Beware Olympics Hubris

Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, is flying into London for the final inspection before the Summer Olympics.

Rogge is expected to heap praise upon the organisers. In fact the Olympic co-ordination commission chairman, Denis Oswald, is also very pleased with how things are going and is quoted in the Telegraph:

“We are in a rather comfortable situation.

A few months before the Games, everything is in place.

We are not pushing to finish things as we had to do before. We feel confident. We can refine a few small things, but basically London is ready and will be ready.” 

Gentlemen beware Olympics hubris!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Twats

My sympathies to Avril Unwin owner of Authentic Cakes in Wulfstan Way Cambridge, who has fallen foul of the money making machine that is the Olympics.

Mrs Unwin had been planning, along with other members of the British Sugarcraft Guild, an exhibition of sugar skills on the theme of the Olympics next year.

However, the International Olympic Committee have banned the use of any Olympic logos or symbols at next year's exhibition.

Mrs Unwin will instead decided to use the flags of different countries attending the Olympics for her decorations.


As noted before on this site, the Olympics are about money not sport.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Knobheads

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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French Farce

For some bizarre reason our lords and masters have agreed that the 2012 Olympics will be conducted in French, with English being deemed as the "second language".

It seems that French is the "mother tongue" of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), given that the Greeks invented the games shouldn't Greek be the language of choice?

Anyhoo, be that as it may, French takes precedence at medal giving and all other Olympic ceremonies. "Billboards and pageantry" must also be in French as well as English.

In order to ensure that the host country is completely humiliated, the IOC also demands that 40,000 (yes, 40,000!) hotel rooms be made available for IOC members and assorted hangers on.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Pathetic!

I see that the IOC are considering sacrificing the traditional Olympics opening and closing ceremony fireworks displays on the altar of "environmentalism".

Maybe, if the IOC were that concerned about the environment, they should consider abandoning the games altogether given the energy used, resources wasted, air pollution etc to host, attend and compete in the games?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Beware Betting Scams

As noted many times on this site, the Olympics is more about money rather than sport.

The IOC is concerned that the London Olympics 2012 will be subjected to betting scams/corruption/fixing and, as such, will be monitoring betting patterns.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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We're Backing China

It is "refreshing" to see that the IOC are still helping support the Chinese Olympics, even though they ended in 2008.

The IOC has announced the allocation of accredited positions to journalists for the 2012 London Olympics. Out of the 5,600 possible positions British journalists have been allocated a paltry 500, whereas Chinese journalists have been allocated 200.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Ker Farking Ching!

It is nice to see that those in charge of the London Olympics 2012 have come up with a novel, and amusing, way to make money out of the games.

They will fine anyone not authorised to use the designated Olympics roads during the games £200.

The designated roads cover approximately 2.5% of London's road network, and cross through some of the most congested areas of London.

The concept of these designated roads is to allow athletes, International Olympic Committee members, Olympic sponsors, the media and other junket hangers on not to endure what the average Londoner endures every day when trying to get to work.

All right for some, isn't it?

Ker Farking Ching!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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"Modest"

Figures recently released by the Government show that the nine senior executives at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) are paid more than David Cameron's annual salary of £142,500.

However, Sir Craig Reedie, the architect of London's bid to host the Games and now a member of the International Olympic Committee's Executive Board, has told insidethegames:

"I think the professionalism that has been shown by the people at the top ODA is outstanding and in world competitive terms, the remuneration is modest."

So that's alright then!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Countries Tout Tickets

In a rather amusing development, the IOC has all but accused four (albeit unnamed) countries of touting tickets for the recent Vancouver Winter games.

National Olympic Committees (NOCs) receive a quota of tickets that they can sell to the public in their home country. However, some NOCs have been in the habit of passing the tickets on to touts for profit.

Gilbert Felli, an IOC director, has stated that four countries would be punished (they will receive a reduced ticket allocation for the London games) for the way in which the sales of their Vancouver allocation were handled.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Stuffy

The IOC seems to have reacted a tad stuffily by complaining about the Canadian Women's Ice Hockey team celebrating their victory by drinking a few beers and champagne in the rink after the match.

Doesn't the IOC have more pressing issues to worry about?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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No Bailout Needed

Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic Committee president, has told The Daily Telegraph that there is no need for the IOC to offer bailout money to the London 2012 Olympics, as it has done for Vancouver.

Seemingly, in the eyes of the IOC, the finances of the games are robust. This in spite of the fact that the London Olympics "budget" now stands at £12BN (including £2BN running costs) and is likely to exceed that amount as and when the final reckoning is made.

Doubtless the hapless British taxpayers, who have been saddled with paying for this monument to Labour's folly, agree wholeheartedly with Rogge and are happy to pay for them!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Sponsorship Thumbs Down

Delegates attending ESA's (a market research organisation) Future Sponsorship conference gave a 66% thumbs down to the International Olympic Committee's TOP sponsorship programme, stating that it failed to deliver value for money.

Chris Townsend, commercial director at Locog, refutes this and has expressed "surprise" at the findings.

Well, he would say that wouldn't he?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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London Logo Farce - The Farce Continues V

The controversy over the "Lisa Simpson Gives Head" London 2012 Olympic logo continues unabated.

This time Brett Gosper, president of McCann Worldgroup in Europe (the agency that is promoting the games), weighed into the controversy noting that he would "probably not" have chosen it to represent the London 2012 games.

London 2012 officials responded by saying:

"This is surprising."

Where have they been for the past two years?

BTW I understand that the IOC hates the "Lisa Simpson Gives Head" analogy, as they quite rightly see that it damages their brand, and have tried to remove any videos from the web that purport to show such an action.

I wonder why they didn't see the similarity before choosing this logo?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Improving The Brand

Locog CEO Paul Deighton proved that he is not the man for the job of running Locog, nor should he be entrusted with taxpayers' money, when he said the other day:

"We're looking to put on a brilliant games that really works. To leave behind all those legacies and to improve the brand."

Why, pray tell, should the British taxpayer be funding the brand building of the IOC?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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The "Real" Thing

As I have noted many times before, the Olympics is not about sport but about money and brand promotion.

Coca-Cola demonstrates this point admirably as reports indicate that it is less than happy with Locog's proposals for a £20M sponsorship deal with a major British supermarket chain.

Locog has been in talks with Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer wrt a possible deal.

However, Coca-Cola feels that the deal would damage its own campaigns and as such has complained to the International Olympic Committee.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Irregular Betting

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), in an attempt to eliminate irregular betting, is to set up a new system to monitor corrupt betting practices linked to Olympic competitions.

International Sports Monitoring, based in Switzerland, will monitor the 2010 Vancouver winter games and then the London 2012 games.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Boris Battles IOC

I see that Boris Johnson is going into battle against the IOC et al, over plans to build a £40M temporary venue near the 02 in Greenwich.

According to Adrian Warner of the BBC:

"Expect plenty of rows on this for months yet. And also expect Johnson to dig in hard to get his way.

2012 has become very political. This row is so acrimonious that Johnson rushed in front of TV cameras this week without even telling 2012 he planned to do so.

Boris has stepped out of the Olympic tent. The 2012 consensus has been shattered. With the IOC also ready to play a hard game, we are in for some interesting days."

My money's on Boris winning this one!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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War Footing

Kevan Gosper, a member of the International Olympic Committee, has said that London faces the "toughest time - short of wartime" to stage the 2012 Games.

Errmmm, I thought that these games were meant to be "fun"?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Piffle!

The IOC, having completed their two day inspection of London's preparations for the 2012 Olympics, have magnanimously stated that the UK is justified in spending £12BN (including £2BN running costs) on the games.

Given that the money is not coming out of the IOC's pockets, and the continuing existence of the games justifies their junkets and salaries, the IOC would say that.

Denis Oswald, the head of the Coordination Commission is quoted in The Guardian:

"In every city where you organise the Games, it's a unique opportunity to improve the infrastructure in one way or another.

If you look at most previous cities like Athens, they have a new airport, they have a new train line, they have a new metro line, they have a new tramway, they have a new motorway... all this was done on the occasion of the Games.

These were investments which were needed by the city in order to be a modern city and I think it's a very similar situation with the east end part of London which needed improvement. The Games are just the best opportunity to do it."

Oswald neglects to mention that the hapless citizens of Greece will be spending years paying off the debts of the 2004 Olympics, and that many of the venues constructed for the Athens games are now rotting.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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