Posted July 26, 201212 yr London 2012: Olympic leaders live in different world Toronto Star http://www.thestar.com/sports/london2012/a...ahtlvA.facebook LONDON—The International Olympic Committee includes, among its active members, 11 princes and princesses, two sheiks and one raja. So much for the meritocracy of sports, as exemplified by the Olympic Games. Two new VPs will be elected into the inner cadre of VIPs during the IOC’s 128th Session, now being held here. Top candidates are a British Sir and the woman who was Morocco’s first Olympic champion, 1984 gold medallist in the 400-metre hurdles. At least she’s dripped perspiration in public. Few of the others have ever broken a sweat over an honest day’s work. Indeed, the IOC is ridiculously a sinecure for royal progeny who don’t have proper jobs. That might get in the way of their swanking ’round the world. They are monumentally privileged and refer to themselves, by Charter, as “Supreme Authority’’ of all things Olympian, rather like the Vatican’s Curia, a conclave of pope-makers. Their pontiff is Jacques Rogge: count, knight of the realm and officer of the Legion d’honneur. He took tea and crumpets with the Queen upon his arrival in London last Friday. I doubt she kissed his ring. Everybody else kisses his arse. Really, Rogge is even beginning to physically resemble the autocrat he replaced, Juan Antonio Samaranch. (Samaranch Jr. is an IOC member.) Whilst at home, the IOC resides in a grand chalet in Lausanne, Switzerland, a handy address for hiding lucre. Ironically, corruption was on the agenda for the London session — allegations of multimillions disappearing into the pockets of a prominent former member. A report released by Swiss prosecutors last week found Joao Havelange, one-time president of FIFA, took bribes in the ’90s linked to the World Cup. Havelange, 94, resigned from the Lords of the Rings last December, just before an IOC ethics committee — now there’s an oxymoron — was due to hold a hearing into the matter. Rogge has ruled out any sanctions against the nonagenarian because Havelange is no longer part of the “Olympic Family.’’ But there’s no shortage of alleged fiscal feloniousness for the IOC to consider before Friday night’s opening ceremonies. A separate investigation resulted in claims that officials and agents from 27 national Olympic committees breached rules by scalping tickets for London 2012, in some cases purportedly offering ducats for 10 times their face value. Thousands of tickets for Olympic events at every Games are set aside for IOC members, yet those VIP-seating sections are routinely empty during competition, like the poltroons have something better to do — attend soirees, collect sponsor swag, hit the local hotspots in their chauffeur-driven BMWs. Traffic congestion is pas de probleme. Their vehicles, surrounded by motorcycle cop outriders, use the designated Olympic traffic lanes, speeding blithely past gridlock. In London, the Olympic satraps are dosing down in the five-star Hilton in the heart of Mayfair, dubbed Fortress Hilton. The entire 453-room hotel, plus 56 suites, has been block-booked for the IOC. It resembles the Green Zone in Baghdad, bristling with security and barricades. No mere mook can even enter the lobby unless in possession of an IOC invitation and pre-vetted. Seriously, if terrorism is the fear, what self-respecting bomber would bother to blow up an IOC mob? Luxuriously ensconced in their Fortress, protected from rubbing shoulders with the great unwashed, delegates can, say, enjoy a massage at the Purity Spa, sip thousand-buck-a-bottle wine, or savor the Michelin-starred menu in Galvin at Windows on the 28th floor, with its panoramic views of the city. They needn’t ever open their wallets. Like the rooms, all expenses are covered by corporate sponsors. Little wonder the IOC — which rakes in 10 per cent of Olympic revenues — has managed to sock away heaps o’ do-re-mi, $3.9 billion in just the last four years. The actual IOC session is being held in the nearby five-star Grosvenor House Hotel, which is even more posh but accessible to credentialed journalists for the evening press conferences. It was at this press palaver the other night that IOC PR guru Mark Adams provided what has been the most priceless quote of the Olympics thus far. Adams was attempting to “walk balk’’ a hilarious observation made by Rogge during a radio interview earlier in the week. Rogge had justified the cost of Occupy IOC at the Hilton: “I’m sorry but in a 3-star hotel, you will not find the facilities that are in this hotel — conference room, simultaneous translation — this is something only more upscale hotels have.’’ The one-time Olympic yachtsman and now non-practising orthopedic surgeon — who pointed out he will spend some time living at the Athletes Village, slumming — went double-dose provocatively further, assuming the virtues of the proletariat by describing himself as a “working class person who lives in the real world.’’ That sparked hoots and howls of derision from reporters — 25,000 of us here on the company dime. Back-spinning furiously, Adams explained: “His English is good but he didn’t mean working class as in hammer and sickle. He just meant he works very hard.’’ Give that man a medal. Fat cats and porkers, they are. With a meow-meow here and an oink-oink there . . . (indeed) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing more for me to add there, the correspondant sums it up perfectly..... Now, you're gonna love this one....... South Korean flag flies above North Korean football team at London Olympics http://www.news.com.au/south-korean-flag-f...x-1226435296877 GREAT Britain is known as the home of football so it should have been the last place on earth where a gaffe disgraced an Olympic Games. Yet a diplomatic blunder - in which a North Korea player was introduced on the giant screen accompanied by a picture of the South Korean flag - sent the London Games into damage control just 48 hours before the official Opening Ceremony. The flag faux pas occurred as North Korea prepared to play Colombia at Glasgow's Hampden Park and it prompted the team to refuse to take the field, delaying the start of the game by more than an hour. With FIFA introducing pre-match procedures to avoid match day disasters 24 hours before kick off, its appointed technical committee in Glasgow seemingly put its trust in Hampden Park's venue manager, Andy Mitchell. Ironically Mitchell - a former Scottish Football Association communications director – told The Scotsman on Wednesday "the fans will see something different" before yesterday's embarrassing flag incident. "There will be very much a sense of 'this is the Olympics' with the whole look of the stadium and the decoration all different," he added. A FIFA source last night confirmed big screen graphics and stadium public address systems are in the hands of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) during the Olympic football tournament. He said LOCOG and stadium management should have done its homework after the mistake only heightened the tensions between the feuding Korean nations. The blunder managed to upstage the match itself. The usually pedantic FIFA pre-match day meeting, which is held with team officials, match officials, stadium management officials, the host broadcaster, security, police and LOCOG officials has an intricate checklist, which must be met before games are allowed to go ahead. Items such as shirts, shorts, socks, balls, stadium advertising and stringent FIFA and LOCOG protocols are all discussed during this mandatory meeting. But the rage of Korea's DPR squad was evident when the women's side marched off the park in protest. LOCOG was quick to issue an apology while Korea DPR was in the change rooms contemplating a boycott but FIFA's media channel remained silent. To compound the incident, the LOCOG apology instigated another request for forgiveness from the organisation which named Korea DPR as North Korea in the original statement. "Today, ahead of the women's football match at Hampden Park, the South Korean flag was shown on a big screen video package instead of the North Korean flag. Clearly that is a mistake," LOCOG organisers said in the statement. "We will apologise to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again." Social media was bombarded with outrage as Korea DPR was the trending topic on Twitter just hours after world anti-doping chief John Fahey attacked FIFA's lack of anti-doping procedures at Asia's women's Olympic Games qualifiers in China. Korea DPR ousted the Matildas and qualified with Japan for London despite suspicion surrounding the side which had five players banned for doping violations at the FIFA women’s World Cup weeks before the Olympic qualifiers. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, seems like the Games themselves are going to reflect the gaffe-prone Mayor of London and the shambles that has affected much of the planning and organisation.... I mean, seriously WTF???? Considering that North and South Korea are still technically AT WAR with each other, this had all the makings of a serious diplomatic incident. The only way it could've been worse would've been to have a German flag flying for the Israeli team, or the Israeli flag flying for the Iranians... Maybe they're saving those clangers for later on.... Not even the scriptwriters of "Twenty Twelve" could've made this one up.... :lol: :lol: This sort of thing does nothing to head off the criticisms LOCOG and Co(e) have been getting for the G4S scandal, SAMs on the roofs of council house blocks, the gross budget overspends, the fact that there's still no exact idea of what the hell is going to happen to the stadium after the games is done and all the other things.. You had Ca-Moron threatening to take the PCS union to court over the strike action the other day, and threatening to come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who sets out to "spoil" the Olympics by protest or civil disobedience.... Well, errrr, seems to me that the Olympics "organisers" dont need any help from any unions or protesters to royally f*** things up if the whole G4S thing and now this Korean gaffe is anything to go by.... Oh, and we still have the coming several weeks of travel chaos to come... Oh, joy....... :rolleyes:
July 26, 201212 yr http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8CgZn7SSp9g/STjHermF-1I/AAAAAAAAAZM/G9kSGOR-hnY/s400/broken%20record.jpg
July 27, 201212 yr http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8CgZn7SSp9g/STjHermF-1I/AAAAAAAAAZM/G9kSGOR-hnY/s400/broken%20record.jpg Brilliant.
July 30, 201212 yr Author Brilliant. Yes, carry on being distracted by the bright shiny object and blind yourselves to the very obvious problems associated with the shiny object.. Bread and Circuses, folks, Bread and Circuses..... I hope you're all enjoying the Corporate Olympigs and are enjoying looking at all the rows of empty seats that you could have been sitting in, but were instead reserved for Corporate hangers on and politicos who couldn't be arsed showing up... Still, I guess they'll draft in the army to fill that hole as well.... Lord Coe is a w*n**r, end of story, and you're a fool to fall for his or LOCOG's or the IOC's bullcrap about this being the "people's games"
July 30, 201212 yr Without the Olympics there wouldn't be any empty seats to be complaining about. Just because the ticket allocation hasn't been ideal doesn't exactly render all the benefits and enjoyment of the Games null and void.
July 30, 201212 yr Author Without the Olympics there wouldn't be any empty seats to be complaining about That's some amazing logic there Tirren... And, if you honestly think that these games benefit any of the ordinary people in the area, I suggest you come and talk to local people whose businesses have been destroyed, tenants who have seen massive hikes in their rents and the council tenants who have been forced to put up with missiles on their roof, not to mention commuters being grossly inconvenienced by the 'Zil' lanes... And, at the weekend we had cyclists being kettles by the Met when they protested about cycle lanes being adversely affected... This was not how things were supposed to go when Livingstone and Blair sold the idea...
July 30, 201212 yr "It's completely wrong to say this is a sponsors issue. Those who have failed to turn up include sports organisations from around the world, the media, and a handful of sponsors." - Mark Adams of the International Olympic Committee Oops.
July 30, 201212 yr Author "It's completely wrong to say this is a sponsors issue. Those who have failed to turn up include sports organisations from around the world, the media, and a handful of sponsors." - Mark Adams of the International Olympic Committee Oops. Big oops.... Especially given that most media outlets are Corporations too.... Lol Still, I'm not surprised the IOC are pathetically trying to put a spin on it.. And, define a "handful" anyway Mr Adams....
July 30, 201212 yr Big oops.... Especially given that most media outlets are Corporations too.... Lol Still, I'm not surprised the IOC are pathetically trying to put a spin on it.. And, define a "handful" anyway Mr Adams.... Did you expect him to say "well, we know that precisely eighteen sponsors haven't filled their seat quota"?
July 30, 201212 yr Author Did you expect him to say "well, we know that precisely eighteen sponsors haven't filled their seat quota"? Well, shouldn't they actually know the precise figures anyway... ? Why are you so keen to uncritically defend these Olympig assholes...? I have to say, your Sig is incredibly ironic... Almost as ironic as Dave Cameron saying "we're all in this together"...
July 30, 201212 yr With the exception of the swimming events - I don't give a crap about the Olympics until the athletics start. As far as I'm concerned only medals won in athletics, swimming, gymnastics and possibly cycling are of any worth (all round). I don't count sports like yachting, horses on tip-toes (otherwise known as equestrianism) and rowing - as unless you're minted - you have no chance to have a go at those sports. I mean - what's the going-price of a yacht these days? As in tennis - as far as the UK is concerned - there is a lot of untapped talent and skill out there that will never get the chance to shine because of money - or rather - lack of it. In fact - with all the money that our own yachty- people, horsey-people and row-yer-boaty-people have at their disposal - then its a bit of a disgrace if they don't come back with ALL the medals in those events. I guess the point I'm making is that the sports in the Olympics are 'elitist' sports and not just for the elite. I think there was a survey of the medal winners in our last Olympics - and over 50% of them were public-school educated (I know the percentage is about right - but the survey may have taken into account several Olympics - not too certain on that - will check). My husband on the other hand loves the ladies beach-volleyball! I wonder why? Kath Edited July 30, 201212 yr by Kath
July 30, 201212 yr So sports aren't real when the people taking home medals come from privilege or when you personally have no chance to partake in them (because I'm sure you spend all your spare time hitting up the tennis courts and the race track right Kath)? What a very bizarre thing to say.
July 30, 201212 yr Author With the exception of the swimming events - I don't give a crap about the Olympics until the athletics start. As far as I'm concerned only medals won in athletics, swimming, gymnastics and possibly cycling are of any worth (all round). I don't count sports like yachting, horses on tip-toes (otherwise known as equestrianism) and rowing - as unless you're minted - you have no chance to have a go at those sports. I mean - what's the going-price of a yacht these days? As in tennis - as far as the UK is concerned - there is a lot of untapped talent and skill out there that will never get the chance to shine because of money - or rather - lack of it. In fact - with all the money that our own yachty- people, horsey-people and row-yer-boaty-people have at their disposal - then its a bit of a disgrace if they don't come back with ALL the medals in those events. I guess the point I'm making is that the sports in the Olympics are 'elitist' sports and not just for the elite. I think there was a survey of the medal winners in our last Olympics - and over 50% of them were public-school educated (I know the percentage is about right - but the survey may have taken into account several Olympics - not too certain on that - will check). My husband on the other hand loves the ladies beach-volleyball! I wonder why? Kath I kind of agree with the general point you're making Kath. But, I'm also objecting to the fact that tickets have been sold for absolutely outrageous prices that the vast majority of Londoners cant afford, and now we're seeing these "reserved" and "expensive" seats left empty.. It's just a ridiculous situation, when you consider the whole exercise is supposedly about creating a "Legacy" for the people of East London and ordinary Brits generally..... Here's an actual quote from Lord Coe-Ca Cola.... "I was at the Beijing games in 2008, and one of the things we took away from that is that full stadia create the best atmosphere.....". :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Yeah, no shit Sherlock...... And here's this rather hilarious article concerning the Olympigs "Brand Police"... (the picture that goes along with this article is priceless...) http://dangerousminds.net/comments/how_to_...cs_brand_police
July 30, 201212 yr Well, shouldn't they actually know the precise figures anyway... ? Why are you so keen to uncritically defend these Olympig assholes...? I have to say, your Sig is incredibly ironic... Almost as ironic as Dave Cameron saying "we're all in this together"... Why are you so desperate to shit on the entire Games just for the sake of scoring a few political points? Of course the empty seats are a joke but I'm sure swimming and rowing had corporates in many of the seats but I doubt any of the competitors noticed, the crowd has virtually dragged some of the Brits through. I do, however, like how you give everyone such charming nicknames. Dare to give anyone on this site one or is that a little too daring for you? With the exception of the swimming events - I don't give a crap about the Olympics until the athletics start. As far as I'm concerned only medals won in athletics, swimming, gymnastics and possibly cycling are of any worth (all round). I don't count sports like yachting, horses on tip-toes (otherwise known as equestrianism) and rowing - as unless you're minted - you have no chance to have a go at those sports. I mean - what's the going-price of a yacht these days? As in tennis - as far as the UK is concerned - there is a lot of untapped talent and skill out there that will never get the chance to shine because of money - or rather - lack of it. Since when was fucking boxing elitist?
July 30, 201212 yr Since when was fucking boxing elitist? There's no need to f***ing swear! I didn't include boxing in my 'worthy' sports merely because I can't f***ing stand the sport. It certainly isn't elitist - boring - but not elitist. Kath
July 30, 201212 yr There's no need to f***ing swear! I didn't include boxing in my 'worthy' sports merely because I can't f***ing stand the sport. It certainly isn't elitist - boring - but not elitist. Kath Sorry, I forgot you were the ultimate tastemaker when it came to worthy Olympic sports. How dare I.
July 30, 201212 yr That's some amazing logic there Tirren... And, if you honestly think that these games benefit any of the ordinary people in the area, I suggest you come and talk to local people whose businesses have been destroyed, tenants who have seen massive hikes in their rents and the council tenants who have been forced to put up with missiles on their roof, not to mention commuters being grossly inconvenienced by the 'Zil' lanes... And, at the weekend we had cyclists being kettles by the Met when they protested about cycle lanes being adversely affected... This was not how things were supposed to go when Livingstone and Blair sold the idea... Well given your implication is that there being empty seats unused by sponsors is another reason we shouldn't have taken on the Games... As it goes, Andrew Gilligan's recent post on the ideal Games is one of the few I've agreed with him on. There are flaws with having the Games, sure. But it doesn't mean I'm completely blinded to their benefits merely because some things have happened which needn't be part and parcel of having the Games.
July 30, 201212 yr Sorry, I forgot you were the ultimate tastemaker when it came to worthy Olympic sports. How dare I. You're forgiven. As well as being a sports expert - I'm also very, very charitable! Kath
July 31, 201212 yr Author Why are you so desperate to shit on the entire Games just for the sake of scoring a few political points? Of course the empty seats are a joke but I'm sure swimming and rowing had corporates in many of the seats but I doubt any of the competitors noticed, the crowd has virtually dragged some of the Brits through. I do, however, like how you give everyone such charming nicknames. Dare to give anyone on this site one or is that a little too daring for you? Since when was fucking boxing elitist? I've not really got anything against anyone on this site, well, Crazy Chris, aside.... I give the nicknames to politicians, corporate types, dignitaries, etc, as appropriate... You notice that I don't criticise any of the athletes, mainly because they've been shit on too with the whole signing of that big contract thing which basically took away their human right to free speech.. Anyway, you can say what you like about me shitting on the games, no one has done more than the IOC, LOCOG, the Corporate "sponsors'' and arseholes like Lord Coe to shit on the whole ideal of the Olympic spirit... If it was just about the sport, then I would have no issues with it, but all the shit that seems to go along with it, is just ridiculous....
July 31, 201212 yr Anyway, you can say what you like about me shitting on the games, no one has done more than the IOC, LOCOG, the Corporate "sponsors'' and arseholes like Lord Coe to shit on the whole ideal of the Olympic spirit... If it was just about the sport, then I would have no issues with it, but all the shit that seems to go along with it, is just ridiculous.... Show me an Olympics in the last several decades which has been 'just about the sport'. I'm surprised you could be so naive as to suggest that given what a cynic you are. Look at the reaction across the world to the opening ceremony - people have been totally uplifted by it. If that's not what the 'Olympic spirit' is about I don't know what is.
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