Representatives from Beijing, LOCOG, VANOC, Sochi 2014 and the 2016 cities will meet in London next week for the IOC's transfer of knowledge. (Getty Images)Technology experts from Beijing and London kick off the 'Beijing debrief' in the British capital later this week. The first meetings reviewing all aspects of the 2008 Olympics – part of the IOC Transfer of Knowledge program – take place at the Radisson SAS Portman Hotel Thursday and Friday.
The debrief, hosted jointly by the IOC and London 2012, aims to ensure Olympic organizers learn from the knowledge and experience of previous host cities. An intensive round of closed-door meetings, covering everything from Beijing's protest-hit torch relay and acclaimed sports venues to transport and sponsorship issues, are scheduled in the London venue Nov. 24 to 27.
BOCOG officials will share their experiences and lessons learned from the staging of the 2008 Games with representatives from LOCOG, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014 and the four 2016 Olympic candidate cities – Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
IOC President Jacques Rogge will give the 2008 Pierre de Coubertin Lecture Nov. 24. The lecture is titled ‘Advancing the Games: the IOC, London 2012 and the future of de Coubertin’s Olympic Movement.’ A panel discussion will follow with LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe, Mark Byford, deputy diector of the BBC, and Britain's double Olympic gold medalist Kelly Holmes.
The Beijing debrief wraps up with a press conference at 1p.m. (GMT) on Nov. 27 with representatives from the IOC, LOCOG and BOCOG.
Denis Oswald, chair of the IOC's Coordination Commission for London, and the IOC's Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli will hold meetings with London 2012 organizers Nov. 28 in the latest 'project review' of the city's Olympic preparations.
Twist in Row over British Soccer Team
Probably the most divisive debate over Britain’s Olympic competitors in 2012 – the entering of a soccer team for the first time in 40 years – has taken another twist, as Fabio Capello, the Italian who manages England, announced that he wanted to manage the Great Britain team at the London Games.
Britain had men’s and women’s soccer teams qualified for the 2008 Beijing Games but entered neither because the constituent national governing bodies – Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England – could not agree. Despite personal assurances from FIFA President Sepp Blatter that a single British team at the Games will not affect the four home nations’ separate entries for other competitions, such as the World Cup, Scotland and Wales vetoed Olympic entry.
Fabio Capello, England's manager, says he wants to manage the Great Britain team at the London Games. (Getty Images)Capello told FIFA Magazine he wanted to take part in the Olympics in 2012, when his contract with England’s Football Association is due to end.
A group of 18 Members of Parliament, either Scots or representing Scottish constituencies, signed a Commons motion that says soccer “should not be any different from other competing sports and our young talent should be allowed to show their skills on the world stage.”
The opposition to British teams competing in the Olympic soccer tournament comes despite the first event of the 2012 Games being slated to take place at Glasgow’s Hampden Park, the home of the Scottish FA. Stewart Maxwell, a member of the separatist Scottish National Party and sports secretary at the Scottish parliament, continues to call for an independent Scotland team in all sports at future Olympics.
Jowell Stresses Economic Benefits of Olympics
After Olympic minister Tessa Jowell’s gaffe over whether or not London would have bid to stage the Olympics in a recession, she has tried to redress the balance by stressing the “trickledown economics” effect of 2012 investment, stating that more than 800 companies have already won Olympic contracts worth $5 billion.
“These figures are yet more proof that London 2012 is a golden opportunity at a time of economic need,” she said.
The Olympic Development Authority (ODA) said 54 percent of the 801 firms working on contracts awarded so far were based in London; 12 percent of the work was being carried out by firms based in the Olympic host boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham and Waltham Forest.
Jowell said the Games would generate contracts worth a total of $9 billion for U.K. businesses and generate an estimated $3 billion for the tourist industry. ODA figures also show 42,671 companies have registered an interest in a contract that is part of the Olympic supply chain.
Coe Opens Belfast’s Sporting Center of Excellence
The benefits of London 2012 are spreading far beyond the capital, as LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe demonstrated when opening the $30 million sports center at the University of Ulster outside Belfast. The new center is to serve as Northern Ireland’s sports institute, and is hoped will attract visiting teams preparing for the London Olympics.
LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe opened a sports center in Belfast at the University of Ulster. (Getty Images)“The university has been successful in gaining an entry into the Pre-Games Training Camp Guide and the new sports center is a core part of their offer to teams looking to base themselves in the U.K. prior to competition in 2012,” Coe said.
Oceania Chooses Northwest England for Training Camps
Fifteen Pacific island countries have jointly agreed to base themselves in the northwest of England – around Manchester and Liverpool – in the next four years, and possibly extend towards the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, it has been announced.
Robin Mitchell, secretary general of the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC), Vidhya Lakhan, president of the Fijian National Olympic Committee and Peter Mearns, executive director of marketing and communications at the Northwest Regional Development Agency, signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday.
“Having visited the Northwest myself and seen the wonderful sports and educational facilities I know Oceania’s athletes and coaches will have the best possible preparation for London 2012,” Mitchell said.
Written by Steven Downes
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