Tickets on sale

At work I am expected to know all about the ticketing for the Games. What I've learnt is from the BBC website at www.bbc.co.uk/sport and reading their Olympics coverage. It is very useful. Today I looked at the Thomas Cook package brochure for the Olympics. From one event plus a one night stay at less than £150 to a five event plus Opening or Closing Ceremony ticket at £6,500. I haven't applied for anything yet, but it won't be the latter!

And then I held the Olympic medal...

So, now it is less than 500 days to go until the fireworks go off at the Opening Ceremony for London 2012. We can now buy our tickets, although it might be for a sport you have never watched before. The countdown clock is working.

So what can people complain about? Here are two items from yesterday.

"Why should my kids be charged different prices for seats at events when they get the same enjoyment?" Should I have responded:
A) I am not paying more for your kids to be there
B) Don't take them then
C) Let them all be charged £16

In fact I said nothing, but look at what 24 hours of cogitation can come up with!

As for the crass comment reported from a Tory MP that EU nationals are "now taking our tickets" I'd like to say to her:

• Remind yourself of the Olympic values. It is called International for a reason.
• Let's also ban all friends or family of non TeamGB athletes getting tickets. All johnny foreigners.
• Don't use London 2012 to peddle your views on the EU. That does neither you nor your party any credit.

There will be even more gold!

Yesterday I heard a speaker from the English Institute for Sport. Part of his message was about how did Team GB go from 1 Gold in 1996 to 19 in 2008? From being 35th in the world rankings to 4th.

Obviously there are a number of reasons including much more investment via the lottery money, more professional staff employed and more focused training, but the reasons are clear. Winning gold medals is as the reason for the investment.

He told us he believes that Team GB will win more golds in London and in sports where we have never done so before. The aim is to be third in the world rankings.

He also told us to forget the Aussies. They are not investing and their performances show that.

Training camps in the sun

Today I read on insidethebiz.com that the Australian version of Team GB have built themselves a state of the art training camp in northern Italy.

It tells me that the Aussies have been using Italy for training for years and they have ramped things up for London 2012. The place can accommodate 50 athletes at a time or more if they use hotels.

They have signed an agreement with the Italians that their athletes can also use the location. I am not quite sure what to make of that. Perhaps Team GB should consider sharing the place too, although they often send athletes to Portugal.

The down side for the UK is, does this means that the Aussies will not be coming to the UK for a training camp? I can understand they want a European base, but they cannot seriously believe the weather in northern Italy is the same as in the UK! For athletes competing in the main stadium getting used to being chilly in July and August is essential.

Train in Edinburgh. You'll be prepared for anything.

Will they come?

I have organised a visit by an Olympian for next week. I have asked Heather Fell, a silver medallist in Beijing and a 2012 hopeful, to come and speak to students and staff at the University.

It all started very slowly. I became anxious that very few people were going to come along and I have booked a very big lecture theatre; one that seats 200.

I hadn't realised that students (and staff) don't expect to make a decision about going to something three weeks before the date. It seems to be more like three days.

Today the 100th person has contacted me to say they want to come along.
Hurrah!

Now I am writing a reminder email - just in case they have forgotten they signed up!

What's On and When?

The details about which Olympic events are on where is available. This gives us all time to work out what we'd like to see. It also keep the momentum going for London 2012. I read an interesting article on www.bbc.co.uk/sport about some of the different venues that are being used. With the road race starting from Hampton Court, shooting from the Royal Artillery Barracks and canoeing from the Lee Valley White Water Centre there are a real variety of venues as well as from the Olympic Park itself. The world will see both historic and 21st century Britain.

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.