GAMES

"Dad, where were you when Jess Ennis won gold at London 2012?"

"I remember it like it was yesterday, son. I was in the queue at the butchers, checking Facebook on my phone, and there it was… history in the making."

It may not be most people's perfect idea of sporting theatre - but when fans look back on the coming weeks, one thing many will remember is how London 2012 was the first 'social media' games.

Just look at the numbers. Four years ago, during the Beijing Games, there were just 100 million people on Facebook. Now, the network has rocketed past 900 million.

On Twitter, a similar story - six million users were on the service in 2008. Now, over 600 million have signed up.

Among them, many brilliant athletes, including some sporting veterans.

"Dad, where were you when Jess Ennis won gold at London 2012?"

"I remember it like it was yesterday, son. I was in the queue at the butchers, checking Facebook on my phone, and there it was… history in the making."

It may not be most people's perfect idea of sporting theatre - but when fans look back on the coming weeks, one thing many will remember is how London 2012 was the first 'social media' games.

Just look at the numbers. Four years ago, during the Beijing Games, there were just 100 million people on Facebook. Now, the network has rocketed past 900 million.

On Twitter, a similar story - six million users were on the service in 2008. Now, over 600 million have signed up.

Among them, many brilliant athletes, including some sporting veterans.

"I've been on it for just a couple of weeks now," said Sir Clive Woodward, director of sport for TeamGB, about his new Twitter account.

"I use it to publicise things - it gets out immediately, you don't have to wait until tomorrow's newspapers."

At the last count, according to the IOC, there were 2,014 verified Olympians, both past and present, using social networks - all poised to offer their views and reactions.

Sporting heroes

So where will they all be?

On Facebook, a specially created Olympics portal has been launched. This includes timeline profiles of some of the biggest stars. You can, for example, follow diver Tom Daley's life and career from the present day back to his birth.

"The investment of communicating their story stays with them forever," said Joanna Shields, Facebook's boss for Europe.

On Twitter, official accounts for London 2012, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), individual sports and athletes will keep supporters up to date.

"Never before have fans had such direct access to their sporting heroes," said Lewis Wiltshire, head of sport for Twitter UK.

"Athletes on Twitter answer questions, respond to 'good luck' wishes, talk to fellow stars, and share behind-the-scenes perspectives that people otherwise wouldn't have access to."

The most comprehensive effort comes via the IOC itself in the form of its Olympic Athletes' Hub.

It offers a searchable directory of every verified Olympian on social media. Profile pages collate their activity across various networks, meaning every update - be it on Facebook, Twitter, or, soon, Google Plus - can be tracked in one place.

When fans interact with sports stars through the site they can receive bonus content, such as an instructional rowing video from Matthew Pinsent.

The IOC is also active on Instagram, Foursquare and Tumblr.

Out of line

But allowing athletes to express themselves to such a large audience may not always be a good thing.

"It's not a perfect world," admits Sir Clive.

"TeamGB is over a thousand people. It's not only athletes, you've got coaches and support staff. The chances of somebody saying something that's a bit out of line is probably pretty high.

"But we're trying our best to educate. That's all you can do - you can either shut the door and pretend it's not there and keep your fingers crossed, or you can really go down the education route."

TeamGB has produced an instructional video for athletes - fronted by Dame Kelly Holmes - warning about the risks "loose" tweeting could have on their reputations.

"One of my favourite sayings when speaking to athletes is 'how do you want to be remembered?'" Sir Clive added.

"They're role models 24-7, and they're role models when they're on Twitter."

Athletes will also need to be mindful of strict guidelines from the IOC about what they can and can't post - particularly when it comes to videos and images from within Olympic venues.

Raw emotion

Momentary lapses in common sense aside, social media is set to allow an unprecedented glimpse into the highs and lows of being Olympian.

One athlete who has charted a full range of emotions on the service is British sprinter Jeanette Kwakye. Her Olympic dream was shattered by an Achilles injury. It was a personal journey shared by her many Twitter followers.

"My timeline was full of my teammates who had made the team," she remembered.

"I put a statement out there saying 'this is exactly how I feel'. It was very raw, it was very up to the minute, it just gave people an insight to see there were two sides of the story.

With the opening ceremony just over a week away, Ms Kwakye said she would use social networks to get behind the athletes - and she urged other TeamGB fans to do the same.

"Although some athletes will opt not to tweet during the games, I'm sure a lot of them will be reading tweets that come their way. So it will be so nice to get a hashtag culture of support."

At Facebook, a different, altogether cheekier hope - the possibility that athletes will turn to the network to get to know each other and even end up changing their relationship status.

"That would certainly make it really interesting!" Facebook's Ms Shields said.

"Wouldn't that be cool? I don't know... I think their coaches would probably say 'behave yourself'."

By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

The BBC has won the rights to broadcast the Olympic Games up to the 2020 Olympics.

The new BBC deal – covering television, radio and digital rights for Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018 as well as the yet-to-be-decided host of the 2020 Games – will continue an Olympic broadcast arrangement that has been unbroken since Rome 1960.

But the BBC had to fend off rivals who had been in serious discussions with the International Olympic Committee to test the UK Government's protected list of sporting events, which includes all of the Olympic Games.

It is understood Sky had considered buying all of the rights and then selling off a free-to-air component to the BBC, or alternatively setting up a similar channel themselves, to specifically distribute a small amount of the 5,500 hours of Olympic coverage to circumvent the Government's rules.

However the IOC has been swayed by the BBC's long-standing commitment to the Games, its support of the sports outside Olympic periods, and its extensive free of charge penetration in to the UK audience.

The BBC will broadcast the London Olympics across 24 platforms – television and internet as well as radio.

Last month the IOC President Jacques Rogge told Telegraph Sport: “What we look for is the guarantee of the coverage and the quality.”

The BBC is understood to have paid much more than the £60 million it paid for the London Olympic rights, but compared to other rights fees the IOC has extracted around the world, the fee is considered relatively light, by sources familiar with the negotiations.

The BBC deal is the last major broadcast market the IOC had to complete and comes just weeks after the Premier League rights for the next three years were sold to Sky and BT for a record £3.2 billion.

The IOC has previously completed 2014-16 Olympic deals with France for £80 million, Germany for £120 million, Spain for £66 million and Italy for £141 million.

It has raised £2.32 billion across the globe for the next Olympic period, already up on the total raised for the London Games of £2.515 billion.

Mark Thompson, BBC director general, said: "I'm delighted that the Olympic Games will continue to be broadcast exclusively on the BBC into the 2020s. It's terrific news in the days before BBC Sport begins to cover the London 2012 Games and a tribute to the enduring partnership between the BBC and the Olympic movement."

Dominic Coles, chief operating officer 2012 Olympics, who negotiated the deal, said: "It's vital that big national and international events like the Olympic Games remain free-to-air where they can be watched by the greatest number of people.

“We're delighted to continue our long-standing partnership with the Olympics and the IOC, adding to BBC Sport's outstanding rights portfolio and firmly establishing the BBC as the home of major sporting events that unite the nation and this deal demonstrates that BBC Sport remains a force in sports broadcasting.”

By Jacquelin Magnay, Olympics Editor

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

A London-based consultancy says the Olympics is now the world's second-most valuable brand.

In a study that does much to explain why multinationals vie to sponsor London 2012 and other events under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Brand Finance Plc values the Olympic brand – at £30.8 billion ($48.1 billion/€39.2 billion) – second only to Apple, the United States technology company guided for so long by the late Steve Jobs.

Apple's lead is a commanding one, with its brand valued at £44.6 billion ($69.7 billion/€56.7 billion).

This, in turn, may help to explain why Apple is not an Olympic sponsor; it simply does not need to be.

Nonetheless, Brand Finance says the Olympic brand has enjoyed an 87 per cent increase in value since the Beijing Games four years ago.

"There is no doubt that the Olympics 'Brand' is a formidable revenue generator and has huge value," said David Haigh, Brand Finance's chief executive.

Three IOC sponsors – Samsung, GE and Coca-Cola – are reckoned to feature in the top 10 global brands – with each valued at between $30 billion (£19 billion/€24 billion) and $40 billion (£26 billion/€33 billion).

McDonald's weighs in at $22.2 billion (£14.2 billion/€18.1 billion), with the brands of other IOC sponsors valued at below $10 billion (£6 billion/€8 billion).

Household products group Procter & Gamble, perhaps surprisingly, is rated the least valuable brand among the IOC's so-called TOP sponsors, at $1.42 billion (£909 million/€1.16 billion).

The cumulative value of individual P&G product brands, however, is far more substantial.

For example, Olay is rated the world's most valuable beauty brand at $11.8 billion (£7.6 billion/€9.6 billion).

With P&G now seemingly intent on using its own brand more prominently, it seems likely that it will experience what one specialist described as a "significant increase" in brand value next year.

-David Owen

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

World record holder Usain Bolt arrived at the Jamaican Olympic team's Birmingham training base on Tuesday for his final Games preparations.

The triple Olympic gold medallist arrived as part of the 50-strong Jamaican squad who will be training at the University of Birmingham during the Olympics. The five-time world champion stopped to meet with fans who asked for autographs and photos as he headed to the University’s Monroe Sports Centre.

Gary Peal, Training Camp Coordinator on behalf of Birmingham City Council, said: "I can confirm that we've got about 90 per cent of the team safely accredited and relaxing into their environment for the next 10 days."

The team have chosen a secluded approach to their Games preparations and will not allow the public to watch them train apart from a selected group of schoolchildren and members of athletics clubs who have been invited to a session on July 25.

The university has had to deal with a variety of requests from the Jamaican team such as providing a Jamaican menu and supplying supersized beds for 6ft 5 ins Bolt and his other tall team-mates.

Zena Wooldridge, director of sport at the university, said: “It’s tremendously exciting news that the world’s fastest man will prepare for the Olympics in Birmingham.

“It confirms Birmingham’s status as a great sporting city, and the university’s desire to support that.

“Whilst the university has produced several home-grown Olympic athletes in recent years, it’s a thrill to have a team with the global pedigree of Jamaica on campus.”

As Bolt was settling into life in Birmingham his training partner Yohan Blake was declaring his dominance on the track in Italy.

Twenty-one-year-old Blake, who took advantage of Bolt’s false start elimination at the World Championships last year to take the crown, stormed to victory in 9.85 seconds in Lucerne.

The rivalry between the Jamaicans was increased last month when Blake beat Bolt in both the 100m and 200m at their national trials. Following his defeat at the trials Bolt also withdrew from the Diamond League meet in Monaco with an injury concern which raised doubts as to whether he was going to be able to repeat his 2008 Olympic success.

Bolt now insists he is fit and ready to defend his titles and despite a couple of slower runs he still has three of the five fastest 100m times in the world this year.

By Sophia Heath

www.telegraph.co.uk

Lights, camera, action ... Cut!

Not the words director Danny Boyle was hoping to shout just days before the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

But the Oscar-winning director of "Slumdog Millionaire" has been forced to trim parts of the ceremony - including removal of a stunt bike sequence - to make sure the show finishes on time and spectators can get home before public transportation shuts down.

London organizers said Boyle was "tightening" the ceremony by up to 30 minutes to ensure the show, scheduled for three hours, concludes between midnight and 12:30 a.m.

"This is like any other piece of film you would make, things end up on the cutting room floor," London organizing committee spokeswoman Jackie Brock-Doyle said.

The ceremony, with a cast and crew of 10,000, is set for July 27 in the 80,000-capacity stadium in east London and be watched by a global television audience expected at 1 billion.

Brock-Doyle said a 3-4 minute sequence featuring stunt bikes has been deleted from the show but the riders will be paid and credited anyway.

Boyle is making other changes, too, to keep within the time frame.

"It has been an evolution," she said. "It was longer 10 days ago than it was a week ago and was longer a week ago than it is now. It is a matter of tightening. It's not cutting big chunks."

Reports in British newspapers said Boyle was angry at having to make the cuts, but Brock-Doyle said he was used to making films or shows fit a time schedule.

"He's an award-winning filmmaker," she said. "Things end up on the cutting-room floor. I think he understands that."

Boyle's ceremony, called "Isles of Wonder," is inspired by William Shakespeare's "The Tempest." He has revealed that the opening sequence will feature an idyllic British countryside setting complete with live farm animals, including 70 sheep, 12 horses, 10 chickens and nine geese. Former Beatle Paul McCartney has said he will perform the closing act.

The International Olympic Committee has pressed London organizers to make sure the show - which starts at 9 p.m. - doesn't overrun so that athletes can get to bed at a reasonable hour. Many of the athletes will be able to walk back to their housing, located adjacent to the Olympic Park, after the ceremony.

"We've always said it's a three-hour show, but it could end at 12:30," Brock-Doyle said.

Organisers are under pressure to make sure spectators can get home on public transportation after the ceremony. The Underground and buses will run until 2:30 a.m. during the games - an hour later than usual.

Brock-Doyle denied the ceremony cuts were prompted by the failure of private security firm G4S to provide the required number of security personnel for the Olympics, a blunder which forced the British government to call up 3,500 extra troops.

"This has absolutely nothing to do with security," Brock-Doyle said.

The longest part of the ceremony involves the march of athletes into the stadium. Several thousand athletes from 204 national Olympic committees will be taking part.

"The bit no one ever knows is really how long the athletes parade will be," Brock-Doyle said. "No one actually knows until the day how many athletes are going to come out. We're using all the tricks of the trade to get people to move fast."

The weather could also be a factor.

"If it's pouring with rain, some athletes won't turn up," she said.

- AP

Source: www.nzherald.co.nz