London 2012 signs up Gymnova as 28th sponsor

April 6 - London 2012 today signed-up its 28th domestic sponsor when they announced that Gymnova will be the Official Gymnastics Equipment Supplier and they will provide all the equipment needed for the gymnastics events at London 2012.

Gymnova is an approved supplier of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and as well as providing equipment for the artistic, rhythmic and trampoline competitions, will also provide equipment for the training facilities.

Gymnova provided the equipment for last year’s World Championships, held at the O2 in London .

Gymnova is a core company within the French ABEO group.

As part of the deal, which sees Gymnova become a Tier Three sponsor, two of its sister companies in the group, O’Jump and ACMAN, will be providing the wrestling mats and podia for the staging of several sports.

Sebastian Coe, the London 2012 chairman, said: "This demonstrates the length and breadth of our commercial programme.

"We’re now delving deep into the planning process and ensuring that we have the best sporting equipment for athletes both for competition and training, is a real priority for us.

"It’s great to have a company like Gymnova on-board and we look forward to working with them to ensure that London 2012 is a fantastic experience for athletes as well as spectators."

Gymnova’s President, Olivier Estèves, is delighted that the company has been selected.

He said: "Gymnova have been supplying the gymnastics world with apparatus for over 30 years.

"To supply the world’s greatest sporting stage, the London Olympics, with all its gymnastics and trampolining needs is a fantastic honour.

"The selection of Gymnova helps underline the high regard the company, and its products, has within the Olympic movement and the International Gymnastics Federation.

Gymnova is the 15th Tier Three sponsor to sign-up with London 2012 and joins companies like Holiday Inn, John Lewis, Next and Ticketmaser.

Britain's world gymnastics champion Beth Tweddle, who is an ambassador for Gymnova, said: "This is great news.

"Last year the British team recorded the best results it has ever achieved at a World Championships - all on Gymnova apparatus.

"The opportunity to capitalise on this success and to focus on training on familiar apparatus has given us all a boost leading up to
London 2012."

Boris Johnson Pledges 'Fun' Package for London Olympics

BORIS JOHNSON announces today that he wants to make London the "epicentre of fun in the universe" come the 2012 Olympics and he probably doesn't mean the predicted huge rise in prostitution.

"We've got to assume that huge numbers of people are going to come to the city and we've got to allow them to enjoy themselves, so there's all sorts of things we're preparing," is Johnson's message to the Olympic Board, before which he appears today.

What the London Mayor has in mind is: the pedestrianisation of roads between Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square; big screens and concert stages in four London parks - Hyde Park, Jubilee Gardens, Potter's Gate and Victoria Park; the Cultural Olympiad arts festival and loads of posters and bunting all over the city.

South Londoners might wonder why no park or common on their side of the river is deemed worthy of a big screen, but might be consoled with thought that the prostitute invasion is likely to be confined to the north of the city.

Police and local authorities in the boroughs near the Olympic construction site say that the number of street walkers has doubled since building began and evidence from previous Games suggests that at the time of the Olympics, numbers double again, so there could be four times as many ladies of the night plying their trade by 2012 as before. They could even make an Olympic sport out of it.

Carlton, Wiley and Time Out official publishers for London Olympics

Carlton, Wiley and Time Out have been appointed as the official publishers of the London 2012 Olympic Games to develop "a full range" of books, which will be hitting the shops later this year.
Carlton is to publish practical sports, children's, reference, history, companion and celebratory books. John Wiley & Sons has been charged with responsibility for the illustrated reference, photographic, commemorative, architecture and design books. Time Out Guides is publishing the travel guides and tourist books.
Charlie Wijeratna, director of commercial negotiations for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, said: "Books are always a key feature of any Olympic Games or Paralympic Games and we’re thrilled to have three fantastic licensees on board to publish the official London 2012 books which we hope will educate, entertain and enchant the British public.
"We now have a great team of licensees producing London 2012 merchandise, with more to follow in the coming weeks and months."
The range, which includes The Book of Olympic Heroes and a Countdown to London 2012 children's book, is being developed alongside the LOCOG for launch "from the end of 2010".
This will be followed in 2011 by London 2012 travel guides, further London 2012 illustrated reference publications and the first architecture and design reference books. E-books will also be available

Olympics usher in a big new age of advertising

Vancouver used to be a gloriously garish place, an urban jungle filled with hundreds of giant neon signs and billboards competing for your attention.
But that was way back in the 1950s. A civic beautification movement swept the city in the '60s and '70s, and almost all the garishness vanished, replaced by more "tasteful" stuff.
The Olympics offer a brief respite. Stand at the southeast corner of Georgia and Hornby and you might think you'd been transported to Times Square. The Hudson's Bay building is covered in four-storey-high portraits of Olympic athletes. One of the black towers at Georgia and Granville has become a big ad for Samsung cell-phones. The Hotel Georgia project is clad in the biggest Canadian flag you've ever seen.

The most impressive ad of all might be a skier flying into the sky down the eastern side of the 37-storey Royal Bank Tower at Burrard and Georgia. For a 37-storey ad, it's remarkably tasteful: the skier is the dominant image, the Royal Bank logo is relatively discreet at the top of the building.

2012 London Olympics Pose Biggest Security Risk In Decades

London faces the largest security challenge since World War II when it hosts the 2012 Olympics, British security minister Alan West said Friday.
West told a London conference that the British capital will almost certainly be at a higher risk of a terrorist attack as an estimated 15,000 athletes, 14,000 coaches and officials and 20,000 media workers arrive for the games.
He said the country's threat level will likely rise to severe – the second highest rating on a five point scale – meaning an attack is considered highly likely.
"We are not complacent. We do not underestimate the scale of the Olympics challenge," West told the Royal United Services Institute think tank.
West, a former head of Britain's navy and defense intelligence staff, said the event would be "possibly the greatest security challenge the U.K. has faced since the Second World War."
Since 2001, Britain has invested heavily in anti-terrorism measures, increasing the size of domestic spy agency MI5 and raising the country's security budget to $6 billion.
The minister said a $1 billion fund has been set aside specifically for Olympic security.
West said work since the July 2005 transit network attacks in London, which killed 52 passengers and four suicide bombers, had "made the nation safer, but we are not safe – the threat is still there."
The London bombings came the day after the British capital was awarded the 2012 Olympics.
West said plans to secure the Olympics would reflect changing tactics used by terrorists.
He pointed to the use of boats to launch attacks last November which killed 166 people in Mumbai, India, and methods deployed in Lahore, Pakistan, in March in a gun assault on the Sri Lankan national cricket team.
Britain has installed barriers to defend against car bombs at most sports stadiums, transport hubs and shopping malls, and provided new guidelines on protecting crowded spaces. During the Olympics, police speed boats will patrol the River Thames.
West said that, despite the likely threats, he is confident in plans to secure the London games. If medals were awarded for security planning, Britain "would be on top of the podium wearing a gold," he said.

Unveils £700m deals to London 2010

The arrangers of the 2012 Olympic Games in London are putting £700m of contracts related to goods and services for the event out to tender.
There will be eight categories of goods and services for firms to win work.
The chairman of the London Olympics' organising committee, Sebastian Coe, said the scale of the contracts on offer was "potentially massive".
"The organising committee is now at a stage where we move from planning to delivery," he said.
"With less than three years to go, we're starting the procurement process for everything we need to stage a memorable Games.
"The scope of this is potentially massive - from sporting equipment to catering services and beyond."
He added that the games should be as much about a triumph for the "bottom line" as it was about the sports "finishing line".
'Opportunities'
Firms seeking to win contracts will have to abide by the rules set out by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog).
The vast majority of Locog's procurement will go through the website Compete For, an online service for matching potential suppliers with games-related business opportunities.
"There are many opportunities for companies of all sizes to get involved with London 2012 - whether it's directly through Locog or through one of our sponsors, stakeholders or suppliers further down the supply chain," said Locog procurement director Gerry Walsh.
"The opportunities are out there and I would urge anyone who is interested to sign up to our procurement portal Compete For."
'Opens the door'
Meanwhile, although the majority of contracts have now been granted by the Olympic Delivery Authority's (ODA) - responsible for the games' infrastructure, there is still up to £1bn of goods and services work still to be awarded.
Contracts available through the ODA include facilities management, design and temporary construction.
And it is also hoped that UK firms can use experience gained in seeking London 2012 work to enable them to win contracts on offer from other host major sporting events.
Forthcoming global events include the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Russia's hosting of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games and Brazil's hosting of both the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.
"There are still plenty of opportunities for British businesses to benefit from the Olympics," said Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell.
"With host countries like, Russia, Brazil and South Africa needing to develop their infrastructure beyond just the sports events there is huge potential for UK businesses to get involved and London 2012 opens the door for them."

Glasgow deserves share of London Olympic cash, says SNP candidate

SNP by election candidate David Kerr has vowed to fight for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games to be afforded its share of Olympic regeneration money. Mr Kerr said that Glasgow deserves the same deal as London and that, if elected, he will put pressure on the Treasury to pay Scotland its fair share of regeneration investment around the London 2012 Olympics. He claims spending by Westminster on regeneration around the London Olympics should generate s165m - s33m per annum over the five years to 2012-13 - for Scotland under the Barnett formula. Mr Kerr said: "The Commonwealth Games is as important to Glasgow as the Olympics are to London. "The Scottish Government is putting in 80 per cent of the funding for the Commonwealth Games - but we are doing it without the s33 million a year of regeneration funding that should be coming Glasgow's way."If London can get central funding to regenerate their East End because of the Olympics why should Glasgow not get the Barnett Consequentials from this spending to help regenerate the city following the Commonwealth Games?"