Welcome back!

Hello again!

Apologies to our regular readers but we have been very busy here at Road to 2012. As you will know if you have read the ‘About’ section, we are all students, and the last month has been a hectic one, with exams being taken, and deadlines needing to be met. However that is all out of the way now, which means Road to 2012 can continue to bring you the best Olympic stories. 

Let’s just fill you in on some of the news you may have missed over the last month.

* The IOC has approved a proposal to move boxing to Wembley during the Olympics, saving an estimated £20 million for organisers.

* Record crowds lined the streets for this year’s London Marathon to see Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya come home in a course record of 2 hours 5 minutes. They were also treated to Britain’s Mara Yamauchi (Japanese husband) finishing second in the women’s race.

* Olympic 1500m champion Rashid Ramzi (pictured right), was one of six athletes to test positives for a  new type of blood boosting drug.

* After we discussed it on the Road to 2012 podcast, Tom Daley was offered a scholarship to the exclusive Plymouth College, to avoid the bullying and jibes from his current schoolmates.

* Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt was injured in a car crash, and had to undergo a small operation on his foot. However he recovered enough to win the Manchester Street Race in a record time.

* Former Olympic champion Jason Queally is to switch from able bodied racing to take part in the 2012 Paralympic Games, as a sighter for partially sighted rider Anthony Kappes.

Hope that has brought you up to speed with recent events, and hopefully the next update won’t take quite so long!

Road to 2012 Podcast episode four goes live

After a long easter break, the Road to 2012 podcasts are back with a bang.

Regular panellist Steve Moore is back, this week supported by Chris Evans. Have a listen, and afterwards cast your vote on one of this week’s main topics!

Darius Knight talks exclusively to Road to 2012

British table tennis’ No.2 Darius Knight talks to us about his plans for 2012, how table tennis got him off the streets, and why he has had to be independent since the age of 12.

He also gives his opinion on Robin Van Persie’s table tennis skills, and what got him into the sport in the first place.

Read it exclusively here at Road to 2012.

Darius shows off his racket skills!

IOC live the life of luxury, but give London 10/10

IOC inspectors have declared themselves ‘very pleased’ at the progress made by the London 2012 team.

The inspectors, who are in London to see how the build-up is progressing, awarded London 9.75 out of 10 on their last visit, and this time could be even better.

They were pleased that the city is coping so well in the financial crisis, and said that the city was ahead of previous hosts at a similar stage. On their second of three days in the capital, the inspectors visited the Olympic Stadium, Aquatic Centre and Velodrome, and were said to be pleased with all three.

IOC inspectors were pleased with London's progress

The committee urged LOCOG organisers to focus on ticketing, after empty seats became a common sight during the Beijing Games. However the major concern of the 2012 organisers will almost certainly be to show the visiting inspectors that they on on budget, and more importantly, on schedule.

But inevitably the visit could not pass without some sort of controversy. Liberal Democrat shadow Olympic minister Tom Blake criticised the IOC committee for taking the mickey with their accommodation and travel expenses. He said: “At a time when across the globe both people and governments are having to tighten their belts, there is simply no justification for officials luxuriating in five star hotels or being ferried around in limos.”

Unfortunately, whilst the high profile players in the IOC and LOCOG will all give the rhetoric about not blowing taxpayers money, their actions speak louder than their words.

I seriously doubt whether the IOC would mind bankrupting the country, as long as the Games run on time and they get to watch it from a five star room!

London 2012 building work

These are a few quick snapshots of the building work so far.

For a more detailed look at how the main building work is progressing, and what the structures will be used for after the games, check out the London 2012 Venues page!

Or if you just want to look at some nice pictures, have a look at the Road to 2012 Flickr photostream

Daniel Keatings talks exclusively to Road to 2012

Top British gymnast Daniel Keatings reveals all to Road to 2012 about his success at the European Championships, his gruelling schedule, and where he sees himself in three years time.

The Olympic finalist also reveals what first brought him into gymnastics, the toll training takes on his social life, and his simple attitude to eating healthily.

Read the interview exclusively at Road to 2012.

Tee-off for Olympians in 2016

Golf could be an Olympic sport in 2016

After the Road to 2012 podcast team debated whether or not golf should be an Olympic sport, it seems that the powers at be have finally taken notice.

Way back on March 14th we discussed whether or not golf would work at the Games. Now, just one month later, top pros including Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington have personally written to the American members of the IOC, advocating the sports inclusion in the 2016 Olympics.

Other big golfing names including Colin Montgomerie, Vijay Singh and Sergio Garcia have all written to their respective IOC members to try and get golf back into the Olympic fold.

Golf has only ever made one appearance at the Olympics. That was in 1904, and the US walked away with the team gold medal on that occasion.

However, it faces tough competition from other sports including baseball, rugby sevens and squash, for the IOC’s final vote, which takes place in October.

Golf does have one thing that the other sports cant match though. A whopping 69% positve vote from Road to 2012 readers!

Chinese fireworks to light up London

Beijing may be long finished, but that hasn’t stopped the Chinese wanting to show off their talents in at the 2012 Games.

The Mayor of Liuyang, China’s most famous fireworks city, has said that they are ready to light up the London sky during the Olympics.

Fireworks over the Birds Nest in Beijing

More than 200 new products and 60 of the most up-to-date fireworks technologies are due to be showcased in May at the 9th China International Fireworks Festival in Liuyang City, Hunan Province, said Mayor Liang Zhong.

Liuyang employs 300,000 people to build its fireworks, which makes it the largest manufacturing base for fireworks in the world.

The “City of Fireworks” as it is affectionately termed, was also the main provider for the Beijing Olympics, during which over 30,000 rockets were set off, at a price of nearly £700m.

The head of Panda Fireworks Group has already begun courting LOCOG and Boris Johnson to use Chinese fireworks for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Zhao Weiping said: “We went to London in March, at the invitation of the Mayor [Boris Johnson], to meet officials with the Organizing Committee of the London Games.

“They were very interested in our panda-shaped fireworks.”

Whether or not you agree with China’s huge companies joining the 2012 party, I think we can all agree that seeing a panda, or maybe even a British animal (hedgehog?!) exploding into the night sky, would be something worth seeing!

UK Athletics to leave Loughborough

UK Athletics has come under fire after revealing plans to move athletes away from Loughborough University.

Currently there are four high performance training centres, in Loughborough, Birmingham and two in London. The new plans would see Birmingham and one of the London centres focused on at the expense of the two others.

Some of the high performance facilities at Loughborough

But Loughborough has produced more top athletes than any other University in Britain. Some of the more famous alumni include Paula Radcliffe, champion javelin thrower Steve Backley, and LOCOG top-dog Seb Coe.

But it is the current crop of star performers who will be most affected by the proposed switch. Names such as Lisa Dobriskey (4th in 1500m in Beijing), Martyn Rooney, Kate Dennison and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey are all studying and training at Loughborough, and represent some of GB’s best chances of medals at 2012.

Luke Bridgman is a key member of  Loughborough’s high performance swim team and believes it works both ways. He said: “There is a real buzz that you get from being part of the Loughborough team, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to take that away. But if there are better facilities elsewhere then I can understand it.”

No final decision has been made yet, but I just cannot understand why UK athletics would actually choose to disrupt one of our top nurturing grounds for young talent. Surely there are other areas that they could concentrate on, because there are definitely problems out there.

Funding row disrupts 2012 preparation

British athletes have had their preparations for the 2012 Games disrupted after lawyers advised them against signing the new ‘Team 2012′ contracts.

Under the terms of the proposed contracts, athletes would have to promote companies who become sponsors of London 2012. The deals have come about as an attempt to make up for the £50m shortfall in funding. But companies who sponsor the athletes already believe it will devalue their own deals.

If the contracts are not agreed, athletes will be forfeiting up to £70,000 a year. All 1,400 publicly funded athletes are needed to agree to the conditions. Currently it is believed that around 80 are refusing to sign up.

It is more of an issue for high profile athletes, who believe they will damage their own lucrative sponsorship deals.

The contracts covering the Beijing Games expired at the end of last month and UK Sport said that the Team 2012 contracts was vital for funding the elite programme and that it will not conflict with existing deals or prevent athletes signing personal deals.