London 2012 Olympics: Sir Clive Woodward backs technology 'gamechanger' to deliver Olympic golds

Sir Clive Woodward is a man who most English rugby union fans would love to see come to the rescue of the national team after their disastrous World Cup campaign, but he is currently property of the British Olympic Association, where his innovations continue to produce results.

One of his slogans in his previous tenure as head coach of the England team, a time defined both by his methods and his victories, was typical of his efforts to do anything to gain an advantage: "If you win in IT, you tend to win".

Between 1998 and 2004 Woodward implemented a number of methods that raised eyebrows amongst his rivals but that ultimately gave England small "half a per cent" advantages over their opponents. He employed a vast backroom staff including coaches for specific aspects of the game (unheard of at the turn of the century): a masseur, a chef, and even a QC for any legal issues that arose on tours.

Woodward understood that to be the best rugby team in the world the England side had to be the fittest. So he completely revamped the players' health and conditioning habits. Under the advice of their nutritionist - another member of the backroom staff - the England team were put on a high protein diet that prohibited them from eating carbohydrates after lunch and recovery after matches and training was led by the use of ice baths to help halt the build up of lactic acid.

Sherylle Calder, the visualisation coach who had helped establish Australia as the dominant cricket team of the 1990s, was also brought on board by Woodward. She created a software program that players used in training and spoke with them on a one-on-one basis to try to increase their spatial awareness.

Jason Robinson, in tight fitting England kit, scorches over for a try in England's 2003 Rugby World Cup final win over Australia

Every detail was accounted for, even the rugby jerseys the team wore. Woodward had noticed that some of England's fastest players were being prevented from accelerating away because their opponents were able to tug at their jerseys. Their kit suppliers Nike were alerted to the complaint and England entered the World Cup clad in tight-fitting shirts that Woodward insists made his players harder to tackle.

At the Rugby Football Union he also introduced Prozone, an evaluation system that fed back from 12 cameras strapped to the roof of Twickenham, which allowed him to track all the performance levels of his players.

This, he says, allowed England to overtake their southern hemisphere rivals and become the best team in the world, winning the only World Cup victory by a northern hemisphere team in the tournament’s history.

Now in his role of director of elite performance at the BOA Woodward is at it again, determined to make Team GB the most technologically advanced outfit at the London Olympics.

And encouragingly for those who want to see GB athletes on the podium next year, he thinks he has the answer, thanks to the analysis software and storage products provided by a company called Dartfish. Little known outside professional sports, it is creating a minor revolution within them.

Woodward, in fact, rates the Dartfish technology, used by 22 of the BOA's Olympic sport teams, as highly as the Prozone software used on the way to Rugby World Cup victory.

"With England we understood how important technology was,” says Woodward. “So I implemented the use of Prozone and it allowed us to lead the way ahead of the Aussies and the Kiwis.

"We’ve now set up an IT hub down in Stratford where we're planning on getting live feeds from the all London 2012 events, and we're hoping to work with Dartfish in terms of the overall software programme that we're using."

The intention is for the BOA to use the live video footage provided by the Olympic Broadcasting Services during the Games and plug that footage into the Dartfish software. Coaches on the sidelines during live events are then able to watch and analyse the pictures using their iPhones and iPads and can make live decisions based on real-time performance.

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

London 2012, Atos launch Technology Operations Centre

The launch of the centre follows the first phase of London Prepares Series

London 2012 and Atos, the IT Partner for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, have launched the Technology Operations Centre.

The new centre is designed to be the mission control for all 94 Olympic competition and non-competition venues.

Atos said the launch of Technology Operations Centre follows the first phase of the London Prepares Series.

Technology Operations Centre monitors and controls the IT systems that deliver the results from all the Olympic and Paralympic sports competitions to the world's media in real time and Atos expects to process 30% more results data than in Beijing, said the company.

Atos predicts that the London Games are set with 8.5 billion PCs, smartphones and tablets connected to the Internet by 2012.

In this year's Summer Olympics, all 26 Olympic sports and 5 of the Paralympic sports have been added to the Commentator Information System (CIS). The CIS is managed, centrally from the Technology Operations Centre to enable commentators and journalists with touch-screen technology that gives results in real time.

Broadcasters will have access both in London and their home countries to the system for all Olympic and 5 Paralympic sports, said Atos.

When the Games are on, the Technology Operations Centre will operate at full capacity with about 450 business technologists covering 180 positions to manage and monitor the technology infrastructure and systems including IT security, telecommunications, power and the results systems.

Atos said the first phase of the London Prepare Series serve as the first real life practice events for not just athletes, but also the technology team, as well as the media, and the venues themselves.

During the 79 days of competition, the London 2012 technology team, Atos and all the technology partners set up and took down almost 180 servers, over 1160 PCs and laptops, 190 network and security devices and more than 400 printers and copiers, said the company.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said technology is radically changing how spectators enjoy the Olympic Games.

"The IOC is very impressed with the progress of the preparations in London," said Rogge.

London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton said technology often goes unnoticed and yet is absolutely critical to London 2012 success in 2012.

"The Games cannot happen without technology and I am delighted that that our London 2012 Technology team together with Atos and the team of technology partners are on track to deliver the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012," said Deighton.

Atos Iberia Olympics and Major Events CEO Patrick Adiba said Technology Operations Centre will be the central technology hub providing the results to the Olympic family and world's media in less than a second, so spectators around the world can follow events in real time wherever they are and on any device.

"Today is a major technology milestone and demonstrates that we are on target to deliver the London 2012 Games," said Adiba.

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

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 Olympics: officials to be questioned by Parliament over collapse of stadium deal

The news came on the day that the West Ham deal collapsed, leaving a black hole of £100 million that may have to be funded by the taxpayer.

Andrew Altman, chief executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company responsible for negotiations with West Ham, is among the officials who will be called before the influential Public Accounts Committee on Dec 14.

Details of the inquiry can be disclosed as it emerged that the collapse of West Ham’s deal to take over the Olympic Stadium has left a shortfall in the public funding package.

Margaret Hodge MP, the committee’s chairman, said the cost of reconfiguring the stadium was certain to be raised by MPs. She said that the officials in charge “appear to be oblivious to the constraints that the rest of the public sector are experiencing.”

Dennis Hone, chief executive of the Olympic Development Authority, Paul Deighton, chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, and Jonathan Stephens, the most senior civil servant at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will also be questioned.

Newham and the Government blamed “legal paralysis” caused by Tottenham and Leyton Orient, who have demanded a judicial review scheduled to be heard next Tuesday.

Newham were also facing an anonymous complaint to the European Commission, arguing that their loan constituted illegal state aid.

There was also the possibility that Newham-West Ham could lose the case if it went to a full hearing. Leyton Orient were increasingly confident about the strength of their case.

The hearing will come after the National Audit Office, the public spending watchdog, publishes a value-for-money review of the Olympics in the next few weeks.

The OPLC confirmed on Tuesday that it had ended negotiations with West Ham and funding partner Newham Council because legal challenges meant they could no longer guarantee to have the stadium open for the start of the 2014-15 football season.

The OPLC said it would issue new tender documents for a 60,000-seat stadium retaining the running track by early next month and is seeking expression of interest by January. The intention is for the stadium to remain in public ownership with the successful bidder paying an annual rent of around £2 million.

Under the new proposal, however, the cost of converting the stadium from its 85,000 Olympic capacity to a 60,000-seat arena with the facilities required by a Premier League football club will fall to the taxpayer.

Sports minister Hugh Robertson said on Tuesday that the cost was estimated at £95 million.

Some £35 million of that has already been allocated by the OPLC to a conversion fund, but the remaining £60million is likely to be met from public funds unless a tenant can be persuaded to contribute.

Estimates on Tuesday night suggested the costs could exceed £100 million.

The OPLC and Government would hope to recover the investment in rent over the lifetime of the stadium. They will also hope to attract other sports and concert promoters to show an interest.

Robertson suggested that Newham might be persuaded to provide £40 million to the conversion costs as under the initial deal with West Ham, but conceded that there was no requirement for them to do so.

West Ham immediately said they would bid to move to the stadium. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, said the new tenants would “almost certainly be West Ham”. This drew an angry response and the threat of further legal action from Leyton Orient, who are also intent on bidding for the stadium, which is less than a mile from Brisbane Road.

“It appears from the mayor’s comments that he has not grasped the reality of an impartial tender process unless he knows something that we don’t,” club chairman Barry Hearn said.

“One would have thought that if there have been any lessons from this debacle of a bid process that they have not been learnt. We will be watching carefully.”

Chelsea and QPR, both exploring new stadium options, last night said they were not interested. Tottenham will examine the tender documents but if the track is non-negotiable they will concentrate on securing additional public sector funding for their new ground in Haringey.

Leyton Orient will go to the High Court on Thursday seeking to recover their full costs.

Andrew Boff, Olympic spokesman for the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, branded the collapse “a catastrophe” and blamed London 2012 chairman Lord Coe for insisting the running track be kept.

The announcement was welcomed by Johnson and UK Athletics, who believe the commitment to retain the track will enhance their bid for the 2017 World Athletics Championships.

What the OPLC decision means for the key players in stadium drama

UK ATHLETICS
The decision represents a welcome boost to UKA, as it guarantees the retention of a running track – crucial for London’s bid to host the 2017 World Championships. Athletics is the major beneficiary without contributing any funding.

What they say: UKA chairman Ed Warner: "The legacy company has acted swiftly and smartly. They’re going to get a positive result.”

OLYMPIC PARK LEGACY COMPANY
A serious embarrassment. They had been confident the deal with West Ham would survive legal challenges. They will now have to spend up to £100 million of public money on transforming the stadium.

What they say: Sports Minister Hugh Robertson: "This is not a white elephant. The action we have taken today is about removing uncertainty.”

WEST HAM
West Ham appear to remain the OPLC’s preferred bidder for the £2 million-a-year tenancy. This new scenario could be a better deal for the club, who could not have afforded to move into the stadium without the £40 million of state aid promised by Newham Council. That money was under threat if Tottenham and Leyton Orient had won their High Court case against the West Ham-Newham bid.

What they say: Karren Brady, vice-chairman: "Our bid is the only one that will secure the sporting and community legacy promise.”

TOTTENHAM
The club welcomed the decision and will look at the OPLC’s tenancy terms. But if a running track is non-negotiable, they have already stated they are not interested. Instead they will focus on securing public funding for a new stadium in Haringey.

What they say: Club statement: "The bid we put forward was a realistic solution.”

LEYTON ORIENT
A major victory for the League One club in the short term. The decision does not banish their big fear – West Ham moving in – but they will now bid to become the stadium’s tenant.

What they say: Chairman Barry Hearn: "If it’s not us moving in, we will continue to object.”

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Posted in: London 2012,London 2012 Olympic,London 2012 Olympics,London 2012 Olympics Tickets,London 2012 Stadium,London 2012 Tickets

London ready for 2012 “Great” Olympic Games - UK High Commissioner declares

With a little less than a year to go for the 2012 London Olympics, the UK High Commissioner to Ghana, Peter Jones, has declared London ready and good to go for the world’s most glamorous sporting event.

According to him, the infrastructure for the event are all ready for use, a sharp contrast to previous events in which host cities raced against time to complete the stadia on time for the competition.

"We are on track. The good news is that most of the stadiums and the sporting venues are already available. As you probably know, for international sporting events, that’s kind of unusual. Normally there is a rush towards the end. But we got ours completed with a year to go,” Jones stated.

He was speaking to Myjoyonline.com during the second inter-Embassy competition held at the El-wak Sports Stadium over the week-end.

Describing the London Olympics as the “Great Games” he said the 2012 edition “is going to be one of the best games ever.”

Whilst assuring that Great Britain will put up a spirited performance in the competition, the honour for individual athletes to participate in such an event was for him more crucial than the league table.

Peter Jones said London and indeed the UK will look forward to 2012 with great expectation largely because apart from the Olympics, the Queen will be celebrating her 60th Anniversary on the throne, a magnificent feat worth celebrating.

“It is going to be a terrific year. We are going to have the whole world looking at us,” he intimated.

Healthy competition

The UK football team against the US

As if by design, it was the turn of the UK High Commission in Ghana to organize this year’s edition of the inter-Embassy competition and they did so with panache.

The USA, Japan, Spanish, Chinese, India, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Embassies and High Commission competed in various games, including five-aside football, table tennis, athletics, volley ball, basket ball, chess, Tug of peace and scrabble.

For embassy officials, who often, have been offering visas or ‘bouncing’ others, it was a rare opportunity to flex their muscles in a healthy competitive atmosphere.

The host Embassy won gold in the table tennis – men division with their women winning silver in the female division. Their female again won gold in the football tournament.

The Spanish Embassy showed why Spain and Barcelona are the current World and European Club champions by winning the male football competition.

The US dominated the Basketball competition by winning gold in both the male and female divisions. The US men again won gold in both the Volley ball and Tug of Peace events.

Denmark (men) won the chess competition, with Japan (men) winning 100 meters event. The Indian women picked silver in the women 100m event.

Canada won gold in the 4×100 male and female event.

The games were also to afford embassy officials and employees the opportunity to get to familiarize with each other.

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Posted in: London 2012,London 2012 Olympic,London 2012 Olympic Coins,London 2012 Olympic Games,London 2012 Olympics,London 2012 Ticket Sales,London 2012 Tickets

London 2012 Olympic Stadium ownership

The deal to award West Ham the Olympic Stadium after the London 2012 Games collapsed early on Tuesday morning.

The board of the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) ended negotiations with the club amid concerns over delays caused by a legal dispute with Tottenham and League One side Leyton Orient.

Hammers vice-chairman Karren Brady, O's chairman Barry Hearn and UK Athletics chief Ed Warner have been quoted as saying that their individual aims remain the same - to get the best outcome possible for each of their clubs and the UK Athletics 'legacy'.

But what does it mean for the clubs involved? And why has has the situation come to this point? BBC Sport correspondent Gordon Farquhar explains:

Q. How have we arrived at this situation?

A. Essentially, because of an anonymous complaint to the European Commission. The possibility of a European Court legal challenge to the original bidding process proved to be the final straw for the Olympic Park Legacy company, already facing domestic High Court legal challenges from Spurs and Orient. The OPLC, whose job it is to get the best value for money for taxpayers from the Olympic investment, could see months or potentially years of uncertainty whilst the courts made their minds up, so they, along with the Government and London mayor's office, decided to pull the plug and start all over again.

Q. What happens now and what are the options?

A. Well, we're back to stage one, this time with a different plan. Now a rent-paying tenant will be sought, with the stadium to be kept in public ownership. That means all the debate last time about whether or not the track and warm-up area would be kept won't happen. It will be. The tenants will be offered a stadium in a suitable state for the purpose they intend to put it to. Of course, it's highly likely to be a football club - West Ham have already declared they'll be bidding, and Barry Hearn says Orient will be in the mix.

Tottenham have not indicated, but presumably they will not be interested as their vision for redeveloping the site was all about ownership and a complete redesign, and that possibility's not on offer this time. It would be a major surprise if the new tenant was not a football club, and frankly one that plays in claret and blue, but the rental proposal might pull in others interested in a multi-sport and concert use that can be made to pay its way. Like last time, the bidding process will have to be drafted and bids invited, with a process of assessment, and that will take a while.

Q. Is this embarrassing or damaging in any way to London/GB?

A. It doesn't look great that this issue will probably not be resolved until just a couple of months out from the start of the games. After all the talk at bid time of legacy, not to have secured a clear one for the stadium at this point is an uncomfortable reality for the stakeholder. This does, however, remove any uncertainty about the 2017 London World Athletics Championship bid, ahead of the decision in November, so that will be seen as a 'good thing'. Politicians and organisers will also argue that previous games have failed to grasp the legacy nettle at all, and it's better to spend time and a little sweat now making the right decision than getting to the end of the games with a bunch of facilities that no-one wants to use, like Athens, and having to face justifiable criticism. Clearly, they'll have to take this on the chin for now, but history might not judge them too unkindly.

Q. Will the taxpayer be hit in any way?

A. The taxpayer already has in the sense that the stadium's costing so much to build. There's a lot of money going idle if this situation cannot be resolved. We do know that the annual running costs of the stadium are estimated to be in the region of £5m. The tenants will be expected to pay an economically realistic rent for their use, and presumably there will be some freedom for the landlords to stage money generating events at the stadium outside of the football season. Politicians say there will not be an impact, and the re-development of the stadium will be paid for by public to public funding with no net impact on taxpayers.

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

What To Buy For Coming Black Friday And Holiday Seasonal Bargain

Slow economy cannot slow down the shopping season's coming, having covered Black Friday extensively for the past three years, the bargain finders at theblackfridaybargain.com are in a better position than anyone else to offer shopping previews for Black Friday 2011...

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