She deserves every success coming her way.

Williams is just the moan man

Tiger Woods' caddie Steve Williams got a little carried away with his Aretha Franklin this week.

After hearing his 12-year job hauling a bag around for the once brilliant golfer turned waitress botherer was over, Williams demanded some R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

'I think anybody in my situation would say they didn't have total respect and that respect would have to be earned,' he moaned. 'Obviously this is certainly not earning my respect. I told him he had to earn my respect back.

'He was aware of that and right now I've lost a tremendous amount of respect for him. Through time I hope he can gain my respect back. He definitely needs to earn my respect again, that's for sure.'

Tiger attack: Axed caddie Steve Williams (left)

He may have added: 'And all I'm asking in return, honey, Is to give me my profits, when you get home - just a little bit'. But I can't verify that last extract because by then he was talking to the hand.

Remember this caddie got more than just a little bit. Tiger once gave the bag carrier a Ford GT worth $140,000 after winning a tournament. In fact, the sublime sporting talent of Woods earned Williams an estimated $12million in their time together.

That is for reading a yardage chart, wiping a nine iron with a towel, holding a flagpole and then saying 'it looks like it might go left to right'. But not in a lap dancing club, of course. Because Williams says he knew nothing about Woods' insanely manic private life during their time together, which is an extraordinary admission over 12 years.

So either he's covering his tracks with the missus, or the two men had a relationship based on pure business, not friendship.

Either way - with respect, Steve - do shut up. What you want? You know you got it.

Not so hot off the press

Breaking transfer news: Cesc Fabregas still wants to join Barcelona; Carlos Tevez still intends to join a club that isn't in Manchester; Luka Modric is at Tottenham but still doesn't want to be and Wesley Sneijder is still earning a lot of money at Inter Milan and seems far from inclined to give it up.

That's right, people. The situation is constantly changing by the hour.

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,London 2012 Olympic Games

CHINESE WOMEN PLAYERS READY FOR THE UP-COMING 2012 LONDON OLYMPIC GAMES

Chinese Women players ready for the up-coming 2012 London Olympic Games

The next Olympic will be held from July 27 to August 12, 2012 in London, England and will surely be quite a fascinating event. The table tennis event in 2012 London Olympic Games will be held in the Excel Centre in East London’s Royal Victoria Dock. It will be played on sports looring supplied by Tinsue.

Wang Hao and Zhang Jike are China’s Men qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympics. Li Xiaoxia and Guo Yan are China’s women qualifiers and all these four players have directly qualified by the world ranking as per May 16, 2011. There are a total of 28 players for each event worldwide, who have qualified directly with a maximum number of three men and three women.

Sadly, not all the best players will be participating in this mega event as there’s a limit. Only 86 men and 86 women can take part in 2012 London Olympics.

China being a strong table tennis nation, who has numerous players in world ranking, will only be able to send three women and three men for the upcoming Olympic Games.

Guo Yan, the qualifier for table tennis in 2012 Olympic is the winner of 2006 and 2011 World Cup. Currently ranked second in ITTF world ranking as of February 2011. She was a runner-up in 2005 World Championship and a semi-finalist in 2007. Guo has won the Pro Tour four times, Swedish Open in 2001, Korean Open in 2003 and English Open in 2009.

Yan is a right-handed player with a remarkable record and all eyes are on her as she has already qualified for 2012 London Olympics.

Li Xiaoxia is the second player representing China in 2012 London Olympics. Li Xiaoxia is a very talented player and she is expected to be one of the most demanding players for China. She is at number one on the ITTF women’s ranking as of April 2011.

Li Xiaoxia is a right-handed player born on January 16, 1988 and has claimed many titles on her name. She was the runner-up in 2007 World Championship and a semi-finalist in 2009. She has appeared in three World Cup tournaments and won the title in 2008 and was third in 2009.  Li Xiaoxia was a runner-up in 2007 and 2009 Asian Championships.

China’s preparation for the most loved sport of their country is at its best for the 2012 London Olympics. All eyes are on the Chinese players and no doubt they are the hot favorites to win the event and repeat the history. 

Chinese women table tennis has all what it takes to dominate any tournament. Tough training, practice and mental strength has enabled Chinese players to achieve such skills and techniques that are unmatchable at international standards.

The new format for 2012 Olympics surely makes it harder for some of the other remarkable Chinese players to show their skills at the event which is quite unfortunate for players like Ding Ning, Guo Yue, Liu Shiwen, Wu Yang and the list goes on.  Six out of seven players in world’s top ranking list are from China as of latest ITTF ranking in July 2011.

All eyes are on Li Xiaoxia and Guo Yan, already as the whole Chinese nation hopes and prays for them to maintain their winning-streak and makes their nation proud in the 2012 London Olympics.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic Games,ExCel centre,Guo Yan,Table Tennis,Wang Hao