Miranda

This whole ‘plastic brit’ label thats being given to athletes that silly people, without any nices fibres in their bodies, is really annoying me.

How can you you attempt to isolate an athlete from their chosen country of representation, purely because YOU believe them not to be legitimately able to represent a country, whether that be because they were born in another country or that by fate their parents were born in another country. How can we say that they dont deserve to make their families and our country proud by representing us? Anyway, who is actually ‘British’? I myself am Welsh and sure I consider myself British, but if by chance my parents had been born in another country, but I had lived in Britain all my life, I would have full rights to consider myself British!

At 22, Holley Mangold has qualified to represent Team U.S in the upcoming Olympics.

She recently said to Dayton daily magazine, that she’d always wanted to be in the Olympics, but ‘I always thought I’d get it for diving or gymnastics.’ It’s funny how things turn out. At 5’8 and 374 pounds, I think it seems like destiny that she has qualified for weightlifting.

From reading about her, its seems like she’s really pushed herself and is a very determined being, from originally setting her sights on the 2016 games and managing to qualify for the 2012 games. She has also added ‘35 Kilo’s’ onto the weight she could lift last year. She must be trying so hard to achieve the best she can.

She’s also the younger sister of Nick Mangold, who is ‘a three-time All pro center for the New York Jets’ - athleticism obviously runs in the family.

Good luck Holley…

I’m clearly getting the Olympic games buzz and I’m very interested in seeing how the Olympic games are affecting communities in the UK, but for today I’m going to be posting exciting news about the upcoming games from other countries around the world.

Even with widespread distress over the Olympic organiser’s plans to build a giant basketball hall on the Leyton marshes, the Olympic bosses still won permission to do so.

This news is somewhat old, being published first last month, but it just highlights something I’m very interested in looking at and that is the impact on communities from the Olympics.

I think that surely with 1,250 people signing a petition against, people from that are from that are. This issue shouldnt have just been brushed aside, which is what has seemed to have happened. It looks as if nothing has changed and still we have a clear case of the little people being forgotten about!

So an interesting subject came up in a conversation I was having today with a friend. What was this subject I hear you ask… well it was the Olympics of course! But I left the conversation in a weird state of mind and I’ll explain to you why.

My friend had just told me that she’d received tickets to some of the Olympic events, Gymnastics and running- I mean come on, who gets that lucky!? So I obviously told her that I was jealous and that she should enjoy herself. She responded by saying that she was going to Spain instead. Now I know that we all need holidays and sure she would probably have a good time, but I just don’t know if I’d give up the once in a lifetime opportunity that is going to watch some Olympic events. Does this act say a lot about youth these days? I don’t know. It’s a tricky one, hey maybe I would do the same if I was in her position, but I’m not and it’s always easier to criticise from an outside position. I just thought I would share this and see what you guys made of it…

It has come to my attention that all oversea Olympic athletes will face ‘robust’ border control measures as they attempt to get into our friendly, welcoming country.

Obviously its vital that this is done, but I was just wondering how the athletes will feel as they enter Britain,when they’re being bombarded with facial scans and other high tech measures. Happy to be in Britain? We can only hope.

The first lot of selected torch bearers have been announced this week. Its refreshing to find that such an ecclectic bunch of people have been chosen to play their part in the Games, from community organizers to an iraq war veteran.

I’d never given much thought to the whole ‘torch bearing’ shabang, but having seen it publicised all over the TV and in programmes, such as Eastenders, who will actually have one of their characters running with the actual torch during a live show, I’ve had time to contemplate.

I guess the torch bearing ceremony is just one of the ways the Olympic organisers allow the general public to get involved. Its a way for the rocks of communities and inspiring people to get some well deserved rewards, by doing something they will love and its a chance for the UK to get directly involved.

When I turned on the TV the other day, I saw a seemingly peaceful and contempt looking pensioner smiling back at me. It would seem that my first impressions were wrong, although Im sure she is at times both of those things. Its just that I soon discovered that having walked a marathon around her town hall, she was now one of the chosen people to carry the torch. This inspirational women was 84 year old Moira Starkley.

I think that shes such a great women and she reminds us that without the people behind the Olympics, it wouldnt be worthwhile.

Ive just seen that the security budget for the Olympic games is £2 billion, now its a tricky one to call, as London is always under threat for something or other, whether thats terrorism or something else, but can we really afford to be spending that much money?

America are behind this budget 100%, supposedly being sceptical of the UK’s anti-terrorism powers. They are planning to send FBI officials and some diplomatic security services members along too to make sure the American athletes are kept safe.

It seems its all hands on deck in the lead up to the London 2012 olympics.

Hannah Powell, who at just eighteen years of age is aiming for gold in the London Olympics.

It’s quite refreshing to see a young girl, who apparently got into weightlifting when she was only 11 (her uncle and dad used to be weightlifters), being marked out as an Olympic contender. It just shows youth that once they’ve put their mind to something, nine times out of ten they can achieve it.

What I find quite inspiring is that Hannah is clearly an attractive young lady, so she probably got some stick about doing something which is quite man orientated, but the fact she stuck with it really shows that she’s shown great commitment for something she likes.

I just wish you’d hear more stories like this, not always the negative stuff on the news and I also wish that you got to hear more about the events which aren’t necessarily publicised as much.

Apparently the Olympic torch is going to be abseiled off the roof of Croke Park, a stadium in Dublin. Its supposed to be the highlight of the torches visit to Dublin and it got me wondering, what are other parts of the country going to do to mark this highlight in the build up to the games?

Yesterday (Sunday 24 July) a few of us head starters went down to the Stratford rising Shedspace festival, which is an amazingly well thought up idea. Dozens of actual sheds were dotted around Stratford, each doing there own thing-from one being a mini nightclub to a circus shed.

Our shed was focussed on the Olympics and we, as social media journalists, were stopping people and asking them about their feelings towards the Olympics. We asked them questions on whether they’d received tickets and many more. It was really exciting to hear how many of the Stratford locals felt about the coming Olympics and although some had a few issues with it, for example the fact that it was bringing travel disruptions, most seemed optimistic.

On the 23rd, along with my fellow headstarters and equipped with a flip cam, I got into an Olympic park tour bus- not knowing what to expect.

We spent about an hour going round the park and I just have to say, I had no idea that the park was so big! To be honest, I have been thinking about the Olympics and what it means to people, the legacy of the coming games, etcetera, but I haven’t thought much about how everything is being constructed for it and why. I feel silly really looking back on my previous naiveities’, because how else did I think the London games will happen.

I saw the stadiums and buildings that are still in development(but are really coming on), the projects that have been finished and it actually dawned on me for the first time that the Olympic games are only around a year away- amazing!

I’m not known for getting excited about the Olympics, but hearing how near enough everything in the Olympic park is going to be used after to benefit the community, I found that I had sort of become excited, but let me not get too carried away with my giddiness, because we have yet to see if the promise of regeneration and sustainability will be followed through with.

Pictures and videos of the tour will be coming up soon…

West Ham have been selected the preffered owners of the Olympic park after the Olympics finish in 2012. This was decided in a unanimous vote by the Olympic park legacy committee.

So what do you think?

I have surprised myself by not blogging about the whole Tottenham, West Ham Olympic bid saga- which isn’t just so Tottenham and West Ham orientated anymore, with Leyton Orient openly voicing their opinions.

Well, the long anticipated decision day is finally here, with the announcement of who has won the Olympic bid being expected at 11 am.

I’m trying to remain unbiased when writing about this matter, but as a Tottenham Hotspur fan it’s quite hard. Now, I’m not a diehard fan-going to every match, hanging on to each and every bit of news I hear about them, but I do like to think I support them. Watching and hearing Tottenham fans response’s to their Olympic bid has shown me that they don’t want to move from their beloved White Hart Lane and can you blame them? I mean the fan’s never suggested moving in the first place- from what it looks like, the bid is purely for profiteering reasons. Spurs want to turn the stadium into a football only stadium, but doesn’t that demolish every bit of effort and every Olympics fans emotions that are going to go into the 2012 Olympics, because with Spurs’ plans, the stadium will probably be unrecognisable as the Olympic Stadium… that brings me onto another point, how will completely transforming the stadium help leave an Olympic legacy, that countries all over the world can look back on and say ’ that was an amazing stadium’.

I seem to be writing in vain, because as it stands, West Ham will most probably be winning the bid, having gained support of the Olympic Park Legacy Committee, although even their fans have voiced their opinion that they are sceptical of the move.

So watch this space for the official announcement on who has won the bid!

http://bcove.me/y0qkw310

Peace one day was set up by a film maker called Jeremy Gilley, he decided to launch ‘Peace one day’ by travelling the word documenting his efforts to establish the first annual day of peace. He wanted a global ceasefire and non-violence for that annual celebration.

He managed to establish a global peace day, which is on the 21 September, through the UN. Now every year on the 21 September countries all over the world attempt to adopt things to do on peace, whether it is Afghanistan allowing thousands of women and children to be vaccinated against life-threatening diseases or just the set up of an annual football match played in a country.

I think this is one of the greatest ideas ever and fully support it, but maybe its just me being cynical in saying that I think its slightly naive to think that on that day the whole world will stop bombing, threatening, oppressing and attacking eachother. I would love to come away from that site and feel like the peace day will be adopted by everyone and the world will unite as one for a common cause, but sadly I havent. What I have come away thinking is that it could be possible that one day the majority of the world will unite and carry out charitable deeds on that day and I hope that I can say I have helped towards that.

To help make my mark, I will be registering an idea to help towards global peace day. I hope to take the idea back to my school and propose we all get involved,whether it’s through blogging about it, speaking out about it or setting up an event at the school every year on the 21 September. I would be content to know that I helped make a difference and even if the peace day isn’t adopted by everyone, than atleast more people will know about how they can make a difference.

In response to Charlies blog:

Charlie’s blog seems very researched and detailed. His questions are well thought out and they make you actually think-which is something that doesn’t seem to be happening a lot any more. I like the fact that he writes creative questions, not just the obvious, ’ Do you enjoy the Olympics’, instead he writes stuff like, ’ How does the Olympics celebrate beauty in films, ceremonies, photography and design?’. This question can lead you down so many paths trying to answer it, you research all Olympic commissioned films in the past, all Olympic ceremonies caught on tape and many other things.

Unfortunately, I didn’t look at his blog before I made my piece about the Olympics, because if I had I would have stolen some his great questions, but I’m definately going to research into his questions further!

Great work Charlie!

With A New Direction, we were asked to do a piece on the legacy of the 2012 Olympics. I began researching into news articles on what people have been saying about the London 2012 legacy. I wanted to try and gain a wide variety of people’s opinion on the legacy they have been promised and hope for.

Reading news articles and speaking to people I have found that the word ‘legacy’ is what is hoped to be gained after the Olympics has finished (what London will be like after).  There are different things people want to gain from the London 2012 Olympics.

Organizers of the 2012 Olympics pledged that London’s Olympics will be the ‘greenest ever.’ The ways in which they hoped to achieve this, was to make sure that everything they built was going to be used for something after- for example the cycling venues would be open for public use, but the venues are supposedly going to cost a lot for people to use for leisure, so people without extra money may not get to use them. The organizers of the Olympics have also set up four ‘sustainability partners’ who have pledged to help minimize the environmental impact of the huge event that is the Olympics. The Companies that have pledged to help make the games greener are; BT, BP, EDF Group and Nortel. Environmental lobbyists have also said that they will encourage those companies to follow through with their pledge. Hopefully the companies really do want to help make the games greener and do not just want to promote their companies.

Organizers have also said that transport will also improve and there will be no parking lots around any of the main Olympic venues. Instead of travelling by cars and other vehicles that will add to air pollution, organizers are encouraging people to walk, travel by bike, etcetera.

Lord Coe, the Olympic bid chairman, also pledged that the Olympics would leave a sporting legacy, but what is actually meant by that. Grassroots participation was said to be boosted and in effect the nation would become healthier and fitter after the Olympics, but the government recently proposed a cut to school sport’s budgets. What will happen to this pledge if this does happen?

The Olympic organizers also pledged to make the 2012 Olympics benefit London economically and in the midst of a recession it seems that this may be the legacy that is hoped to happen by most.  The coming Olympics is said to benefit London economically, in many ways.

London will receive huge investment from thousands of companies. As well as that tourism will also help the London economy flourish, with approximately 2 million people having bought tickets for the Olympics and around another 2 million people being expected to visit England’s capital.

On top of this jobs have also been created during the Olympics and with approximately 2.5 million people out of work in London, this is exactly what is needed. The job opportunities are coming from construction companies working to build the Olympics, companies catering for the Olympics and local businesses and shops in tourism will also make huge profits.

The Olympic park is situated in Stratford (Newham), East London, because it is one of the capital’s most economically deprived areas and with a promised economic boost to London- it will help Stratford a lot. Jobs will be created and this is beneficial in the long run.

Housing is said to improve for people who live locally to the Olympic park. The people that were moved in order to build the games’ venues are said to have been re-housed in more spacious homes. The actual Athletes’ village will be converted to housing with 2,800 flats and ½ of those flats are said to be made into affordable homes.

 Something which excites me to see is that the organizers placed a great emphasis on getting the 8,000 volunteers to help towards the games. I find this so interesting, because for me the Olympics is about bringing people together and the volunteers will be made to feel part of the games and know they will help to make it a  success. It is also, a great way for unemployed people to gain some experience and skills in areas such as, customer relations and event managing.

All of this is the social legacy the Olympics will leave, hopefully the advantages out way the disadvantages.