Secure a ticket for next year's Olympics Games in London

A 82-year-old man who traveled to the Olympics since the 1960's has been left heartbroken after failing to secure a ticket for next year's Games in London.

Denis Clayton, from Cheshire, 1960 Games in Rome after the world's largest sporting event ever to participate in the dedication he has shown incredible.

But the world's best players after traveling the world to see, he London in 2012 now that he is denied the opportunity to participate.

Dennis has 1.8 million people worldwide entered in the first ballot application for £ 400 a ticket, but left disappointed. In the second ballot to secure tickets were similarly unfruitful.

He told the Sunday Mirror, “I’ve travelled the world to get to other Games".

"In the old days you could turn up a couple of weeks before and get tickets. Now, when the Games are down the road, I can’t get a seat for a single event.

"At my age these Olympics might well be my last.”

Trans-Siberian Express Dennis, a Russian cargo boat trip through the Tokyo Games in 1964. Meanwhile, the 1968 Games in Mexico for a week's trip to see an Inca tribe to live with, acccording to the newspaper.

He added of his failure to secure a ticket for London 2012: “It’s all about money and who you are. It’s so sad.”

2012 London Olympics, more than 1.8 million people have tried to buy over 20 million tickets

A new released on 27th April, London 2012 Olympics organizers said Wednesday that more than 1.8 million people have tried to buy over 20 million tickets for the London 2012 Olympics.

Early application deadline extended from one hour to 6.6 million tickets are available in the original request for the increase was to deal.

Organizers said 650 of the session more than 50 per cent oversubscribed around 26 sports and ticket automatically will be allocated by vote are.

British citizens have bought tickets by 95 per cent, with games which are already sold out are important, where the house hoping to rest for a gold medal.

Swimming and tennis, it has been held at Wimbledon in the session will be for a majority vote.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said: "We are thrilled with the response right across the board, in all sports and all sessions.

He added, "Certain events have seen massive demand for example the opening ceremony, which is more than 10 times oversubscribed".

London Olympics : Who'll Take Over London Olympic Stadium?

The race to take over the stadium that will be the centrepiece of the London Olympics in 2012 is about to hot up.

So far only three parties are known to have expressed an interest but a "handful" of others are expected in the next fortnight.

They have until September 30 to submit their bids to theOlympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC).

The OPLC is the body which is tasked with finding a tenant for the 80,000-seater venue in Stratford, east London.

"I wouldn't say we've been inundated with bids so far but we weren't expecting to be," said an OPLC spokesman.

"We've been told to expect a handful of bids in the final week and we're sure that'll be the case."

Among the known runners are Premier League football club West Ham, who have massive debts and desperately need a bigger ground.

AEG, the firm which runs the O2 Arena nearby, has also declared an interest, along with the London-based financial company Intermarket.

There were fears it would be difficult to find anyone to take over the Olympic Stadium owing to restrictions imposed by the London Games organisers.

They originally insisted the athletics track must be kept and the number of seats reduced to 25,000.

They have since been persuaded to allow up to 60,000 seats, to make the stadium a more viable commercial proposition.

After September 30, the OPLC board will take a month to draw up a list of preferred bidders.

These will then be asked to submit a more detailed application before a final decision is made next spring.

2010 London Olympics: Ministers to announce launching of school 'Olympics'

Competitive sport is set to be revived in England's schools with the launch of a national competition based around the Olympics, ministers say.
The initiative is to be announced by the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Education Secretary Michael Gove at the City of London Academy on Monday.
They will say the aim is to ensure the 2012 London Olympics leaves a lasting sporting legacy.
From the National Lottery the schools competition will be funded by cash.
Events will involve a wide range of sports including football, rugby, netball, golf, cricket, tennis, athletics, judo, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, cycling and volleyball.
'Lessons for life'
From 2011, schools will compete against each other in district leagues, with winning athletes and teams qualifying for up to 60 county finals, with the most talented then selected for national finals.
In the run up to the 2012 Games the first championship will take place, with paralympic style events staged in parallel for young people with disabilities.
Mr Hunt told the Daily Mail: "I want to give a real boost to competitive sport in schools using the power of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games to encourage young people - whatever age or ability - to take part in this new competition.
"Sport - whether you win or lose - teaches young people great lessons for life. It encourages teamwork, dedication and striving to be the best that you can be."
Lottery funding of up to £10m a year, distributed by Sport England, will be used to create a new sports league structure for primary and secondary schools, culminating in the 2012 finals.
Mr Gove said: "We need to revive competitive sport in our schools. Fewer than a third of school pupils take part in regular competitive sport within schools, and fewer than one in five take part in regular competition between schools. The School Olympics give us a opportunity to different that for good."

London Olympics Sports college pupils inspired

The Olympic Stadium group members are the Jodie Major, Connor Hale, Leanne Spurway, Charlotte Ottley, Danny Ellwood, Adam Kirkland, Damien Lybech-Harris and Jade Brathwaite with teachers Max Gayler and Emma Lomax.

POTENTIAL sporting stars of the future from an Oxfordshire school have been getting into the Olympic spirit by visiting the site of the 2012 games in London.
Eight pupils at King Alfred’s Specialist Sports College who have made significant progress on their Btec sport course this year toured the Olympic Park at Stratford, in East London, to look construction of the major venues.
King Alfred’s was among 60 schools invited to visit the Olympic Park as a reward for joining the London 2012 Get Set network. It is for schools across the UK which have demonstrated a commitment to the Olympic and Paralympic ideals and values.
Headteacher Nicholas Young said: “I’m very pleased that King Alfred's was selected for this wonderful chance for our students.
“As one of the first specialist sports colleges in the UK, we’re very excited by the 2012 Olympics and all the opportunities for our young people to be involved.”
Year 10 pupil Jodie Major was among the budding sportsmen and women who toured the site, seeing the construction work in progress on the Olympic Stadium, aquatics centre, velodrome and handball arena.
She said: “I thought the Olympic Park was really good.
“They have made great progress on building it and a lot of the buildings are eco-friendly. I know it will look great when it’s done.
“I’m happy we are hosting the 2012 Olympics as I think we will stand a better chance of winning medals.”
The Olympic Park is expected to cost £9.3bn.
Jodie said: “That’s a lot of money to be spent on something but part of the reason we won the bid was that the park is sustainable after the games.”
She said she particularly liked the wave-shaped Aquatics Centre.
Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the organising committee of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, said: “I’m delighted King Alfred’s won this opportunity.
“I hope the pupils were inspired to return to Wantage and continue their work on Olympic and Paralympic projects as part of our education programme.”
As well as seeing some of the world class sporting facilities under construction – and posing for a photograph on the Greenway, a walkway overlooking the site – the pupils learned about the environmental and community programmes running on the Olympic Park.

London officials: Election won't affect Olympics

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Organizers of the London Olympics say preparations for the 2012 Games will continue "seamlessly" even if there is a change in government after next month's general election in Britain.
London officials assured the International Olympic Committee on Thursday that the games will not be affected by the May 6 vote, which could lead to defeat for Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Labour Party.
London organizing committee leader Sebastian Coe says the Olympics "have not tumbled from the lips of a single politician in this campaign." He says the games have not become a "political football."
London officials also unveiled their games mascot to the IOC. Details will remain secret until an official launch in London, probably next month

Mary Dejevsky: Don't believe the killjoys of London 2012

Now here's a riddle for the holiday weekend: what's on time, on budget and in Britain? The answer, improbable, but correct, is the 2012 London Olympics. Yet still the nay-sayers persist, grumbling away about how the site will never be complete in time, how the costs have already spiralled out of control, and how the city – their city – will be a nightmare for the duration.

They were on top form earlier this week when Anish Kapoor's 115m tower was presented as the winner of the Mayor's contest to find an architectural symbol for the Olympic Park. I admit that I'm not immediately entranced by the design. Like much contemporary British art, in any form, it is just that bit too complicated to be elegant. And the lattice girders may, as Kapoor says, be a tribute to the Eiffel Tower, but at the time of writing it seems on the hubristic side to equate the two.

With any luck, though, it will look much better when it is built for real than it looks as a scale model, and we will all take to it, just as we have taken to the London Eye and, after much agonising over its purpose, to the Dome. I'm also gratified that another gigantic commission has not been handed to Antony Gormley. I don't have anything particular against his work except its ubiquity. So good luck to Kapoor, and to Lakshmi Mittal who has pledged the metal. At least the Orbit – not necessarily its final name – is original and moderately entertaining.

The controversy surrounding the tower had one beneficial effect: it deflected attention from the latest group of privileged Londoners trying to keep any Olympic event as far as possible from their backyard. The good folk of St John's Wood (average property price, I would hazard, well into the new 5 per cent stamp-duty bracket) are objecting to plans to hold the week-long archery competition at Lord's.

It's not the prospect of stray arrows flying over their garden walls they fear, nor the subdued pings and thuds that will supplant the familiar sound of leather against willow. No, they are objecting to what they say are the organisers' plans for loud music to accompany the contest. Even in the unlikely event that world-class archers would happily compete against a background of loud music, you have to ask whether it's reasonable for a group of residents to try to have a highly atmospheric and history-laden venue ruled out essentially for their own convenience. This is one week out of one summer; their proximity to Lord's is for a lifetime.

Meanwhile Greenwich Park has finally been approved as a venue for equestrian events, after a stormy five-hour meeting and a long protest campaign by local residents, fearful that trees would be felled and horses' hooves would mash up the ground. Lord Coe said he made no apologies for wanting to use the park – may he continue to have the courage of his convictions. The Olympics give London an opportunity to show off, and to share, its glorious green spaces and architectural ensembles. Let the privilegentsia huff and puff with more or less gentility. They can move out for the summer if they feel that strongly, and leave the rest of us to enjoy the global party.

Davenport is going back to basics in Olympic bid, swimming

ROSS Davenport will go back to basics to make a big splash in the 2012 London Olympics – and that simply means hard work.
Australian 25 year old emulated swim king Ian Thorpe by taking the 200m freestyle title at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006.
But the Belper star has been forced to navigate a course through choppy waters since then, twice failing to live up to his own high expectations on the big stage.
He narrowly missed out on a place in the Olympic final and also disappointed at the World Championships in Rome this year, finishing 11th.
However, Davenport, who hopes to defend his Commonwealth title in Delhi next October, insists the lure of a home Olympics is all the motivation he needs to get back on track.
"It's been disappointing but all you can do is just get back in the pool and continue to train hard," said Davenport, speaking ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games 1,000 days to go anniversary.
"There is no secret to it – it is all about hard work.
"I had about three weeks off swimming after the World Championships but then it was straight back in the pool to train again.
"I was a little bit disappointed to be honest – it hasn't been a great year but I think it is always a bit tough coming back off an Olympic year.
"I wasn't happy with how I swam in Rome and I want to try to put that right – I wanted to make the final but there is always next year to improve.
"There are no worlds or Olympics next year so it will be a chance to get in some hard training."
Davenport is currently in training for the FINA World Cup series, which will take galas in Berlin, Stockholm and Singapore.
And despite his recent struggles on the world stage, he insists he has nothing to prove when he lines up against swimming's big guns.
"The only pressure on me is the pressure I put on myself," added Davenport.
"I know I am capable of making finals and performing well – it's just that for one reason or another it is just not happening for me on the day.
"The only thing I can do is just keep working hard and making sure I put 100% into all my training.
"The Olympics is a big enough motivation anyway but for it to be in your home country is just massive.
"It's less than three years now and that time will fly by before you know it.
"I want to try and make sure I'm in Great Britain squads up to that point and swimming well because I desperately want to be a part of that."
Lloyds TSB, proud partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and supporter of Team GB on their journey to London 2012. LloydsTSB.com/London2012.

1,000 days to 2012 Olympics, London calling

One thousand days may be a folk band from Missouri or the honeymoon period Henry VIII afforded Anne Boleyn before cutting off her head but, come tomorrow, it is also the time London has left to prepare for the 2012 Olympics.
British sports chiefs do not intend to let it pass idly by. Between now and the opening ceremony on July 27, 2012, they aim to host 64 events in 20 cities starting with the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester today.
The £32 million programme, covering 30 different Olympic and Paralympic sports with more than 17,000 international athletes, equates to one world-class sporting event taking place in the UK every fortnight.
The economic return of the pipeline is estimated to be up to £240 million, according to UK Sport. Twenty-five of the events are confirmed with agreements imminent for the balance. It will be coupled with £11 billion investment that the tourist industry claims will benefit London’s infrastructure.
John Steele, UK Sport’s chief executive, said: “We believe this is the most comprehensive programme of major events leading into a Games that any host country has ever put together. It will provide British athletes with the opportunity to perform in front of a home crowd and the public with a chance to experience world-class sporting action in their local area.”
Some of the competitions will be official test events for the Games; all will provide valuable experience for 13,000 volunteers and officials. Up to 70,000 volunteers will be needed in 2012.
The unique scale of the Olympics can be the undoing of host cities that fail to start work early enough. Unlike the organisational chaos that preceded the Athens Games in 2004, the planning strategy for London is on schedule.
Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, yesterday declared himself satisfied with progress, although he warned there was no room for complacency.
“London are progressing according to their masterplan; they stay within budget and it is a very strong team,” he said. Referring to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York that derailed preparations for the Salt Lake City Winter Games and sent the security bill for Athens rocketing to €1 billion, he added: “But there is always a need to be vigilant until the very last day because unexpected things do happen.”
Security remains the biggest unpredictable element in London’s meticulous plan. Work, led by the Home Office, has begun to co-ordinate the response of the intelligence and emergency services but the £838 million budget could still rocket if London suffers a repeat of the July 7 bombings.

Greenwich Park

To find out more about plans for the venue – and to have your say – visit our Greenwich Park mini-site, where you'll find lots of information and an online form for you to give your views.
Greenwich Park will host the London 2012 Equestrian and Modern Pentathlon events. Tim Hadaway, the LOCOG Equestrian Manager, explains how London 2012 are working closely with agencies like Royal Parks, Natural England and English Heritage to make sure there is no long term impact on the park.