London Olympics - Biggest 2012 promise 'has not been delivered'

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Do you want to go to the Olympics in London? Don’t have tickets? It doesn’t matter!! There are a range of free events and London is going to be alive as the XXX Olympiad starts off on July 27th next year.

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Now that the venues are on track to be ready and most of the tickets are sold, the biggest 2012 issue, for me, in the next few months is the failure of the Games to increase participation in sport.

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This was the biggest promise of London's bidding campaign. And let's face it, it's not happening.

We are not seeing a massive boom in participation. The 2012 campaign slogan is falling flat on its face.

This week, I have been in Newham, the poorest borough in London where the Olympic Park has been built.

Obesity is so bad in this part of London that doctors call in their patients as soon as they hit 40 for checks on their fat levels.

Despite having more young people living in the borough than most areas in the country, the level of sports partipation in Newham has been very low in Government surveys in recent years.
So the closure of a swimming centre at the heart of the area is causing real anger.

Locals say it's an astonishing decision when the Olympics are supposed to be encouraging people to take up sport.

So, when 2012 ramp up their celebrations on 31 December with fireworks in central London, the Atherton Leisure Centre at the heart of the Olympic borough will be shut down.

Newham Council says the pool has to be closed because of ceiling problems which will cost too much to repair.

The Mayor, Sir Robin Wales, has promised to replace it with a new centre.

But Michelle Turner, who is running the campaign to save the pool, is not convinced the borough has the money to deliver a new pool.

Although the Olympic Aquatic Centre has been built in Newham, residents says it is a 40-minute walk away and won't be open for some time.

I've also been talking to Trevor Blackman, who runs sports training programmes in Newham.
He says Government public spending cuts have meant he is only running one programme in the borough now.

All this in the place where the Games really need to make an impact.

So, who is taking responsibility for this lack of progress in participation?

Lord Coe, the 2012 chairman, takes some of the hits because he is the man who made the promise in his emotional speech to the International Olympic Committee in Singapore.

But it is also the Government, London Mayor Boris Johnson as well as local authorities and the national governing bodies of sport who need to step up to the mark here.

We've had the catalyst of the Olympics for six years now but Britain's sporting landscape isn't changing like we were promised it would.

********************************************************************************************************* Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

USA: Jordyn Wieber prepares to take on the world

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The questions, mixed with congratulations, started in mid-August for Jordyn Wieber, her parents and three siblings. Neighbors and friends in their small town of DeWitt, Mich., located just outside of Lansing, saw Wieber dominate the competition en route to winning her first U.S. senior all-around national title. The proud clan figured their favorite gymnast was booked for bigger things to come.


"So you made it to the Olympics? You're going to London, right?"

The Wiebers smile back at the well-intentioned praise and politely tamp down the enthusiasm with some reality. She is not on the 2012 London Olympic Summer Games team -- yet.
First things first.

She's part of the American team for the world championships in Tokyo, one of the favorites to win the all-around title. Wieber's star is quickly rising, as she's becoming one of the gymnasts to beat heading into the 2012 London Olympics. Her life is changing rapidly: She's a high school junior, becoming more famous by the day with possible Olympic -- and maybe mainstream -- stardom looming. Fans email her asking for autographs, and the media requests for her time are starting to mount.

For Wieber, there is much more work and many days of practice to come before she can call herself an Olympian. The moments at hand, nationals and now her first worlds, are important milestone experiences in her young senior-level competitive career.

"I think it's really nice that everybody is so happy for me, that makes me smile," Wieber, 16, said. "I know they think I've really done something because of nationals, but I'm not where I want to be yet. I don't even think about London yet, I mean, it would be awesome to be in the Olympics, but I can't think about that. I want to stay focused on every day and what I need to do. And of course, how I am going to do at worlds. I want to really do my best there and that's what we've been working on."

Preparing for worlds has been a careful dance, with choreography being learned on the fly by Wieber and her coaches, John and Kathryn Geddert. It's her first trip to Tokyo and her first time as the favorite on the biggest stage short of the Olympics.

Wieber's mom, Rita, thinks the gravity of where things stand is starting to fully dawn on her daughter. Her daughter has gone from being the precious talent at the local gymnastics school to one of the best all-around gymnasts in the world.

"She never said the 'L word' [the London Olympics] at home until she came back from nationals," Rita said. "That was the first time I heard her mention it when we were talking about things. That tells me this is all starting to become real to her. I know she's always dreamed about these things, like going to worlds, going to the Olympics and winning. I think those things seemed off in the distance, almost like dreams you have but don't know if they can come true.
"They're not so in the distance anymore, and that's scary, exciting, stressful, wonderful, all of it. I still pray for the same things now as when she started competing: for her to do her very best, not get hurt and we let the chips fall where they may from there."

The Gedderts and Wieber have been working hard to strengthen and perfect everything for worlds, with an eye on sticking landings. Every tenth is important at worlds, where Wieber's scores, as usual in gymnastics, will hinge on the devilish, minute details. But the balance of doing enough practice to attain perfect "hard" landings, without causing injury, is difficult. They have been doing a mix of hard and soft landings, trying to be very efficient in practices and working on mental precision.

The question always lurks silently: How many reps are enough? Too few, and you're not prepared. Too many, and you're increasing the odds of injury or accident. Wieber has been fortunate enough to escape serious injury so far, only enduring non-career-threatening hamstring, ankle and back issues.

John Geddert wasn't happy with the length of the world team selection process, which brought the top gymnasts from nationals down to the Karolyi ranch outside of Houston, Texas, twice: first for a training camp, then for actual selection of the worlds team. Martha Karolyi, the coordinator of the U.S. team for worlds and the Olympics, likes to have the team bond and practice at her facility.

John didn't like the travel, the upheaval from mid-Michigan to Texas and all of it happening during the time Wieber was starting school again after Labor Day. He is understandably protective of the best student his gym has produced in its 15 years of existence.

"It's the process, so we have to do it, but is it the best way to do things? I don't think so, but check back with me after worlds," John said, with a Cheshire Cat–like smile and questioningly arched eyebrow. "It's Martha Karolyi's deal, so that's what we have to do. Martha knows best, I guess. I just worry about things, the wear and tear, things that we all want to avoid to have Jo at her best for worlds. It's hard to really build a good training schedule around this coming and going stuff."

And John is also forgiven for being a little bit stressed in another way, as the multi-use sports facility that houses Twistars is in foreclosure. The club rents 15,000 square feet of space in the 176,000 square-foot facility, which also houses two hockey rinks and fields for indoor soccer. The foreclosure process could come to a head while the Gedderts and Wieber are in Japan.
"I hope we can stay here, we're good tenants, we pay our rent," John said. "But if we have to move someplace else, we will. This has been such a great place for us to be, because we walked in here from the first days and made it exactly how we wanted it. It's all out of our hands right now."

Wieber, who is called "Jo" by everybody around the gym, understands John's pre-worlds angst about changes big and small. They're a matched set, two focused perfectionists who like following a groove in order to succeed. For 13 years, the Gedderts and Wieber have been in sync and steadily climbing the gymnastics levels together.

Kathryn Geddert wants to make sure Wieber is not putting too much pressure on herself at worlds because she is one of the favorites. She will be in the stands, fidgeting and stressing, while John will be on the floor coaching Wieber in Tokyo.

"I've never met anybody like Jo, she's always been so focused and known what she's wanted to be -- the best -- since she was so little," Kathryn said. "The Jo you see now was the same one you would have met 10 years ago. She's not going to take a break or stop until the task is accomplished. We're getting into some pretty big things now, where everything has to go right to have that storybook finish everybody wants. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't."
Wieber shows the classic American gymnastics star traits: a powerhouse tumbler, a showman's flair on floor exercise and a boldness to push the envelope on difficult skills. When Wieber is on, attacking her routines, she's in the rare air of sublime elites. But when she gets conservative and plays it safe, the steam starts to rise from John.

"That's the challenge we have, she can't play it safe and still win when you get to places like worlds or the Olympics," John said. "You have to go for it, be confident and really hit it when the pressure is on. Jo got away with relaxing a little at nationals because she had so big of a lead after the first day, but that didn't make me happy. We've got a lot to work on, and that's at the top of the list -- going for it every time, every single time."

Wieber's life could shift into overdrive shortly. If she goes to worlds and performs up to her capability, she could win and then the pre-Olympic hype and pressure will shoot to new levels. If she falls short in Tokyo, the pressure could warp into people and pundits wondering if she is strong enough to handle the off-the-charts stress of the Olympics.

In the meantime, Rita and Dave Wieber, the rest of the family and other components of Team Wieber try to keep things as normal as possible. Jordyn still goes to a public high school, attending modified days so she can train eight hours per day in the gym, split into two four-hour sessions.
She does chores at home, handles her own laundry and is expected to help drive younger sister Kyra when necessary. There are the usual sibling issues in a house with two teens and a tween, but in the end, everything gets solved through some healthy family dynamics.

Homework must often be done well in advance, so Wieber can spend time on the road for training camps and worlds without falling behind in her classes. Wieber is focused on competing in college someday, so she remains an amateur. College gymnastics is a proud tradition in Twistars, with the wall of the gym's entrance lined with pictures of the dozens of athletes who went on to compete in Division I.

"I'm really good with time management, so I've learned how to get everything done, with school and practice," Wieber said. "My life has been this way for a while with the training and school, but yeah, it does get more serious now as I'm getting older. This is what I want to do, so I know how to get everything done when I have the time to do it."

There isn't much time left over after school and gymnastics, but Wieber loves going to older brother Ryan's prep football games, where he is the star senior quarterback for DeWitt. The local paper recently declared "Wieber Fever," a take-off of (Justin) Bieber fever, when Ryan led his team to victory. Going to games with her family and friends, sitting in the stands cheering for Ryan, makes for a fun Friday night on a crisp fall evening in mid-Michigan.

Wieber's parents take Ryan's games seriously, too, trying to schedule their flights to make it to Tokyo to watch worlds without missing any snaps. Rita admits trying to keep everything in balance, and maintaining a regular family life is often elusive with two busy high schoolers and an active 12-year-old playing travel soccer. Oldest daughter Lindsay is in medical school at Michigan State University.

Rita added a small tattoo, saying "Faith" in flowing script, earlier this year as a way to maintain focus. She looks at it when she's stressed, using the tattoo as a reminder to say a quick prayer for calm and perspective.

"Our faith means a lot to us, and I pray all the time for Jordyn, all of my kids, because I really believe everything we're doing is in God's hands," Rita said. "No matter what happens, we're on a really special adventure and we have great kids. All you want as [a] mom is for your kids to chase their dreams and be happy and safe. That's the road we've been on with Jordyn all these years, and I know we're far from seeing the end of it. It's quite a ride and I just pray. I pray a lot."

********************************************************************************************************* Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com / http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

Olympic Closing Ceremony - All you need to know for August 12th, 2012

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Do you want to go to the Olympics in London? Don’t have tickets? It doesn’t matter!! There are a range of free events and London is going to be alive as the XXX Olympiad starts off on July 27th next year.


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After what would have been a rollercoaster three weeks, Olympic Stadium in the heart for Olympic Park, will close the 2012 Summer Games with a BANG!!!

The Closing Ceremony is a far more informal process than the Opening Ceremony. It is a celebration of the world uniting and competing together to achieve greatness. Nations finest athletes have come together and shown their best. Friendships and bonds have been made. Whether an athlete has won a medal or not, they have come out stronger because of the grand competition that is the Olympic Games. When the athletes enter the stadium, it is under no nation flag or banner of their individual sport. They run in as a combined group who were strangers and rivals three weeks prior, but now have come together to dance and celebrate what they have all achieved.

As always the Closing Ceremony starts with a massive fireworks display. The host nations Prime Minister and the President of the International Olympic Committee are introduced and the host nations flag is hoisted to their anthem. This starts the festivities and performances that celebrate the youth and legacy of the Olympic movement.

Each hosting nation try’s to put on a performance to trump the previous Olympic host ceremony. This has created an ever increasing standard of dance, music, and cultural display that commemorate the artistic flare of the host nation.

As the spectacular performance draws to a close, the athletes enter the stadium and reminisce on the past twenty days that will have changed their lives and given them experiences that they will never forget.

The Ceremony concludes with a hand over of the Olympics to the new host nation, which for London 2012 Summer Games will be Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.

********************************************************************************************************* Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony - How it all happens

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Do you want to be at the Olympics in London? Don’t have tickets? It doesn’t matter!! There are a range of free events and London is going to be alive as the XXX Olympiad starts off on July 27th next year.

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With months of build up for organizers, years, hours, minutes and seconds of training for athletes, like all Olympic Games, London Olympic Park will put a show to let the world know IT HAS BEGUN!!!

The Olympic torch is lit in Olympia, Greece, and will have travelled for 70 day, across all nations competing, and through 8,000 torchbearers to light the famous Olympic Flame. Once the Olympic Flame is lit, it ignites the fire in an Opening Ceremony watched by a third of the world population. With the ground rumbling and the air shaking, a multimillion dollar fireworks display will concludes the ceremony. It is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to see it in person and experience the real festivities of the Games.

The Opening Ceremony starts a celebration of not only the world’s top athletes, but of music, dance, and culture. The ceremony typically commences with the raising of the host country’s flag as the national anthem is performed. The act that follows is a display of the host countries history and culture, symbolized by dance, singing, and music.

The traditional phase of the ceremony is started with the “Parade of Nations” in which all the athletes are introduced into the stadium, country by country, holding their national flag. As originators of the Olympics, Greece has a special and place and leads the parade, with the host nation marching in last.

Once countries have entered, the president of the Organizing Committee declares the games open.

The Olympic flag then enters the stadium horizontally and is hoisted to the sound of the Olympic Hymn. It is then circled by a flag bearer from every nation competing, embracing the unity and spirit of friendship of the Games.

It would not be a complete ceremony if the Olympic torch was not passed from athlete to athlete, country to country, where it is finally given to the host nation to light the Olympic Cauldron.

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How to get Olympic Tickets in December 2011!!!!

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Want to go to the Olympics in London? Don’t have tickets? It doesn’t matter!! There are a range of free events and London is going to be alive as the XXX Olympiad starts off on July 27th next year.

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Olympic Session Entry Tickets

If you are looking for Olympic Tickets, please note that we DO NOT offer Olympic Tickets but guided tours and hotels. 

If you reside in the US,Canada or Australia I recommend contacting CoSport and registering with them as they will be having a second round of ticket sales before December 2012.

If you reside outside the US, Canada or Australia; click here, scroll down and find your local Authorized Ticket Seller. Recommend giving them a call and finding out about their second round of sale. For most countries, they will be having a second round sales before or during the European winter (December).

Free Events

 

********************************************************************************************************* Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

Olympic Venue Map - London 2012 Summer Games

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Want to do the Olympics in London? Don’t have tickets? It doesn’t matter!! There are a range of free events and London is going to be alive as the XXX Olympiad starts off on July 27th next year.

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Olympic Park includes many of the 2012 London Olympic Venues, BUT NOT ALL

With the Olympic’s less than a year off, the majority of the stadiums and venues have been completed. There are a wide range of Olympic venues in and around London. Click here to see a map of all the venues and the relevant sports being played there.

View London Olympic Venues Map in a larger map

 

********************************************************************************************************* Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

Avoid The X Factor at all costs

Yippee. Tonight is the debut of some singing show called The X Factor. I hear that it features some British guy named SImon Cowell. He apparently used to be at the front of some other singing show entitled American Idol. Apparently both of these singing shows are on some American television network named FOX and center around people's dreams coming true or being crushed when it comes to their vocal prowess.

Alright. I can't actually pretend not to know what either if these shows are but I can honestly say I only watched the very first season of American Idol which produced the only true pop star from the series (Kelly Clarkson) but The X Factor is different. Simon Cowell will let his dickish self shine through. He is free to be an utter prick to kids as young as twelve. He can sport his black tees from Baby Gap in front of the same fucking mindless drones who watch the incessant drivel that is American Idol except now people can get their weekly dose of public belittling of people who have no business singing for about nine straight months.



In short, I know that tens of millions of brain dead Americans will watch the lowest common denominator programming which The X Factor certainly is. It's a cruel program but it's also somewhat real. Sure, the producers are scouring the lines of potential contestants looking for those who are sure to embarrass themselves. They are desperate to find the person who is so oblivious to their own lack of talent that they will eagerly belt out two or three horrendously off-key lines to an already horrid pop song that Simon Cowell will be chomping at the bit to belittle this contestant who needs to be belittled but should probably be belittled in a more private setting.

Hey, I have no problem with cruel. I'm a rather cruel person but The X Factor is a semi-scripted attempt at reality competition television. If they have to show this drivel, show it uncut. That would be true reality. Show it without the producers coaching potential contestants. Show it unedited and unfiltered. It will always be edited in a way that's flattering to the judges -- particularly Simon Cowell who overflows with pretentiousness -- but I hope and pray that Americans will return to scripted television and this year is the year to do just that.

NBC actually has a solid hour of comedy tonight with Up All Night and Free Agents starting off the night and ABC has an hour both of The Middle and Modern Family tonight so ditch the shitty "reality" singing contests and appreciate the fact that creative and sharp writing teamed with legitimate actors is a superior alternative to a TV landscape littered with mindless drones looking for their fifteen minutes of fame.

London 2012 Olympics: David Beckham and Gareth Bale could find themselves as room-mates in Olympic Village

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Do you want to go to the Olympics in London? Don’t have tickets? It doesn’t matter!! There are a range of free events and London is going to be alive as the XXX Olympiad starts off on July 27th next year. 

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David Beckham and Gareth Bale could find themselves sharing a room in the Olympic Village next summer following a decision by the Football Association to ensure that the Team GB footballers fully immerse themselves in the spirit of London 2012.

Burning ambition: David Beckham holds the Olympic torch, with Lord Coe 

The Football Associaiton is leading the controversial selection of united British teams for the men’s and women’s football competitions, and has decided that both squads will spend at least some time in the main athletes’ village in Stratford.

The decision means that players more used to luxuriating in five-star suites on club and international duty could have to share rooms in the more austere village environment.

The majority of athletes will be housed in shared rooms or apartments with more than one bed in each room. There are only a handful of single rooms and these will be reserved for special cases.

The 2012 organising committee has committed to having a bed for every competitor, however, and will welcome the presence of high-profile footballers. The squads are only likely to spend a few days in the Stratford village as the football competition will take them around the UK.

The women’s opening game, scheduled for Cardiff on July 25, will be the first event of the 2012 Games, coming two days before the opening ceremony.

They will play a second game in Cardiff before finishing their group matches at Wembley. The men’s team will begin at Old Trafford, then play at Wembley and Cardiff.

Beckham and Bale are both likely to feature on a long-list of possible players due to be selected in October. The English veteran is desperate to feature as one of the three players aged over 23 permitted in what will eventually be an 18-strong squad.

Beckham will also help sell tickets and replica shirts manufactured by his boot supplier, but the 
FA and British Olympic Association insist that selection will be based on football rather than celebrity criteria.

Bale and his Wales international colleague Aaron Ramsey are seen as crucial to the success of the British team as their presence would deliver genuine British representation.

Players selected on the long-list who want to win a place in the final squads of 18 will then have to declare their availability. The issue is sensitive for Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish players, whose unions oppose their participation.

The managers of the two teams will be announced shortly, with England Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce and England women’s manager Hope Powell expected to fill the roles.

********************************************************************************************************* Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

Olympic Music Deal for Universal - Coldplay to Play Opening Ceremony

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Want to do the Olympics in London? Don’t have tickets? It doesn’t matter!! There are a range of free events and London is going to be alive as the XXX Olympiad starts off on July 27^th next year.

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Coldplay www.london-olympiad.com

Organizers of the 2012 London Olympics have signed a licensing deal with Universal Music Group. 

Codyplay is set to be the main act for the Opening Ceremony.

Universal Music will have exclusive rights to release London 2012-branded music. The deal announced Monday includes compilation albums, composing, publishing, and recording of Olympic-related music between now and the games. 

Universal will also advise London organizers on all aspects of music at the games.

London officials say it's the first time an Olympic organizing committee has signed such a deal with a music company. 

The London organizing committee says "the diverse nature of Universal Music Group's labels and artists will provide a rich talent pool for the games in 2012." 

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Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

What to expect at the London Games?

 www.london-olympiad.com. London stretching out for the biggest games yet.

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Want to do the Olympics in London? Don’t have tickets? It doesn’t matter!! There are a range of free events and London is going to be alive as the XXX Olympiad starts off on July 27th next year.

Chat with us live online to find a tour that suits you best www.london-olympiad.com.If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at info@london-olympiad.com.

When London hosts the Games of the XXX Olympiad from July 27 - August 12, 2012, it will become the first city to stage the Olympics three times (Athens and Paris have hosted the Summer Games twice, and Lake Placid and St. Moritz have held the Olympic Winter Games twice.)

London also hosted the Games in 1908 and 1948, and both times played a vital role in the development of the modern Olympic movement. London's first go-round, held just 12 years after the first modern Olympics, set a new standard for host cities, particularly with respect to organization. In 1948, London was the site of the Olympics' revival after a 12-year absence because of World War II. Those Games, held in spite of the ruins of the war, were subdued in tone but not in meaning, as the Olympics have been held every four years since.  

Sixty-four years later, London will confront a different type of challenge - following the majestic Beijing Games, which re-defined Olympic grandiosity with what was essentially an unlimited budget. London will have no such fiscal luxury, but it does have several other things going for it - principally the ability to integrate historic sites and venues with fresh locales.

Tennis will be played on Wimbledon's prestigious lawns, soccer at the storied Wembley Stadium. Beach volleyball - one of the Olympics' newer sensations - will be held at the Horse Guards Parade in the heart of ceremonial London. Hyde Park, steeped in 400 years of history, will host triathlon.

As for the new, London's Olympic Park in the East End - an area that was heavily bombed during World War II and has recently been industrially contaminated land - is the largest urban development in more than a century. One of the goals for the Park will be to bring the festival nature of the Games to life with riverside gardens, markets, events, cafes and bars. The Olympic Park will be the site of the new 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium, which will host track and field and the opening and closing ceremonies. The Stadium is on an "island" site - surrounded by waterways on three sides. Spectators will be able to reach it via five bridges that connect it to the surrounding area.

The signature venue of the Games - perhaps fittingly given the ever-growing international presence of the sport - should be the new Aquatics Centre, also housed in Olympic Park. Organizers are calling it the "gateway" to the Park, and in an effort to blend form and function, it will feature a wave-like roof that is likely to provide one of the lasting architectural images of the Games.

The sports program itself will have two notable absences from the Beijing Games, as baseball and softball have been dropped from the Olympic slate. No new sports have been added, though several new disciplines will be contested. Primary additions include women's boxing for the first time at an Olympics, and a re-configuring of the track cycling program. In Beijing, there were seven track cycling events for men and three for women; each gender will have five track cycling events in London. Also, tennis has added a mixed doubles competition.

Back in July 2005, when London was awarded these Games, Lord Sebastian Coe, the two-time 1500m Olympic champion who has led the London 2012 effort since the bid phase, declared: "This is our moment. It's massive. It's huge. This is the biggest prize in sport."

Coe and his team now have one year remaining to maximize their return on that prize. It's shaping up to be a Games rich from both honoring the past and embracing new birth - in terms of geography, venues, and sport.

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Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

Fall TV season is here already?!?

Last night seemed to be the unofficial start of the fall television season. Rather than watch the repeated, mindless drivel offered up on basic cable, I flipped to The CW and caught the series premier of The Ringer featuring the return of Sarah Michelle Gellar to network television. I always head into anything on The CW with low expectations and while The Ringer featured some downright shitty green screen work early in the pilot episode, the overall plot was full of mystery and intrigue and wrapped up with some terrific action. I am fairly confident that the series can sustain its intriguing plot of identical twins where one seems determined to have the other killed while the more affluent has staged her own death and is plotting to off her troubled and estranged twin who has assumed the other's identity.

Starting tonight, though, NBC is rolling out its new Wednesday night comedy offerings. While I'm not exactly shouting from the rooftops about Up All Night or Free Agents there is beginning to be some buzz around Up All Night and even one article I saw stating that it's the first good show about a baby. On the flip side, Free Agents is just dreadful looking. It's a cheap retread of a British sitcom of the same name and it stars Hank Azaria, otherwise known as strike one. The second strike is that it's on NBC. The third strike, well watch for yourself as NBC's new Wednesday night comedies debut tonight at 9 PM C/T and find out for yourself just how dreadful Free Agents is.

London 2012 Tours Hotels: Throw Like a Girl - Jennie Finch's new book

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Want to be at the Olympics in London?

www.london-olympiad.com USA Softballer Jennie Finch

Don’t have tickets? It doesn’t matter!! There are a range of free events and London is going to be alive as the XXX Olympiad starts off on July 27th next year.
 
Chat with us live online to find a tour that suits you best www.london-olympiad.com.If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at info@london-olympiad.com.

Olympic gold-medal-winning softball pitcher Jennie Finch said the easiest part about writing her new book was coming up with the title: "Throw Like a Girl: How to Dream Big & Believe in Yourself”.
 
Olympic softball player Jennie Finch's new book, "Throw Like a Girl, How to 
Dream Big and Believe in Yourself," is part autobiography and part self-help.

"I've always heard people say that I made throwing like a girl cool," said Finch, who regularly threw pitches 70 mph or more.
 
"Yes, I throw like a girl and I'm proud of it. So it fit the book and my story perfectly."
 
Finch and award-winning sports journalist Ann Killion have written a book that is part autobiography, part inspirational self-help book for girls and young women who love and play sports.
 
"In truth, I wasn't super-girly," the 6-1 Finch writes. "I was the younger sister of two rowdy brothers, and I wanted to be just like them. I was such a tomboy, the kind of girl who would rather be rolling around in the dirt than inside playing with dolls."
 
But she also put ribbons in her hair and painted her nails pink before games — "fierce pink" she later called it for her own line of Mizuno gear. "I liked the contrast between being a tough-as-nails athlete and a hot-pink-on-my-nails girl. I liked that balance. It was right for me."
 
Finch, 31, is married with two young sons, a 5-year-old and a nearly 3-month-old.
 
She has retired from competitive softball but is on the advisory board of the National Pro Fastpitch League, the women's professional softball league.
 
She also is training to run this year's New York City Marathon, where she is scheduled to be the last person to start the race. With good reason: for each runner she passes, Timex will donate $1 to New York Road Runners' youth programs.



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Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

Reflection, layoffs and a dumb video

The past two weeks have been a time of reflection for me. Maybe it's because a girl I worked with in high school began a class of 90-whatever group page. It's sort of cool to see how infrequently most of my former classmates make it back to the city we grew up in. Hey, I've been back three or four times this  year and it's about a 90 minute drive so I'm no better than any of them. It's also interesting to see what became of them. It seems like the general rule is that most of my former classmates have two kids, are married and are gainfully employed. Ten years ago I never would have imagined that most of these people were capable of holding down a job and being parents. Hell, I can barely make it through some days but it seems like I am working two or three jobs some days. Not that I'm complaining.

And that leads me to my second area of reflection. A co-worker of eight years (he had been with our employer for 13 years) was laid off on Friday. I knew nothing good was going to come of us being called in to the conference room and I already had it figured out when I walked past my co-worker's cubicle. It's the second layoff in my department in two months. Layoffs are always brutal. This guy has a family. He has a house. He has financial responsibilities. He has a pre-teen daughter. He has a house. His wife owns her own business and was hit particularly hard during this depression (let's fucking face it, this isn't a recession, recessions end). I don't know how he's handling things. I plan on calling him at some point this week just because I'm quickly beginning to realize that my job could very well be the next and it never hurts to have a strong network.

It sounds bleak to say that and as much as I joked in a text to my old lady late Friday about running my family farm being closer than I had ever imagined, it's always our plan D. And plan D is close because we don't exactly have a plan B or plan C.

I could probably get more reflective but instead I'll give you an insanely annoying but addictive video professing one's love for farm equipment... weird.

London 2012 Tours Hotels: Cadel Evans Weights up the London Olympics

Cadel Evans - TDF wi

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Spyns you may have already noticed, Spyns, pronounced “spins” came about as a cycling company offering Luxury Tour de France tours. We are excited about the 2012 calendar because we will be in Paris for the Tour de France finish on the Sunday and be in London for the Olympic Opening Ceremony on Friday. It’s a tough life following sporting events around the world, but someone has to do it.

Chat with us live online to find a tour that suits you best www.london-olympiad.com.If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at info@london-olympiad.com. If seeing the Tour de France and the London Olympics is something that you would like, have a look at www.tdf-tours.com.

TOUR de France champion Cadel Evans says he's keen to put his hand up for the 2012 London Olympics - but he only expects to be selected if the course is hard enough.

The 34-year-old Australian is back at his Switzerland home, experiencing a whirlwind few days as he weighs up the many offers, requests and options that victory in cycling's biggest race brings.

His breakthrough triumph has prompted a wholesale review of his schedule for the rest of the year as he also starts looking at next year's program.

Evans would be a major Olympic drawcard if he made the Australian team for the London Games.

He wanted to attend a pre-Olympics meeting on Monday at the Australian cycling base in nearby Varese, Italy, but could not arrive in time after post-victory commitments on Sunday.

A major issue is whether the Olympic road race and time-trial courses will be hard enough to suit Evans's strengths.

''I wanted to go and look into those details - to be honest, I don't know if the course is going to be suitable,'' Evans said.

''But if I can be the man for the job to represent the country, of course I would love to ride. If it's a course more suitable to someone else, then it should be for someone else.''

The Olympic road events in London will come only days after Evans completes his Tour de France title defence.

He saw that as no disadvantage, but said there were other factors to consider as well.

''The timing falls well for us as tour riders - there's also an interesting world championships course in 2012 and a few other things,'' he said.

''We have to prioritise and choose our goals, but Tour de France 2012 is going to come around really quickly.''

Evans was also unsure whether he would now contest this year's Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) - like the Tour de France, a three-week grand tour - starting on August 20.

''We always had the Vuelta as an idea, but I wanted to decide on that after the tour, based on performance at the tour,'' he said. ''It's also about planning for 2012 at this stage.''

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Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

London 2012 Tours Hotels: With 25 medals, USA in strong position for London

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At Spyns we have been busy selling

Up and coming USA  athlete Tyler Anderson

luxury 5, 7, and 10 day tours to the London 2012 Olympics. The majority of our clients are North American and a few are coming with us to see the Tour de France finish in Paris the Sunday before the Opening Ceremony starts on Friday, July 27th, 2012. We have put together a full itinerary of events and attractions in and around London over the duration of the Olympics. If you would like more information on our tours please feel free to contact me at info@london-olympiad.com. Now on to your Team USA weekly update.

DAEGU, South Korea – The United States couldn't ask for a better jumping off point for the London Olympics than the IAAF World Championships, which ended Sunday.


American Christian Taylor competes in the men's triple jump final at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, on Sunday. Taylor won gold in his first trips to worlds.

Team USA won gold medals in the men's and women's long jumps, the men's high jump and the men's triple jump, plus a bronze in the triple jump for good measure. It was the most dominant jumping performance by a U.S. team since the 1996 Olympics, when Carl Lewis and Jackie Joyner-Kersee were still landing in sand pits.

"It's about time, that's what I'd say," said Christian Taylor, who leaped 58 feet, 11 ¼ inches for the triple jump crown Sunday, with University of Florida teammate Will Claye placing third.

Taylor trains in the Atlanta area with a group that includes Dwight Phillips, who won an unprecedented fourth straight world long jump title.

Taylor, 21, said he wanted to say Phillips, 33, was like a brother to him, but "he's kind of old, so he's kind of like a dad," he said. "The U.S. definitely represented and showed that we are the best team in the world. This is just the steppingstone to the Olympics."

Brittney Reese defended her women's long jump title and Jesse Williams was the first U.S. male to win the high jump since Charles Austin in 1991.

The U.S. won the medal count for the fourth straight World Championships with 25 medals (12 gold, eight silver and five bronze). Russia was second with 19, followed by Kenya (17), which ran away with the distance races.

The USA's medal total was an improvement over the 22 the Americans won two years ago at the world championships in Berlin.

"The United States kept its position as the world's No. 1 team," said head U.S. men's coach Vin Lananna. "I think we're set up beautifully going into London. We have some work to do, but the good thing is we're in a position to be able to capitalize on those great successes that we had here."

In one thrilling 32-minute stretch Thursday, the U.S. won three gold medals in quick succession: former steeplechaser Jenny Simpson in the women's 1,500, Williams in the high jump and LaShinda Demus in the women's 400 hurdles, smashing a 16-year-old American record.

The U.S. won three of the four relays, ending a snakebit streak in the 4x100 in which neither the men or women made the final in the 2008 Olympics or 2009 worlds.

In the men's 4x100, they got the baton around three-quarters of the way before Darvis "Doc" Patton tangled with a British runner and fell, crushing U.S. hopes while Jamaica's Usain Bolt raced to a world record.

"We had great stick passing, it just happened that we had a collision with another team," said Justin Gatlin, who ran the second leg. "If anything, we came away with a moral victory. I think we won over the fans, to show them that we can come together as team, and next year we'll be stronger and better."

But the rest of the world won't be sitting idly by. David Greene of Britain won the men's 400 hurdles, breaking a U.S. winning streak that dated to 2005. "The Americans haven't been dominating on the circuit this year," he said. "It is nice to see fresh faces on the scene — not fresh faces, just not American for a change. It shows the rest of the world is catching up."

Allyson Felix won four medals for a total of 10 in her career, tying Lewis for most U.S. medals at worlds. However, in her quest to double in the 200 and 400, she lost her world title in the 200, placing third, and won the silver in the 400. "Even though I came up short in my individual events, it was a success to walk away with medals and a learning experience," said Felix, who will reconsider her options for the Olympics.

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Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

London 2012 Tours Hotels: Photo's of Olympic Venues

Olympic Stadium in ful swing

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At Spyns we are very excited to be part of the London Olympics. If you haven't been lucky enough to recieve tickets, check out our ticketing page by clicking here for information on how you have another chance.

Chat with us live online to find a tour that suits you best www.london-olympiad.com.If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at info@london-olympiad.com.

Check out all the Olympic venue latest’s photo’s by clicking here.

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Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

New Minnesota license plates not worth the hassle

On Monday I finally made the journey to the DMV (or whatever it's currently called) to pay for my 2012 license tabs. Yes, I was about a month late buying these and no I don't care that I'm a reckless scofflaw. Come and get me coppers!

But the official 2012 license tab renewal meant not only the little yellow 2012 stickers but new license plates. Normally I like most anything new but when I saw the new plates I expressed my displeasure regarding them. Why did I need new license plates? My current license plates were more than legible and looked like new even on my 9 year old car. I like the very real look of the raised letters and numbers and they're even reflective. Sure, the new computer generated license plates are cheaper to manufacture but what about their longevity. Will the computer generated letters and numbers outlast the machine-stamped reflective letters and number which the State of Minnesota is phasing out?

That's another discussion fro another day, though. My real beef ended up being with installing the new license plates. Around 7 PM I ventured out into my driveway with a screwdriver and my new fake-looking license plates. I figured I'd spend about five minutes on this seemingly pointless task and be able to move on to other, more important tasks. I firmly dug my old screwdriver into the rusty phillips head screw and began turning. The only problem being that the screwdriver turned and the screw failed to do so. Apparently Toyota hadn't realized the value of zinc coated screws nine years ago.

So I sprayed some trusty WD-40 on the rusty screws and waited. Again I applied far more pressure than should be needed to budge a screw and failed once again to loosen either screw. Then one of the screws sort of pulled through the old license plate leaving it dangling by one rusty screw. Getting angry now, I twisted and pulled and the license plate -- eventually snapping it off leaving the rusty screws still anchored through the plastic "bumper" and through the rusty metal u-clamp which holds the license plate to the car.

I tried a vise grip and failed. I tried my cordless drill/screwdriver and failed and eventually, after almost an hour, I got one screw out. I don't remember how it came free but I do remember some stupid girl trying to sell books door to door being on the receiving end of my frustration. Couldn't she tell by my almost constant grunting and cursing that I was busy? In the end the second u-clamp pulled through the plastic "bumper" and I have the State of Minnesota to blame for this ordeal. Should I send them a bill for wasting 90 minutes of my time I could have spent on freelance work? After all, they felt that I needed these new, fake-looking license plates. Oh, and they do absolutely nothing to improve the aesthetics of my black car.