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...

Note: Read More About Black Friday Deals and Black Friday 2011

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Online Black Friday Shopping Tips

Shopping online has become successful over these highly crowded . Whether it is an Xbox games console, newly released Amazon Kindle, or Apple iPad, one will discover anything at good prices on Black Friday. Butyou have to be very careful, due to the fact “Everything that glittersisn’t gold”. So, below are great tips and Ideas for Online Black Friday Shopping.

List Research:

Make a list for those items for which you would like to purchase. Then, just put important items at the top of list.And then, list-up famous online retailers like Amazon and Macy’s where those listeditems are available. As a result your online shopping simpler and less time-consuming.

Examine Costs:

Compare costs of items with the help of various price comparison sites like Bizrate and PriceGrabber. This can be one of the better advantages of shopping online – one has not to rush in the crowd or on stores to evaluate prices of a item.

Weekly Ads:

Continue to keep a watch at weekly advertising or online catalogs. Many online stores provide good discounts on some hand-picked products displayedinside their catalogs.

Online Coupon codes:

Online codes act as a cherry on cake on Black Friday. During christmas season manyonline retailers provide discount rates in order to attract as many customers as is possible. Using these special discount codes and promotional coupons,it’s possible to save more money on already discounted deals. Online codes have always been an awesome method for saving big during any season and event of the season.

Find Consumer Consideration:

Customer service may be the utmost importantsection of internet shopping just because it solves your concerns in a moment. Don’t be afraid to call at customer servicewhen you have any queries about the product or payment policies. It is usually a much better choice tomake your queries answered beforeputting in an order, rather than leaving all at God.

UseBank Cards:

Some stores provide unique cost savings while doing paymentsusing a particular visa or mastercard like American Express or Master Card.Wish to use one credit card while doing online shopping, so that you may know which credit card was used for doing payments for the online stores.

Some other notable findings about Black Friday deal-seeking include:

• The number of visitors to coupon sites on Black Friday grew 4 percent versus year ago to 3.6 million visitors, while the total number of visits to the category increased 16 percent to 7.4 million.
• BlackFriday.info was the most visited coupon site on Black Friday with 630,000 unique visitors, followed by CouponCabin.com (543,000), RetailMeNot.com (332,000 visitors) and Groupon.com (332,000).
• ShopLocal.com ranked as the most visited comparison shopping site on Black Friday with 2.1 million visitors, up 45 percent versus year ago.

Read More >> Black Friday Deals, Black Friday 2011

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Ronaldinho looking for Olympic gold

Ronaldinho, the celebrated Brazilian football player, has recently expressed his intention to win a gold medal in the London 2012 Olympics.

”My dream is to win the gold medal in the Olympics. It’s a title still missing in my career,” said Ronaldinho, after the Brazilian team earned themselves a win over Argentina by 2-0 in a friendly match held in the city of Belem.

The 31-year-old player has helped his team earn various titles that include the World Cup, Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup among others. However, Brazil has not yet won the Olympics gold medal.

Ronaldinho was part of the Brazilian team when it qualified twice for the Olympics. When the prestigious international sports event was held in Sydney in 2000, Brazil failed to make it into the semi-final round as they were handed out a defeat by Cameroon. The 2004 Olympics held in Athens did not see any Brazilian action as they failed to qualify for the Games back then. However, Brazil was able to get the bronze medal in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The two-time FIFA Player of the Year is not only thinking about the Olympics, he is also looking beyond that tot he 2014 World Cup.

”I want to go step by step. Being in the Olympics will help me get to the World Cup, which is my ultimate goal,” added Ronaldinho.

Ronaldinho was part of the Brazilian team as they made their way in the 2002 World Cup. However, Brazil could not make much head way in 2006 at Germany, when the French cut their journey short by putting a stop to their progress in the quarter-finals.

Ronaldinho later joined the Flamengo club with a huge contract that is considered to be the most expensive one yet paid by any Brazilian club for the acquisition of a player. Ronaldinho signed the deal earlier this year..

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Posted in: Brazil,London 2012 Olympics,Ronaldinho

Mini jumps to unveil 2012 London Olympics special edition Cooper

The Olympics are coming to London and the games are apparently a perfect opportunity for Mini to launch a new special edition. To be fair, Mini would view a sunny Tuesday as the perfect opportunity for a new special edition. Still, the Mini London 2012 Edition is here, and it's arrival has been marked in a rather unique way.

Mini parked three examples of the all-new limited-edition Cooper side-by-side then enlisted the help of England Long Jump Champion J.J. Jegede to do what he does best.

Offered up in either Chili Red, White Silver or Lightning Blue, the Mini London 2012 Edition Coopers can be had in base, D, S or SD varieties. Each is outfitted with a pair of unique 17-inch gray wheels, red, white and blue interior stitching and a host of upgraded interior features such as lounge leather sport seats and chrome accents. The most notable interior feature, however, is the etching of the London skyline, which has a beautiful piano black backdrop.

Check out the Mini London 2012 Edition in the gallery, and click past the jump for all the details. 

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Posted in: 2012 Olympics,cooper,j j jegede,london cooper,mini cooper,mini london 2012 edition,special edition mini cooper

London 2012 Olympics: Smart phone strategy needed to secure memorable Games

What will everyone be saying about London and how the city coped with hosting the Olympic Games when it comes to 2013 or 2023?

Will it be that the city, a global financial centre, didn't miss a beat? That the Olympics saved the British economy? Tourists flocked to London? The transport system heaved but coped?

While transport and security are the two big unknowns, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson last week noted what he thought was a real reputational risk to the city – communications. He highlighted his concerns about the increasing reliance on smart phone technology and the challenges the city faces in keeping up with that demand as well as the exponential pressures hosting the Olympic Games will put on the communications systems.

His nightmare could be the world thinking: "London Olympics was a communications disaster."

Johnson is right, because the main commentators and journalists who arrive in London from afar rely on that technology and if it doesn't work adequately the whole world will know.

The London organisers haven't helped matters by charging each journalist £150 for computer access at the Olympic venues. So the first story written about London will be how WiFi and computer access is expensive. That fact, coupled with the constant phone drop outs in the middle of the city, even now, ahead of the Games, give potential for widespread negativity.

But as historians well know, the further in the past an event is, the larger the discrepancies of the facts are. In the past eight months at various breakfasts and conferences there has been a revision of history of previous Olympics and the reputational risks they encountered. The Sydney 2000 Olympics boosted the city’s tourism or caused dramatic falls in tourist numbers, depending on the speakers point of view. Atlanta was, according to various politicians and experts, a complete disaster because of the traffic congestion. And Beijing, despite its spectacular opening ceremony, couldn't attract crowds to the competition.

That all of these statements are incorrect matters for naught. As London will experience, it is the perception rather than the reality that is important.

Sydney did suffer a small drop in tourism numbers the following year because of the 9/11 terror attacks. Atlanta's traffic was not a problem, it was the hub and spoke system of transporting athletes that caused issues, and the city's reputation collapsed because of poor technology, a failure to control street vendors and the pipe bombing. As for Beijing, tickets were officially sold out – just as they are for London – but some events had a poor turnout of Communist Party officials from distant regions, who had been given corporate tickets, while government security fears restricted access to some open events like the road race.

All of this means, of course, that London officials need to make sure their communications system is robust enough to deal with the spike during the Olympics. Johnson is talking positively, saying he is confident all well be well. He knows, at the very least, to make it appear as if London is coping.

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