London 2012 Olympics: Power and the glory spurring on Aaron Cook

Aaron Cook believes he can go from watching Power Rangers as a youngster to taking his place on the Olympic podium, despite splitting from the British squad set-up.

The British mat-ador: Aaron Cook has plenty of confidence in his new training set-up (Pic: PA)

The 20-year-old competed at his first Games in 2008 but lost out in controversial circumstances to Zhu Guo of China for a bronze medal.

That has only increased his  determination to go and win gold in London next year. But, as Cook reveals, his rise to sporting success stems from an unlikely source.

The Dorchester-born athlete watched Power Rangers as a child, leading his parents to take him to a local taekwondo club which was opening in his home town.

‘It could easily have been karate or judo, it just so happened to be that the taekwondo guy put a flyer through our letterbox,’ admits Cook after appearing as a life-size Power Ranger at the Westfield shopping centre in West London.

‘But that programme is the reason why I got into the sport – I just wanted to do what they did, be an “action man”. It’s amazing that they’ve done this for me now because I’m a big fan.

‘To be dressed as one for them was amazing! It’s pretty cool to be known as the Power Ranger of taekwondo now – maybe they can get me a job when I’ve finished competing!’

Behind all the fun, though, there is a tough challenge ahead of Cook, who last month quit the British squad set-up to go it alone ahead of the Olympics.

The single-minded youngster,  now based in Manchester, made the decision following an earlier-than-expected exit from the world championships in South Korea.

Having crashed out in round two, Cook considered his options going into the biggest year of his life and opted to train with his own coach at the gym he has in his back garden.

Cook said: ‘I’m still on track, I’m still good enough, I’m just doing my own thing. This way I’ll get better sparring partners and do more competitions.

‘I’ve always wanted to have my own team, as boxers do, and I feel I can go and win the gold medal in London but sometimes you have to do things the hard way.

‘We parted on good terms but their way does not work for everyone.’

He added: ‘It was a tremendous disappointment at the worlds but I had to go back to the drawing board after that and it’s now about qualifying for London.

‘It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity but I have to keep my head down and focus now.

‘I’m training on my own at home at times and that can be lonely.

‘But I have friends all over the world I can go and train with and spar with, and that is what I plan  to do.

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London 2012 announces Paralympic Games ticket prices

The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) today published its prices for Paralympic Games tickets, with more than half of the two million tickets available priced at £10 or less. More than 95 per cent of the tickets will be priced at £50 or less, with 75 per cent at £20 or less. Tickets for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies start at £20.12, with a top price of £500 for the Opening Ceremony.

The Paralympic Games takes place between 29 August and 9 September 2012, with 20 sports taking place at 19 venues. Tickets go on sale on the London 2012 ticketing website from 9 September 2011, with applications accepted until 30 September.

Ticketing initiatives
A number of ticketing initiatives have been designed to make the Games as accessible as possible for all spectators.

'Group Organiser' tickets are available in sessions with a ticket limit of 20 or more, and will allow groups who apply for 20 tickets or more per session to receive additional tickets at no extra charge. A Group Organiser applying for 20 tickets would receive two extra tickets at no extra charge, an application of 30 tickets would receive 33 tickets, and so on up to a Group Organiser applying for 50 tickets receiving a total of 55 tickets.

Special day passes have also been developed which will enable ticket holders to see a range of sports in the Olympic Park or at ExCeL on that day on a general admission basis.

Tickets for spectators who will be under 16 or over 60 on 29 August 2012 will start from just £5, while a London Travelcard is included within the price of tickets for the day of the event.

LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton commented: 'The Paralympic Games will light up London with quite simply brilliant sport next year.

'The UK is the spiritual home of the Paralympic movement and with superb medal prospects for ParalympicsGB, we believe that the British public will come out in their thousands to watch.

'We have created a fair pricing structure, which we hope will encourage people to come along and create fantastic atmospheres at our venues.'

Wheelchair spaces will be available in all price categories for every Paralympic sport, and the price of these tickets will include a companion seat next to it. Applicants who are deaf or have a hearing impairment, visually impaired people or people with limited mobility can indicate additional requirements.

The London 2012 ‘Ticketcare’ scheme will also feature, whereby any successful ticket applicant with high dependency care needs can apply for an additional ticket for their carer or PA.

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London 2012 Olympics: sponsors take up the running

The airline with the support of the Olympic Games the biggest ever sponsorship, and the new campaign marks the strengthening of the visibility of business support in London in 2012.

Construction work will slow down the groups in Stratford, London 2012 business focus is to move increasingly important trading partner, signed the increase LOCOG, the organizer.

Sponsorship contracts have already raised around £ 670 for the organizers of the Olympics, just below the goal of 700 pounds, and are a vital source of funding for the 9.3 billion pounds cost of implementing the Games.

But companies are also providing key products and services that are fundamental to the Olympic Games to London a reality.

BA paid £ 40m for a sponsorship level and scope of his campaign has been led by the British Great program, which provides travel grants for talented individuals and groups. The new campaign will see Heston Blumenthal, Richard E. Grant and Tracey Emin offering tutoring sessions for aspiring chefs, writers and artists. It will also feature 2,012 athletes, including Ben Ainslie, sailor, a graduate in media advertising with the slogan: "They're going to fly."

Buenos Aires is one of the partners signed on 1 September in the LOCOG Olympic Games, the others are Adidas, BMW, BP, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. Lloyds has also worked in community programs such as their heroes to help local youth athletes, but has increased its visibility as the official banking and insurance partner in sponsoring the ticketing process.

But in addition to the partners of level one, LOCOG has registered 33 supporters and suppliers. These include pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline for drug testing facilities, G4S Security, network infrastructure, Cisco, Heineken for alcohol, and later to Rio Tinto's gold, silver and bronze used in the medals.

As logistics and express delivery supporter, UPS has initiated discussions with LOCOG on how deliver the 1 million parts of sports for the Games. It just opened its first store dedicated in 2012 at Stevenage, which will celebrate sports before being transported to the respective headquarters. An important center of Tilbury is also expected to increase warehouse space of 880,000 square feet

Alan Williams, director of sponsorships from 2012 and the operations of the company, said: "Staging the Olympics and Paralympics are functioning in peacetime the largest logistics hub in the world, which means there a huge amount of operational planning necessary to ensure that everything goes well. "

At the same time Hornby is a very different role to play as the official merchandise licensee of the 2012 London Olympic Games. It produces the Corgi collectibles, such as taxis and buses in London, and Hornby train javelin trains which will travel to St Pancras Stratford, Scalextric and the velodrome track.

"Our inspiration was a London bus, Boris Johnson and the team used in [closing ceremony] Beijing," says Frank Martin, CEO of Hornby. "When we saw that we thought we had, at least, to produce the Corgi version of the line."

Hornby plans to have 150 products available for the opening ceremony in July 2012. Currently, the company is to ensure the conservation area with retailers, but expects 25pc of its sales for Olympics later this year. Martin says he is "strong" demand in the outskirts of London for 70PC products with sales outside the British capital.

As part of its preparation, Hornby pay for the real London taxis to be decorated in the style of the Olympic events, which justifies their conversion models. "I do not think it's fair to sell these taxis taxis do not exist in real life. Many of our clients are collectors, so the models must be credible," says Martin.

Hornby has signed a contract provider, 2009 Olympic organizers and get royalties for each unit sold.

"We did it for nothing because we thought it would be our profile," said Martin. "We could not get through the door in some sports stores without the Olympics, the same thing with stands memories and service stations. "

The environment around the Olympic sponsors are positive at present, but the offers will be financially advantageous? Heather Hancock, London 2012, Deloitte accounting partners, the first part and two sponsor, thinks so. "For us, the value of the Games has already been demonstrated by a large impact on recruitment and retention," he said.

"Many of our people had the opportunity to work with the Organizing Committee and other Olympic bodies through the secondment or consultancy projects. These roles have been in great demand, with nearly all the company 10PC has requested a paper LOCOG commission. I've also heard countless stories where our sponsorship is mentioned in the interviews as a reason to join Deloitte. "

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