Reedie "Thrilled" to Carry Torch; Government Budget Briefing

(ATR) Craig Reedie tells Around the Rings about his experience carrying the Olympic Flame at St. Andrew's... Government gives final pre-Olympic briefing... Britain selects cycling team... More inside. 

Guardar

Craig Reedie, the British IOC member who played a leading role in bringing the Olympics to London, tells Around the Rings that carrying the Olympic torch at St. Andrews today was a "very, very special moment."

Reedie ran 2000 feet at St. Andrews, the home of golf, at 7:13 A.M. on Wednesday.

Nominated by the IOC, he tells Around the Rings that it was "a big thrill" to run with the torch in the presence of so many people and at the home of one of the two new Olympic sports.

"For all of these reasons, everything came together. It was terrific," he said.

"To my amazement my son and granddaughter also appeared unexpectedly off the overnight sleeper from London.

"I was amazed at how many people came out so early in the morning and that really follows what has happened around the U.K. It builds up wonderfully towards July 27."

"Obviously for me it's been a long gestation," he added.

Reedie recalled chairing the first meeting of the British Olympic Association at which London 2012 bid discussions took place - that was on Jan. 12, 1994. Since then, Reedie has been a influential figure for London, first in the Olympic bidding contest and since 2005 in preparations for the Games.

No Contingency in Budget for UK Sport

Britain's Olympics minister reveals that there is contingency money left in the Olympic budget – but that it will not return to U.K. sport.

Hugh Robertson spoke to journalists at the last Department for Culture, Media and Sport Olympic budget briefing before the London Olympics.

Robertson announced there was an uncommitted contingency of $741million in the budget.

"We’re probably becoming increasingly certain that we can deliver these Games under budget – and if we can do that that will be a remarkable achievement given the backdrop that we started off with," he said.

"Will we get any of that contingency back for sport? No, as much as I would like to get money back to spend on pet schemes. The range of benefits coming to British sport as a direct result of this process is unquantifiable – it would not have happened under any other circumstances."

He added: "A new stadium, a new aquatics centre, a new velodrome and all these sort of things – all the improvements made to winning major events that all flow from that.

"It’s an incredibly convincing package. So we’ve done pretty well out of this. I don’t think the economic backdrop means

we’re going to have much luck getting $390 million out of it at the end."

The DCMS's quarterly economic report on Games preparations also showed there had been an increase of $34 million for "operational provisions."

These included spending an additional $30 million on crowd management in central London and around Games venues, two lessons learned from the Torch Relay and Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

"The torch relay surprised us," he said. "We know people suddenly got this, but we were pleasantly surprised by it. When you consider that the torch is going to come down the Thames, you’ve then got the road race so the capacity for people to come into London is enormous and we’ve got to be prepared for that."

"Nobody knows how many people are going to come into London – London is going to be the place this summer to come and have a party and its very difficult to estimate how many people will come."

LOCOG will receive an extra $45 million for infrastructure works mainly on Olympic Park venues, Games-time training venues, and $12.5 million on concession pods in the Olympic stadium.

British Cyclists Selected

Beijing Olympic gold medalists Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton are among the 18 cyclists today selected to represent Team GB at London 2012.

The group of athletes will compete across the track cycling, BMX and mountain biking disciplines.

Britain has big medal hopes across the cycling events after strong performances at the Melbourne 2012 Track World Championships where they secured 13 medals, including six golds. At the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Team GB cyclists won eight gold medals.

Torch Relay Update

The Olympic Torch will travel 143 miles though 18 communities on Day 26 of its journey to the London Games.

The Flame started the day in St. Andrews where 13-year-old Joseph Forrester carried the Torch along the West Sands beach, recreating the iconic opening scene from "Chariots of Fire", a film about two British runners competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics.

A total of 115 Torchbearers will carry the Flame to its destination in Edinburgh Castle.

Olympic Rings Unveiled in Edinburgh, Newcastle

Edinburgh unveils Scotland’s second set of Olympic Rings while Newcastle will unveil the U.K.’s largest Rings.

The Rings in Edinburgh are suspended from The Mound and are 60 feet by 26 feet weighing nearly 7,000 pounds.

"Now it is Edinburgh’s turn to be at the heart of the celebrations and today has really shown the city at its best," Scottish secretary of state Michael Moore said. "These Olympic Rings look brilliant on The Mound and are a bold reminder that the Olympic Games are going to be a great event for the whole of the UK."

Newcastle’s Rings will be hung from Tyne Bridge and are 82 feet by 39 feet.

The Rings will be installed before the Olympic Flame reaches Newcastle on June 15.

Reported by Mark Bisson and Christian Radnedge

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.

Guardar

Últimas Noticias

Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons

Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons

Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024

She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024

Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris

Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris

Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years

The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years

Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”

The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”