Let's moan

It had to happen. The national media are clamouring that LOCOG is messing up the decision about the future of the Olympic stadium.

Meanwhile my local paper is complaining that no benefits are being seen here with few local companies winning contracts and no competitors have booked a training camp in either Devon or Cornwall.

It was all going so well. The build is on time and within budget. Our athletes are achieving good results. More that 700,000 people applied to be Games Makers and more than 2 million have asked for information about tickets, 18 months before the events.

Companies in the region have won contracts and sub-contracts. It is just very hard to find the information and LOCOG does need to be asked about why they were reluctant to tell people about this or to allow successful companies to do so. I am told it is to do with sponsorship. I don't find that a very good answer.

Currently there are four training camps agreed in the region with the aim being 10. What have the venues done apart from apply to have their details in a government booklet? They need to do a lot more to win customers.

The next area for complaint will be tourism. No overseas visitors coming to the south west in 2012. Oh dear! Please look at the results from other Games. The visitor number spiked in the years following Sydney in 2000 and the winter events in Vancouver in 2010. Visitor numbers have grown in both Australia and Canada thanks to the positive media coverage of beautiful locations and friendly locals.

We've got those too. As long as our media stays positive then we will benefit, even if not in 2012.

The lights are on

A bunch of London kids joined the the Prime Minister and other worthies at the Olympic Stadium last night to turn on the lights. On the same day that DCMS issued a report on how things are going and what the government hopes to achieve in terms of legacy.

The Education Minister also announced that SSPs would be kept, though probably not called that. A political 'lights on' too far for them perhaps.

Please can we see joined up government regarding the Olympics!

Supporting 2012

I have had an email from The London 2012 Shop, see
(latest@sh0p-news.london2012.com) it is promoting the various branded things we can buy like clothes, pin badges, gifts and souvenirs, bedding and posters.

At £50 for a key ring, and a rather dull one at that, their things are not cheap. As one of my friends commented, "There's still money in London then".

I will get some badges for my nephews and nieces and some posters for work. At £5 each that's more my price range.

Olympic values and inspiring change

On the website www.competefor.com today there are two business requests. One asks for UK based orchestras to record 209 national anthems needed for medal and Team Welcome ceremonies. 209 anthems is about 160 more than they needed to know in 1948.

Playing the anthems is described as encapsulating Olympic and Paralympic values to "celebrate the spirit of friendship, fairness and inclusion amongst the competing athletes."

The other is for British Sign Language (BSL) including BSL and deaf blind interpretation; interpretation of BSL on the Web, English to BSL and vice versa plus amending English to a simpler version for Easy Read.

I read through all four pages of the document and it states that LOCOG wants to use the Games to inspire lasting change. Namely
change in people's lives
change in levels of sports participation
change in attitudes to disability
changes in communities across East London.

Who says it is only a sports event?

Devon Ability Games Inspire

Last Wednesday 170 young people from 15 Devon schools and assisted by 40 volunteers took part in the first North Devon Ability Games at the Tarka Tennis Centre in Barnstaple.

The children were aged between 10-16 and they had a mix of physical and mental abilities. They took part in six different sports - football, tennis, athletics, rowing, badminton, tennis and boccia - an adapted form of bowls. Staff from British Rowing and England Athletics were present to spot potential athletes and to encourage the youngsters to join their local sports clubs.

The Games were given a London 2012 Inspire Mark to show that they had been organised to inspire young people. On the Relays website you can see the photos from the day www.universitiessouthwest.ac.uk/relays

What I learnt was that:

• The main aim was to encourage these young people to take part in activities and for them to encourage others to get involved too
• A multi-sport event makes it far easier for youngsters to find out what sports they enjoy
• Ability sports have been inspired by successful athletes like David Weir and Dame Tanni Grey Thompson and local wheelchair badminton players the Devon Racqueteers
• Different equipment has made a huge difference in letting people with different abilities join in and take part.

I will remember the young lad who said he never did any sport, but he did play computer games. He turned out to be a demon in a racing wheelchair. I hope he continues.

S'miles Better

If you saw hundreds of people dressed in tartan running towards you what would you do? Run away? That's what I'd do.

I don't know what people at the Delhi Closing Ceremony thought, but I enjoyed Glasgow's short piece inviting people to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the city. It was full of energy; it showed lots of young and excited people smiling and happy and yes it was bagpipes and tartan, but that's what people identify with Scotland.

I find myself explaining to people that Baron de Coubertin, who revived the Olympics in the late nineteenth century, wanted to combine sport and culture. So today at the two ceremonies to open and close the Games they demonstrate the host's culture.

Some people believe the Olympics and other international events should be like school sports days, with all the emphasis on the sport and the winners. Today large sporting events are about entertainment as more people watch them on tv or on-line than will ever attend them.

World class events are also about politics. Both Australia and China made their point about what they saw as their place in the world at their Olympic ceremonies.

Yes, we want more people involved in sport, but an event with a global audience has huge economic potential for the local economy. Manufacturing, food, hospitality, tourism and the creative industries are just some of the sectors that can benefit.

Glasgow worked hard to be designated a European City of Culture, a City of Architecture and in 2014 it will be a host for the Commonwealth Games. The city has realised the economic value of these accolades in helping to change people's perceptions.

So, the tartan gauntlet is down for London and the UK in 2012. Will we meet the challenge?

Delivering winners again

I saw a large newspaper advert explaining the rationale behind this sponsorship. The Chief Executive of this Devon-based company wants to:

• Support athletes born or based in the Westcountry
• Get people in the Westcountry to learn more about these five athletes
• Encourage local people to get involved in London 2012 and make sure that there is a legacy
• Promote sport, exercise and healthy lifestyles.

Two of the five, Liam Tancock and Georgina Geikie are at the Commonwealth Games and knowing they are local does make a difference to me. I will look out for the pistol shooting results now.

Follow Team Gregory at www.gdl.uk.com