London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: IOC Impressed with London's Progress

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Spyns clients planning to attend the 2012 London Olympics with us in a few years can take heart that preparations are proceeding on schedule.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission (pictured right) for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games ended its seventh visit to the city Friday, following three days of meetings with London 2012 representatives and its partners. The commission, led by Chairman Denis Oswald, visited several venues including Wembley Arena, Earls Court, Hadleigh Farm, the Royal Artillery Barracks and the new velodrome being built in the Olympic Park.

Oswald said, "we can see the pieces of the puzzle falling into place now, and the big picture is rapidly visible. Preparations are advancing at an astonishing rate and LOCOG, the ODA, and their partners should be congratulated for the high quality of the work they are producing across this complex project. The continued support of the British government for the Games has also been key to the progress made since our last visit, and they should be thanked for the efforts that they have made in these challenging times. This underlines the British people's strong connection to sport and to the Olympic Games in particular".


The commission also received updates on the London 2012 volunteer program and ticketing prices in recent months, and welcomed LOCOG's plans to ensure that families of athletes participating at the 2012 Games will be able to secure tickets to events featuring these athletes.


However London organizers refused to back down Friday on their decision to change the Olympic marathon route, but said they may have found a solution to restore a multimillion-dollar fabric wrap around the main stadium for the 2012 Games, reports The Associated Press. Sebastian Coe, head of London 2012, said potential sponsors have offered to pay for the more than half-mile long stadium wrap that was scrapped last month to save $11 million as part of government budget cuts in Britain. He said, "since the decision was made, we have had a number of commercial overtures to fund the wrap..." But sponsors won't be able to brand the wrap with its name or logo since venue advertising is banned at the Olympics.


As for changing the Olympic marathon route, Coe said he made the decision for "operational reasons" to avoid traffic congestion on what will be one of the busiest days of the Olympics.


Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: Hotel Rates May Double During Olympics

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He won't see a windfall during London 2012.

When demand far exceeds supply, prices spiral out of control. We've seen it happen during the Tour de France (http://www.tdf-tours.com/) and Running of the Bulls (http://www.pamplona-spain.com/). London's Olympic Games won't be any different.

Hotel prices across London may more than double during the London 2012 Olympics, according to market intelligence company Rubicon. However, while hoteliers can expect bumper profits during the course of the Games with demand for the city's 120,000 hotel rooms reaching a high, they could risk losing out in the long term with corporate business expected to plunge by up to 80% over the whole summer period. Traditional package business from overseas visitors is also expected to fall over the summer with tour operators fearing they may be priced out of the market. Rubicon has based its predictions on evidence gathered from Vancouver earlier this year, during the four months around the winter Olympic Games.

Rubicon managing director for Europe Andy Storey said the study shows that hotels should be mindful of losing the revenue they make during the Olympic Games. "Generally hotel owners fail to put enough attention on the shoulder seasons either side of sporting events, and this is what causes them to do worse than in normal years. "It is no surprise that hotels will be busy during the event itself, but London properties should heed warnings and set pricing and market accordingly." Meanwhile, Rubicon believes towns within an easy commute of central London could be the winners during the Olympics, with business travellers and tourists forced to head further afield to find reasonably priced hotel rooms.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: Budget Cuts to Affect Games?

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

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What will be the fate of the London 2012 Olympic games when the Cameron government announces its cuts on October 20?

Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson told insidethegames he is ready to face impending cuts to his budget, with D-Day approaching in less than three weeks. The Government is set to announce huge expenditure cuts to practically all departments as part of a major spending review on October 20 - with sport in Britain almost certain to face a 30 to 40 per cent reduction in its annual budget.


However, Robertson said he is braced for the worst and has plans in place to help sport through what is set to be an extremely difficult time. Robertson told insidethegames: “It is my absolute intention to protect the funding for athletes and to make sure that all sports have their plans to increase participation up and running. "Any money we have left over will go directly towards the London 2012 legacies we are planning.


"We know what we want to do but obviously we’re not going to release the exact details until we know for sure how much money we’ve got to play with. Sport is one of those things that could almost absorb an incontestable amount of money. You could triple the budget and I could do all sorts of wonderful things, like ensure everyone going through the British education system has full opportunities to participate in every single sport. That would be fantastic but it’s completely unrealistic as we’ve inherited a horrible situation which means that cuts simply have to happen. The fact is I’m going to do my utmost to protect sport regardless of what the financial settlement is on October 20."
Robertson also gave his full support to Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, claiming he is fighting hard to secure sport the best possible settlement when the cuts are made. He said: "To be fair to him, Jeremy is doing everything he can to protect the DCMS (Department of Culture, Media and Sport) budget and treat all sectors of it equally. "I know first-hand from being in all of the meetings with him that he is doing everything he possibly can to protect both the DCMS budget and the Olympics budget to the best of his abilities. Clearly though, I am the person inside Government who speaks up for sport and tries to defend it. Once we know what the settlement is, I am determined that we don’t just ‘salami slice’ the top off everything we are funding as I want us to actually sit down and look carefully at what is working well and what isn’t. I obviously want us to carry on doing the things we are doing well. That’s going to mean full funding and fully backing projects that function well and probably cutting out a number of things that don’t function well. I’m determined we don’t simply bumble along as we are, doing everything as we are now, but just rather less well than we have in the past because of the funding cuts."

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: British Cyclist Clancy on Track for Olympic Gold

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For so long the quiet power behind Great Britain’s team pursuit squad, Ed Clancy rode to individual world championship glory on Sunday with a performance of bewildering dominance in the men’s omnium.

That the 25-year-old experienced the full glare of the limelight was due to an agonising defeat in the women’s keirin final for Victoria Pendleton, who lost out on a second gold medal in as many days by the width of a tyre. That would have denied Clancy his moment. His explosive burst of speed within an endurance event perfectly fits the profile of the omnium, cycling’s equivalent of the decathlon and heptathlon disciplines in athletics.

With five elements in a single day - essentially three time trials over different distances and two bunch races - it tests even the strongest of bodies. For Clancy, it was the first omnium of his life, making the achievement even more remarkable. He didn’t even have a bunch race bike when he was selected for the event three weeks ago. Olympic champion in the team pursuit in Beijing, the Yorkshireman collected asilver in that event in the Ballerup Super Arena on Friday and admitted he had struggled to overcome the disappointment of that result.

Clancy said: ‘It’s my first individual medal and one that I didn’t really think I would get. It’s just a bit bizarre. It felt like a hangover the day after the team pursuit and that wasn’t just because I raided the bar. You just feel so down when you lose by such a small margin having worked so hard for it. ‘I’ve never done a flying 200m sprint before or been in a bunch race at world standard before and, man, was I in for a shock. The points race turned out to be the hardest 40 laps of my life.’ With the omnium having been added to the Olympic programme for 2012, the dilemma for Clancy now is whether to stay true to his team pursuit roots or go for the iron man discipline, which in the Olympics will be over six events spread across five days. He added: ‘Those who know me know that I live and die for the team pursuit. That’s in my heart and what gets me out of bed. But then after today it makes you think about the omnium, for sure.’

Pendleton’s silver to the gold of Simona Krupeckaite took a photo and a protest over the Lithuanian girl’s racing line to decide. It meant that Britain finished in second place in the world championships medal table, comfortably behind Australia’s impressive haul of six golds.
That was across all 19 world championship events. However, take account of solely the 10 Olympic disciplines and a different picture emerges, with Britain winning eight medals to Australia’s five, three golds apiece.

Director of British Cycling Dave Brailsford insisted that it is the proper gauge of the progress that is being made towards re-establishing the dominance of Beijing and that the time to judge is not now, at the midpoint of the Olympic cycle, but in London in two years’ time. He said: ‘You can’t get blinded by the stats. My job isn’t to win every event in the world championships. We took a strategic decision to come here and ride the Olympic events with relatively new line-ups in some of them to see where we are at. ‘Why did we not enter a rider in every event at the world championships? It’s a valid point, but we’re an Olympic team, looking to perform in that home Olympics and our strategy is ruthlessly built around doing exactly that. ‘The competition has increased, which is a good thing. We can’t step off the gas. New Zealand have moved forward, but they, the French sprinters, the Germans and the Aussies are absolutely flat out here.

‘This isn’t everything that we’ve got. We’re not quite foot to the floor yet. To try and do that for four years is hard. You need to be cyclical with it. We weren’t the top nation at this point in the Olympic cycle four years ago. Are we in good shape? We’re in terrific shape.'

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

The Yanks Are Coming! London 2012 Summer Games Tickets & Tours

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The Yanks are coming! Never a nation of half-measures, the Americans prove once again they do everything bigger...and better? They are landing in East London to create their own ‘beachhead’ ready for the London 2012 Olympics invasion.The US Olympic Committee is taking over part of the University of East London’s campuses at the Royal Docks and Stratford, just a javelin throw from the Olympics Park, as its base for athlete training.

More than 1,000 athletes, coaches, scientists, medical practitioners and support staff are to use university’s state-of-the-art facilities.University vice chancellor Patrick McGhee said: “Hosting some of the world’s greatest athletes in their preparations for 2012 is an inspiration for our youngsters. It’s an opportunity to build a sports legacy that will continue beyond 2012.”Team USA will be using the halls of residence, setting up onsite sports science, medicine and media centres as their operational base.

They will also use the new £18 million (US$27 million) sports and academic centre at the Docklands campus due to open next year with its gym and fitness suite, a large indoor sports arena, 10 badminton courts, two competition basketball, volleyball and netball courts, cricket bays, two five-a-side football pitches, sports café and covered seating for 400 people.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

Tickets on Sale: London 2012 Summer Olympic Games

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Olympic organisers have started pre-registration to sell tickets to the London 2012 summer games. While signing up online does not guarantee a pass, it is a shortcut to the public ballot for 75 per cent of tickets. ‘Anyone who signs up will be in pole position,’ said Paul Deighton, London 2012 chief executive on Monday.

‘The aim is to make the process as easy as possible and get people thinking about which events they want to watch from all the different Olympic and Paralympic sports. We expect people to be more interested in tickets for some events than others. ‘There is no fairer way for people to get in line for those tickets than by public ballot.’ Originally, there were to be 7.7million tickets for the Olympics and 1.5million for the Paralympic Games but the figure has now risen to 8million and 2million, on sale from next spring. Mr Deighton stayed tight-lipped about prices but said there would be ‘millions of affordable and accessible tickets’. Critics have long bemoaned that tickets are generously distributed to sponsors, Olympic committee members, and government officials yet real fans receive few affordable tickets.

Sadly, hospitality tickets will account for less than one per cent of passes on sale. Paralympic swimming champion Ellie Simmonds said it was important true sports fans would be in the crowd, adding: ‘It will be good for the atmosphere. My friends are all interested in tickets and want to see me. I bet there will be lots of people who will want to see events at a home Olympics and Paralympics.’

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: "Next" Latest Olympic Sponsor

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Fashion chain Next has been given its biggest design challenge yet – to create clothes to inspire British athletes to Olympic glory. The Leicestershire company will help Team GB's quest for gold after being asked to produce about 5,000 outfits for athletes and officials to wear at the opening and closing ceremonies of 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in London.

The retailer will also provide formal suits, as well as furnishings and linen for the athletes' village. Next, which will be an official sponsor, would not say how much the deal was worth.It said some jobs would be created at its Enderby design studio. Experts said sales would increase as a result of the deal, which will see the group create a range of London 2012 clothing and homeware for its stores. Christos Angelides, Next executive director, said: "We are all proud of the British athletes and look forward to helping in a small way to make them look great at the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies. "We also look forward to providing our customers with exclusive access to a range of clothing and homeware that reflects the excitement and atmosphere of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games."

A Next spokesman said: "There's going to be a group of designers on this."A few new jobs will be created as a result." Paul Deighton, chief executive of London 2012, said: "I'm confident Next will create a fantastic look for the athletes, officials and staff as well as helping us to make the London 2012 product available across the country."Julie King, head of fashion and textiles at De Montfort University, said: "It's a great coup for Next. "I think it will have a positive impact on their sales."David Hughes, chief executive of Prospect Leicestershire, the agency charged with promoting county businesses, said: "It will be great to see a Leicestershire firm so prominently flying the flag for Team GB at the Olympics. "It will really help to put the county on the map."Next is not the only Leicestershire company benefiting from the London 2012 Games.

Plumbing and heating equipment supplier BSS Group, of Lee Circle, Leicester, and powered access equipment hire firm Lavendon, of Lutterworth, are helping to operate one of two plant hire centres used by builders of the Olympic Park.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.