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 Olympic organisers urged to support sustainable merchandise push

The organisers of the London Olympics have been urged to work with the licensed manufacturers of official merchandise to make sure they have clear and transparent ethical production policies.

As of September 2011 about 3,500 individual product lines out of an expected 10,000 were already on sale, ranging from metal pin badges and keyrings to sportswear, bags, towels and train sets – many featuring the Wenlock and Mandeville mascots and official logos.

A report called Sustainably Sourced? analyses the work done by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) to implement sustainable merchandising policies, in line with the commitment to host the "greenest" Olympic Games ever.

It is published by the Commission for Sustainable London 2012, which was set up to monitor the sustainability of the London 2012 programme.

With retail sales expected to be in the region of £1bn, merchandise is a significant part of Locog's revenue generation. It expects to have 50-60 licensees – all major companies awarded the rights to produce a range of products carrying the London 2012, Team GB or Paralympics GB brands.

The commission is recommending that Locog works with these licensees to showcase improvements to sustainability, particularly given consumer concerns over T-shirts and sportswear produced in overseas sweatshops.

There are also concerns that, at a difficult time for the British manufacturing industry, the lion's share of the merchandise is being produced overseas. The bulk is being produced in China and Turkey with less than 10% bearing the hallmark "Made in the UK". Locog has justified this by pointing out that the majority of the licensees are British.

The report commends Locog's sustainable merchandising efforts as "to date, the best the Olympics and Paralympics have ever seen. Locog is setting new standards for the event and retail industries to follow."

But it goes on: "Traditionally, many of the industries involved in making merchandise have not sought to significantly address sustainability in their products and supply chain.

"Therefore, we recommend that a series of case studies be developed using examples from London 2012 merchandise to help move these industries forward. These should demonstrate successes in areas such as ethical supply and environmental standards."

It singles out clothing giant Adidas for having a transparent policy on sourcing, but stops short of naming and shaming companies it believes have fallen short of this high standard.

In a statement the commission said: "We have not had access to a comprehensive audit of environmental and ethical performance for each product, so it is not appropriate for us to comment on individual sponsors, retailers or licensees in this instance.

"Only Adidas has disclosed the location of all factories in its direct supply chain. This sets an example to the industry and the commission believes more partners and licensees should follow Adidas's lead and disclose their factory locations."

Elsewhere in the report, the commission also urges Locog to "better communicate" its sustainability standards to shoppers. "While Locog's efforts to make its merchandise more sustainable have been excellent, consumers may not realise this when they purchase products," it said.

"For example, when a customer buys a product, it should be possible to tell them more about the sustainability story of that product."

Shaun McCarthy, chair of the commission, said: "We recognise there are some sustainability issues which Locog can't solve on its own. However, we believe that by fully engaging with Locog's sustainable and ethical sourcing codes, London 2012 licensees can adopt more sustainable behaviour on a permanent basis."

A spokesperson for Locog said: "We welcome the commission's review of our merchandising and we are delighted our efforts to date are described as the best the Olympics and Paralympics have ever seen. We will now look closely at the commission's recommendations over the coming months."

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympics,2012 Olympic,2012 Olympic Logo,2012 Olympic stadium,2012 Paralympic

London 2012 Celebrates 500 Days To Go As Tickets Go On Sale

London 2012 began its 500-days-to-go celebrations yesterday with the unveiling of the OMEGA countdown clock in Trafalgar Square. As official timekeeper for the London 2012 Games, OMEGA has provided a large countdown clock that will allow Londoners to see the days, hours, minutes and seconds until London’s big day on 27 July 2012 – the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. In addition, Olympic tickets have also gone on sale around the world, with sports and Olympic fans now able to apply to see the world’s best athletes compete at the Games.

The Greatest Tickets on Earth

Described by London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) Chairman Sebastian Coe as the “greatest tickets on earth”, now is your chance to apply for tickets to the London 2012 Olympic Games. UK and residents of designated European countries can apply through London 2012’s ticketing website at any time during the 42-day application period. It is not a first-come, first-served system within the UK, so take your time and decide which events you want to try and attend with your family and friends. Fans living outside the UK (including in the designated European countries) will be able to apply for tickets through their local National Olympic Committee (NOC) and/or its Authorised Ticket Reseller (ATR). Sales processes may vary according to territory, so fans are encouraged to contact their NOC and/or local ATR for more details. We are proud to work with Worldwide TOP Partner Visa as the exclusive payment services provider.
Be There

Summing up what fans can expect in 2012, LOCOG Chairman Coe said, “London will be a fantastic place to be in the summer of 2012, with a unique atmosphere, and we look forward to welcoming the world to our city and to the UK. There is a huge range of tickets available, to see the best athletes in the world competing. My message is simple – be there.”
Counting Down

The OMEGA countdown clock was unveiled by four Olympic gold medallists from Team GB - rowers Pete Reed and Andy Hodge and sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson. It stands 6.5 metres high, is 5 metres long and weighs around 4 tonnes. Its design reflects the look of the Games, with the beams of light on the clock being inspired by London and its connection with the Meridian Line in Greenwich, the home of time. The final countdown has now well and truly begun for those athletes looking to be at the London Games in 500 days’ time.
LONDON 2012

London was elected as the host city for the Games of the XXX Olympiad on 6 July 2005 at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. London eventually succeeded in the fourth round of voting, taking 54 votes from a possible 104. London faced stiff opposition during the vote from the other four candidate cities: Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid. There will be 26 sports on the Olympic programme in London in 2012 and around 10,500 athletes.

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympics,2012 Olympic,2012 Olympic Logo,2012 Olympic stadium,2012 olympic travel packages,London 2012,London 2012 Olympic,London 2012 Olympic Games,London 2012 Olympics Tickets,London 2012 Stadium

London 2012 Olympic venues to stage test events this summer

Spectators will get their first taste of sport in the new 2012 Olympic venues this summer at test events including beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade and basketball in the Olympic Park, London organisers have revealed.

A comprehensive 12-month testing programme will cover 42 events across 26 venues and involving 8,000 athletes from more than 50 countries. Not all of the events will be open to the public, depending on the emphasis of the tests.

A total of 150,000 tickets costing between £5 and £35 will be on sale across several events, though others such as the London–Surrey Cycle Classic to test the road race route will be free.

Tickets for the equestrian test events at Greenwich Park will be given away to local residents. Altogether, a total of 250,000 spectators are expected to see events in the so-called "London Prepares Series".

"This is a dress rehearsal for us but the public, of course, will see the rehearsal not the dress. It will look and feel quite different," London 2012's chief executive, Paul Deighton, said. "We don't expect to get everything absolutely right. If we did I wouldn't be happy because we wouldn't be stress-testing things properly. We will learn from our mistakes and make changes."

The series takes in events organised and ticketed by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog), such as the mountain biking at Hadleigh Farm for which there will be 5,000 tickets available in July, and others, such as the Badminton World Championships at Wembley Arena in August, that it will not organise but will help to staff and operate.

The test events are grouped into three "clusters". The first, in July and August this year, predominantly take place at venues away from the Park. The exceptions are the BMX and basketball events on the Olympic Park, for which spectators will be bussed in to what will still be a construction site.

Locog will build reduced versions of the temporary grandstands that will be used for the Games at the showjumping arena in Greenwich Park and the beach volleyball venue at Horse Guards Parade.

The second cluster of events, from November to January next year, will include events at the aquatics centre and the velodrome, while the third cluster in April and May 2012 will test the rest of the Olympic Park venues including the athletics stadium.

Deighton said the events would be used to test technology, security, ticketing, crowd flows and logistical considerations surrounding the individual sports themselves. Modern pentathlon, for example, has recently switched to laser shooting in place of the traditional air rifles and will need to be rigorously tested in situ at Greenwich Park.

Deighton and Locog's head of sport, Debbie Jevans, said lessons had been learned about the staging of events from Beijing and about city-wide logistics from the Vancouver Winter Games.

In Vancouver in 2010, organisers came under fire for the Own the Podium programme that attempted to maximise home advantage by restricting access to rival teams.

Asked whether London organisers risked going the other way by inviting top-class athletes to compete in Games-time conditions at new 2012 venues, Jevans said: "We have worked closely with the BOA but also with international federations to allow them access. We have to be open but we also have to get ready to deliver these Games."

Deighton also confirmed that those who did not get all the tickets they applied for in the first phase of applications, which closed on 26 April, would be offered the chance to buy other tickets in July. Those who didn't apply in the first phase won't be able to do so until late this year.Tickets for the test events will be sold through Ticketmaster from 26 May.

The four ticketed London 2012 test events this summer are

Mountain bike 31 July, Hadleigh Farm, Essex

Beach volleyball 9-14 August, Horse Guards Parade

Basketball 16-21 August, Basketball Arena, Olympic Park

BMX 19-20 August, BMX Track, Olympic Park

Other London 2012 venue ticketed events include

Gymnastics (artistic, rhythmic and trampoline) 10-18 January 2012, North Greenwich Arena

Cycling (track) 17-19 February 2012, Velodrome, Olympic Park

Aquatics (diving) 20-26 February 2012, Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Aquatics (synchronised swimming) 18-22 April 2012, Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Hockey 2-6 May 2012, Hockey Centre, Olympic Park

Wheelchair tennis 2-6 May 2012, Eton Manor, Olympic Park

Water polo 3-6 May 2012, Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Athletics 4-7 May 2012, Olympic Stadium

Paralympic athletics 8 May 2012, Olympic Stadium

Ticketing arrangements for these events will be announced later this year

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympics,2012 Olympic,2012 Olympic Logo,2012 Olympic stadium,2012 Olympics,2012 Olympics Coins,2012 Olympics logo,2012 Olympics Progress,2012 Olympics venue,London 2012,London 2012 Olympic,London 2012 Olympic Coins,London 2012 Olympics,London 2012 Olympics Tickets,London 2012 Stadium,London Olympic 2012,London Olympic Games

London 2012 - Mixed sailing debuts as 2016 events decided

The 2016 Olympics will see mixed sailing make its Games debut after the ISF announced the 10 events that will take to the water in Brazil.

After a meeting in St Petersburg the ISAF Council announced that a two-person mixed multihull event will be included in 2016.

But arguably the biggest impacting change for the Great Britain sailors comes with the culling of the Star keelboat class, an event GB has dominated in recent years.

Great Britain's Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won gold in the Star event at the 2008 Games but next year's 2012 Olympic will be their final chance to top the podium in the class.

The Elliott class - making its debut next year in London - has also been cut from the Olympic schedule meaning there will be no keelboat events in Rio.

The women's skiff has also been added to the schedule, a decision received with mixed feelings by John Derbyshire, the Royal Yachting Association's racing manager and performance director.

"The RYA is supportive of the slate of events agreed by ISAF Council, which shows progression within the sport and a clear pathway now, particularly for girls transitioning from the youth classes into Olympic campaigning," said Derbyshire.

"It's disappointing in some ways to be losing an old friend with the removal of the Star class, which has been a fixture in Olympic sailing since 1932, and that Women's Match Racing has not proved as successful as hoped.

"The mood of the meeting clearly showed, though, that the retention of the keelboat events is not the right thing for the future growth and appeal of the sport in Olympic terms right now, and that the events chosen reflect more the mass participation of young sailors within sailing, and the RYA supports those views."

More Than The Games / Eurosport

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympics,2012 Olympic,2012 Olympic Logo,2012 Olympic stadium,2012 Olympics,2012 Olympics Coins,2012 Olympics logo,2012 Olympics Progress,2012 Olympics venue,London 2012,London 2012 Olympic,London 2012 Olympic Coins,London 2012 Olympics,London 2012 Olympics Tickets,London 2012 Stadium

London Attractions – Olympics 2012

London Tourist Attractions and 2012 Olympics

City of London has various attractions to offer the tourists.  Around 3.5 million tourists visit London every year.  Tower Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral are some of the top attractions in London.  London Eye – the 135 meter high observation giant wheel is also one of the biggest attractions of London.  It is the biggest giant wheel in the world situated on South Bank and on a clear day, it offers 25 miles of splendid view.  However, the newest tourist attraction in London is going to be the London Olympics 2012.

London is hosting international sports for past several years.  In 1948, London had hosted Olympic Games.  Amongst the most popular international games, London is hosting tennis tournaments every year at Wimbledon, a very spectacular village.  Game lovers enjoyed a lot of thrilling championship games like the game played between the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus.  London has given great players like, Wyne Rooney and football legend David Beckham.

London has a bright past record of managing big events, but talking about Olympics 2012, it is a big responsibility as the whole world is watching London.  That is why, this event means a lot to London.  Not only citizens of London but also the entire world population is expecting a lot. London Olympics Managing committee has a great responsibility of planning the event, building the structure, organizing all infrastructure development and completing the project in time.  They have worked hard to overcome the recession and you can see new face of London soon.  Huge amount of temporary jobs have been now available and the structure they are constructing can be reused or move to another desired place.  It all means that in the future there is an opportunity for more jobs and more scope for such events in London.

This event will boost London’s economy to the great extent.  This event will attract game lovers to London from all over the world.  Money spent on shopping, transportation, accommodation, and on restaurant by visitors is the other side of coin.  London city’s water sources are being rejuvenated for the event, and a huge parkland is being developed.  City of London is visitor’s paradise offering a lot to the visitors.  This Olympics event will surely provide a wonderful atmosphere to get London’s multicultural people together by maintaining a friendly rivalry.  Everyone will be easily united by a single language.  English is the native language of London and the prime language spoken in various countries.

Media and social sites will play a very important role in promotion of London Olympics.  Every one would like to tweet on twitter about games, while you can enjoy videos on You Tube.  Every one wants to know more about this event so you can get updated information on the official olympics website http://www.london-2012.co.uk.

8 million tickets are estimated for Olympic Games and 5 million tickets for the Paralympics. Tickets and entry passes would be available from year 2011, but game lovers have started to keeping track of latest updates on ticketing schedule.  In March 2011, tickets for London Olympics 2012 will be available for sale.  Therefore, there will be a huge fun and entertainment during London Olympic 2012. Olympics 2012 is surely going to be a major tourist attraction in London.

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Posted in: 2012 Olympic Logo,2012 Olympics Progress,Lon,London 2012 Olympic Coins,London 2012 Olympics,London Attractions,London Olympics,London Olympics 2012 Tickets,London Olympics Hotels,London Olympics Scams