Thursday, June 30, 2011

Sunday?s Olympic noteworthy

? World Arena could become a candidate to host the world figure skating championships if Tokyo organizers don?t meet a Monday deadline set by the International Skating Union to commit to staging the competition in the aftermath of an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami March 11 that devastated Japan. Worlds were supposed to begin Monday [...]

Sunday?s Olympic noteworthy is a post from: Higher, Faster, Stronger

Source: http://gazetteolympics.freedomblogging.com/2011/03/21/sunday%e2%80%99s-olympic-noteworthy-3/4207/

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Hope remains for the one million unlucky applicants

Many of you who applied for Olympic tickets won't have been surprised at the news on Monday that more than half of all the applications were unsuccessful. Around a million of the 1.8m people who requested tickets have got nothing.

This poses the greatest challenge that Lord Coe and his team have faced since London was awarded the Games in 2005. They have to manage the disappointment of the vast number of people who'd dreamed of watching the men's 100 metres final inside the Olympic stadium, but now know that they'll have to settle for seeing it on television instead.

That, of course, was always going to be the case. We are a nation of sports lovers. It was never going to be possible to build a stadium large enough to seat even a fraction of those who wanted to be there. I've been given some figures which illustrate the extraordinary level of demand for 2012 tickets.

There will be 650 sessions across all sports, with an average of four price categories at each one. That means that there were a total of about 2500 different options for people to consider when they applied. More than 1500 of those pricing categories across the 650 sessions were oversubscribed. Some people who chose 'bankers' like early rounds of hockey, weightlifting and handball have been left disappointed.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.

There will be a second chance for tickets says Paul Deighton, chief executive of London 2012

I can also reveal that the average application was for 12 tickets at a total average cost of �500. So, one million people who had offered to pay �500 each have ended up with nothing. No wonder there's such a feeling of frustration amongst those who missed out.

All is not lost, though, if you've tried and, so far failed, to get your hands on any tickets. Of the 6.6m available to the public, more than a million remain. Many are for football, but there are others available which will get you onto the Olympic Park.

Admittedly, the majority of the tickets which haven't been sold for the more popular sports will be in the higher price categories, but the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) are still expecting great interest when the second round of sales begins.

The million people who missed out first time will have priority when tickets go back on sale. They'll receive an email next week explaining how the process will work. The fact that there are so many of them will pose problems for Ticketmaster, who run the ticketing system, as the second stage will be done on a first come first served basis.

If all one million people log on at the same time then it could pose obvious problems, comparable to the demand for the Take That concerts, but Locog are confident that the system is sufficiently robust.

And if you're one of the unlucky million, you don't have long to wait. You'll be sent a code which will enable you to access the ticketing system, and I'm assured that the sale will begin before the end of June. There will be a window of around ten days, and then those who received some, but not all, of their application will be invited to re-join the process. It's likely that by this stage nearly all of the tickets will have been sold.

Meanwhile, many of the disappointed applicants continue to head to official European ticket agents, who are obliged to make their allocations available to residents of all countries in the EU.

For those of you who registered with France's site by the deadline of midnight last night, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that only around 4,000 of you managed to do so, and you'll have exclusive access when the French tickets are put on sale on June 13th. The bad news is that many of those tickets will be sold in conjunction with a hotel room, so if you don't need accommodation then you might have to end up with an unwanted extra cost. For tickets to the best events some people are likely to decide that that's a price worth paying.

Have you been lucky, or are you one of the disappointed million? Do you accept that Locog had an impossible job and that there simply isn't a system that could have kept everybody happy, or do you have other ideas?

Whatever your experience so far in the London 2012 ticket process, I will be interested to read your views.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jamespearce/2011/06/theres_still_hope_for_the_one.html

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Luger's father angry over coroner's report

The coroner's report on Nodar Kumaritashvili has been released, and at least one of the luger's loved ones is upset. The Georgian luger died in an accident at the Olympic track in Vancouver just hours before the Opening Ceremony.

The report concluded that Kumaritashvili could not handle the difficult track at Whistler, outside of Vancouver. Part of the�report from�The Province:

"The collision was a result of an interaction of factors including high speed, technical challenges and exacting physical forces with the associated physiological stresses, which converged at a critical moment overwhelming the athlete and causing irrevocable loss of control of the sled," the report said. [...]

"It has been offered to this investigation that some highly skilled and experienced lugers can 'learn a track' in as little as 10 or 15 runs. That may be the case but it would also be reasonable to conclude that the less experienced, less trained or less skilled athletes may require more venue-specific training time in order to attain their level of comfort at a particular track."

Kumaritashvili's father did not take the report well.

"I don?t accept the statement about Nodar?s lack of experience," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He wouldn?t have won the right to take part in the Olympics if he lacked experience."

It's understandable for David Kumaritashvili to be upset. He lost his son less than a year ago, and now he hears that the reason his son died is because he wasn't good enough.

But the coroner's report didn't look at Olympic qualification procedures, which is how his son "won the right" to compete. The coroner looked at the situation in which his son died, two completely different things. What comes next from the coroner's report may comfort David, as the coroner had specific recommendations to improve the safety of a sport that involves athletes flying down a track on a small sled at upwards of 90 mph.

The report asked that athletes get more time to train on the track before major competitions, especially for new tracks, like the one at Whistler. It also recommended that the international governing bodies for luge, bobsled and skeleton -- the sports that use the track -- require safety testing and audit their own safety procedures.

These recommendations seem so common sense that it is insane that an athlete had to die for them to be made. But if safety in a high-risk sport is improved, then perhaps Kumaritashvili's death will not be in vain. Hopefully, his father can take solace in that.�

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Luger-s-father-angry-over-coroner-s-report?urn=oly-274657

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Olympic Stadium - 2009

The Olympic Stadium 2 Years ago - 2009

Source: http://insidelondon2012.blogspot.com/2011/06/olympic-stadium-2009.html

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London 2012 Olympics: man arrested by police in online tickets probe

[fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] Police have arrested a 23-year-old man for illegally offering to sell tickets online to the London 2012 Olympics.

Source: http://london-2012-olympics.net/News/london-2012-olympics-man-arrested-by-police-in-online-tickets-probe/

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Bennefits of Sleeping in Triathlon.. and ITU racing

Many of us, use sleep to recharge our batteries so the next day we can do our day-day activities..As a triathlete, this is slighlty more complicated, and requires the correct amounts and times to yeild the required result.. Now in Pretoria, I have found that sleep isn’t only enjoyable but now part of my daily [...]

Source: http://richardmurray.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/bennefits-of-sleeping-in-triathlon-and-itu-racing/

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Photos from the Phreestyle!

http://macbethgraphics.smugmug.com/NORDIC-RACING/Junior-Olympics-and-JOQ/JO-2011-freestyle/

Source: http://www.farwestnordic.org/joblog/2011/03/photos-from-the-freestyle/

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ArcelorMittal Orbit


ArcelorMittal Orbit, originally uploaded by charlieinskip.

About halfway there according to 'Charlieinskip', who took this great pic.

Source: http://insidelondon2012.blogspot.com/2011/05/arcelormittal-orbit.html

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A Day at the Races

This Saturday marked the return to San Diego of the US Cross Country Championships. Held alongside the water in Mission Bay, this event featured the top masters, elite, and junior XC runners in the United States. I had never been to this event before, so I made the drive down to see what it was [...]

Source: http://www.lamarathon.com/2011/02/a-day-at-the-races/

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Tuesday, June 21st

Power snatches and power cleans today. Some attempts at records, but none successful. Here is a video from yesterday. Kevin was in the lead on squats after last time, 216kg to 215kg for sets of 5. Jon started the day off at 220kg for 5 to take the lead back. Kevin then attempts to retaliate [...]

Source: http://calstrengthacademy.com/olympic-weightlifting-team/tuesday-june-21st/

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Did Rio de Janiero steal its Olympic logo from a Colorado charity?

Organizers of the Rio Olympics are on the defensive after similarities between the logo for the 2016 Games and a Colorado-based charity foundation were discovered.

The logo, which was released on New Year's Eve at a massive celebration at Copacabana beach, depicts figures embracing in a circular motion. It was soon noticed that the design resembles the logo for The Telluride Foundation, a Colorado charity chaired by Norman Schwarzkopf.�

Here's the Rio logo:

And the one for The Telluride Foundation:

Take away the legs and the red dancer from the Telluride logo and you have Rio's. It's undeniably similar. But is it plagiarism?

The director of the Brazilian agency that created the logo says no. Fred Gelli acknowledges that there are similarities between the two, but guaranteed that his design was original. "For some reason, we missed that one," he said.

[Photos: See London's 2012 Olympic venues]

I posed the plagiarism question to Dan Levy, a graphic designer who also hosts a popular sports podcast. He said it's common for the logos of small businesses to overlap, but that it's inexcusable for a major international sporting event to come up with such an unoriginal design. If the Brazilian press could discover the similarities between Rio 2016 and Telluride, then surely a research and development team could have done the same.

"These logos are way too close for my liking," Levy wrote in an email. "Even the color dispersion is nearly identical. Somebody got ripped off."

The Telluride Foundation, which has yet to comment on the matter, may not be able to complain too loudly though. It seems that the charitable organization did some design-borrowing of its own when it made its logo. Some have noticed its resemblance to "The Dancer" by Henri Matisse.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Matisse would be pleased.

My biggest problem with the Rio logo isn't the similarity to Telluride's or the resemblance between Telluride's and Matisse, but that the logo itself is lifeless and boring. Organizers say the design is supposed to represent "contagious energy, harmonious diversity, exuberant nature and Olympic spirit." I must be missing something.

[Related: Olympic committee considers banning fireworks ]

Herman Melville once said, "It is�better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation." Rio 2016 did neither. The logo looks like someone melted the Olympic rings. It's a mess. If you're going to steal a design, at least take a good one.

Other popular stories on Yahoo!:
? Video: NFL player punches opponent during regular-season finale
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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Did-Rio-de-Janiero-steal-its-Olympic-logo-from-a?urn=oly-302825

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Flat course for Port Elizabeth leg of National Duathlon Series 2011

Flat course for Port Elizabeth leg of National Duathlon Series 2011 Victory will go to the fleet of foot rather than those with diesel engines or 4×4 skills as the R300,000 Momentum Health i-Flex National Duathlon Series heads to the tar of Port Elizabeth for what is arguably the fastest event in the six-stop Series. [...]

Source: http://richardmurray.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/565/

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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Photos of the week: the 'Blade Runner' and the Great British Garden


http://www.london2012.com/Oscar Pistorius in the Olympic Stadium

This week Paralympic gold medallist Oscar 'the blade runner' Pistorius visited the London 2012 Olympic Stadium ahead of competing in the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

Source: http://www.london2012.com//blog/2011/05/photos-of-the-week-bladerunner-and-the-great-british-gar.php

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In the shadow of the games.


London 2012 stadium Orbit, originally uploaded by Manuel.A.69.

Excellent picture showing just how close some local residents live to the London 2012 Olympic Park.

Also showing the Stadium and the Orbit.

Source: http://insidelondon2012.blogspot.com/2011/04/in-shadow-of-games.html

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Thursday, June 2nd

Rob and Brian went back and forth today, each one trying to get a bigger PR than the other on power snatches, then power cleans, then power snatches a second time and finally power cleans a second time. Brian ended up with a 10kg PR power clean, Rob had to settle for only 5kg!

Source: http://calstrengthacademy.com/olympic-weightlifting-team/thursday-june-2nd/

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Hope remains for the one million unlucky applicants

Many of you who applied for Olympic tickets won't have been surprised at the news on Monday that more than half of all the applications were unsuccessful. Around a million of the 1.8m people who requested tickets have got nothing.

This poses the greatest challenge that Lord Coe and his team have faced since London was awarded the Games in 2005. They have to manage the disappointment of the vast number of people who'd dreamed of watching the men's 100 metres final inside the Olympic stadium, but now know that they'll have to settle for seeing it on television instead.

That, of course, was always going to be the case. We are a nation of sports lovers. It was never going to be possible to build a stadium large enough to seat even a fraction of those who wanted to be there. I've been given some figures which illustrate the extraordinary level of demand for 2012 tickets.

There will be 650 sessions across all sports, with an average of four price categories at each one. That means that there were a total of about 2500 different options for people to consider when they applied. More than 1500 of those pricing categories across the 650 sessions were oversubscribed. Some people who chose 'bankers' like early rounds of hockey, weightlifting and handball have been left disappointed.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.

There will be a second chance for tickets says Paul Deighton, chief executive of London 2012

I can also reveal that the average application was for 12 tickets at a total average cost of �500. So, one million people who had offered to pay �500 each have ended up with nothing. No wonder there's such a feeling of frustration amongst those who missed out.

All is not lost, though, if you've tried and, so far failed, to get your hands on any tickets. Of the 6.6m available to the public, more than a million remain. Many are for football, but there are others available which will get you onto the Olympic Park.

Admittedly, the majority of the tickets which haven't been sold for the more popular sports will be in the higher price categories, but the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) are still expecting great interest when the second round of sales begins.

The million people who missed out first time will have priority when tickets go back on sale. They'll receive an email next week explaining how the process will work. The fact that there are so many of them will pose problems for Ticketmaster, who run the ticketing system, as the second stage will be done on a first come first served basis.

If all one million people log on at the same time then it could pose obvious problems, comparable to the demand for the Take That concerts, but Locog are confident that the system is sufficiently robust.

And if you're one of the unlucky million, you don't have long to wait. You'll be sent a code which will enable you to access the ticketing system, and I'm assured that the sale will begin before the end of June. There will be a window of around ten days, and then those who received some, but not all, of their application will be invited to re-join the process. It's likely that by this stage nearly all of the tickets will have been sold.

Meanwhile, many of the disappointed applicants continue to head to official European ticket agents, who are obliged to make their allocations available to residents of all countries in the EU.

For those of you who registered with France's site by the deadline of midnight last night, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that only around 4,000 of you managed to do so, and you'll have exclusive access when the French tickets are put on sale on June 13th. The bad news is that many of those tickets will be sold in conjunction with a hotel room, so if you don't need accommodation then you might have to end up with an unwanted extra cost. For tickets to the best events some people are likely to decide that that's a price worth paying.

Have you been lucky, or are you one of the disappointed million? Do you accept that Locog had an impossible job and that there simply isn't a system that could have kept everybody happy, or do you have other ideas?

Whatever your experience so far in the London 2012 ticket process, I will be interested to read your views.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jamespearce/2011/06/theres_still_hope_for_the_one.html

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The ever growing Arcelor Mittal Olympic Orbit sculpture

Growing every day.

The Aquatics Centre is the backdrop too.

June 2011.

Source: http://insidelondon2012.blogspot.com/2011/06/ever-growing-arcelor-mittal-olympic.html

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The London 2012 Handball Arena shows its true colours

Last week over 160 invited guests gathered at the Handball Arena to celebrate the handing over of this key venue from the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG). But why is it a key venue?

Apart from being a stunning, vibrant and exciting venue that will host two Olympic sports (Handball and Modern Pentathlon) and one Paralympic sport (Goalball) during London 2012, the design allows for maximum flexibility of use in legacy, both for sport and community event use.

Source: http://www.london2012.com//blog/2011/06/the-london-2012-handball-arena-shows-its-true-colours.php

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Watch the race Michael Phelps called the worst of his career

Michael Phelps recently told Fourth-Place Medal that the biggest disappointment of his swimming career was losing the 200 fly in Ann Arbor this April. The loss was Phelps' first in the event since 2002.

We hadn't seen a clip of the race until our friends at Universal Sports sent it over today:

The final turn is all the proof you need that Phelps isn't in top shape. His timing was off as he went into the turn, which forced an extended glide to the wall. Once there, Phelps holds a beat too long, allowing competitors to his left to make up ground. Bad turns happen though. For Michael Phelps, bad underwaters don't.

Phelps came up on his streamline before every swimmer in the pool, an event which is sort of like Tiger Woods finishing last in the week in driving distance. The third turn is where Phelps plunges the dagger into his opponents. He holds it longer and goes faster and comes up farther than everybody else in the pool. In Ann Arbor, Phelps didn't do any of that.

The reason? He's not in shape. The 200 fly is one of the most taxing races in swimming. Even the best in the world feel their muscles burn when they get to the third turn. Your lungs are screaming for air, lactic acid is burning through your muscles; the hardest thing to do is to hold that streamline for any considerable amount of time and to finish strong. When you're not in peak physical form, it's impossible.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Watch-the-race-Michael-Phelps-called-the-worst-o?urn=oly-wp231

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Iranian women’s soccer team forfeits 2012 qualifier over head scarves

The Iranian women's soccer team was in tears after being forced to forfeit a 2012 London Olympics qualifying match this past weekend because it showed up to play in hijabs. FIFA banned the Islamic head scarf in 2007, saying that it could cause choking injuries -- the same reason it gave for recently banning snoods (neck warmers). FIFA also has strict rules against any religious statements in team uniforms.

Since Iran refused to comply with these rules and didn't use the specially designed caps that its 2010 Youth Olympics team wore, Friday's match was abandoned by officials and a 3-0 win was awarded to Jordan as a result. The Football Federation of Iran said it will complain to FIFA about the ruling, but FIFA says assurances were made beforehand so that this situation would've been avoided. From the AP:

"Despite initial assurances that the Iranian delegation understood this, the players came out wearing the hijab, and the head and neck totally covered, which was an infringement of the laws of the game," FIFA said in a statement. [...]

Jordan team officials also objected to the hijab rule before the game, but prepared to play by declining to select women who objected on religious grounds.

"The Iranian team and three Jordanian players were also banned from playing because they wore the traditional head cover," Rana Husseini, head of Jordan's women's football committee, told The Associated Press.

"The problem is that the head cover assigned and approved by FIFA for women players to wear does not suit them as it reveals part of the neck and this is not allowed and it is not acceptable," she said.

Iran also forfeited a second group match against Vietnam on Sunday, seriously damaging its chances of advancing to the London Olympics. It seems unlikely that its federation's complaints will help its case, though, since these rules are not new and compromises have been made in the past. It's just a shame these women were put in the middle of this debate between Iran's federation and FIFA and set up for disappointment.

Photo: Reuters

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Iranian-women-s-soccer-team-forfeits-2012-qualif?urn=oly-wp280

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Did Rio de Janiero steal its Olympic logo from a Colorado charity?

Organizers of the Rio Olympics are on the defensive after similarities between the logo for the 2016 Games and a Colorado-based charity foundation were discovered.

The logo, which was released on New Year's Eve at a massive celebration at Copacabana beach, depicts figures embracing in a circular motion. It was soon noticed that the design resembles the logo for The Telluride Foundation, a Colorado charity chaired by Norman Schwarzkopf. 

Here's the Rio logo:

And the one for The Telluride Foundation:

Take away the legs and the red dancer from the Telluride logo and you have Rio's. It's undeniably similar. But is it plagiarism?

The director of the Brazilian agency that created the logo says no. Fred Gelli acknowledges that there are similarities between the two, but guaranteed that his design was original. "For some reason, we missed that one," he said.

[Photos: See London's 2012 Olympic venues]

I posed the plagiarism question to Dan Levy, a graphic designer who also hosts a popular sports podcast. He said it's common for the logos of small businesses to overlap, but that it's inexcusable for a major international sporting event to come up with such an unoriginal design. If the Brazilian press could discover the similarities between Rio 2016 and Telluride, then surely a research and development team could have done the same.

"These logos are way too close for my liking," Levy wrote in an email. "Even the color dispersion is nearly identical. Somebody got ripped off."

The Telluride Foundation, which has yet to comment on the matter, may not be able to complain too loudly though. It seems that the charitable organization did some design-borrowing of its own when it made its logo. Some have noticed its resemblance to "The Dancer" by Henri Matisse.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Matisse would be pleased.

My biggest problem with the Rio logo isn't the similarity to Telluride's or the resemblance between Telluride's and Matisse, but that the logo itself is lifeless and boring. Organizers say the design is supposed to represent "contagious energy, harmonious diversity, exuberant nature and Olympic spirit." I must be missing something.

[Related: Olympic committee considers banning fireworks ]

Herman Melville once said, "It is better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation." Rio 2016 did neither. The logo looks like someone melted the Olympic rings. It's a mess. If you're going to steal a design, at least take a good one.

Other popular stories on Yahoo!:
Video: NFL player punches opponent during regular-season finale
ESPN anchors high-five over NFL coach's firing
Video: Tennis legends Nadal and Federer duel on water

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Did-Rio-de-Janiero-steal-its-Olympic-logo-from-a?urn=oly-302825

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A Day at the Races

This Saturday marked the return to San Diego of the US Cross Country Championships. Held alongside the water in Mission Bay, this event featured the top masters, elite, and junior XC runners in the United States. I had never been to this event before, so I made the drive down to see what it was [...]

Source: http://www.lamarathon.com/2011/02/a-day-at-the-races/

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'Black-power salute' gold medal is for sale

Tommie Smith, the Olympic gold medalist who along with teammate John Carlos sent a shockwave through the 1968 Mexico City Olympics by giving a black-power signal during the medal ceremony, is now selling the gold medal he won for winning the 200-meter run.

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Smith's gold medal and cherry-red Puma running shoes are on the auction block with M.I.T. Memorabilia. The starting bid is $250,000; the auction will close Nov. 4. Smith and his family are not commenting on the sale, but an M.I.T. representative said:

"Of course the medal is important to him, but the memory of winning the race is far more important," [Gary] Zimet said of Smith's then-world-record time of 19.83 seconds. "He is doing it for the money, but not because he is desperate. If someone is willing to pay his price, he'll sell."

The famous black glove that Smith donned when giving the black-power salute was not included in the auction because it is missing. Smith said he lost it over the course of his moves.

[Related: Laker's NBA title ring for sale]

In the midst of the Civil Rights era, Smith and Carlos' gesture was a sign of solidarity with black Americans. For it, they were suspended from the U.S. team and thrown out of the Olympic Village by International Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage.

Though it's odd to think of an Olympian giving up the gold medal he had trained and fought for, Smith had a slightly different experience than the average Olympian. Having the medal in his hand won't change the fact that he won the gold, or that he was treated so terribly afterward.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/-Black-power-salute-gold-medal-is-for-sale?urn=oly-276729

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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

New Year, New Film Trailer!

Happy New Year! And we are off and running in our second year of production of our film, "Miles & Trials: Running Towards 2012!" Next up: travel to Houston, Texas on 1/30 for the 2011 Chevron Houston Marathon, where some of the country?s best distance runners and Olympic hopefuls will be testing out the course prior to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials. We hope to land interviews with some of the top female runners to ask them about their Trials preparation. All we need to get there are some donations to our film fund. Please help us by clicking the orange Donate button on the right :)

Here's our updated film trailer - enjoy!


Source: http://milesandtrialsfilm.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-year-new-film-trailer.html

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Wednesday?s Olympic noteworthy

? U.S. Olympic Committee leaders joined Olympians and Paralympians on Capitol Hill, lobbying Congress to preserve $8 million in funding for the USOC-directed Paralympic Military Program, which offers post-rehabilitation support to American servicemen with serious injuries. Winners in a free-throw shooting contest staged by the USOC and the Congressional Olympic and Paralympic Caucus were Rep. [...]

Wednesday?s Olympic noteworthy is a post from: Higher, Faster, Stronger

Source: http://gazetteolympics.freedomblogging.com/2011/03/17/wednesday%e2%80%99s-olympic-noteworthy-2/4171/

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Kristin Armstrong climbing back to the top

Kristin Armstrong didn't know where she stood against her competition as she crested the long hill in the middle of the 15-mile Tour of California time trial course in Solvang a couple of weeks ago. Then an isolated scrap of commentary provided a context clue.

"She's wearing No. 1 for a reason," she heard the�race announcer's voice blare. It broke Armstrong's concentration momentarily, and her mind veered down a side path.

"I thought, 'Yeah, there is a reason,'" Armstrong said Thursday. "'Either it's because I'm a former world and Olympic champion, or I'm in the lead. And if I'm in the lead, I better hurry.' I used that all the way down as an incentive to go as fast as I could."

That was fast enough to crush the other 12 women in the field for the special one-day event. The only rider within real hailing distance of Armstrong was fellow U.S. rider Amber Neben, 13 seconds behind. Armstrong logged her most important win since returning from her son's birth eight months ago and, as she put it, "one more check mark" in her quest to defend her 2008 Olympic title next year.

"I'm very clear and open about my goals," said the 37-year-old Armstrong. "I'm not doing this because I'm a mom and I want to go to the Olympics. I'm doing it because I want to medal."

Another item on the to-do list looms Saturday, when Armstrong will roll down the start ramp for Stage 2 of the four-day Mt. Hood Classic in Oregon, a 10.6-mile time trial. Most of the top women's teams are racing in Philadelphia this weekend, thinning the competition. But Armstrong elected to enter Mt. Hood to put more miles on her legs and to measure herself against Canada's veteran Clara Hughes, the multiple Olympic speedskating and cycling medalist. "Regardless of the results, I'm looking forward to seeing where I am," Armstrong said.

Armstrong won Thursday's 3-mile prologue -- a distance she didn't expect to excel at -- while Hughes finished second, 8 seconds behind.

Armstrong considered coming back while she was still pregnant, and made it official mere weeks after son Lucas was born last September. She elected to ride for Peanut Butter & Co., where she was a part-time director last year, in exchange for greater flexibility and less travel compared to the 160 days she spent on the road in her prime with the Cervelo team. But total clarity about her endeavors took months to achieve.

"I struggled the whole winter," Armstrong said. "I'd do well for three or four weeks and then have a setback. I kept telling my husband, 'I can't do this any more. I can't train consistently like I used to. For me to win before took me doing everything right.'"

Her fitness came back faster than her mindset, which had to shift to accept that every training day wasn't going to be perfect and more than a few nights of sleep were going to be interrupted by a hungry baby. "We as athletes are so driven and Type A, it's important to keep things in perspective," she said.

Armstrong started the season strong, dominating the Sea Otter Classic in March, yet churned with unaccustomed anxiety at the start of every stage. She got food poisoning at the Tour of the Gila in April and had to abandon. Armstrong said she entered California still unsure of whether she could be the athlete she had once been. She's more convinced now.

Working backwards, there are precious few opportunities for elite women to secure one of the two U.S. slots in the time trial event in London. The first winnowing-out will occur at the world championships in Denmark this September, where the U.S. will also send two riders; finishing in the top three at worlds guarantees an Olympic berth.

Armstrong's easiest route to the world team would be to win the national time trial championship in Augusta, Ga., on June 23. The second slot is filled at the USA Cycling coaches' discretion, and is generally based on head-to-head results. The catch is that there aren't very many long time trials on the women's calendar for the top Americans to test each other. California was one of them, hence Armstrong's focus on the event. After Mt. Hood, Armstrong and her team will race at the Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minnesota. Then it's on to nationals.

Some people have expressed bewilderment to Armstrong about her comeback, wondering why she isn't content with a gold medal and a baby boy. Others have told her she's inspiring. She can't shake the vision of herself on the Olympic podium holding her by-then almost two-year-old son. "I take the positive, and the negative I throw out," Armstrong said. "If this doesn't work out, it's been an experience. If I have to stop tomorrow, I already have the best thing that's ever happened to me. This is our family's adventure."

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/olympics/post/_/id/899/kristin-armstrong-climbing-back-to-the-top

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Thousands of foreigners snap up Olympics tickets meant for Brits

[fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] Foreigners snapped up just under 150,000 Olympics tickets allocated to Britons in the official ballot for the 2012 Games.

Source: http://london-2012-olympics.net/News/thousands-of-foreigners-snap-up-olympics-tickets-meant-for-brits/

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Tuesday's think tank

Because I have been late with my update, here is something to make up:



I actually had a much longer interview with Donny, but the connection was poor and for whatever reason, the program I was using to record the conversation did not work right and I lost most of it. Annoying, but what can you do?

Another piece of news is that this blog has made another list of the best blogs/sites to look out for. Apparently I am an authority on getting huge, but this list also looks suspiciously like the other one I was included in a few weeks back. Like I said before, I am now officially above the law. I will become this man:







As for my own training, last week I had to take a download week because my lower back would not allow me to train. I still squatted heavy and slightly altered my squatting style by not sending my hips back as much, but after I Snatched on the Wednesday, I stiffened up quite a bit again. So, I decided to take last week as a taper week and this week load up again, even though I have a competiton on Saturday. This is not an important competition so getting my training right is far more important and I feel far better now. My lumbar area is still stiff in the attachment area and no longer the muscle belly. Every day it gets a small bit better, so all I can do is be patient. Because I was able to contract my lumber spine for the first time, I experienced quite severe doms. This is productive pain though, so the key is simply to manage the inflammation and accept it.

Last night, I Snatched for 8 singles and Box Squatted for 5x5; I left out the RDL's for obvious reasons. In the Snatch, I did a single with 90, 100, 105 which I stupidly missed because I did not stay over the bar, but I got it easily on my second attempt. I then hit 108kg, but it was quite slow. I was happy with the technique and positioning, but it was a monotone lift. I then went back to hit 90, 95 and 100kg again but increased the tempo significantly. I found it very difficult to lift with speed because I am very tired at the moment. Work and ECB committments are kicking my ass at the moment, so from that perspective as well as a physical one, a download week was probably in order anyway. My 5x5 in the squat went up another 2.5kg and I hit 142.5kg. Once again, the weight was not heavy, but the third and four reps on the last two sets in particular are real grinders and I am finding that as my numbers rise, the amount of rest I am taking is also rising. I am ok with that and the fact that I did not do the RDL's gave me the time anyway.

So, I have another session on Wednesday where I will do my Hang Snatches, Clean and Jerk singles and light Front Squats. I will then finish with some presses and Pendlay Rows, neither of which I did last week. Over and out.

Source: http://weightliftingepiphanies.blogspot.com/2011/02/tuesdays-think-tank.html

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London 2012 Olympics: athletes warned over X-rated tweets during Games

[fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] Athletes could face expulsion from Olympics for posting X-rated content or, even worse, by reporting on events in a journalistic manner.

Source: http://london-2012-olympics.net/News/london-2012-olympics-athletes-warned-over-x-rated-tweets-during-games/

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An Eastern Recap

Even though it’s from our friends at NENSA in New England, this is a nice overall recap on the week. http://www.nensa.net/news/index.php?id=4700 Note the last line: Next year in 2012, this competition will be officially named “Junior Nationals.”

Source: http://www.farwestnordic.org/joblog/2011/03/an-eastern-recap/

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Israeli point guard could sit because of religious T-shirt spat

A point guard on the Israeli national basketball team could miss the European championships�because of restrictions that ban her from wearing a T-shirt under her jersey.

As an Orthodox Jew, Naama Shafir wears a T-shirt on the court to follow Jewish modesty rules that require women to keep their shoulders covered. Because international basketball regulations require teams to wear the same uniform, Shafir has been informed that she will not be allowed to play with the T-shirt underneath her basketball tank-top.

Shafir plays at the University of Toledo and has been able to wear the shirt throughout her American career.

This is the second time this week that religious observances have gotten in the way of international sporting uniform code. The Iranian women's soccer team forfeited a match after soccer's governing body refused to let the women wear hjiabs during Olympic qualifying.

That rule, while equally misguided, was in place for a valid reason. Head scarves presented a choking issue to players, so their ban was a practical regulation made in the name of player safety. It follows similar prohibitions about wearing jewelry during play. (Players can't have a cross around their neck, for instance.)

Wearing a T-shirt under a tank top has nothing to do with player safety. It's merely aesthetic. The NBA prohibits the practice, mainly because professional sports leagues like to have everything looking uniform. College basketball players have long sported the T-shirt look, with Patrick Ewing serving as the trailblazer when he was at Georgetown.

The cool thing would be for all of Shafir's teammates to put a T-shirt under their jerseys as a sign of solidarity. The easier thing would be for FIBA to make an exception and let Shafir honor her religion while playing for her country.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Israeli-point-guard-could-sit-because-of-religio?urn=oly-wp312

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Honda LA Marathon Unveils 2011 Course: Stadium to the Sea 2.0

Race to be more runner-friendly, add loops through Chinatown & Little Tokyo; Starts at Dodger Stadium, finishes just steps from the Santa Monica Pier One of the world?s greatest marathon routes just got a little better. The 2011 Honda LA Marathon Presented by K-SWISS will once again start at Dodger Stadium and finish on Ocean [...]

Source: http://www.lamarathon.com/2010/11/honda-la-marathon-unveils-2011-course-stadium-to-the-sea-2-0/

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Olympics 2012: Sport as important as maths and English, says Edwards

Jonathan Edwards, the Olympic gold medallist triple jumper, has called on the government to make sport as much of a priority as maths and English if the legacy benefits of the 2012 Games are to be realised. The government was forced into a U-turn in December last year over plans to slash the �162m [...]

Source: http://london-2012-olympics.net/News/olympics-2012-sport-as-important-as-maths-and-english-says-edwards/

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Which six events were added to the 2014 Winter Olympics?

On Wednesday, the IOC announced the addition of six events to the schedule of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Women's ski jumping was finally added to the slate after years of legal wrangling, as well as a new halfpipe event and some groundbreaking relay competitions.

A team alpine skiing event and slopestyle competitions in snowboard and freestyle skiing didn't make the cut but will be reviewed later by the IOC for possible inclusion in Sochi. The latter is a sort of obstacle course in which competitors perform jumps, grinds and bumps while going down a mountain.

Fourth-Place Medal takes a look at the six new medal events:

Figure skating team event:

The IOC says: "The figure skating team event will feature teams made up of six skaters: one male skater, one female skater, one skating pair and one ice dance couple."

Fourth-Place Medal says: "This is a neat, out-of-the-box idea. Combining men and women in medal events doesn't happen often, but the IOC seems to be aiming for that with the added events. Adding more figure skating is a desperate ploy for television ratings (skating = ratings gold) and the judging will doubtlessly be controversial, but it's new. The IOC rarely does new, so this is a breath of fresh air."

Ski halfpipe (men's and women's):

The IOC says: "Ski halfpipe is a young and dynamic event. [...] One competitor at a time performs a routine of acrobatic jumps, flips, twists and other manuevers on a half-pipe."

Fourth-Place Medal says: "So basically it's like snowboard halfpipe on skis? Pass."

Women's ski jumping:

The IOC says: "Women's ski jumping is an individual event performed on the normal hill that operates under the same competition format as the corresponding men's competition."

Fourth-Place Medal says: "The IOC had been resistant to adding women's ski jumping, mainly due to the fact that there's not a lot of worldwide competitors in the sport. Maybe the reason there wasn't a lot of worldwide competitors is because it wasn't an Olympic sport? (Ponders.) Either way, we still don't understand why ski jumping is scored. Do they score the long jump at the Summer Olympics? Whoever jumps the farthest should win. Taking judging out of the equation is always a plus."

Biathlon mixed relay:

The IOC says: "The mixed relay has proven very popular with biathlon fans. [...] The mixed relay features two female athletes and two male athletes from the same NOC competing together. Women race a 6 km leg and men race a 7.5 km leg in the following order: W-W-M-M."

Fourth-Place Medal says: "Love this idea. The Olympics needs more events in which men and women team up. As of now, men and women directly compete in the Summer Games' equestrian events, and combine in ice dancing and pairs, and mixed doubles events in tennis and badminton. This should start a trend. How great would it be to have a mixed relay in swimming? Or a team decathlon in track (think of the strategy involved)?

Luge team relay:

The IOC says: "This new race format features teams comprised of a doubles sled, a women's singles sled and a men's singles sled. All three entrants from one team slide one after another with the clock stopping only after the third sled has crossed the finish line."

Fourth-Place Medal: "If we read this correctly, we take it to mean that this is a true relay race, where one person starts when the other gets to the bottom of the hill. Takeoffs and timing are crucial. If that's the case, this could be awesome. If the clock stopped in between each race and time was cumulatively added, that would be as exciting as normal luge races (which is to say, not exciting at all). With the added relay element, we think this could work."

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Which-six-events-were-added-to-the-2014-Winter-O?urn=oly-wp52

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Monday, June 27, 2011

The Stadium from Ground level.

Source: http://insidelondon2012.blogspot.com/2011/06/stadium-from-ground-level.html

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In his new book, ice skater Johnny Weir says that he's gay

Two-time Olympian Johnny Weir's new book will hit bookstores on Tuesday, and in it he says that he is gay. Previously, the figure skater has avoided questions on sexuality, but says now that he's coming out to support other members of the gay community who are afraid to come out.

"With people killing themselves and being scared into the closet, I hope that even just one person can gain strength from my story," Weir told People.

He said that he never felt that he was "in the closet," and he has often questioned the importance of labels. 

[Related: Hollywood star to play gay rugby player]

Weir has always marched to the beat of his own drum, whether he was wearing a costume with "man cleavage," judging a fashion reality show, giving make-up tips, or finding inspiration in Lady Gaga. At times, his actions have brought criticism, like when he wore fur on his costume to the U.S. Figure Skating National Championships. (After pressure from animal rights groups, he changed his costume for the Olympics.)

But even when he's been the subject of small-minded jokes, Weir has responded with grace. When Australian and Canadian commentators made jokes about Weir's lack of masculinity, he defended his detractors and their right to free speech.

[Related: FIFA president's controversial gay comments]

Considering how suicide among gay teens was in the news recently, it's no surprise that Weir included his "coming out" in his book. He's spoken publicly of the support his family has given him through the years, and now he can return the favor to closeted gays who weren't as lucky. 

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President Obama's fashion faux pas
Do power bracelets really work?
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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/In-his-new-book-ice-skater-Johnny-Weir-says-tha?urn=oly-304440

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Olympic hopeful rescued on Miami beach after being buried in sand

A member of the Austrian national swim team had to be rescued on a Miami beach after a sand hole he dug collapsed, burying him up to his neck.

Jakub Maly, 19, reportedly spent most of his day at Pompano Beach digging a hole seven-feet deep. When he jumped in as a joke, the sand hole collapsed around him. It took 60 rescuers more than two hours to free the Olympic hopeful.

A fire and rescue spokesman said the biggest danger was in Maly being crushed internally by the sand. He was alert as rescuers slowly stabilized the hole and ensured that any potential collapse wouldn't bury his head. When Maly was freed, he was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

Various news reports incorrectly referred to Maly as an Olympic swimmer. Though he has yet to qualify for a Summer Games, the young swimmer could represent Austria in next year's London Olympics. Last year, Maly finished 14th in the European Short Course Championships in the 200 medley.

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? Video: HS coach tries to pull swimmer by hair
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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Olympic-hopeful-rescued-on-Miami-beach-after-bei?urn=oly-wp221

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London announces plans for 8,000-mile Olympic torch relay

Organizers of the 2012 London Olympics released initial plans Wednesday for the 8,000 mile torch relay that will carry the Olympic flame throughout the United Kingdom prior to the start of next year's Summer Games.

After being lit in ancient Olympia exactly one year from today, the flame will travel to the U.K., where it will start its national tour in Land's End, Cornwall, a city on the southwestern tip of the British mainland. From there it will travel 12 hours a day for 70 days until it reaches Olympic Stadium on the evening of July 12, 2012.

Wednesday's announcement listed 74 cities that the torch will pass through including Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford. Other cities will be announced in the coming months.

The flame will be carried by 8,000 torchbearers� half of whom are expected to be between the ages of 12 and 24. Organizers say that the relay will come within a one-hour drive of 95 percent of the U.K. population.

The U.K.-centric relay marks the first time since 2000 that the Olympic flame won't go around the globe. Beijing's torch relay went to six continents and traveled over 85,000 miles.

Meanwhile, that mascot gets creepier by the day.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/London-announces-plans-for-8-000-mile-Olympic-to?urn=oly-wp262

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Win at Momentum I-flex duathlon IN P.E

Success at my faverouite venue P.E My local racing seen has picked up and training has been going very well here in Pretoria with team mates and coach – Lindsey Parry. � I made my way to Port Elizabeth for the 3rd event in the Momentum I-flex duathlon series and boy would I let the [...]

Source: http://richardmurray.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/win-at-momentum-i-flex-duathlon-in-p-e/

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A pictorial analysis of why South Korea will get the 2018 Olympics

The three cities vying for the 2018 Winter Olympics will make presentations Wednesday in Switzerland in hopes of selling IOC members on the strength of their respective bids.

Pyeongchang, South Korea is considered the overwhelming favorite to win the July 6 vote, with Munich and Annecy, France trying to pull the upset and bring the Winter Games back to Europe for what would be the second consecutive Olympics. When the strength of the Pyeongchang bid is discussed, there are two factors usually involved: It's the third consecutive Games for which the city has bid (and each prior bid has been considered flawless) and the city isn't in Europe.

There's also these pictures, taken during a recent celebration of the city's bid presentation:

A chorus of 2,018 people (get it?) performed in Seoul during a celebration earlier this week that was broadcast live on national television. Thousands more attended the concert, which was the second held by South Korea since Pyeongchang was announced as a bid finalist.

France also had a recent meeting to support its Olympic bid.

That's president Nicolas Sarkozy in the middle. Cheer up, Nick! You're trying to sell the world on the merits of France. If not for Dominique Strauss-Kahn, I'd say he was the unhappiest looking Frenchman in the world.

And then there's the Munich festival that looked like it was attended by dozens:

I kid about the support of the French and German bids, but there's some truth behind it as well. The IOC wants nothing more than to feel wanted (well, other than the feel of money and a superior sense of self-importance) and seeing thousands of people gather in Seoul is likely to affect their vote more than a solid infrastructure plan. Look at Rio vs. Chicago. The IOC commissioned a poll that said 92 percent of residents of Rio wanted the Games against 67 percent of Chicago citizens. Guess who got the Olympics despite an inferior plan?

Pyeongchang isn't Rio, though. The bid and the support are strong. Nationally, it has the support of 87 percent of the country compared to 62 and 56 for France and Germany, respectively. If the bidding is close, the will of the people may be the deciding factor.


Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/A-pictorial-analysis-of-why-South-Korea-will-get?urn=oly-wp250

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