Olympics

Evening Standard

Golden guy: Steve Redgrave. Image courtesy of Evening Standard

Sir Steve Redgrave may be the bookies favourite to light the 2012 Olympic flame but his advice is to not to put any money on him.

Given that he has kept the opening night free from TV work the assumption is that on July 27 Britain’s only Olympian to win five golds will enter the Olympic Stadium with the flame?

“Of course, I’d like the honour but, if you look through the history of the Games, they always try to have somebody who’s a little bit more unexpected,” he says. “So being favourite is not the best place to be. I think LOCOG [the 2012 organising committee] will do something a little bit different.”

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FT

The man who will be welcoming the world to the London Olympics opens his house in a little Kent village

Sir Keith Mills does not look as though he has been partying until 1am at the Olympic Ball as he welcomes me to his home in a little Kent village, a few miles from Tonbridge. He is dressed in jeans and a sweater and his eyes do not betray any strain from an evening with Stephen Fry, Princess Anne, a raucous auctioneer, the singing of Tom Jones and the champagne that flowed in London’s Olympia the previous night….Read more.

Evening Standard

Image courtesy of Evening Standard.

London 2012 will be a new experience for one volunteer. Urvasi Naidu, who has been a volunteer for every Olympics since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, always carries some masking tape in her handbag.

“What I am usually looking out for,” says Urvasi, a lawyer by profession, “are groups of people wearing T-shirts advertising rival products to the official sponsors. If they are, I first try to get them to wear the T-shirts inside out. If that doesn’t work, I use masking tape to cover up the advertisement so it’s not visible on television.”

It may seem extreme but Urvasi, who has contributed to a book on the subject, says: “Sponsors pay a lot of money, they have a right to protect their investment – other brands are not entitled to advertise.

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talkSPORT

London Evening Standard columnist Mihir Bose says recent scenes of rioting and looting in the capital and beyond may put people off coming to next year’s Olympics.

He also says it raises new security concerns about the country’s ability to host a safe Games.

Click here to listen to the full interview.

Evening Standard

Riding high: Geraint Thomas says he has learnt so much from riding in this year's Tour de France. Image courtesy of Evening Standard

Cadel Evans made history yesterday by becoming the first Australian to win the Tour de France but Britain’s 2012 medal hopefuls are confident that the London Olympics will provide a different story.

Minutes after Advance Australia Fair had rung out over the Place de la Concorde, I asked Geraint Thomas whether he was worried that he might have to hear a lot more of that national anthem next summer.

Cardiff-born Thomas, 25, who won gold as part of the team pursuit in Beijing, smiled and said: “The Australians can say what they want about the British, morale-wise we are in great spirits. Everyone forgets that me and Bradley [Wiggins] have stepped away for quite a while. We’re pretty confident that, when we come back in and give it 100 per cent, it will be different.”

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