|
Post by mtnme on Jan 19, 2010 16:03:26 GMT -8
Israel’s Winter Athletes Come to U.S. Seeking Ice and Medals Richard Perry/The New York Times Roman and Alexandra Zaretsky are Israeli ice dancers. There are few places to train in Israel, so they live in New Jersey. By CHARLES McGRATH Published: January 19, 2010 HACKENSACK, N.J. — It almost never snows in Israel, and there is only one regulation ice rink in the entire country, in Metulla, on the Lebanese border, where temperatures regularly reach 100 degrees. During the 2006 war with Hezbollah, the rink had to be closed for security reasons and the roof was damaged from shelling. Even now, the ice is not entirely reliable, and there are not enough hours in the day to accommodate everyone who wants to use it: speedskaters, figure skaters, and hockey nuts who drive three hours from Jerusalem for Thursday night games. So it is no surprise that Israel is hardly a winter sports power. The country has been sending teams to the Winter Olympics only since 1994 and has yet to win a medal. Its best finish was 2002, when an ice-dancing pair, Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski, finished sixth. Eventually, an Israeli winter athlete with international aspirations must move elsewhere — to the mountains somewhere or, if he or she is a skater, to someplace like Bergen County, N.J. Chait began skating at Rockefeller Center. Mikail Renzhin, a downhill skier who has already made the 2010 Israeli team, has been training in the United States for the last couple of years. And unless something unexpected happens at the European Figure Skating Championships, which start Tuesday in Tallinn, Estonia, Roman and Alexandra Zaretsky, a brother-sister ice-dancing pair, should also make the squad. They live in Garfield, N.J., and train at the Ice House, in Hackensack. A third Israeli, Tamar Katz, a figure skater who lives and trains in nearby Rockland County, N.Y., is on the bubble. She has qualified for the Olympics, but the Israeli Olympic Committee is reluctant to send her to Vancouver unless she finishes in the top 10 at Tallinn. The virtual capital of Israeli skating is Paramus, N.J., where Boris Chait lives after emigrating from Russia to Israel and then to this country. Chait, a 59-year-old who used to be a boxer and still looks it, is the president and chairman of the Israel Ice Skating Federation. He is Galit Chait’s father, and she coaches the Zaretskys. Boris Chait is a familiar figure at the Ice House, where for much of December he was anxiously keeping an eye on his daughter, who was then nine months pregnant and a wobbly figure sliding across the ice. “My husband took my skates and hid them,” Galit Chait said. Roman Zaretsky, 27, is four years older than his sister and does most of the talking. He explained that he learned to skate in Minsk, where he was born, and that Sasha, as she is called, picked it up in Metulla, where the family moved in 1990. They were coached by their mother until she had nothing left to teach them. “We needed more,” he said, explaining why they moved to the United States. “More ice, more coaching — more everything.” The Zaretskys were 22nd in the 2006 Olympics but have improved steadily. They were ninth at the 2008 world championships and first in the 2009 World University Games. At the Ice House last month, they tirelessly went through their program over and over, refining details like an arm thrust or a hand position, and tried to keep from getting too excited. “This is the Olympics, it’s the ultimate goal,” Roman Zaretsky said. “Everything is possible. Look at this Australian guy who won the short track in 2002 after everybody else fell down.” “But we don’t want anyone to fall,” his sister interrupted. The Zaretskys have nine people on their support staff, including a choreographer and a Pilates trainer, and paying for them all is a struggle. “Everything is a challenge,” Boris Chait said, explaining that his federation did not get as much funding as it would like from the Israeli government. “No winter in Israel is one problem. Not being a sports country is another. It’s a challenge for funding, a challenge to get people to appreciate what our skaters have accomplished.” As of late December, he explained, he had received only a quarter of the money he had been promised by the Israeli Olympic Committee, and for the time being he would have to make up the shortfall himself. “I have a good signature,” Chait said, smiling. “First I have to convince my wife and then I have to convince my accountant.” Asked how much he contributed annually to Israeli skating, he smiled again and said, “Sometimes if you don’t want to see something, it’s better not to look,” then estimated that he probably donates $150,000 a year. He also pays his own expenses when he travels to Israel every month or so to meet with officials. Go to the Rings Blog » Boris Chait does not see eye to eye with the Israeli Olympic Committee on whether Katz, who is mostly supported by her parents and the skating federation, should go to the Games. “You know what they say,” he said. “In Israel, if three people get together there will be four opinions.” In a phone interview, Efraim Zinger, the secretary general of the Israeli Olympic Committee, explained that his country’s policy was in line with most European countries, which insist that athletes, even if they qualify for the Olympics, must rank in the top third or so of their sport. “We are not blessed with too many outstanding athletes,” he added. Referring to his skaters, Boris Chait said: “I’ve tried and I’m trying to explain that these people are ambassadors. We’ve been to countries where people come up and say: ‘We didn’t know you Israelis knew how to skate. We thought you only knew how to shoot.’ ” And in a phone call from Jerusalem, where he had gone to meet with Zinger, he added: “Israel is not like Germany or the United States, where they can be choosy. They have hundreds of athletes, all capable of winning medals.” Katz, 20, trains at Sport-o-Rama, an old barnlike rink in Monsey, N.Y., where her coach is Peter Burrows, a transplanted Englishman who in the early 1980s had great success with the American skater Elaine Zayak. “It’s possible; she has a chance,” Burrows said of Katz’s chances of finishing in the top 10 at Tallinn. “She’s very powerful — a good jumper, an excellent spinner, with great style.” Her shortcoming, Burrows said, is that she used to jump more from feel than from technique and he had been working to change that. “Under pressure, when you jump by feel, you get too quick,” he said. “It’s a matter of staying in the groove. Every pattern has to be exactly the same.” Katz began skating in Rockville, Md., while her father, an engineer, was working in Washington, and the family moved back to Metulla, just for access to the rink. When she was 15, she moved back to America and lived for a while on her own in New Jersey, where she boarded with a woman who was a Holocaust survivor. Because she was born in Dallas, she has dual citizenship, and she recently called herself a “girl of two worlds.” “I have two homes, two languages,” she said. “I have friends here, friends there. It’s a conflict that can’t be resolved.” But her goal, she added, has always been to be an Israeli Olympian. “That’s the reason I came here in the first place,” Katz said. “It’s the reason I fall down, get up, cry. It’s the most important thing in the world to me right now.” RINGS (blog)Keep up with the latest news as the 2010 Winter Games approach.vancouver2010.blogs.nytimes.com/
|
|
|
Post by mtnme on Jan 19, 2010 16:18:41 GMT -8
Olympic superstitions include lucky undies, socksTuesday, January 19, 2010 5:16:13 PM By megan k. scott, Associated Press Writers By nicholas k. geranios, Associated Press Writers wintergames.ap.org/story.aspx?st=id&id=1357a89d2fa44f3f80e9600bd830c71aThis photo taken Sept. 10, 2009 shows ski cross competitor Casey Puckett posing for a portrait during the USOC Media Summit in Chicago. "If I have a good race, whatever socks I'm wearing, whatever turtleneck I'm wearing, that tends to be the go-to," said ski crosser Casey Puckett. "It generally is the undergarments." "I like to believe in the skill and preparedness," Puckett said. "But at the same time, I do recognize that there is a bit of luck that comes into it." (AP Photo/Skip Stewart)Years of training, special diets and elite coaching may not be enough to win an Olympic medal. That's when athletes turn to special socks, pictures of their kids or fortune cookies. Superstition runs deep in humans, even those jocks seeking to represent the U.S. in the Vancouver Olympics. Many are looking for a slight edge, and sometimes they look in some strange places. "If I have a good race, whatever socks I'm wearing, whatever turtleneck I'm wearing, that tends to be the go-to," said ski crosser Casey Puckett. "It generally is the undergarments." "I like to believe in the skill and preparedness," Puckett said. "But at the same time, I do recognize that there is a bit of luck that comes into it." Sometimes it's bad luck, as Puckett's push to make his fifth Olympics is in jeopardy after a severe shoulder injury in France. Speed skater Chad Hedrick puts his faith in fortune cookies. "Before the 2006 games, a fortune said 'your golden opportunity is coming soon,'" said Hedrick, who went on to win gold, silver and bronze medals in Turin. As a result, he tends to keep the fortunes he likes, with a supply of 25 to 30 on hand. Superstition and sport have been linked forever. You have baseball players who refuse to discuss a no-hitter in progress. Some tennis players refuse to hold three balls in one hand. Golfers believe carrying coins in their pockets is good luck. Gladiators in ancient Rome refused to wear toga No. 13 (OK, that is not true). Skeleton racer Noelle Pikus-Pace keeps a picture of her 2-year-old daughter in her helmet and a tracing in marker of the child's hand prints on her sled. "I always kiss my hand and then slap her hand like I'm giving her five," she said. Skier Michelle Roark wears the same perfume to each race, and makes the scent herself. That was after her sports psychologist suggested she visualize skiing well with all five of your senses before events. She found she could hear, see, taste and feel success, but not smell it. "I had no idea what it smelled like to ski well," she said. Dissatisfied with fragrances she tried, she started her own perfume and cologne manufacturing company called Phinominal which are all-natural. Sports psychologist Jerry May of Meadow Vista, Calif., said superstitions don't really help performance. "There is no evidence that shows that perfume makes you a better skater or skier or curler," May said. Performance coach Jonathan Katz has a more benevolent view. He said superstitions can reduce anxiety and give athletes something they can control. "I don't have a problem with superstitions as long as they don't become too cumbersome to the person," Katz said. Sports psychologist Sam Maniar of Cleveland said competition routines — such as a baseball player swinging the bat the same number of times before stepping into the box — are more valuable than superstitions. Such routines keep them focused on the moment, rather than wandering to the past or future, he said. Superstitions can also be a hindrance, Maniar said. "If your superstition is you only perform well on a sunny day, and it's not a sunny day, that's a problem," he said. "What's the backup plan if there is a hole in their sock." Cross country skier Liz Stephen solves that by rotating a couple pairs of lucky socks, but wears the same gloves for races. She realizes that seems silly. "I think the more superstitious you get, the harder it is to just remember that you are out there to race," she said. For that reason, cross country skier Billy Demong "threw superstition out the window a long time ago." "Rituals always get in the way, whereas routines get you on to the podium," he said. "There are definitely no lucky socks for me." "I think superstitions and lucky charms are for people that don't have confidence," said freestyle skier Jeret "Speedy" Peterson." Peterson knows something about luck. In 2006 he took $550,000 he won during one night at the blackjack table and sank it into real estate. Then the real estate bubble burst and he filed for bankruptcy in 2007. But the 28-year-old has made his third U.S. Olympic freestyle skiing team. ____________________________________________________________________ I have to admit that like Chad, I collect fortune cookie fortunes...but of course, only the ones I like. The best one I've ever gotten however, (apparently coming from the House of Fortune Cookies for Cynics...LOL) was this: "A woman who strives to be equal to a man lacks ambition!"Now all of you go out and rub those lucky rabbits feet (or your good luck charm of choice) for Team USA! And for tons of other interesting Olympic tidbits from Associated Press, go to the following link, click on the News tab and scroll down the menu to the sport of your choice...or other interests as well.wintergames.ap.org/latestnews/all?type=text
|
|
|
Post by mtnme on Mar 28, 2010 15:33:48 GMT -8
So this google alert kinda caught my attention: Vancouver 2010 » White athletes dominate the Olympic Winter Games ...
By admin Columnists and talk-show host denounced the Olympic Winter Games "too white". HBO SPORTS BIG-shot Bryant Gumbel than the whiteGames, a "GOP convention" and spoke ill of the athletes as if they are athletic. One thing is certain: Gumbel ... Which led me to this blog post, that was obviously- and bizzarely translated to this: White athletes dominate the Olympic Winter Games, So What?
Everyone has an opinion for the Winter Olympics. Some people are concerned and some do not care. Some people think the Olympics has its peak years ago and is just another example of "sport-saturation. These comments are all normal and to be expected. However, the reference to race with these games is certainly normal.
Focus on black speed skater Shani Davis is expected, although still a bit 'boring. The media loves him, for a black athlete, who initially focusedsomething. Davis won a few medals and, well, good for him. But it seems that most people are past the point where a modern equivalent of the black athlete Jackie Robinson a major problem. Davis is considered simply as an American and nothing more. However, there are always those who want to continue using race as a battering ram "to beat." Columnists and talk-show host denounced the Olympic Winter Games "too white". HBO SPORTS BIG-shot Bryant Gumbel than the whiteGames, a "GOP convention" and spoke ill of the athletes as if they are athletic. One thing is certain: Gumbel would be no competition.
Make no mistake. They are very athletic people. Things they do very few of us do every race ever. As usual, when an event is full of white faces, it must be something "wrong" and the need to change "too much". This does not apply completely in the NBA or the music industry.
The fact that the games are mostly white we write"So?" This is a true sign of racial progress. Gumbel and people like different hosts will be very quiet when the Olympics come, because the racial composition is to their taste. Call them hypocrites, and perhaps a little 'less would be appropriate.
There's a little secret that people know, but do not say the open: There are many good white athletes in all areas of sport. For them to be dismantled because of jealousy, ignorance or racism is pathetic. If you earnbecause you belong to. All these people who play these games deserve because they are d*mn good. Enough with the race "bean counters".
...which got me scratching my head to 'Things That Make You Go mmmmm?" because the story was so badly translated nor had I heard about the Bryant Gumble incident...which of course now got me doing the google search, which brought me to this: Black Activists Respond to Bryant Gumbel's Racial Denigration of Winter Olympics
Accessibility, Affordability and Motivation are Requirements for Excelling in Sports; Not Skin Color
Members of the black leadership network Project 21 are criticizing cable sports commentator Bryant Gumbel for injecting race and politics into remarks about the Winter Olympics, which are currently being held in Torino, Italy. Project 21 members note that the remarks made by Gumbel, who formerly hosted NBC's "Today" morning program prior to his current program on HBO, demean the accomplishments of the competing athletes and stir racial tensions where none should exist.
In the closing monologue of the February 7 edition of HBO's "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel," Gumbel said about the Winter Olympics: "Count me among those who don't care about them and won't watch them... So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the winter games look like a GOP convention."
Members of Project 21 had this to say about Gumbel's remarks:
"Everyone can understand a person's disdain for a particular sporting event, but for Gumbel to castigate an entire field of athletes who have worked a lifetime in pursuit of a dream - and then injecting race into it - is unforgivable," said Project 21 member Mychal Massie. "HBO, the station that employs Gumbel, features a lot of boxing. Should they be condemned for having too many Mexican boxers or not enough white ones? Should he be condemned for only having one other black on his news team? Following Gumbel's rationale, I would expect the answer to be yes."
"Interest in sporting activities are often dictated by environment. That's why Nordic and European countries have excelled in past Winter Olympics," said Project 21 member Deneen Moore. "It's a simple fact that winter sports are not part of black culture for both geographic and economic reasons. Accessibility, affordability and motivation are key requirements for individuals to excel in sport activities, not the color of one's skin. Mr. Gumbel should be aware of these obvious facts and not try to score cheap racial political points."www.nationalcenter.org/P21PRBryantGumbelOlympics206.htmlFor which I pretty much agree...(I think) ...given the translation issues... Excuse me when I say...well duh! With the exception of Jamaican bobsledders who didn't let a little thing like local climate get in their way, (a small detail... LOL) it's not like there is a lot of snow and ice in countries where people of color are the dominant population. Nor are people apt to take up expensive winter sports if they are struggling in poverty. The Olympics aren't about race anyway, nor should they be. By the above logic, should the Summer Olympics be deemed more 'politically correct'? Shame on Bryan. I don't think of Shani as a black athlete, just an American athlete. The only time race comes into it for me is to greatly respect what he has accomplished as a black man who no doubt had to go up against quite a bit of white boy political BS in 'whities' sport to attain it.
|
|
|
Post by Laura (Lori) on Mar 29, 2010 8:48:02 GMT -8
I remember that comment by Bryant Gumbel... Shani Davis addressed the issue briefly in this video: topics.sacbee.com/Kimberly+Derrick/"I want my triumphs and my success to not only reach black people but everybody that's inspired and motivated by what I've been through and what I've accomplished. So it's really important to not get too caught up in the moment of that - 'cause there's people before me who've embraced that and dealt with that. We're not in the same time and era that we were back in the '60's, the '70's, maybe back in the '50's. You know, Jackie Robinson, people like that have paved the way for a lot of us, but it shouldn't be about that nowadays."Another good article on the subject: Proud to be black — and at the Winter Olympicsby Jerry Brewer / Seattle Times Staff Columnist / Feb 27, 2010 VANCOUVER, B.C. — At Cypress Mountain about two weeks ago, a middle-aged black security guard looked at me and grinned. "That makes three," he said. Fatigued, in a classic Olympic reporter's haze, I gave a dense response. "Three, huh?" I replied, pretending to follow. "Three of us!" he exclaimed. We exploded into synchronized laughter. Same old joke: Black folks care as much about the Winter Olympics as we do tanning beds. Same old reaction: I know, right? After the brief exchange, I walked away with a white colleague and said, "Don't expect to see a fourth, either." Back to work. Back to snow. Back to ambivalence. ... Richard Prince, who writes a column on diversity issues for the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education's Web site, tracked down some telling Nielsen information about African Americans. While these Winter Olympics have dominated American television, they ranked among the top 20 shows that blacks watched only once during the first week of the Games. They lagged behind shows such as "American Idol," "NCIS: Los Angeles" and "Undercover Boss." Many blacks still consider these the White Olympics, even though speedskating gold medalist Shani Davis thrives and the Canadian hockey team relies upon star forward Jarome Iginla, the first black to win the NHL's goal-scoring title. In addition, Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, a skier from Ghana nicknamed the "Snow Leopard," enjoyed his Olympic debut here. And France's Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur, who used an online partners search to find each other, became the first black ice-skating pair. "We want to climb the ladder to show that black skaters can stand on the podium," said Bonheur, after the duo finished 14th. Eight years ago, I realized why the Olympics captivate me. It happened on a bobsled course in Park City, Utah, when Vonetta Flowers, a former track-and-field athlete from Alabama, won a gold medal in an event she barely knew existed as a child. Flowers claimed victory in the two-woman bobsled with driver Jill Bakken and became the first African American to win gold in the Cold Weather Games. She almost caused a flash-food warning with her tears. "I never thought I'd be here," she said that day. It was the enduring memory of the first Olympics that I covered. It reassured me that the Winter Games could be for people like me. This wasn't about overcoming deprivation or racism. It was bigger than that. It was about a woman redefining herself, finding herself, and as a result, African Americans finally joined this multicultural, international event. Olympic firsts inspire me. They're like adding babies to a family. In these Vancouver Games, we watched the first Winter Olympian from Ghana and the first from Peru. We watched the first black ice-skating pair. We watched the first Korean win a figure-skating gold medal, the first U.S. team to win a nordic combined gold and, as narrowly defined as it sounds, the first Canadian to win gold on home soil. It's so profound to see someone we can relate to on this stage. Which is why seeing Flowers eight years ago uplifted me. And why, random jokes aside, it's wonderful that of the three of us you find here on any given day, I'm one of those. ... Naturally, Flowers' triumph in 2002 started speculation that the Winter Olympics would become less of afterthought for many blacks. It hasn't really happened, but there have been some gains since she made history. Most significant is speedskater Davis. He became the first African American to win an individual Winter Olympics gold medal in 2006. He leaves Vancouver with an impressive Olympics resume: two golds, two silvers. He also leaves feeling somewhat more optimistic about how he's portrayed. Davis is a loner, a man who coaches himself and finds his own sponsors, an Olympian soured by past experiences. He made the U.S. Olympic team in 2002 as a short-track competitor, but he endured whispers that he made the team only because buddy Apolo Ohno conspired to fix the Olympic trials that year so Davis could qualify. Four years later, Davis and teammate Chad Hedrick had it out over the team pursuit. Hedrick accused Davis of being unpatriotic for not competing in that relay. Davis kept to himself here, repeated his 2006 triumph in the long-track 1,000 meters and added a silver medal in the 1,500. He gave bland answers to reporters. He refused to allow much insight into his greatness. But now that the competition is over, he has opened up more about being a trailblazer. He's proud of setting a new standard for African Americans, but he doesn't want to be defined by it. "I mean, race is one of those things that you come into the world having," Davis told Michel Martin of the National Public Radio "Tell Me More" show. "And — well, (a friend) told me, he said when people ask him, he says his race is the 1,000 meters. But for me, it's a bit more obvious. My race is, you know, I'm black. And I think it's a tremendous accomplishment, what I was able to do. But it's not like I'm not allowed to go to the library and be educated or like I'm segregated. I mean, I have all the tools that I need to perform and compete." Davis made an interesting point. He chose to focus his athletic gifts on speedskating and hasn't been obstructed. His story isn't about beating oppression. It's about talent and willpower. He gets credit for being the only one, in a sense, but he decided to be the only one. And if other African Americans liked the Winter Olympics more, maybe they could be like him. It took 14 years to get from figure skater Debi Thomas, the first black to win a Winter Games medal in 1988, to Flowers' triumph in 2002. But at least there's been gradual progress. ... I saw my favorite security guard/comedian during my last trek to Cypress Mountain. "I remember you," he said, laughing. "How could I forget?" This time, I was alert and ready to banter. "Still just three of us?" I asked. "No!" he said, shaking his head. "More today. Four or five!" Same old joke. Same old reaction. Then, a new thought: gratitude. "I'm glad you're here," the security guard said. "I'm glad I'm here. It means something, you know." Yes, it does.
|
|
|
Post by mtnme on Mar 29, 2010 9:45:22 GMT -8
Great article. Thanks for posting it. I've really enjoyed Shani's FB posts, and it is so obvious that he is one sweet good natured guy who never deserved all the bad press he's gotten over the years. It sounds like this was a much more pleasant Olympic experience for him, (as they all should have been). And I'm glad.
|
|
Leigul
Member
US SHORT TRACK KICKS ICE!!!
Posts: 0
|
Post by Leigul on Mar 29, 2010 13:07:27 GMT -8
Didn't occur to me, didn't notice and don't care what color/race the Olympians are! Just that they have tried their best, been fair and kick some booty!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2010 9:04:02 GMT -8
Looks like Shaun White's being courted by Hollywood too: From the SkiChannel Shaun White admits he doesn't have what it takes to win "Dancing With The Stars" Our snowboarding pal Pamela Anderson has the guts and the glory to rock out on "Dancing With The Stars". Shaun White, on the other hand, the "best snowboarder in the world", is really nothing but a big chicken. The Olympic gold medalist was asked to compete on the show and follow a strong legacy of Olympians including Apolo Ohno and Evan Lysacek.
"I was approached but I don't know if I was made for it", White confessed. "I mean, I don't stretch enough and the outfits! I'd have to have approval...I've been hit up by a couple of shows, but I don't know what I'm going to do yet, so I don't want to say anything".
Sounds to us like Shaun's nothing more than a big freakin' chicken! Sack up buddy!! If you've got the guts to bust out a Double McTwist 1260 when you don't even have to, then we say slap on the uniform and dance, dance, dance!!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2010 20:06:56 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by mtnme on Jul 28, 2010 8:08:34 GMT -8
Olympic venues on track amid concern from London residentsBy Traci Watson, USA TODAY LONDON — If a polluted wasteland seems like a good place to hold the world's grandest sporting event, then the site chosen for the 2012 Olympic Games was absolutely perfect. The spot designated to become London's Olympic Park was a vast dumping ground laced with radioactive soil and abandoned buildings, all surrounded by poverty-stricken, crime-ridden neighborhoods. Yet two years before the Games begin July 27, 2012, that once-desolate chunk of east London has started a remarkable transformation into a stage for the best athletes on Earth. The frameworks of the Olympic track and field stadium — where the opening and closing ceremonies are planned — aquatics center and a half-dozen other venues are visible on the 618-acre site. The giant electrical pylons that once towered over the landscape have been demolished. Ground water has been cleansed of toxins. What's more, construction is on time and on budget, though at $12.5 billion, that budget is considerable. "It's amazing, it's mind-blowing, how quickly it changed the whole area," says Ibrahim Abdi, who grew up near the site and still lives in the neighborhood. "It's a whole new scene." But just beyond the blue fence that encircles the construction site, the impact is less visible. A key element in London's bid for the Games, awarded in 2005, was the promise to lift the fortunes of the community, one of England's most ravaged enclaves. Though the Games have bestowed tangible benefits on local residents, many worry that the lofty ambitions outlined five years ago will not be fulfilled. "The building effort is racing along," says Geraldine Blake, CEO of Community Links, one of the area's biggest community organizations. "But Olympic authorities have a long way to go to ensure local people can catch up." Says Richard Garlick, editor of Regeneration and Renewal, a magazine for redevelopment experts, "The promise at the start was that (the Olympics) ... would transform the lives of people living there." If it doesn't, "it would be an absolute betrayal." Excitement, skepticism The Olympic authorities could hardly have chosen a more unlikely setting to stage the Games. London's East End has a history of what the British call "deprivation" — ill health, unemployment, low income and the like — dating back more than a century. Today, the five districts, known as boroughs — Hackney, Waltham Forest, Newham, Greenwich and Tower Hamlets — that include Olympic Park and nearby venues account for the "greatest cluster of deprivation in England and Wales," according to a report commissioned by the boroughs. When London made its bid, each claim about the advantages that would be showered on the area's 1.25 million residents was grander than the last. "The most enduring legacy of the Olympics will be the regeneration of an entire community for the direct benefit of everyone who lives there," says London's 2004 bid to host the Games. Backers point to early signs of progress, some well underway and others being planned, in bettering the lives of East Enders: •Infrastructure. Local train lines and stations in East London are being upgraded to accommodate the expected crowds. New sewage tunnels and a new power plant have been installed. •Jobs. Some 6,400 jobs have been created in the construction of Olympic Park other than the Olympic Village, and organizers say 20% have been filled from the five boroughs. •Development. The biggest urban shopping mall in Europe is under construction next to the park. The borough of Tower Hamlets, which encompasses part of Olympic Park, is renovating its main street, part of the marathon route. In the borough of Hackney, which includes part of the park, housing prices have risen more steeply in the last year than in the city as a whole. Locals, however, point out that much of the development predated the Olympics. Plans for the mall and a city-led redevelopment campaign for the East End already were in motion. The neighborhood of Stratford, which borders the southern edge of the park and will be home to the mall, "would've undergone regeneration whether the Olympics was coming in or not," says Andrea Chott of the East London CVS Network, a coalition of non-profit organizations. Residents are excited to be hosting the Games but skeptical that their lives will be improved after the hoopla has died down. Promises of redevelopment are just "politics," scoffs Rom Dillon, a retired bus driver and Hackney resident. Any changes will be "good for big business, no good for the small person." Beyond the Games The current government, which took power in May, has vowed to slash funding for nearly every government agency by an average of 25%. Olympic funding is not exempt. The Olympic Delivery Authority, responsible for building the venues, already has been asked to cut more than $40 million this year from its total budget. The authority says it is still on budget and on track to finish the major sporting venues next summer. "Everything seems to be on time," said four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson, one of a handful of athletes on hand Tuesday as organizers marked the two-year countdown. "The stadium looks great." The ODA's adherence to schedule has won it plaudits from the International Olympic Committee. During a visit this month, the IOC's Denis Oswald praised London's "many successes, including the great advances in construction, in particular at the Olympic Park." The outlook is not as rosy for funding long-term rejuvenation. The head of the legacy efforts for the Games told Parliament this spring that hundreds of millions of extra dollars could be needed to revamp Olympic Park after 2012 as promised. The key promise is for thousands of new homes on the site. Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organizing Committee, which has a $3 billion privately funded budget for staging the Games, said last week that he couldn't speculate on future budgets. "We recognize that we are in a different monetary and fiscal era," he said. Coe was on hand Tuesday, firing the starter's gun as Johnson sprinted down a carpet where the track will be at the stadium. "We wake up trying to figure out how we can deliver this in a more cost-effective way," he said. Though some benefits to east Londoners have been secured, "we've got to recognize (the legacy effort) is going to need continued support," London Mayor Boris Johnson said. "There's a negotiation that must take place." Locals have stoically endured dust, noise and extra traffic during the construction, without any certainty their communities will be reborn as promised. "I think many people are determinedly optimistic — as I am — and hopeful that there will be benefits in the end," says Dave Hill, who lives close to the site and blogs about London events for The Guardian. "There is a sense of excitement and expectation along with the disquiet." Too see photos, go here: www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2010-07-27-London-2012-olympic-venues_N.htm(Also, click the link that says GALLERY to see more photos once you get to the site: London 2012 Olympic venues under construction)
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2011 23:45:19 GMT -8
|
|
therockfairy
Member
I'll wear my cynicism like a tattoo
Posts: 3
|
Post by therockfairy on Feb 2, 2011 15:48:53 GMT -8
...as for the London Logo...what WERE they smoking when they came up with this??? (which might be somewhat amusing until you read about how much they spent to come up with something a Kindergartner would have made if given a pair of dull safety scissors and some construction paper...) *snicker* Well as a Brit, and i can safely say on behalf of my fellow countrymen - the London 2012 logo is horrendous - no-one likes it! It was annihalated by the media when they revealed and most people secretly hoped they would change it, but with all the posters and billboards out now, it seems we are stuck with it! To be honest i dont dislike it as much as i did when it first was revealed! Although on the plus side, the mascots are kinda cute: Wenlock and Mandeville. There's a sweet cartoon for kids on the website telling the story of where the mascots came from and how they were named: sportandsociety.com/files/2010/05/dzn_london2012_mascots_wenlock_mandeville_both_sq-300x300.jpg[/img]
|
|
therockfairy
Member
I'll wear my cynicism like a tattoo
Posts: 3
|
Post by therockfairy on Feb 2, 2011 15:50:30 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by Laura (Lori) on Feb 3, 2011 10:29:56 GMT -8
Like the video - AND the mascots!
|
|
|
Post by dose on Jul 5, 2011 21:53:27 GMT -8
2018 Winter Olympic Bids PK Approximately ten hours later, 2018 Winter Olympic Bids will be declared in Durban. There are three countries bid. They are the Pyeongchang of South Korea , Munich of Germany and Annecy of France. Read a report said that from the current situation, This will be the struggle between Pyeongchang and Munich, South Korea's chances of winning seem even greater. Which country do you think will stand out? Which country do you also support? Let us wait and see! www.gamesbids.com/eng/winter_olympic_bids/index.1.html
|
|
|
Post by Laura (Lori) on Jul 6, 2011 8:09:01 GMT -8
Thanks, Dose!
The announcement was made within the past hour, and the winner is:
|
|