Olympics News and Info » London 2012

20 Million Ticket Registrations

RSS — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:19:00 +0000

Approximately 20 million ticket applications have been registered by 1.8 million people for the 6.6 million tickets available for the London 2012 Olympics.

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Ticket Deadline

RSS — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 10:45:00 +0000

People have until 2359 BST today to apply for 6.6 million London Olympics tickets on the London 2012 website.

Prices range from £20 to £2,012.

However, London 2012 chairman Lord Coe has warned that only 50% of tickets for the major events could be available to the public after sponsors are allocated their share.

Applications will be processed in May and June, and those who have been successful will be notified by 24 June.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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The Green Olympics?

RSS — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:35:00 +0000

Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, has been warned that the increase in traffic (as a result of the London Olympics in 2012) will breach pollution limits.

The result?

London will be fined £300M by the EU!

Now worries, just add that to the Olympic "budget"!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Snouts In The Trough

RSS — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:13:00 +0000

It would seem that some people involved with the London Olympics 2012 simply cannot resist sticking their snouts in the trough.

The Telegraph recently reported that some of London's leading hotel groups (including Intercontinental, Hilton and Thistle) are taking legal advice following their discovery that some of the rooms that they have supplied to Locog (at preferential rates) are being resold by Thomas Cook at "grossly inflated prices".

One premium three-night ticket and accommodation package is on offer at the Hyatt Regency Churchill for £6,499 per person, including meals and transfers (the face value of the tickets is a "mere" £1,740).

Locog has taken 56,000 rooms, and has given Thomas Cook (a sponsor of the games) access to 8% of the rooms.

As I have noted many times before on this site, the Olympics is not about sport it's about money!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Knobheads

RSS — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:09:00 +0000

Lord Coe has waded into the dispute between the knobheads running the British Olympic Association (BOA) and Locog.

The dispute is over how any post Games surplus (there's optimism for you!) should be defined.

The BOA argues that the surplus should be calculated before any loss from the Paralympics is taken into account. Locog and the IOC argue that the Olympics and Paralympics should be treated as an integrated whole.

Lord Coe is thoroughly fed up with the increasingly absurd and greedy position taken by the BOA, he is quoted in the Telegraph as saying that it is a "spurious case":

"This is not about a sum of money or a contractual misunderstanding, this is very clear, and the best demolition of that case is the IOC's judgment and they are the only appropriate organisation to adjudicate on that.

The Government have made it very clear there is no public money in settlement of that case, the IOC have made their position clear and as the organising committee we are running hard to maintain a balanced budget."

Sadly for Lord Coe the BOA are not listening, and are simply not interested in facing reality.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Time To Knock Some Heads Together

RSS — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:08:00 +0000

The government has woken up to the fact that the absurd row between the British Olympics Association (BOA) and Locog, over the share of post Olympics spoils (if there are any), is severely damaging what is already a rather tainted brand.

The Sports Minister, Hugh Robertson, has weighed in and stated that he is "prepared to do anything" to end the row.

Which is political speak for "I will knock some heads together".

Robertson will meet BOA chairman Lord Moynihan today, and doubtless explain to him that everyone thinks that the BOA are acting like a bunch of knobheads.

The meeting will of course be reported as being a "full and frank" discussion:)

The BOA's and Moynihan's positions have been further undermined (they have been made to look even more foolish) by the the statement issued by London 2012's chief financial officer, Neil Wood, as per the BBC:

"With reference to a claims by the BOA of a meeting last July between Locog and the BOA in which statements allegedly were made by me to the effect that the Olympics would make a profit of about £400m with the Paralympics making a corresponding loss and at a subsequent meeting I allegedly revised this figure down to £300m - I have never made such statements, which are in fact untrue."

As I noted earlier this month, "as regards the BOA, it is clear that not one penny more should be allocated to this inept and incompetent body".

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Knobheads Pissing Money Away!

RSS — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:11:00 +0000

I noted earlier this month that the British Olympic Association (BOA) seems to be "pissing money away".

Not content with the flow rate of piss, the BOA have now got themselves involved in a costly and time consuming legal spat with Locog.

The Guardian reports that Locog are now so "irked" by the BOA that they have barred the BOA chairman Lord Moynihan and the chief executive Andy Hunt from attending its board meetings.

Aren't these "illustrious" bodies meant to be focused on organising the 2012 Olympics?

The dispute is over how any post Games surplus (there's optimism for you!) should be defined.

The BOA argues that the surplus should be calculated before any loss from the Paralympics is taken into account. Locog and the IOC argue that the Olympics and Paralympics should be treated as an integrated whole.

Given that the BOA is skint, the fact that it resorts to costly litigation over a technicality that is unlikely to become reality hardly "burnishes its brand".

Were there to be gold medals awarded for pissing money away, the BOA would be top of the league tables!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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The Pig’s Breakfast

RSS — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:01:00 +0000

Martyn Saville writes a pithy analysis of the logistical/financial shambles facing ordinary citizens who wish to buy tickets for the 2012 Olympics.

As he says:

"There must be a better method of selling tickets than this."

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Picnics and Mobiles Banned

RSS — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:48:00 +0000

Organisers of the London 2012 Olympics, on the pretext of "security", are considering banning spectators from bringing mobile phones and picnics to Olympics events.

Flasks, thermoses and larger quantities of food will all be banned.

Liquids of more than 100ml, camera tripods, phones, flags of countries not involved in the Games along with umbrellas (no rain predicted then?) are also all banned.

"Security" may well be the fig leaf excuse used by organisers for this ban. However, the real reason lies with the money being generated by sponsors from their marketing campaigns and food/drink etc concessions at the Olympic venues.

The Olympics is not about sport, but about money!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Tick Tock – Olympics Clock Stops

RSS — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 10:51:00 +0000

To add to the woes of the London 2012 Olympics organisers, who were already looking rather foolish for the glitch that prevents certain Visa card holders from buying tickets for the games, the 500 day countdown clock in Trafalgar Square (that was activated on Monday) stopped working on Tuesday.

The clock is supplied by Swiss based company Omega.

Incidentally, the actual time that the games are due to be officially opened has yet to be decided. Therefore the clock is, by definition, inaccurate.

Well done lads!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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