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.

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?