SOO MANY EVENTS

There are...SO....many.....events.
And times, and athletes, and heats, and locations, and countries.
When you are trying to follow the Olympics, weather your watching on the TV/internet etc or you are actually there, there must be a way of making in simpler to follow. I mean look at this list of events.
Long right.

There must be better way.

In an unsure time, can we support our athletes?

If you look at our athletes very clinically, they are just part of the Olympic machine, they need to be built and maintained too. We have already seen some American athletes lose funding from sponsors dropping out (source), could this happen to out lot? I hope not. We rely on the national lottery to fund our athletic program, but i suppose in these times people might be playing the lottery more.

On the other hand...
“This also might be a perfect chance for companies to jump into sponsorships, when other companies might be too financially weak to do so.”

UH OH!!!!!!!

Gosper, a vice-president of the Sydney Olympics organising committee, said: "I think you and your team face the toughest time – short of wartime – to get the project to 2012."
Outch!

Full article. Careful, its a tough read.

Lessons for London

Guardian correspondents round up the Beijing Olympics and look forward to our turn in 2012

Michael Hobson's Diary

The runner Michael Hobson is keping a diary on the BBC (it can be seen here). I think things like this is the key, its a great easy way to help the general population understand all the effort and time needed to be an olympic athlete, its a great and very personal insight into the young lads life and hopefully will build a nice fan base for him when the real thing comes around in 2012. I wonder what other ways athletes can create a presence online, ways that we can see there progress throughout the ups and downs on the road to the olympics.

Chinese power! British power?

"It's the time to blossom," the gold medalist said: "Now I can show the Chinese power to the whole world."

At 2008, team GB won a record number of medals coming 4th overall. This shows we can punch well above our weight in terms of achievement, but will out spirit match our achievement in 2012. Mayor Boris Johnson has already said were not going to have the same kind of opening ceremony as they did in China, were going to go for something more 'British'. Will this way of thinking extend to the support? I think its a major concern, i hope us Londoners and the UK as a whole dont get bogged down with the negative aspects of staging the Olympics (Cost etc) and realise that its going to happen, and just use there energy on getting behind our athletes.

Post Olympic downer.

There are rumors that the famous birds nest stadium has started to rust, stain and peel. (Source)


With makes me think about the after plan. What is east London going to be be like after the Olympics is over? After my tour of the olympic site, it was explained to me that a large portion of the facilities that are going to be erected are designed to be either taken down after (!!!) or taken down and rebuilt in other parts of the country, to spread out the facilities (!!!) Thats some clever thinking, but is it going to work?

Lessons learned for the London Olympics.

Fascinating post: HERE

Chinese pride for there athletes.

One thing that stood out about the Chinese Olympics is the amount of national pride and support for there athletes. The stadium felt more electric when a Chinese athlete was competing. I wonder how the Brits are going to react in 2012, with our button down culture i hope were going to relax and get into the spirit of things.

'Then I caught sight of my lumbering, puce-faced reflection'

Reports are Beijing is polluted as sin, just another thing athletes and fans have to worry about.
Two separate stories within hours of each other (here, and here)

What a load of cock.

Britons held over Beijing protest.

A brit has been held for a stunt involving a lampost, an illegal act and the police.
It wasnt his stag do, he was protesting on behalf of the Tibetans.
His opinion is the Beijing Olympics are a tool for China distract the world from there treatment of the Tibetans.

More here.

Free Beiging olympic typeface anyone?

Here you go!

The Capital Spiritual Civilisation Construction Commission

The 15,000,000 Beijing residents have been given there orders from the man.
There are some interesting 'requests', some of the more obscure are:

Dont's
— Wear white socks with black shoes
— Wear high collar if they have a short neck
— Women should not wear leather skirts, transparent garments, clashing colours or more than three colour groups at once
— Fight over who settles the bill
— Press others to drink at a banquet

Do's
— Plant their feet slightly apart, in the shape of a V
— Women should wear light make-up
— Darker stockings should be used to cover thicker ankles
— Match the length of skirt to age. Young girls can wear skirts three centimetres to six centimetres above the knee
— All residents should go easy on garlic and clean their mouths

Im not joking, see!

Amnesty International Beijing Ads.

This set of three ads (1, 2 & 3) have cause widespread controversy within the ad world. Tackling such a serious topic is bound to raise some eyebrows.

Personally i think they are brilliantly powerful images, however i don't like the marriage between politics and sport, seems like a cheap and inappropriate shot in the plums.

Will the heavy security sour the atmosphere?

People are speculating over the above question...
There has already been riots and protests.
I mean WTF is this???



But seriously, More here.

A History of Olympic posters.

Ok - so its not about Beijing, but whatever.
I'll get onto that soon.

A Full history of Olympics posters, dating back to PRE 1900!!!

My Inspiration

Id love to say a big thanks to Joe Stamp for his truly inspirational blog about the games, hes a true visionary.
Thanks Joe - I wouldn't be where i am now if it wasn't for you...

His blog is literally amazing.

1st post - warming up for the games

BBC Sport's marketing campaign and titles for the forthcoming Olympic Games are based upon the traditional Chinese folklore 'Journey to the West'. The animation and music were specially produced by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn.
The beeb are warming us up!