tagged w/ London 2012 Olympics
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The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Thursday came out in open against Dow Chemical's sponsorship of the 2012 London Olympics and has decided to lodge its protest to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
At its general body meeting in New Delhi, the IOA decided that it would seek the removal of Dow Chemical, which bought Union Carbide, responsible for the thousands of deaths during the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. However, the issue of boycotting the event did not even come up for discussion.
Acting IOA president Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the IOA will convey the sentiments of Indians to IOC chief Jacques Rogge and London Games Organising Committee chief Sebastian Coe.
"It is IOA's considered opinion that the sponsorship by Dow Chemical is against the spirit of the Olympic ideals. Olympic Games showcase the best of human endeavour, sporting spirit and camaraderie, and to have Dow Chemical even as one of the sponsors negates all these lofty values," said Malhotra.
"IOA's views not only reflect the concerns of the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy but the feelings of millions of people all over the world and it is not a partisan demand.
"We in fact are making IOC aware of the feelings of the people who have suffered due to that tragedy. It is not only the Indians who are protesting this sponsorship; there has been an outcry against this world over from various NGOs and other bodies. It is no longer a local issue."
There has been a huge outcry in India over Dow's involvement with the Games. Olympians and the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy have demanded either Dow's sponsorship be withdrawn or India boycott the event.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ioa-to-lodge-protest-over-london-olympic-sponsor-dow/1/164530.html
More at the linkThe Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Thursday came out in open against Dow... more
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The Olympic Games literally and symbolically ‘take place’ in major cities. They represent the mega-event par excellence which not only physically transforms areas of cities beyond recognition but also shifts the urban place imaginary. City growth coalitions eagerly bid against other cities to win this world-class spectacle primarily for the boost it is supposed to impart to the local politics of urban regeneration. Researchers and activists over the last thirty years have highlighted how such grandiose visions and accelerated development projects produce spectacular but also highly inequitable outcomes for urban citizens. As with other neo-liberal regeneration programmes, the vital question of ‘who really benefits?’ is highly pertinent. However, many of the texts which researchers have produced are not well known or well understood outside the various academic specialisms within which they circulate. We are setting up a reading group open to students, academics, activists and other individuals interested in exploring the social, economic and political processes of these spectacular urban mega-events from critical perspectives.
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/uncategorized/olympic-city-critiques-a-birkbeck-reading-group/The Olympic Games literally and symbolically ‘take place’ in major cities.... more
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After London was announced as the host of the 2012 Olympic Games, Labour made a number of promises about using the Olympics as a way of inspiring people to be more healthy and get involved with sport and exercise. They planned to get a million more people playing sport three or more times a week and to get a million more people doing more general physical activity. Whether it is actually possible for mega events such as the Olympics to have this kind of impact is something which has been contested by a number of studies.
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/olympics-2012/olympics-could-have-negative-effects-on-sports-participation/After London was announced as the host of the 2012 Olympic Games, Labour made a number... more
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The London Olympic 2012 Games Organisers promised £20 million in airfares to pay for the travel of athletes and officials. They attempted to quietly withdraw from this commitment by the use of price caps and a distance formula. Countries without direct flights to London will be out of pocket having a greater effect on poorer countries especially those from Africa and the Pacific, who like Londoners are finding out that Olympic promises are easily broken. Zimbabwe’s Olympic committee secretary general Robert Mutsauki said the African nations would hold the London organisers to their promises. Good luck!
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/olympics-2012/olympic-organizers-back-out-of-promised-air-fare-for-athletes/The London Olympic 2012 Games Organisers promised £20 million in airfares to pay... more
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Olympic chiefs are having a luxurious beano in handily located Acapulco Mexico to hear progress reports on the preparations for London 2012. British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Hunt was jubilant that the Con-Lib coalition government had excluded the games from the recent drastic spending cuts.
Hunt told the audience that the Olympic budget of 9.28 billion pounds included “7.3 billion pounds for the regeneration of east London.”
“I think a two billion pound investment for staging the games feels about right and appropriate for what’s going to be a fantastic games.”
Why Acapulco? Well you have to travel a long way to find an audience who will believe that the London Olympic budget is being spent on anything other than the London Olympics. I dare Hunt to come here and tell East Londoners that nearly four fifths of the Olympic budget is being spent on them and only £2bn is going on the games.
Fancy a dip? Or getting your figures massaged? Or are you happy just lying on the beach?
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/olympics-2012/british-olympic-association-pretends-olympic-budget-is-for-regenerating-east-london/Olympic chiefs are having a luxurious beano in handily located Acapulco Mexico to hear... more
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Grass roots sports lose- Olympics win
Schools and community sports will be the biggest losers under the Comprehensive Spending Review while the London Olympic project is likely to avoid major cuts to its budget or contingency. Losses of local sports amenities like Hackney Marshes and Drapers Fields as a result of the Olympics will now roll out across the nation as non-Olympic cuts hit.
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/olympics-2012/london-2012-olympics-saved-from-cuts-in-comprehensive-spending-review/
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport is understood to have reached a settlement with the Treasury that will see about 30 per cent cut from its annual £1.6 billion budget. However London 2012 will escape significant cuts to its £9.3 billion budget, and is expected to have its remaining contingency fund left largely untouched, partly out of necessity and partly expediency.
It is claimed that most of the major Olympic contracts have been awarded, so it is too late for major savings. The games are predicted to be completed with surplus contingency of £700 million. However the DCMS and the Olympic bodies have argued that is politically better to leave the contingency in place rather than take it back, and risk having to pay out in the event of an unforeseen crisis in the project.
The cuts to the DCMS budget will make it unlikely that the government can deliver on its promise of an abiding participation legacy from the London 2012 Olympics.
Sports minister Hugh Robertson will prioritise protecting funding for elite athletes in the run up to the London Games, and grass roots initiatives and projects run by UK Sport and Sport England’s will be cut.
Shadow Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell who told the nation the Olympics would only cost £3bn when it was nearer £10bn now claims she is concerned school sports initiatives will be hit by the cuts. So clearly nothing to do with her.
The details of the Olympic funding will not be announced by the Government on Wednesday. The cuts are likely to be made public on Thursday.Grass roots sports lose- Olympics win
Schools and community sports will be the... more
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With a wave of the Olympic flag, the countdown to London 2012 began last night.
As the Beijing Games came to a spectacular end, London Mayor Boris Johnson gave a flamboyant foretaste of the individual style that can be expected in four years' time.
As he walked to the centre stage to receive the flag he had his hands in his pockets, and cut a characteristically rumpled figure beside immaculately dressed Olympic chiefs.
Watched in the stadium by Gordon Brown and Princess Anne, the blunder-prone Mayor waved the flag four times as the whole of Britain - among a global TV audience of 1.5billion - willed him not to drop it.
The Union Jack was raised, the National Anthem sung by a choir and after the extraordinary success of Tea GB at Beijing, the challenge for London was: How do you follow that?
At the heart of the closing ceremony was a cameo eight-minute performance to showcase London. Its quirky flavour contrasted with the perfectly- orchestrated Chinese extravaganza with its vast numbers, extraordinary colourful special effects, a blitz of fireworks and breathtaking artistry.
While Beijing used hundreds of drummers - some suspended 60ft above the stadium - acrobats, and opera with Spanish tenor Placido Domingo paired with Chinese soprano Song Zuying, London's contribution included a double-decker bus and a lollipop lady.
The British performance began with the red double-decker bus, with London-Beijing-London emblazoned on its side, driving around the track inside the stadium followed on bicycles by British gold medal winning cyclists Chris Hoy, dressed as a City gent in bowler hat, Jamie Staff and Victoria Pendleton.
As dancers performed around it, tenyearold Londoner Tayyiba Dudhwala, who had been chosen in a Blue Peter competition, emerged and was given a football by another London youngster, Erika Tham.
Singer Leona Lewis, winner of the X Factor TV show, spiralled from the roof of the bus to be joined by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page blasting out 'Whole Lotta Love'.
Bizarrely, the sides of the bus were made of grass, apparently to symbolise the sporting fields of London.
To a massive and sustained cheer, David Beckham emerged from the top of the bus to kick a football into the hordes of athletes crowded into the centre of the vast venue.
It was one of the army of Chinese volunteers who had given their time to help who caught - and kept - the ball.
Hi-tech umbrellas, symbolic of Britain's rain, then covered the bus, forming a screen of images before the bus, transformed into a carnival float, headed out of the stadium to warm applause. With a wave of the Olympic flag, the countdown to London 2012 began last night.
As... more
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