Scotland's Entry For The Winter Olympics

Brother and sister, John and Sinead Kerr from Scotland have been confirmed as competitors for Britain in next year's Winter Olympics being held in Turin.

They have performed well over the past 18 months, and were told that they will be the only British skaters at next year's games.

John is reported to have said:

"We are obviously delighted, because we have been fighting for this for the last three or four years, and it will be terrific to be performing at the Olympics...We know this is going to be a long struggle and it might be that we have to work hard for 2006, while concentrating on 2010, but we have always regarded this as a project in progress. We just have to keep going, working hard, and hopefully it will all come together."

They finished 12th at the world championships in Moscow last month.

Olympics Fails Athens

As already noted in previous articlesabout the enormous budget deficit left with the Greeks after hosting the Olympics, it seems that the Greeks have not benefited at all from hosting the 2004 Games.

It is reported that the Games in Athens failed to increase visitors at Greece's antiquity sites and museums.

The Acropolis in Athens was, once again, Greece's most visited archaeological site or museum.

Figures show that museum attendance rose by 42%. However, it was only because several top Greek collections had been closed for renovation the year before.

Compared to 2002, when all the museums were still open, attendance in 2004 actually fell by 7%.

As noted, the money spent on the 2004 was not well spent at all.

The Pig Olympics

It is reported that thousands of Shanghai residents have turned up to a city park this week, to watch a herd of pigs compete in the "Pig Olympics".

The pigs compete in a number of competitions including; running over hurdles, jumping through hoops, diving and swimming.

The pigs are a midget species from Thailand, and begin training soon after birth. They can begin performing professionally from about one year of age.

One citizen of Shanghai is quoted as saying:

"It's incredible..I never thought that a pig could be so clever, dexterous and versatile."

They sound infinitely preferable to some of the human athletes, who compete in the Olympics.

Salzburg Rejects Winter Olympics

Voters in the city of Salzburg have resoundingly rejected a plebiscite on whether to hold the 2014 Winter Games.

The no vote followed a region-wide plebiscite on April 2, that was in favour of hosting the Olympics. Both votes were non-binding.

Suspect Pleads Guilty To Atlanta Bombing

It is reported that Eric Rudolph is to plead guilty to the 1996 bombing of the Atlanta Olympics.

By "copping a plea" he will save his miserable neck from the death penalty.

Rudolph who, by perverse chance, is an anti-abortion crusader was charged with carrying out a series of blasts in Georgia and Alabama in the late 1990s. A tad hypocritical of him to claim to be "pro life", yet still be so happy to kill and injure people.

The Olympic bombing killed one woman, and injured approximately 100 others. He then, allegedly, went on to set off bombs at a lesbian nightclub in Atlanta and at two abortion clinics in Alabama and Atlanta. The Alabama abortion clinic blast killed an off-duty police officer, and critically injured a nurse.

He managed to evade capture for five years, until he was seen foraging for food near a grocery store trash bin in Murphy, N.C.

The deal will mean that he will receive four life sentences.

Nelson Mandela Backs London Bid

Nelson Mandela has come out in favour of London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games.

Mandela praised London's ethnic diversity yesterday, and said it would be unrivalled in its suitability to stage the Games.

Quote:

"There is no city like London. It is a wonderfully diverse and open city providing a home to hundreds of different nationalities...I can't think of a better place to hold an event that unites the world."

This support is a considerable boost for the London campaign, which is still behind Paris the favourites.

Beijing Upgrade

It is reported that Beijing is planning to upgrade its emergency medical services, in time for the 2008 Olympics.

Seemingly the upgrade will cost approximately $400M. Emergency service outlets will be arranged in 132 communities in Beijing.

Beijing Emergency Medical Center will serve as the HQ of the first-aid provision and command system. It will add 400 new ambulances to its first-aid vehicle fleet, and begin to provide helicopter-based emergency medical services.

Additionally sporting venues, major media centres and the 2008 Olympic Village will be equipped with medical equipment.

These facilities will be able to be used twenty four hours a day, in the event of an emergency.

New York Plays For The Sympathy Vote

The organisers of the New York bid to host the 2012 Olympics, have stated that they don't want sympathy over the September 11 attacks to play a part in the voting process.

This statement of course now reminds everyone of that tragedy and ensures, albeit unintentionally, that New York will get a sympathy vote.

New York deputy-mayor Dan Doctoroff said on Saturday:

"I certainly don't want people to vote for us out of sympathy..And New Yorkers certainly don't want people to vote for us out of sympathy."

He then went on to say that the attacks could still have a positive bearing on voting, because of the way it had changed people's views of New York.

"I think there is a somewhat more subtle point that could potentially play a role and that is the perception of New York and New Yorkers in the wake of 9/11..People saw out of New York and out of New Yorkers the very values that I think lie at the foundation of the Olympic movement: resiliency, the ability to get up after a defeat and move forward, determined to be more creative than ever before".

Good campaign tactics in my view.

Erroneous Decision

The dynamic duo of Greek sprinting, Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterian Thanou, were cleared by the Greek athletics federation of missing drugs tests in March.

This perverse decision does not exactly cover the Olympics with glory does it?

It would seem that IAAF are also concerned about this decision, and have announced it will appeal against it.

The IAAF stated that the Greek decision was "erroneous", and said it would be referring the case to CAS - the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The dynamic duo were found innocent of any wrongdoing by their national federation last month, despite being kicked out of the 2004 Games.

Kenteris, the 200m Olympic gold medalist at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and Thanou, silver medalist in the 100m, had been accused by the IAAF of breaking doping rules by missing that test and others in Tel Aviv on July 27-28, and Chicago on August 10-11 last year.

They also allegedly faked a motorcycle crash, and used it as their excuse for not attending one of the tests.

However, the Greek authorities decided to dismiss the charges against the duo instead they banned their coach for 4 years.

A tad perverse I would say.

The IAAF website says of the matter:

"The IAAFs Doping Review Board has reviewed the decision received from the Greek National Federation to clear the Greek athletes, Konstantinos Kenteris and Ekatherina Thanou, of anti-doping rule violations under IAAF Rules.."

"The Doping Review Board has concluded that the decision is erroneous and the IAAF will now refer both athletes cases to arbitration before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on a timely basis under IAAF Rules...The CAS decision in both cases will be final and binding."

Both athletes are suspended, pending the outcome of the CAS decision.

Race For 2012 Neck and Neck

The International Olympic Committee chairman, Jacques Rogge, has said that competition to stage the 2012 Games is the closest in Olympic history.

The shortlist consists of London, Paris, Madrid, New York and Moscow and the successful winner will be announced in Singapore on 6 July.

He said:

"Five of the greatest cities in the world are bidding. It's probably the toughest race in history..I don't want to speculate on front-runners, all are good bids."

IOC inspectors have visited all five candidates this year, with Paris and London widely regarded as the leading contenders.

Both cities have staged the Games twice before - Paris in 1900 and 1924, and London in 1908 and 1948.

Security For The 2008 Games

China's security organisations will seek help from their foreign counterparts, including those from the United States and Britain, to ensure an incident free Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Qiang Wei, head of the co-ordination team organising the Olympic security arrangements, has reportedly said that the scheme involves participation of almost all similar organisations around the city.

This includes public security, national security and the armed police.

Beijing would also work closely with security organs of Germany, France and Russia; to enhance its defence against riots or terrorist attacks, Qiang said.

Olympics Pest Barred

A former priest, who disrupted the 2004 Olympics, has been banned from going anywhere near this year's London Marathon.

Neil Horan, who jumped out in front of the lead runner in the men's marathon in Athens, was served with an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO)to ensure he does not disrupt the London event on 17 April.

Horan was defrocked in January, as a result of his stunts, which have led to him ending up in prison.

He was dressed in a brown kilt, green waistcoat and green tam-o'-shanter, as he represented himself yesterday at Camberwell Magistrates' Court.

He said:

"I have taken the Bible to the world stage on two great sporting events. I won’t need to do it a third time because the gospel requires me to do it just twice..I am quite happy to declare that my public mission is over in that sense."

Outside court he said:

"I think these great events were actually picked for me by the hand of God. I am delighted that I was able to use them to spread my message."

Mayor Ken Supports Paris

In a bizarre display of openness, Ken Livingstone the Mayor of London said that Paris was leading the race of the five cities to host the 2012 Olympics.

Quote:

"We've closed the gap on Paris, but the truth is, Paris is still ahead...No city is close to a majority on the first ballot..".

However, Livingstone insisted the decision on which city will host the Games, to be made by the International Olympic Committee 117 members in Singapore on July 6 was "still up for grabs".

Livingstone tried to predict the voting intentions of the IOC:

"At most Paris has got about 30 votes. We have 25 votes and none of the other cities has more than 20, and we've got about 30 to 40 delegates yet to express an opinion...If in the end it is Paris and London, the people who voted for Moscow, New York and Madrid will say what is my second vote."

He added:

"The thing is these people are so skilled at not indicating which they favour and so when they are in any city, everyone thinks this is going really well because they are really good at avoiding bad press coverage. They should give us all a lesson."

West Side Bids Close Today

Bids for the redevelopment of the West Side railyards, New York, close today.

Redevelopment will be critical in New York's plans to host the 2012 Olympics, and a home for Jets football.

The Jets have reportedly said that they will increase their $100m offer for the right to build a 75,000-seat stadium.

Cablevision, which owns the Garden, the Knicks and the Rangers views the stadium as competition; they have offered $600M, in order for the construction of apartment houses and parks on a platform over the yard.

A third bidder, TransGas Energy Systems, is preparing an offer of $800M.

Other bidders are reportedly scared of upsetting Mayor Bloomberg, by bidding to build what everybody wants; namely apartments, rather than an Olympic stadium.

Mayor Bloomberg has made the stadium the epicentre of New York's bid for the 2012 Olympics.

It is possible that once the details of the bids are made public, there may be a further round of bidding.

Greece's Olympic Size Deficit

The Greek government has blamed the unchecked spending on the 2004 Olympics as being the reason for Greece's growing budget deficit.

Seemingly, because of accounting errors and "omissions", this deficit is likely to grow.

The latest figures from the EU show the deficit at 6.1% of gross domestic product, more than double the cap allowed by the EU.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis told the Parliament:

"The burdens we face from the past are very large..".

The cost of the 2004 Olympics is now being estimated at being $12BN. The Greek government has until the end of the month to explain to the EU how it will lower the deficit.

In a statement on the Finance Ministry website, the blame is pointed directly at PASOK, the socialist government that ruled Greece in the lead-up to the Olympics.

Additionally, there is the nagging question of what to do with the now redundant white elephants that made up the Olympic infrastructure. These are costing around $100M per annum just to maintain.

In respect of the breaching of the EU deficit rules, I would imagine that some form of political "fudge" will be made. The EU is notorious for allowing its members to break the rules, this will be no exception.

After all, if the then Greek government had been honest about the costs it would never have been allowed to join the Euro.

The EU will never admit to the fact that it had been conned.

With regard to the $12Bn cost, this is surely proof positive that the Olympics as a whole need to be totally reformed and scaled down.

No one in their right mind should even think of hosting them, if they are going to cost this much.

The trouble is that politicians' egos overrule common sense.

Maybe it is now time to abandon the Games, and for countries to spend their money on something more productive instead.