Local stars gear up for 2012 Olympics

FIFA’s big wigs had not been persuaded by England as the country was selected for the 2018 FIFA worldcup.

But in recent London 2012 Olympics preparations are on peak these days.If the British athletes don’t deliver gold medals in their respective sports then there’s no point having the best stadia, volunteers and transport system.

And keeping this thought in mind our top stars are already focussing on 18 months time.For them 2011 will going to be as significant like the Olympic year itself.

To boost confidence 11 of Greater Manchester’s finest will be encountering with the world’s best in the next 12 months.

Here, Trevor Baxter looks at 11 local sportsmen and women for whom 2011 will be a crucial year heading into the London Games.

Taurasi May Face Olympic Ban for Positive Drug Test

Diana Taurasi,American's double basketball gold medallist is facing the prospect of missing London 2012 after testing positive for a banned drug.

Her lawyer Howard Jacobs has confirmed,the star has been suspended after her drug test results in positive for those supplements which are banned.

Like most WNBA players, Taurasi spends her off-season playing overseas and she was appearing for Istanbul's Fenerbahce.

Henin, Clijsters could pair up for Olympics

For the London Olympics 2012 Henin And Clijsters both are keen to compete as a pair despite only playing together once before, when Belgium lost to Russia in the 2006 Fed Cup.

US Open champion Clijsters said, ""Obviously for the Olympics, it would be beautiful,It would be nice to go out in such a way."

Henin won the 2004 singles title in Athens while on the other side Clijsters has never competed at the Olympics.

"There is a real willingness to be there," added Henin, who will be playing for the first time since injuring her elbow at Wimbledon in an exhibition match with her compatriot this week.

"We can already think about it. Everything is open to consider this.

"For sure, I'm still not 100 percent (fit). But if I realize where I came from, I am lucky and happy to be where I am now. I thought at some time, that I would never get back."

10,000 special constables for 2012 'unattainable'

10,000 constables were hired in order to recruit and to to help police the 2012 Olympics.Scotland yard bosses have admitted that it is still unattainable.

To help secure the sporting extravaganza senior officers were under pressure to treble the ranks of volunteers.

As a result, top Met officers have agreed to set their sights on signing up 6,667 officers by March 2012.

And they have warned the goal of amassing a 10,000-strong workforce may not even be reached three years later

Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has been told the higher target, set by London Mayor Boris Johnson, was an "aspiration" and is "probably unachievable".

He has agreed to draw £1.4 million from reserves to pay for the recruitment of specials after the Home Office cut funding.

Ministers have said they want to "unlock the potential" of specials, and want to consider creating ranks of police reservists based on the Armed Forces model.

There are around 3,350 specials working in London on patrol and in some specialist units. They carry warrant cards and have the same powers as full-time colleagues.

London 2012 venues 'ahead of schedule', says IOC

A leading IOC official after touring the first new venue completed for the 2012 Games praised London's preparations after visiting the first venue Velodrome.

Denis Oswald, who heads the IOC's coordination commission for London, inspected the arena as work was finished on the timber track.

"Every visit to the Olympic Park provides us with yet another impressive sign of the progress that is being made here and today's visit is no exception,"

Organisers say the 6,000-seat, £94m venue will be completed early next year. Overall, judged Oswald, London is "ahead of time and this is very satisfactory in comparison to previous [Games]."

Harry Redknapp The Great Britain Football Team At The 2012 Olympics

For the London 2012 Olympics lots of name are under considered to take part in Olympics 2010.London 2012 Organising Committee chairman Lord Coe previously approaching Sir Alex Ferguson to take up the job.

As England boss, Redknapp was favorite comparing Fabio Capello when the Italian steps down after Euro 2012.

Admits he would consider the Olympics role, but that he is in the dark about the job.

"Of course, anybody would be, wouldn't they?" Redknapp told the Daily Mirror.

"But, suddenly, it's 'Harry wants to be manager of whatever'.

"Never at any stage has it entered my mind."

Redknapp added: "I don't know who selects it, how it gets selected."

Dame Tanni is confident there won't be a shortage of people putting themselves forward this time: "I think what's happened in the past is that the Paralympics has been something that's come after the Olympic Games.

"What we want really is for people to volunteer for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games...it's really important we get the right number of volunteers for the Paralympic Games to make sure they run smoothly."

Out of the 70,000 volunteers required for the 2012 Games overall around 23,000 will work at the Paralympics.

Confident

Everybody, it doesn't matter who you are, has something to contribute towards being a volunteer in London 2012."

"What we want really is for people to volunteer for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games...it's really important we get the right number of volunteers for the Paralympic Games to make sure they run smoothly."

Dame Tanni is confident there won't be a shortage of people putting themselves forward this time: "I think what's happened in the past is that the Paralympics has been something that's come after the Olympic Games.

Special Olympics soccer

Olympics Special Buncombe Country will hold its first meeting and practice 6 p.m. Sept. 7. The schedule of the game will be discussed. All subsequent practices will be held at 6-7:30 p.m. At the soccer field through on Tuesday Nov. 16. The location of the dates will be announced. The Buncombe County Special Olympics Soccer team in any eligible person can sign up. In Special Olympics its free for players who participate. All players must have a recent physical and release forms on file in order to participate.

Danny Boyle to direct 2012 Olympics opening ceremony

Oscar-winning film-maker Danny Boyle will be artistic director for the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony, organisers have announced.
The Slumdog Millionaire director said he was "honoured" by his appointment.
Boyle said it was a "unique opportunity to contribute to what I'm sure are going to be a fantastic Games."
Director Stephen Daldry is one of four other "creatives" who will oversee the Olympic and Paralympic Games' opening and closing ceremonies.
Beijing 2008 Games designer Mark Fisher, TV director Hamish Hamilton and producer Catherine Ugwu will also be part of the team.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Boyle said his job was "to provide a thrilling, enthralling, captivating evening."
"Hopefully it'll take its place in the list of openings, but it'll be a new beginning as well."
"Myself and my co-executive producers will ensure there is creative continuity across all four ceremonies, that the public have real engagement and that we continue to attract into key roles the best talent in the world," said Daldry.

"I'm delighted to be part of the team."
"These Games are bringing together world-class British talent," said Lord Coe, chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).
"Each one of these individuals would hold their own on the worldwide stage.
"They are joining names like children's author Michael Morpurgo who has created the story behind our highly successful mascots.
"We are delighted with the team we have brought together to deliver our ceremonies in 2012."

London 2012 Olympic mascots: 'computer generated Smurfs for the iPhone generation'

What is it about these Games which seems to drive the organisers into the embrace of such patronising rubbish? If London 2012 is going to be remembered for its art, then we can declare it a calamitous failure already.

They already have the worst logo which has ever been designed, and now they have these horrible computer generated Smurfs for the iPhone generation.
Why do we have to endure this sort of cretinous infantilism, and this awful lowbrow pandering to primitive ideas of fun? It’s so depressing, because London is just about the most exciting city on earth and we could do so much better than this. But what we have is an absolutely pitiable advertisement for the creativity of London. We just seem to be getting dimmer, dumber and crasser.
This is one of the most advanced nations on earth – do we really need to represent ourselves through cuddly creatures? Why can’t we have something that makes us sing with pride?
Aaron Shields, partner, BrandInstinct
My overall impression is that the new mascots are about as accessible as the 2012 logo, which tells you everything you need to know. A mascot is supposed to be instantly accessible and to stir national pride, and I just don’t think these Wenlock and Mandeville are going to do that. People aren’t going to relate to these very modern creatures.
These mascots have been designed by a bunch of guys who wanted to create something really special, but they have ended up piling on too many layers of meaning and they have forgotten who these characters were supposed to be for.
They are really just there to entertain the kids – people don’t want to invest a lot of time trying to figure out what they are supposed to mean.
The key thing when you’re designing these things is trying to target as wide an audience as possible. Your design buffs may appreciate the craftsmanship that went into these characters, but that’s not the point. They should be something that everyone can appreciate.
These designs are nothing more than a collection of fragments held together by too many ideas. They won’t accomplish what they are trying to do, which is just to get everyone excited about the Olympics.
Ultimately this is just going to see this as yet another disappointment to coming from the 2012 Games.

London 2012 'on track' says Olympic boss Jacques Rogge

International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge says preparations to host the London Olympics will stay on track even if the government changes.
Speaking at the SportAccord International Convention in Dubai, Mr Rogge said he was comfortable with the possibility of a shake-up.
He said: "We discussed the possibility of a change of government.
"We're at ease about that as the Olympics has a strong multi-party support."
"We are pleased by the pace of construction, preparation and marketing."
'Brilliant venues'
Paul Deighton, CEO of the organising committee for the London Games, added: "We are on time and on budget.
"Anyone who has concerns about preparations should come along and take a look at the Olympic Park and they will be left in no doubt that we will be ready.
"We will have brilliant venues; existing ones as well as new."
Via a video message to delegates, London Mayor Boris Johnson joked that the city should stage the Games a year earlier than planned to "get a head start on the rest of the sporting world".
London will host the 2011 edition of the SportAccord International Convention.
The event will bring together more than 1,500 stakeholders from the sports industry and Olympic movement.

Britain's biggest piece of public art.

Towering, twisted mass of metal will be Britain's lasting monument to the nation's role in hosting the 2012 games.

Turner Prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor unveiled his design for the £19million sculpture yesterday, a ruby red, helter skelter-style structure that, at 377ft, will stand more than twice as tall as Nelson's column.
It was instantly nicknamed the Eyeful Tower - and likened enthusiastically by London Mayor Boris Johnson to a giant 'hubble-bubble' shisha pipe.

But contributors to Twitter and similar internet sites took only minutes to criticise the work. One described it as 'a rollercoaster that costs £19million a go'. Other early phrases included 'twisted spaghetti', 'horrific squiggles' and 'Meccano on crack'.

Work on the officially-named ArcelorMittal Orbit, which will house a restaurant and viewing platform, has yet to start - and it still needs planning permission.
About 700 visitors an hour will be able to visit the site next to the 193 feet high Olympic stadium. The tower will have a viewing platform and an outdoor walkway.
At its unveiling today, Kapoor, 56, said it was 'thrilling' to be offered the chance to create for the capital something on a par with what Gustave Eiffel made in Paris

Olympic chiefs urged to defy European law and give free tickets to Londoners

Olympic chiefs should offer Londoners free seats at the 2012 Games, says the Liberal Democrats' Olympic spokeswoman.
Dee Doocey is seeking an exemption to EU law which prevents preferential treatment for fans in the host nation of a major sports event.
Ms Doocey said Londoners living near the Games site in Stratford should be offered free tickets as compensation for the disruption.
She said: “The law is often used as an excuse to do nothing but it would be perfectly possible to offer free tickets to those who will have basically been living on a building site for seven years. It's a different balancing act for Games organisers because they need to raise their ticket revenues at the same time as keeping locals happy.”
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport insist there is no prospect of an exemption. British sports fans have benefited from the ruling at past events such as Olympics in Turin and Athens and the 2006 football world cup in Germany, the sport department said.
A report published today by the Assembly calls on 2012 organising committee, Locog, to publish its draft ticketing proposals.
Londoners must be told the proportion of affordable tickets and how many will be given free to the International Olympic Committee and the Government, the Assembly demands.
The report comes as Locog prepares for the first major stage in its sale of nine million Olympic and Paralympic tickets.
It will attempt to gauge demand by asking members of the public to pre-register for sports events, although it will not offer any guarantees of Games tickets to those who register

Winter Olympics 2010: David Murdoch and curlers in play-off clash with Sweden

The GB quartet, skipped by David Murdoch, failed to secure an automatic place in the semi-finals after sliding to a 9-5 defeat by Norway in their final round-robin match.
That left them tied with Sweden with five wins and four defeats from the nine-match qualifying phase, which means the two teams must play off for the last remaining place in the semi-finals. Canada, Norway and Switzerland have already qualified.


Sweden defeated Britain 6-4 when they met on the opening day of the Winter Olympics tournament.

Whoever wins the tie-breaker will then face a tough challenge against in-form Canada in Thursday’s semi-finals. The hosts are the only team to come through the round robins with a 100 per cent winning record.

The one comfort for Murdoch, should he overcome Sweden, is that he has an excellent record against Canadian skip Kevin Martin, having beaten him three times on his way to winning the world title in Moncton last year.

But Murdoch will need to rediscover his touch after an off-colour performance against the Norwegians, who stole a two to take early control of the match. Murdoch gave up another steal of three in the seventh end before conceding after the eighth.

“I am pretty disappointed with that to be honest,” said Murdoch. “It was a great opportunity for us and we didn’t take it. We played some great ends there but we just had some slack shots. The score didn’t reflect the game.”

After their defeat, the British players faced an anxious wait as Sweden, needing to beat Denmark to force a tie-breaker, were taken down to the wire by their Scandinavian neighbours before Swedish skip Niklas Edin secured a 7-6 victory with his final stone.

“So now we play Sweden and we just have to see it as another game,” said Murdoch. “At least we are not out of it - that’s the main thing. Hopefully. we will win that game.

“If we win we would play Canada. We like playing them. It always brings the best out in us. It is not something we are scared of and if we played Kevin it would be one almighty game.”