[Barryrich]

London 2012 Olympics: small bottle of beer at Games will cost £4.20 as organisers reveal food and drink prices

Locog will charge £3.80 for a cheese and lettuce sandwich, £5.90 for a tuna and sweet potato salad and £6.50 for a hog roast roll. A beef pie with potato and gravy will cost £8.00.

But it's price of drinks that has raised eyebrows. Bottled water will cost £1.60, although organisers have maintained there will be water fountains on the Olympic Park.

A 500ml coke will cost £2.30 and a glass of wine £4.80. The bottle of Heineken is 330ml, so the pricing is equivalent to £7.23 a pint.

The cost to feed a family of four will exceed £40 without any additional snacks. But Locog chief executive Paul Deighton said the pricing was reasonable.

"We want everyone who attends the Games this summer to have a fantastic experience and central to this is the food and drink that’s available," he said.

"We have gone to great lengths to find top quality, tasty food that celebrates the best of Britain. We believe that our prices are more than comparable to those found at other major sporting events which because of their temporary nature are often more expensive than the high street.

"We are proud that the catering and industry has been quick to adopt the standards of our Food Vision, leaving a stronger and sustainable industry as a legacy of the Games."

• Fancy a drink? Maybe not at these prices...
  Bottled water – £1.60
  Fairtrade Tea from £2.00
  Fairtrade Coffee from £2.60
  500ml bottle of Coca Cola – £2.30
  330ml bottle of Heineken – £4.20
  London 2012 red wine 18.7cl – £4.80

There will be over 800 spectator concessions, featuring more than 150 different dishes that aim to "showcase the diversity and quality of British food".
Visitors to the Olympic Park will be able to purchase a wide range of foods but the only branded products are Olympic sponsors: the worlds largest McDonald's restaurant, Coca Cola, Cadbury, Nature Valley and Heineken.
Organisers says over 14 million meals will be served during the Games, across 40 locations. They claim this is the largest peace time catering operation in the world.
Well over a million meals will be served to athletes, with 1,300 different types of dishes on the menu. Organisers believe that on the busiest day of the Games over 65,000 meals will be served to athletes.

• What's on the menu?
• Porridge and maple syrup, made with UK oats and milk – £2.20
  Toasted tea cakes, with Yorkshire butter – £2.10
  Carrot and cucumber sticks with red pesto hummus – £2.50
  6 Jerk Red Tractor assured chicken wings – £3.50
  Red Leicester British cheese with British apple chutney and Farm assured lettuce on Oxfordshire bread – £3.80
  Jacket potato with Dingley Dell bacon and Freedom Foods chicken in a herb mayonnaise, served with roquete and watercress salad – £5.80
  Pole and line caught tuna and sweet potato British salad – £5.90
  Freshly carved Dingley Dell hog roasted Red Tractor pork, served in Oxfordshire cross hatched bread roll with mixed leaf salad and assorted accompaniments – £6.50
  Grilled Red Tractor chicken burrito – £6.50
  Penne pasta Red Tractor chicken and mushroom white sauce – £6.50
  Thin crust stone baked 10” pizza with spicy pepperoni, spicy beef, basil and oregano – £7.50
  Farm assured Scotch Beef with Long Clawson Stilton Pie, Irish mashed potato with Red Tractor Cream and British butter and onion gravy – £8.00
  Cod and chips – from £8
  Singapore noodle, stir fried egg noodle, chicken, prawns, char sui Pork, chilli and shredded peppers in a hoi sin dressing – £8.50
  Lamb Rogan Josh served with Pilaf or Saffron rice – £8.50

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oly...nk-prices.html

[Slchtjgb]

I don't think I'd pay any amount of money for something called a hog roast roll.

[12Dvop4I]

June 25, 2012

Saudi Arabia to Allow Female Athletes at London Games

By MARY PILON

Saudi Arabia, a monarchy with severe restrictions on women in daily life, will allow female athletes to compete in the Olympics for the first time at this summer’s London Games if they qualify, according to a statement by the country’s embassy in London.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is looking forward to its complete participation in the London 2012 Olympic Games through the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, which will oversee the participation of women athletes who can qualify for the Games,” the statement, released Sunday, said.

The London Games could be historic as every participating nation is expected to field at least one female athlete, including the three Muslim countries — Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei — that have previously sent only male competitors.

Saudi Arabia, whose legal system is based on Islamic law, is considered the most significant of the three because of its size and international influence. The country has been criticized in the West for its general treatment of women, who face restrictions in things like gaining employment, getting an education and traveling abroad.

Human Rights Watch, which has accused the International Olympic Committee of violating its own charter for equality by allowing Saudi Arabia into the Games while discriminating against women, said in a statement Monday that the country’s decision to allow female athletes to compete was progress — but not enough. The decision, the group said, “fails to address the fundamental barriers to women playing sports in the kingdom.”

It is unlikely that many female athletes from Saudi Arabia will qualify for the London Games. Dalma Rushdi Malhas, an equestrian, is regarded as the country’s most accomplished female athlete; she won a bronze medal at the Youth Olympics in 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/sp...-nytimessports

[SusanSazzios]

I don't think I'd pay any amount of money for something called a hog roast roll.

LOL.

[OgrGlgHu]

I just want to let everybody know that I'm super excited.
Like running around like a 3 year old who's ate way too many cupcakes.
Clothing optional.

The Olympics are my only religious holiday.

[SusanSazzios]

I just want to let everybody know that I'm super excited.
Like running around like a 3 year old who's ate way too many cupcakes.
Clothing optional.

The Olympics are my only religious holiday.

So many dittos! We've actually planned family reunions around the Olympics in the past.

[12Dvop4I]

My daughter belongs to the same church HJ and Kirk. She goes bonkers this time of year.

[lidersontop]

Gotta add my name to the list of Olympic fanatics - have my vacation booked from July 27 to Aug 12 - just 4 1/2 weeks to go.

[lidersontop]

WOW

[12Dvop4I]

July 12, 2012

Dead Heat Controversy Simply Will Not Die

By MARY PILON

The sprinter Jeneba Tarmoh is in Los Angeles, training to run in a relay in London, and still struggling to understand how a close race at the United States Olympic trials nearly three weeks ago became a national controversy and left her without a spot in the 100 meters at the Summer Games.

In the 100-meter final at the trials on June 23, Tarmoh was unofficially declared the third-place finisher ahead of her training partner and friend Allyson Felix — good for a spot on the Olympic team. But after a review of finish-line photos, race officials deemed it a dead heat for third place, leading to days of drama over which of the runners would earn the Olympic berth.

track1-popup.jpg

United States Track & Field officials gave Tarmoh and Felix options: One could cede the Olympic berth to the other, or they could break the tie with a coin toss or a runoff. Ultimately, Tarmoh ceded the spot.

Tarmoh and her agent, Kim Holland, said in telephone interviews this week that they remained dismayed by how the disputed finish was handled, though they said the situation had not adversely affected Tarmoh’s relationship with Felix or Bobby Kersee, who coaches both runners.

“I don’t accept what happened,” Tarmoh said. “They said, ‘You won,’ and took it away.”

As an indication of how conflicted she remains, Tarmoh said track officials “did the best they could do with the time they were given,” but added that she grew uneasy with the situation once USA Track & Field asked them to “make a decision based on how much they invested surrounding the runoff controversy.”

“We were puppets,” she added. “I couldn’t do it.”

After crossing the finish line, Tarmoh did a victory lap waving a United States flag, while Felix, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 200 meters, told reporters “fourth is the worst.”

But 45 minutes after the end of the race, once finish-line judges decided that third place was too close to call, the official result was posted: dead heat.



“This was an evolving situation,” Jill Geer, a spokeswoman for the track organization, said about the confusion and controversy. “We didn’t have a process in place.”

In track, results are determined by whose torso crosses the finish line first. The image that judges typically examine to determine a winner, known as the outside shot, did not show who finished third. In that photo, judges said, the arms of Tarmoh and Felix obscured their torsos.

“Normally when you have someone with a slightly twisted torso, you go to the other camera and it’s easy to see who is ahead,” said Giles Norton, a qualified USA Track & Field photo-finish official and director of marketing for Lynx System Developers Inc., the official timing and results provider for the track organization.

Roger Jennings, who had unofficially called Tarmoh the third-place finisher, relied on her twisted torso to make his decision. But he wanted to see an alternate image to confirm his decision for the official results. The second image “shows you nothing,” Norton said. “Ninety-nine times out of 100” the second shot reveals the winner, he said.

“In most cases it wouldn’t matter,” he said. “You would give both people bronze medals and say, ‘Isn’t that wonderful?’ ”

The track organization’s guidelines give runners up to 30 minutes to contest official results after they are posted. But by the time the official results were posted, 45 minutes after the race, Tarmoh was in the drug-testing tent. A USA Track & Field staff member there mentioned to Holland, Tarmoh’s agent, that Tarmoh’s third-place finish had been deemed a dead heat. The possibility of a dead heat was also mentioned by reporters during a news conference after the race.

track2-popup.jpg

“I said, ‘You’re kidding me,’ ” Holland said, leaving Tarmoh to finish the drug-testing protocol. “When we were in doping, we weren’t privy to access the media or phones.”

Holland said she and Tarmoh did not receive formal notification of the dead-heat ruling until a phone call late that evening with Stephanie Hightower, the president of the track organization.

“The first time I heard it was officially declared a dead heat was when Kim called me that night,” Tarmoh said.

Geer, the spokeswoman, said unofficial results are exactly that — unofficial. Watching for official results and filing protests are “the responsibility of the athlete or coach or manager,” she said.

Athletes are notified of results “organically,” Geer said, adding that most agents and coaches keep tabs on when official times are printed. “The posting is the notification,” she added. “It’s just known.”

Tarmoh said that although she was not sure she would have filed a formal protest if she had been aware of the situation within the 30-minute window, she wished she had understood the circumstances sooner. “The athlete should be the first to know,” she said.

Tarmoh said she wanted to follow her coach’s advice and focus on the 200-meter semifinals and final later in the week. Avoiding news coverage and conversations about the 100-meter controversy was “definitely the right decision.”

“Bobby’s role was to protect us like a father protects his kids,” Tarmoh said. “As far as the decision, he didn’t want to make one of us feel like we were inferior. He told us that he’s not going to make the decision — it’s our decision.”

Felix declined to be interviewed for this article. “Allyson is focusing on London and is not available to discuss,” a spokesman for Felix said in a statement.

On June 30, Felix won the 200-meter final, and Tarmoh finished fifth and failed to qualify for the Olympics.

In a two-hour meeting the next day that included Felix, Tarmoh, their managers, track officials and former athletes, Felix said she wanted to do the runoff, leaving Tarmoh with the choice of whether to run or concede.

“I felt like I had no other choice,” Tarmoh said about her initial agreement to compete in a runoff on July 2. “I felt like the athlete in me had to do the runoff. I’m a competitor.

“I just felt like I didn’t have enough time to make the decision.”

But after the 200 final, Tarmoh had started to read news coverage of the disputed finish, including an interview with Jennings in which he explained his methodology. Sharing the article with her former coaches and agent, Tarmoh grew frustrated that the information had not been discussed in her meetings with USA Track & Field officials.

After the runoff was announced, Tarmoh said, she “wasn’t at peace” with her decision.

“I know a lot of people can’t comprehend that,” she said. “But to me being at peace is a feeling where no one can make you cry. And I felt sad that whole day. I was an emotional wreck just thinking about the situation.

“I told myself, if you’re running this race, it would mean you’re running with a broken heart, and how well could you do if you’re not at peace? I just had to think about that. You try so hard to run with a purpose. How fast can you move if you barely can walk? It was an ultimate low. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. It hurt and cut deep.”

By July 2, the runoff was off.

If she had to do it over again, Tarmoh said she might not have initially agreed to the runoff. “I feel like I did let a lot of people down,” she said. “And I apologize for that.”

If she is looking for any redemption — or a gold medal — she will likely have a chance as a member of the 4x100 relay. The preliminaries are Aug. 9 and the final is on Aug. 10. “I’m excited about representing my country,” she said.

Tarmoh said she had an additional reason to be excited about her trip to London. She plans to meet an older brother for the first time.

“Even though all of this has happened, I get to go to London and meet my brother who lives there,” she said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/sp...r=1&ref=sports

[Barryrich]

Will you still medal in the morning?

Jul 13 8:56 AM ET | By Sam Alipour
ESPN The Magazine

AMERICAN TARGET SHOOTER Josh Lakatos faced a conundrum. Halfway through the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, he and his rifle-toting teammates were finished with their events, and the U.S. Olympic Committee and team officials had ordered them to turn in the keys to their three-story house and head back to the States. But Lakatos didn't want to leave. He knew from his experience four years earlier in Atlanta, where he'd won silver, that the Olympic Village was just about to erupt into a raucous party, and there was no way he was going to miss it. So he asked the maid at the emptied-out dwelling if she'd kindly look the other way as he jimmied the lock. "I don't care what you do," she replied.

Within hours, word of the nearly vacant property had spread. Popping up once every two years, the Olympic Village is a boisterous city within a city: chock-full of condos, midrises and houses as well as cafés, barbershops, arcades, discos and TV lounges. The only thing missing is privacy -- nearly everyone is stuck with a roommate. So while Lakatos claimed a first-floor suite for himself, the remaining rooms were there for the taking. The first to claim space that night were some Team USA track and field fellas.

"The next morning," Lakatos says, "swear to God, the entire women's 4x100 relay team of some Scandinavian-looking country walks out of the house, followed by boys from our side. And I'm just going, 'Holy crap, we'd watched these girls run the night before.'"

And on it went for eight days as scores of Olympians, male and female, trickled into the shooter's house -- and that's what everyone called it, Shooters' House -- at all hours, stopping by an Oakley duffel bag overflowing with condoms procured from the village's helpful medical clinic. After a while, it dawned on Lakatos: "I'm running a friggin' brothel in the Olympic Village! I've never witnessed so much debauchery in my entire life."

..........

There's much more of this story at:

http://espn.go.com/espnw/olympics/81...-espn-magazine

[hereiamguy]

Will you still medal in the morning?

Jul 13 8:56 AM ET | By Sam Alipour
ESPN The Magazine

AMERICAN TARGET SHOOTER Josh Lakatos faced a conundrum. Halfway through the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, he and his rifle-toting teammates were finished with their events, and the U.S. Olympic Committee and team officials had ordered them to turn in the keys to their three-story house and head back to the States. But Lakatos didn't want to leave. He knew from his experience four years earlier in Atlanta, where he'd won silver, that the Olympic Village was just about to erupt into a raucous party, and there was no way he was going to miss it. So he asked the maid at the emptied-out dwelling if she'd kindly look the other way as he jimmied the lock. "I don't care what you do," she replied.

Within hours, word of the nearly vacant property had spread. Popping up once every two years, the Olympic Village is a boisterous city within a city: chock-full of condos, midrises and houses as well as cafés, barbershops, arcades, discos and TV lounges. The only thing missing is privacy -- nearly everyone is stuck with a roommate. So while Lakatos claimed a first-floor suite for himself, the remaining rooms were there for the taking. The first to claim space that night were some Team USA track and field fellas.

"The next morning," Lakatos says, "swear to God, the entire women's 4x100 relay team of some Scandinavian-looking country walks out of the house, followed by boys from our side. And I'm just going, 'Holy crap, we'd watched these girls run the night before.'"

And on it went for eight days as scores of Olympians, male and female, trickled into the shooter's house -- and that's what everyone called it, Shooters' House -- at all hours, stopping by an Oakley duffel bag overflowing with condoms procured from the village's helpful medical clinic. After a while, it dawned on Lakatos: "I'm running a friggin' brothel in the Olympic Village! I've never witnessed so much debauchery in my entire life."

..........

There's much more of this story at:

http://espn.go.com/espnw/olympics/81...-espn-magazine

Holy crap, I've never wanted athletic ability more than after reading that.

[XIMHOTEP-X]

Holy crap, I've never wanted athletic ability more than after reading that.

OK, now I understand why so many tennis players were so upset about not making it to the Olympics....

[lidersontop]

Didn't you hear about Djokovic's hook-up with Paraguay's Leryn Franco - a javelin thrower - at the Beijing Olympics?

http://www.scoopcelebrity.com/novak-...from-paraguay/

[12Dvop4I]

List of US swimmers on Twitter.

http://swimswam.com/2012/07/us-olymp...complete-list/

[CxofxJFm]

Which sports besides tennis are you all most interested seeing?

For me it's volleyball, swimming, track cycling and badminton. Not sure if I'll get to see much this time - Latvian TV is unlikely to be interested in those sports and in the second week I'll probably have no TV access at all.

[12Dvop4I]

Swimming, track and field top the list but I tend to watch almost everything.

[lidersontop]

I like to watch sports with a time - swimming, cycling, athletics, rowing, etc. and will generally watch anything that is on TV but particularly anything where a Canadian wins a medal. Looking forward to the opening ceremony - less than two weeks. Tennis draws are being done July 26 - don't think that had been posted here before.

[12Dvop4I]

I like to watch sports with a time - swimming, cycling, athletics, rowing, etc. and will generally watch anything that is on TV but particularly anything where a Canadian wins a medal. Looking forward to the opening ceremony - less than two weeks. Tennis draws are being done July 26 - don't think that had been posted here before.

There is a separate thread for Olympic Tennis. Could you post that date there?

http://www.talkabouttennis.com/forum...-7-28-8-5-2012

[oronozopiy]

I'm sure nobody will be surprised that I like gymnastics and diving. Also some field events. A few races in track and swimming but sometimes the sheer quantity gets overwhelming.