Fazny Zavahir: Is Roger Federer right to say tennis will change Olympics status at London 2012?

In Olympic history thus far, as far as I am aware, there has never been a stampede for tickets to attend the tennis events. In fact my memory of even recent tournaments is of some of the world’s best players competing in half deserted stadia save for the medal matches and even they were far from being sell-outs.

Well that is going to change at London 2012. You don’t need to be Mystic Meg to predict that the Olympic tennis tournament at Wimbledon – an eight day feast starting on July 28 – is going to be one of the hottest tickets in town and the feel good atmosphere around the tournament will be a big boost to the status of tennis within the Olympic movement.

Roger Federer, speaking in London where he is contesting the ATP Tour finals, certainly thinks so: “In London, with the heritage we have for tennis through Wimbledon, it’s probably going to be the biggest tennis Olympics we’re going to have,” said the Swiss maestro, who won a gold in the Mens’ doubles in Beijing. “For raising awareness for tennis at the Olympic Games, I think London is going to be the perfect place.

“The beauty of it being at Wimbledon is huge for the world of tennis. At the Olympics, the focus is on swimming and athletics and tennis has been forgotten a little bit. At the last couple of Olympics, we’ve seen the best players are always playing. Rafa  winning the singles in Beijing, me winning the doubles over there, that was great news for tennis in an Olympic spirit.”

But tennis and the Olympics have not been comfortable bedfellows for a variety of reasons. Initially it was too exclusive – ironic as it is now one of the planet’s most widely played sport – and then in modern times because an Olympic event, no matter how prestigious, has stood little chance of competing with the four Grand Slam events and especially the towering giant of the game that is Wimbledon. Indeed after the Paris Games of 1924 it didn’t even feature as a medal sport again until 1988.

An Olympic championship is meant to be the pinnacle of any sport but in tennis it would need the earth to shift on its axis for an Olympic gold medal to be more treasured and commemorated than an epic Wimbledon title.

But Federer is absolutely right, the 2012 Olympic Tennis tournament will undoubtedly take a massive step up in credibility just by being held at Wimbledon, the cradle of the modern game and a location that automatically ensures tennis excellence. It’s a unique chance for tennis to absolutely cement its place back in the Olympic movement and having achieved that it will be vital for Rio de Janeiro to back up with another superb tournament in 2016.

Countless millions more TV viewers worldwide will automatically watch the five tennis competitions in 2012 – a mixed doubles tournament is being added to the programme – and the Wimbledon crowds will be huge. Henman Hill will be a roaring, seething mass of humanity, especially if Andy Murray can put a gold medal charge together.

One of the great challenges for the Wimbledon groundsmen will be repairing their famous courts in time for the Olympics. The normal All-England fortnight will end on July 8 and the Olympic competition will start on July 28 so there will be just 20 days to get the grass courts up to scratch again. It’s a big “ask” but somehow you know for sure the Wimbledon authorities will find a way of rising to the occasion.

It will be a tournament the likes of which Wimbledon has never seen before. Regulations concerning white kit for the Gentlemen and Ladies will be thrown out of the window and all 172 competitors allowed to wear their national colours. The great showcourts will be bedecked in Olympic logos and those of their elite sponsors. I suspect the atmosphere will be very much “People’s Sunday” with a Davis Cup type intensity.

Bring it on. It won’t be Wimbledon as we know it but for a week or more it will be compelling viewing and great fun, the party atmosphere down at SW19 will match anywhere at the 2012 Olympics as 30,000 fans flock there every day.

Wimbledon is Wimbledon and when the Mens and Women’s Singles champions, in particular, receive their gold medals on Centre Court the images that go flashing around the world are going to be amongst the most iconic of the 2012 Games.

Fazny Zavahir: London 2012 Olympics: ticket sites for the Games vulnerable to cyber attack

The London 2012 Olympic-related websites for ticketing, timing, results and television broadcasting are more vulnerable to cyber-attack than established websites because of their temporary status, it has been claimed.

The London 2012 Olympic-related websites for ticketing, timing, results and television broadcasting are more vulnerable to cyber-attack than established websites because of their temporary status, it has been claimed.

The warning by the International Olympic Committee’s security adviser comes before eight million Olympic Games tickets worth £500 million go on sale to the public next February and March with applicants expected to lodge their ticket preferences online.

Dr Peter Ryan, the former Chief Constable and national director of police training in the United Kingdom who is now the IOC’s security adviser, said that while he was satisfied with the “very good progress to deal with the cyber threats”, some Games sites were still vulnerable to a criminal cyber-attack.

“We can’t afford any attacks on the Olympic network, the timing, the results postings, the television broadcasts, the communications by security forces, Locog’s hand-held communications, the host data of accreditation information and other data transmissions are all extra vulnerable because they are temporary installations and they are not necessary well and adequately firewalled because they are temporary,” he said.

But Ryan said he was comfortable with the robustness of the ticketing computer programmes to weed out potential cyber manipulation to buy concentrated numbers of tickets.

He believed the main ticket issue related to the volume of demand that may initially stretch the system like it did at the Beijing Olympics.

Air Commodore Graham Wright, who is the deputy director of the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance, told a Royal United Services Institute meeting there were seven or eight key cyber risks attached to the Games that have been identified since earlier this year when the government injected £650 million over four years into the cyber protection of national assets.

Wright said assessment of the risk would be led by intelligence gathering.

While some information emanating from China suggested a daily cyber attack of 12 million, he cautioned that only a very small percentage of that number may have been malicious attacks.

He said:”the Olympic Games core management system, border control from the data accreditation system are all vulnerable to cyber hits and the Games ticket website, are areas we see as cyber risk, they have been identified as a risk.”

Wright said there was some frustration that the cyber focus was only now being implemented as people had been able to register domain names to establish e-crime and fraudulent ticket sites.

“If we had been thinking about these things a few years ago we could have stopped the purchase of false domain names, but we are now trying to think as far ahead as we can,” he said.

Fazny Zavahir: London, set to host 2012 Olympics, launches bid for Gay Games 2018

LONDON — As the city of London steadily prepares for their upcoming stint as host of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, they have launched yet another bid — this one as host of the 2018 Gay Games.

The announcement was made this week at the 3rd Annual National Sports Summit, in Twickenham, U.K., where the bid committee was also on hand to answer questions.

To garner support for the bidding process, they’ve launched a colorful new website, have already begun the fundraising process and are requesting volunteers.

Odds should be in their favor, since the city has built a brand new state-of-the-art sports complex for 2012, including a newstadium where many of the ceremonies will take place.

According to the 2018 bid committee’s website, the Gay Games “is the largest sporting event in the world – it’s bigger than the Olympics. Its size and popularity is due to the founding principle of ‘inclusion’ – it’s open to everyone. Any adult can participate, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, health status or ability.”

The committee will focus on diversity and inclusion. They’ve chosen an inclusive theme for their goal, as well “The bid will be great for LGBT equality, great for sport and great for London! Be part of it: back the bid – London2018.”

For more information, see their bid website or the Federation of Gay Games website

Fazny Zavahir: London 2012 Olympic Games will hit sponsors’ target by end of 2010

• £700m pre-Games target is one third of entire budget
• TFL and Underground will manage public transport, says Locog

Organisers of the London Olympics have said that they will hit the upper limit of their pre-Games sponsorship target by the end of this year.

Paul Deighton, the chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog), said it would hit the pre-Games target of £700m by the end of 2010, once a handful of deals with suppliers have been tied up.

Estimates of the amount Locog would raise via sponsorship have varied between £600m-700m, roughly a third of the £2bn it needs to stage the Games.

Games organisers will now move into an operational phase, during which they will take control of the venues and start “dressing” the Olympic Park.

Organisers targeted sponsors in 2005, soon after winning the right to stage the Games. Most of the Games’ sponsorship revenue was secured before the global economic crash in 2008.

So-called “tier one” sponsors, such as Lloyds TSB, British Airways and EDF, which are each paying at least £40m, are looking at ways to “activate” their sponsorship, placing emphasis on corporate social responsibility programmes and staff motivation.

Locog’s £2bn budget for the Games will be privately raised – a third will come from domestic sponsors, a third from the International Olympic Committee’s sponsorship programme and a third from ticket sales.

Deighton said he is confident the Games would not be held to ransom by transport unions. Locog and City Hall have billed the 2012 Olympics as “the public transport Games”. Deighton said he was confident that agreements to keep the Tube, trains and buses running smoothly would be honoured.

“I don’t think anybody in this country wants the Games to be anything other than a great success,” he said. “If you talk to the TUC, they’ll tell you they’re right behind us and want this to be a spectacular success and a showcase for everything the country can do. I don’t think anybody thinks it’s in their interests to have a problem.”

Deighton said no formal written agreement had been made with transport unions. “It’s not our job,” he said. “TfL [Transport for London] and the London Underground have all the experience you could possibly wish of managing their own network so we’ll be relying on them to deliver their services.”

Fazny Zavahir: London 2012 Olympics: athletics legacy threatened as mystery bidder joins stadium race

The future of the Olympic Stadium after 2012 has been thrown into new doubt following confirmation that a third mystery bidder made a presentation to take it over on Friday, along with West Ham and a Tottenham Hotspur-AEG consortium

In a further twist, it has also emerged that the NFL have held preliminary talks with one of the interested parties, thought to be American venue operator AEG, about staging American football games in the venue.

A high-placed source has confirmed that the Olympic Park Legacy Company, which is overseeing the tender process for the east London stadium, received three formal presentations on Friday. West Ham, backed by Newham Borough Council, went first, followed by the mystery bidder and then Tottenham-AEG.

It is understood that the new bidder is not a sports club or “owner-occupier” like West Ham and Spurs but a commercial operator who, after taking over the stadium, would then run it as sports and entertainment venue business.

While West Ham and Tottenham-AEG have made no secret of their plans, the third bidder has insisted on its identity being kept secret during the tender process.

One of the possible sporting being explored is American football after a NFL spokesman confirmed that it had been sounded out about the stadium.

“One of the groups with an established interest in the Olympic stadium met us recently and said that they would like to have the NFL as a tenant if they gained control of it,” said the spokesman. “We noted their interest but it’s far too early to say what the outcome will be.”

A tie-up with the NFL could involve one or two regular season games, as now takes place at Wembley, or as many as eight matches if a London-based American football franchise was created.

The revelation of a third bidder poses a threat to the ambitions of West Ham and Tottenham but also raises doubts about an enduring athletics legacy for the stadium – one of the key promises made by Sebastian Coe to the International Olympic Committee during the 2012 bidding phase.

As a condition of bidding, all prospective tenants have been required to retain an “athletics legacy” in the plans, but it has not been specified what form that legacy should take.

It could be taken to mean a limited legacy would be acceptable, such as a small-scale track outside the main stadium along the lines of the City of Manchester Stadium, which hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Fazny Zavahir: London 2012 Olympic games can restore winning feeling to fragile UK economy

As business leaders gathered for an update on the 2012 Olympics, Business Minister Mark Prisk encouraged small and medium businesses to make the most of opportunities.

 

Influential business leaders in Britain gathered for an update on the Olympic 2012 project. Photo: GEOFF PUGH

“They are a global shop window, which we can use to showcase the very best that this country has to offer.”

That was the message about the 2012 Olympics from Mark Prisk, the Business Minister, this week as he spoke at a summit organised by the Government to promote the opportunities available to businesses from the Games.

The Olympic Sponsors’ Summit is one of a handful of initiatives the Government and Olympic authorities are now cranking up behind the scenes as it strives to help the Games boost the UK economy. On Thursday, some of the most influential business leaders in Britain also gathered for an update on the Olympic 2012 project.

The Games potentially offer the UK and its economy a good news story at a time when consumer confidence is taking a battering from public spending cuts. Yesterday, for example, property agent Savills forecast that prices in the UK’s prime housing market will surge in 2012 as the Olympics boost sentiment and attract new international buyers to the country. In Central London, Savills said prime prices could rise by 10pc in 2012, compared to a 1pc fall in 2011.

However, the need for Government encouragement has been highlight after a report by Deloitte found Britain could miss out on the full economic benefits of hosting the 2012 Olympics because businesses are not prepared for the Games and have mixed views about its potential impact.

“The London 2012 Olympic Games are an unrivalled opportunity for our country and our businesses to sell themselves right around the globe,” Mr Prisk urged the 200 small, medium and large business leaders present at the conference on Tuesday. “They are a global shop window, which we can use to showcase the very best that this country has to offer.”

To support business, UK Trade and Investment has created a programme called Host 2 Host which is using its overseas relationships to help UK companies win work on future major sporting events, such as the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, which are expected to be worth up to $60bn (£37bn) in new business.

However, Mr Prisk said Government support was “only one part of the picture”, adding: “Business networks, mentoring schemes are excellent ways of tapping into the vast reservoir of knowledge and expertise that exists among fellow business men and women.”

Therefore, also addressing the conference were representatives from Lloyds and BT, while Gerry Walsh, the procurement director for Locog, revealed that around £250m of contracts are still to be offered by the organising committee. These include bus services, press centre furniture, blinds and curtains for the Olympic village, the horses for the modern pentathlon, whistles and high security fencing.

With collaboration and communication being encouraged, board members from the leading 2012 sponsors – including Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways, and Peter Ayliffe, chief executive of Visa Europe – gathered yesterday for the annual Chairman’s Club meeting. Held in the boardroom at the Aquatics Centre development site, Lord Coe, Paul Deighton, chief executive of Locog, and Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, briefed the business leaders on the progress of construction and sought information on their own Olympic community initiatives.

At the meeting, Locog and the ODA are understood to have told businesses that the velodrome is around six months ahead of schedule in construction after giving a tour of the site.

Heather Hancock, the London 2012 partner at Deloitte, who was present at the meeting, said: “This has never happened with the Olympics before. It is a way for business leaders who are investing hundreds of millions of pounds of their company’s money to see progress. It provided confidence to businesses about the delivery of the Games.”

The potential results of business and Government collaboration were in evident yesterday as the Prime Minister, visiting the Olympic site in Stratford for the first time, unveiled plans to create a new “Silicon Valley” in East London, centred around the Olympic Park.

Intel will establish a new research lab, Cisco, an Olympic sponsor, is investing in an innovation centre, and the Olympic Park Legacy Company hopes to convert the international broadcast centre and main press centre into office space for technology businesses after the Games.

“Our ambition is to bring together the creativity and energy of Shoreditch and the incredible possibilities of the Olympic Park to help make East London one of the world’s great technology centres,” Mr Cameron said. The response from businesses to the plans have been “overwhelming”, he added.

The CBI called the plan “exciting”. John Cridland, deputy director-general, added: “We need growth to generate jobs and wealth in the future. This exciting plan for East London is the first part of a broader strategy for growth that the Prime Minister announced at the CBI’s conference.”

Fazny Zavahir: London 2012 “buzz” boosting tourism

November 6 – The buzz surrounding the London 2012 Olympics is putting Britain back on the map of “must visit and keep visiting” destinations, it has been claimed.

That is the view of most UK tour operators who are more optimistic about the future than they have been for a long time, according to UKinbound, which represents the interests of tourism businesses.

But the future is not without serious challenges, it warned.

Potential barriers to growth include the rise in aviation taxation – which could seriously hinder the UK’s competitiveness – as well as uncertainties surrounding the Government’s forthcoming tourism strategy.

UKinbound is also working in partnership with a number of organisations – including VisitBritain, Visit London and ETOA – to counter misconceptions that Britain – and particularly London – might be too busy or expensive to visit in 2012.

“There has been much scaremongering about the Olympic effect,” said Mary Rance, UKinbound chief executive.

“But the UK is completely different from previous host countries, both in terms of our ease of access and our intrinsic strengths, while the infrastructure improvements generated by the 2012 Games will make us even more attractive in the long term.

“We have more than enough capacity here and we need to reassure potential visitors that they can enjoy this fantastic, dynamic destination just as much in 2012, if not even more so.”

Early next year UKinbound will convene a forum of some of the UK’s leading hoteliers and tour operators to drive the message home and agree a plan of action that will secure future business.

Fazny Zavahir: Russians Spared From Suspensions

The International Ski Federation lifted a threat to suspend Russian skiers from competition after national officials met demands to improve their antidoping program. The federation warned Russia in June that its skiers could be barred from the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. Russian officials then fired several cross-country skiing coaches and support staff members who worked with skiers caught using the banned blood-booster EPO. Italy’s Giovanni Morzenti has been suspended from the International Ski Federation’s ruling council after being convicted of graft. Morzenti himself suggested the suspension and has said he was appealing the verdict.

Fazny Zavahir: Olympics help put Canada atop list of the world’s most respected countries

Bolstered by the success of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Canada is currently atop the listing of most respected countries in the world, according to an international tourism brand listing.

Canada dethroned the United States as the most respected brand in the ranking from New York-based FutureBrand and has continued to rise in the ranks since 2006, when it was slotted in the 12th position.

In 2007, it jumped to sixth place, while it stalled in second place the last two years.

Michele McKenzie, president and CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), is scheduled to be in London on Thursday at the World Travel Market showcase for an awards ceremony to mark Canada’s achievement.

“Several years ago, CTC set out to refresh Canada’s tourism brand in anticipation of being on the world stage in 2010,” McKenzie said in a news release. “We believed that — with the right strategy — a legacy of the Games could be more interest in Canada as a travel destination, and ultimately [lead to] more visitors.”

Fazny Zavahir: It’s official: After CWG mess, India not to bid for 2019 Asiad

The sports ministry has turned down the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) proposal to bid for the 2019 Asian Games. It has held the IOA responsible for forcing their hands, saying the National Olympic Committee (NOC) “did not provide adequate details (on the bidding process and logistics).

Therefore, the IOA’s proposal does not merit consideration”.

Document with HT show the ministry approached the IOA bosses no less that half-a-dozen times, seeking clarity on the bid, but in vain.

Finally, the ministry wrote to IOA president, Suresh Kalmadi, on November 3 saying, “A decision to bid for mega sporting events like the Asian Games need to be based on careful evaluation of the feasibility in terms of location, financial commitments, opportunity costs, administrative arrangements and other logistical and national considerations. The decision to host the Games has to be taken after extensive inter-ministerial consultations, for which the IOA has not provided adequate details.”

Another ministry letter castigating the IOA for the bidding muddle, issued on the same day states, “None of the queries raised in the ministry’s previous letters have been addressed. In the absence of requisite details, the ministry would not be in a position to undertake inter-ministerial consultations and place the matter before competent authority.”

Sources in the ministry said the charges of massive corruption and financial mismanagement in the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC), headed by Kalmadi, had forced the government to seek a complete blueprint of the bidding process from the IOA. “The initial bid for the Commonwealth Games was in the range of some Rs 1,000 crores, while the actual budget came to nearly Rs 30,000 crore. So, we needed everything in black and white,” said the source.

Letters show the ministry had, time and again, sought clarification from the IOA, and on July 8, 2010, a letter addressed to IOA secretary-general, Randhir Singh, said, “The AGM of the IOA was held on December 12, 2009. Given the enormity of the factors involved, it is not understood why it took the IOA nearly four months to inform the ministry of their decision to bid for the Games. The first communication received from the IOA was in the form of an abrupt email dated 28-4-2010 attaching a draft letter of guarantee to be issued by the Host City Government. Despite six reminders seeking specific details on various issues, the IOA has failed to submit the required information.

The department had specifically sought justification on the choice of Delhi for the 2019 Games bid, especially in the light of Delhi having lost out to Doha (2006 Games) and Incheon (South Korea, 2014). “The requirement of sports infrastructure, including games village and city infrastructure as well as source of funding has also not been furnished,” the July 8 letter states.

“It is pertinent to mention that the IOA had informed the ministry that it would like to desist from receiving any further financial assistance from the government from 2010-11 onwards. Hence, the IOA needs to clearly state whether the present proposal for bidding for 2019 is at ‘no cost to government’.”

Repeated attempts to contact Kalmadi failed.