London Olympic Tours - Team USA weekly update

www.london-olympiad.com

Team USA weekly update - London Olympic Tours

At Spyns we have been busy selling luxury 4, 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 27^th, 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:

Alexander Massialas, 16, from San Francisco, made American fencing history Thursday at the Cadet and Junior World Championships, when he won gold in the Cadet competition in Amman, Jordan.

Massialas, who also won gold in 2010 and bronze in 2009, became the first U.S. male to win two world titles in the cadet, junior or senior divisions.

“It feels really awesome to win again,” said Massialas, coached by his father, three-time Olympian Greg Massialas.

Alexander Massialas will compete again Sunday in the junior division and next Wednesday in the team event. Massialas placed fifth as a junior in 2010 and was a member of the gold-medal squad that won the team event.

Earlier this week, another 16-year-old, Lee Kiefer won her fourth career medal at the Cadet Worlds, winning silver after a loss in the finals to Italy’s Camilla Mancini. The Cadet and Junior World Championships end April 6.

SOCCER

U.S. women vs. England, April 2, London

The U.S. Women’s National Team will create a bit of history for itself Saturday when Team USA plays England in England for the first time in a pre-World Cup match. The game has a 3 p.m. ET Saturday kickoff at London’s Matchrooom Stadium.

“I think that’s one of the reasons we’re here, to prepare for the World Cup, prepare for coming to Europe,” U.S. midfielder Heather O’Reilly said. “This is a great opportunity to play England in front of English fans and get that environment.”

“Greatest preparation we could hope for,” said coach Pia Sundhage.

The U.S. team has trained in England for nine days, and the memorable trip included a trip to Wembley Stadium this week for an England vs. Ghana men’s match and a closed training scrimmage Wednesday against England in which Lauren Cheney and Alex Morgan scored for the United States.

The U.S. roster includes 2008 Olympic goalkeeper and 2009 U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year Hope Solo, who is coming off major shoulder surgery that kept her out of action for six months.

World Cup play opens for Team USA on June 28 in Dresden, Germany, when it faces Korea.

TV: 3 p.m. ET Saturday, ESPN2

Also in soccer:

CONCACAF U-20 Championship, U.S. vs. Panama, April 2, Guatemala City, Guatemala

TV: 6 p.m. ET Saturday, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com

CURLING

Ford World Men’s Championship, April 2-14, Regina, Canada

The U.S. men’s team, skipped by 2006 Olympic medalist Pete Fenson, will play Denmark on Saturday in opening-day competition in the round robin of the Ford World Men’s Championship in Regina, Saskatchewan. The U.S. placed fourth last year. Also on the U.S. squad are Shawn Rojeski and Joe Polo, who were also on the 2006 Olympic squad, and Ryan Brunt, who is making his first World Championship appearance. Twelve teams are in the championships, which will conclude with the gold-medal match April 14 at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

FIGURE SKATING

2011 Gardena Spring Trophy, April 1-3, Selva Val Gardena, Italy

Joelle Forte, who placed ninth at the AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, will be one of seven U.S. skaters, but the only one in the senior level, at the annual Gardena Spring Trophy competition in Selva Val Gardena, Italy. Five junior skaters, including U.S. junior silver medalist Lauren Dinh, and one novice skater, 2011 U.S. novice silver medalist Emmanuel Savary, will compete for the United States.

SKIING

U.S. Alpine Championships, March 31-April 3, Winter Park, Colo.

Tommy Ford won gold in the giant slalom Thursday at the U.S. Alpine Championships in Winter Park, Colo., giving him a national title for the fourth consecutive year. Ford swept the giant slalom, slalom and super combined events in 2010. World Cup giant slalom champion Ted Ligety won bronze.

“It feels good,” Ford said. “Ted’s been skiing well all year and I’ve been struggling a little bit and it’s just nice to end on that note.”

The women’s giant slalom was to be held Friday, followed by the men’s and women’s super-G races Saturday and the slalom races Sunday.

Also in skiing:

U.S. 30/50km Championship & USSA SuperTour Finals, March 26-April 2, Sun Valley, Idaho

SNOWBOARDING

FIS Junior World Snowboard Championships, March 29-April 3, Valmalenco, Italy

Chloe Banning of Steamboat Springs, Colo., won a bronze medal in the women’s snowboardcross on the opening day of the FIS Junior World Snowboard Championships in Italy. Mick Dierdorff placed eighth in the men’s competition. The men’s and women’s halfpipe qualifying runs were scheduled for Friday, followed by the finals Saturday.

JUDO

Pan American Senior Championships, March 30-April 4, Guadalajara, Mexico

Seventeen U.S. athletes, including women’s world champion Kayla Harrison and 2008 Olympian Travis Stevens, will be fighting for spots in the Pan American Games this weekend at the Pan American Senior Championships in Guadalajara. Jimmy Pedro, head of Team FORCE in Wakefield, Mass., and Harrison’s coach, is head coach of the team. Other top athletes include Marti Mallow and Nick Delpopolo.

Also in judo:

USA Judo Youth & Scholastic National Championships and Collegiate Open Championships, April 2-3, Grand Rapids, Mich.

SWIMMING

U.S. Junior Synchronized Swimming Championships, March 31-April 2, Clermont, Fla.

Nearly 200 synchronized swimmers, ages 15-18, will compete Friday and Saturday for national titles in solo, duet, team and combination events. Top performers will advance to the 2011 U.S. National Championships, which are scheduled for April 14-16 in Columbus, Ohio.

PARALYMPICS

2011 IPC Biathlon & Cross Country Skiing World Championships, April 1-10, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

More than 100 athletes from 14 nations, including the United States, arrived in Russia this week for the 2011 Biathlon & Cross Country Skiing World Championships for athletes with physical disabilities. “I hope to get the priceless experience, which will be useful in future,” said Team USA athlete Daniel Hathorn. Host Russia has 35 athletes entered for competition, more than double the number of any other country.

Also in Paralympics:

IBSA World Championships & Games, April 1-10, Antalya, Turkey: Events in athletics, soccer, goal ball, judo, powerlifting and swimming.

TABLE TENNIS

ITTF North America Cup and ITTF North America Championships, April 1-3, Mississauga, Canada

Lily Zhang and Ariel Hsing of the United States will contend for titles in the North America Cup and North America Championships at Mississauga, Ontario. Spots in the ITTF World Cup will be at stake, including the USA vs. Canada team matches. Junior players will be going after berths in the World Junior Championships.

EQUESTRIAN

Festival of the Horse CDI, March 31-April 1, Burbank, Calif.

The last of five FEI World Cup Dressage qualifiers is being held as a part of the Festival of the Horse CDI at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. Riders are required to have at least two starts in a CDI-W to qualify for the FEI World Cup Finals, which begin April 27 in Leipzig, Germany.

CYCLING

Pan American Mountain Bike Championships, April 1-3, Bogota, Colombia

Twenty-six U.S. athletes, including top UCI cyclists Todd Wells, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Sam Schultz and Adam Craig, will compete this weekend in the Pan American Mountain Bike Championships. “The Continental Championships are a good chance for all of our riders to pick up valuable UIC points,” said Marc Gullickson, USA Cycling Mountain Bike and Cyclo-cross Program Director.

Also in cycling:

Redlands Bicycle Classic, March 31-April 3, Redlands, Calif.

WEIGHTLIFTING

National Masters Weightlifting Championships, April 1-3, Savannah, Ga.

The USA Weightlifting national championships for lifters 35 and up begin Friday at the Howard Cohen Weightlifting Center in Savannah, Ga. Athletes will be competing for spots in the 2011 World Masters to be held in Limassol, Cyprus.

SHOOTING

2011 Rifle & Pistol National Junior Olympic Championships, March 30-April 16, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Emily Holsopple was the opening-day leader in the women’s rifle competition. The women will continue to shoot through the weekend; the men begin their competition April 6.

BOBSLED/SKELETON

America’s Cup Bobsled and Skeleton, April 1, Lake Placid, N.Y.

The U.S. Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid will be the venue for a one-day competition featuring athletes who are attempting to win spots on national teams.

CANOE/KAYAK

Dickerson Open, April 2-3, Dickerson, Md.

The 2011 event in the Maryland Canoe and Kayak Series will begin Saturday with open training, followed by races at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday.

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.

Which Michael Phelps will turn up to the 2012 Olympics?

www.london-olympiad.com

Michael Phelps, ready for action

We are excited to be sitting with clients and friends as Michael Phelps and 5-time Olympic Gold medallist Australian Ian Thorpe (Thorpedo) head into the pool together. Both have been in and out of form since their previous Olympic Games with Ian Thorpe being out of the pool for 4 years. At Spyns we have arranged 4, 5, 7, and 10-day luxury tours to the London Olympic Summer Games. The 100m Men’s swimming final is scheduled on August 1^st, 2012. If you would like information on how to be sitting there with us to watch it live, email me at henry@london-olympiad.com.

The US swimmer has been a tabloid fixture but is now swimming close to his best again

US swimmer Michael Phelps has had an up and down couple of years. How will he perform in London next year?

What does a man do after winning eight gold medals at one Olympic games? He parties, he turns up on the front page of the News of the World, he loses sponsorship, he rails against the "unfair" advances wrought by technology, he loses his form, he finds it again, he wins five world championship gold medals, he loses his form again, he turns in the worst performances of his career and, finally, he is apparently re-born as the untouchable athlete he was before all of the above took place.

Welcome to the last two and a half years in the life of Michael Phelps, which have been about as predictable as they have been dull; which is to say, not in the slightest.

At least the story has, to this point at least, taken an upturn. Two weeks ago, 25-year-old Phelps looked back to his best - or at least somewhere approaching it - when he won five gold medals at the Indianapolis Grand Prix meeting, the most significant of which came in the 200m individual medley against his team-mate and rival Ryan Lochte, who had supplanted him in 2010 as the world's most dominant swimmer.

"It feels good to be able to race again and race at good speed," Phelps said after setting the world's best time of the year in what is seen as a barometer event. Lochte, who holds the world record in the 200 individual medley, was gracious in defeat. "He's back, there's no doubt about it," he said. "I don't think he's ever not there, no matter what he says. I feel like he can step up and race any time."

Really? That wasn't the prevailing view in January, when Phelps, by his own judgment, swam appallingly, falling into the "B" finals in a couple of events and losing to Lochte in the 200 medley. After Phelps' relatively unproductive 2010 season, people were beginning to wonder again about his dedication to the craft and appetite for competition. It has been a recurring theme since August 2008

Such doubts first surfaced in the aftermath of Beijing when Phelps, at the peak of his fame, was photographed at a student party in Richland, South Carolina, smoking from a "bong". He subsequently apologised for his behaviour, without detailing what his behavior actually was, and then settled back into the life of relative anonymity. In the hierarchy of American sporting obsessions swimming barely climbs on to the bottom rung, especially in non-Olympics years. Even an athlete of Phelps' talent and success has difficulty breaking through this cloud of indifference.

When he has appeared in the public eye, it has usually been for the "wrong" reasons - he might occasionally pop up in one of the supermarket tabloids photographed in the company of a new girlfriend. In August 2009, a few days after winning five gold medals at the world championships in Rome (and threatening to withdraw in protest over "unfair" swimming suits worn by some of rivals) he was involved in a minor car crash in his home town of Baltimore.

In the life of a wealthy, successful, 25-year-old athlete such (minor) scrapes might be expected - by comparison with, say, the average NFL star, Phelps is a saint - but they paint a picture that is at variance with the life dedicated Olympians are expected to lead. And when Phelps performs badly in the pool, as he did at Austin in January, people begin to wonder.

After Indianapolis, they are wondering a little less.

"It was a joke,'' Phelps said of his performance in Texas. "I literally didn't feel like I got one good thing out of that besides swimming slow and realising that I was out of shape."

He spent the three weeks training in Colorado Springs, where he worked on some "technical issues" - to good effect, clearly. "A team-mate told me 'you're actually enjoying yourself, and you can see it. You're happy, you're swimming well, and you're having a good time', " Phelps said in Indianapolis. "That's a part of it that's changed since Austin."

Phelps' next appearance in the pool will be in May, when he is scheduled to compete in the Charlotte UltraSwim meeting, and after that will turn his attention to the July's world championships in Shanghai. "There are a lot of new people out there,'' he said of his return to China. "A lot of the Europeans are swimming really well, Ryan is swimming really well. It's going to be fun this summer to head over to Shanghai and be able to swim with some new faces."

As for his plans for the 2012 Olympics, he and his long-time coach Bob Bowman have given little away, beyond saying he would not compete in the gruelling 400m individual medley. Phelps has mused publicly about competing in the shorter, sprint race but Bowman is having none of it. In all likelihood he will compete in seven events in London

"There are still a lot of goals I have and things I want to achieve before I retire from the sport," he said in Indianapolis, declining to explain what those goals are. "Everybody wants to know that, but no one will know. Bob has them, and I have them, and we'll work together and try to reach them."

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.