The Olympics

The Olympics

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News, information and stories about the Olympic Games.

Friday, 25 March 2011

Knobheads Pissing Money Away!

Pissing Money Away

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

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

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

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

The Pig's Breakfast

Pig's Breakfast

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

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

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

Monday, 21 March 2011

Picnics and Mobiles Banned

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

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

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

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Tick Tock - Olympics Clock Stops

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

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

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

Tuesday, 15 March 2011

Ticket Glitch

As predicted, online sales of tickets for the 2012 Olympics have already hit a technical "glitch".

Owing to an agreement made between the organisers and Visa, only Visa cards will be accepted for payment.

However, for reasons best known to the organisers and Visa, it seems that Visa cards that expire before the end of August are not being accepted.

Apparently a solution to this is now being devised.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

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

Contrarian

To coincide with the activation of the 500 day countdown clock and the opening of the tickets sales shop for the London 2012 Olympics, the Economist is running a contrarian advertising campaign under the headline:

"Hosting the Olympics is a waste of money"

Posters for the campaign will appear in tube stations across the capitol until the end of March.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

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

Monday, 7 March 2011

24 Hour Tube Service

A working party has been set up to look into the possibilities of running the Tube 24 hours a day during the 2012 London Olympics.

Suffice to say, Bob Crow the RMT spokesman has put his boot into the idea by noting that there is no union agreement over hours, pay etc.

Irrespective of the Olympics and union dinosaurs, why is that London does not have a 24 hour tube service anyway?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

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