olympic news
"THERE are few things which attract less interest hereabouts than the politics of London in general and the doings of the mayor of the city in particular but the election of Boris Johnson to succeed Ken Livingstone may yet prove a turning point in the build-up to the biggest sporting event our capital has ever seen. Livingstone knew and cared as much about sport as most of us do about the works of Karl Marx but he was an astute enough politician to become engaged in the Olympic process simply because he knew he could use some of the money being invested to help him improve the living standards of those in the east of his constituency who would reward him with their support."
(Via Bill Bridge: Banking on Boris to bring Olympic sanity - Yorkshire Post: .)
...more ---> ...| olympic news | 8 May 2008; 3:53:13 PM |# | | Discuss |
"Consultants' fees for the project to build the Olympic aquatics centre could hit £40million, it has emerged.
The cost of employing outside engineers, architects and surveyors has mounted following changes to the venue's complex design.
Olympic chiefs are demanding venues for the 2012 Games are 'green'. This has proved a challenge for the aquatics centre because such pools are noted for high heating bills.
Rising professional fees are thought to be one of the main factors contributing to the centre's budget, which has tripled to £214million, as revealed by the Evening Standard last week."
(Via 2012 chiefs splashing out £40m on pool consultants | Evening Standard: .)
...more ---> ...| olympic news | 15 February 2008; 11:49:10 PM |# | | Discuss |
"The London 2012 Olympic legacy is under threat due to a coaching shortage, according to a new report.
The report, released by Sportnation – an independent sports think-tank – based on research carried out by Loughborough University, said that even on conservative estimates, the UK could face a shortfall of up to a quarter of a million full-time and part-time paid professional sports coaches.
The study, called Are we missing the coach for 2012?, found that 69 per cent of the 1.2 to 1.5 million sports coaches in the UK are unpaid volunteers and that in performance athletics, there are as few as 12 full-time salaried coaches in the UK.
It calls for between 160,000 and 233,500 additional paid, professional coaching positions by 2016, which is more ambitious than the proposed 42,000 new positions to be created in the same period under Sportscoach UK’s UK Coaching Framework.
Steve Cram, chair of the Sportnation – which is supported by the Lucozade Sports Science Academy --– and former world champion athlete, said: ‘The report highlights that unless we can break the culture of ‘gentleman amateurism’ in UK sport, we will struggle to become best in the world.
‘As long as we continue to rely on an army of grass-roots volunteers, with no clear career progression for home grown coaches, we will tend to look to superannuated foreign coaches to fill the top jobs in UK sport. If we don’t act now to stem the endemic culture of volunteerism in UK sport, we may have already missed the coach for sporting success at London 2012.’ Details: www.thelssa.co.uk/lssa/sportnation/ "
(Via Leisure Opportunities - daily jobs, news, training and property: .)
...more ---> ...| olympic news | 3 February 2008; 1:17:14 AM |# | | Discuss |
"The following table shows the 2007-08 salaries of the 10 highest paid staff working directly on the preparations for the 2012 Olympics in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and paid from the public purse. It does not include staff employed by the ODA's Delivery Partner, and the ODA's contractors.
Position/organisation ( 1) Salary (£) Chief Executive, ODA 372,600 Director of Construction, ODA 258,750 Director of Finance and Corporate Services, ODA 253,624 Director General, Government Olympic Executive 220,000 Director of Design and Regeneration, ODA 207,000 Director of Transport, ODA 207,000 Director of Property, ODA 207,000 Director of Infrastructure and Utilities, ODA 207,000 Director of Build and Finance, Government Olympic Executive 180,000 Director of Communications, ODA 175,950 (1) The figures are for basic salary only, and do not include for any performance related bonuses, taxable benefits and pension contributions. These additional benefits will be calculated at the financial year-end and detailed in the annual reports and accounts of the Department and the ODA which are laid before the House."
(Via Tessa Jowell's Recent Appearances (TheyWorkForYou.com) Olympic Games 2012: Pay | Olympics | Written Answers: .)
"London Olympic chiefs defended the salaries of their top executives yesterday after it emerged some were earning up to £100,000 more than first thought."
(Via Telegraph Sport Olympic Delivery Authority defend pay: .)
...more ---> ...| olympic news | 1 February 2008; 2:35:54 AM |# | | Discuss |
"The London 2012 Olympics aquatics centre is likely to cost nearly three times as much as the £75m originally estimated, BBC London has learned.
A scaled-down version of the original wave-shaped building, which will be the gateway to the Olympic park in east London, could cost £215m.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell sent the architect "back to the drawing board" in 2006 because of spiralling costs.
The venue is now due for completion in 2011, two years later than planned."
(Via BBC NEWS | England | London | Olympic pool costs set to triple: .)
and ...
Building Design has a lot to say about the all glass centre in a culturally mixed community and how the panicky politicians worried about headlines are trying to do world class architecture on a shoestring to keep the daily papers happy.
(Via Bellyflop: Zaha Hadid's reworked Aquatic Centre disappoints - images - Building Design: .)
...more ---> ...| olympic news | 31 January 2008; 10:58:34 AM |# | | Discuss |
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