Recent posts in my Olympics Category
January 9, 2012
Don’t expect the IOC to understand social media at the London Olympics - their website lives in 2009
Paul Adams, an ex-Googler now at Facebook, has written a great blog post about why the announcement that volunteers at the London Olympics won’t be able to use social media is not just King Cnut-like, but a missed opportunity. It is no surprise the IOC doesn’t understand social media.
October 18, 2010
London 2012 Olympic ticket prices accessibility failure
A long list of numbers is the very definition of tabular data, easily represented in an accessible HTML <TABLE> structure. And yet the ticket prices for the Olympic games were only made public as a PDF file...
March 12, 2010
The Winter Olympics online review: Part 6 - Germany, Canada, and video overview
Over the last week or so I've been reviewing online newspaper coverage of the recent Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. In the final part of this series, I want to look at elements of coverage in Germany and Canada, and present an overview video with some clips of the sites in action.
March 11, 2010
The Winter Olympics online review: Part 5 - Austrian coverage
The fifth part of this series looking at online newspaper coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is an overview of some of the features that appeared in the Austrian press before the games got underway.
March 10, 2010
The Winter Olympics online review: Part 4 - "The Twitter Olympics"
In part 4 of this series examining online coverage by newspapers of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, I'm looking at uses of Twitter from Sweden and Germany, and a community platform in South Korea.
March 8, 2010
The Winter Olympics online review: Part 3 - Online tabloids in Sweden
In the third part of this series, I'm reviewing the very similar online coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics from two of Sweden's biggest papers - Aftonbladet and Expressen.
March 5, 2010
The Winter Olympics online review: Part 2 - Visual navigation in Italy and France
The second part of this series looking at online newspaper coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games has a focus on visual navigation elements appearing in France and Italy.
March 4, 2010
The Winter Olympics online review: Part 1
The opening post in a series looking at online newspaper coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics from around the world.
December 17, 2009
Katherine Green: "Wood Street, E17" and "1948 Olympians"
Two of photographer Katherine Green's projects have been about subjects close to my heart - one documenting the shops on Wood Street where I used to live, and one a series of portraits of British Olympians from the 1948 London Olympic Games.
November 16, 2009
Olympic Memory Marathon: Part 3 - My Olympic memory
On November 7th I took part in the Olympic Memory Marathon, a video project by artist Simon Pope capturing 104 Londoners talking about their experience of the Olympics, whilst he walked the length of a marathon through the streets of the boroughs hosting the 2012 games. These are the memories that I related to him. I've never been lucky enough to go to an Olympics, but I have visited several of the stadiums where the games have been held....
November 13, 2009
Olympic Memory Marathon: Part 2 - "I am one of the 104"
At the weekend I took part in an art project for the London 2012 Olympics called the "Memory Marathon". Artist Simon Pope walked the distance of a marathon whilst talking to 104 people who lived or worked in the London Boroughs hosting the next games about their memories of the Olympics. Yesterday I blogged about the workshops leading up to the event, and today I wanted to write about my experience on November 7th, the day of the "Memory...
November 12, 2009
Olympic Memory Marathon: Part 1 - The project and workshops
"This is an unusual project, and I can tell that by being here you are unusual people" Our facilitator wasn't wrong - within a couple of minutes of arriving at my first workshop for the Olympic Memory Marathon I was being accosted by a wonderful fiftysomething out of work actress assuring me that didn't do porn (but that she did get asked), and by another guy tipsy enough that he gave the impression of not remembering why he was...
February 7, 2009
Boris thinks casual racism about 2012 London Olympic athletes will be OK, provided you are 'sensitive' about it
When I blogged yesterday about the strengths of the Mail Online's comment voting system, I steered clear of comment on the subject matter being voted on. It seemed to me that there were enough people pontificating on the Carol Thatcher / One Show issue, so why should I add anything to the cacophony?However, yesterday I changed my mind. Firstly I read this piece by Hannah Pool in The Guardian, which reminded me of how much racial abuse my non-white classmates...
August 29, 2008
Currybetdotnet recent comments round-up 2008-08-29
Back in February and March of this year I did a series of articles about blog comments, and one of my suggestions was that doing an occasional round-up of interesting comments was a way of making sure they got attention, particularly if they had been left on older articles. One way or another I've been in a bit of an Internet connection black hole for the last five weeks or so, and it means that the moderating of comments on...
August 24, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: London 2012
In Beijing today, at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, the Olympic Flag will be handed over to London, marking the official moment that London becomes the host of the 2012 Games. It also marks the hand-over of all of the politics, protest and dissent that usually accompanies an Olympic Games. Over the last 3 weeks I've been examining that history, from the modern founding of the Games in 1896, through the Nazi Olympics of 1936, the protest-laden...
August 23, 2008
"Land of the mascots"
I spent the build-up and start of the Olympics in Macau, which had certainly dressed itself up to celebrate the occasion. You couldn't move for 'The Fuwa', the five Olympic mascots. 'Beibei', 'Jingjing', 'Huanhuan', 'Yingying' and 'Nini' were everywhere you looked, decorating roundabouts, lamp-posts, and posters. 'Yingying' obviously wasn't prepared for the typhoon that hit whilst I was there though! Even Macau's greatest landmarks were not immune. The ruins of the Church of St Paul are arguably the distinctive...
August 22, 2008
So, when exactly did Peking become Beijing? And why?
Over here in Greece the Olympics are being broadcast by state channel ΕΡΤ. It took me a few days to realise that the phrase ΠΕΚΙΝΟ 2008 that swooshed across their coverage was effectively the Greek for Peking, rather than using a transliteration of Beijing. That prompted me to wonder when Peking had actually become Beijing. I mean, when I grew up the capital city of China was most definitely Peking. Then again, when I grew up there was a...
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Beijing 2008
During the course of the Olympics I've been looking at the history of dissent, protest, politics and terrorism associated with the Games. The 2008 organisers must have hoped that following the disruption to this year's international Torch Relay, they had seen the last of such incidents. However, it wasn't to be, and even before the glittering opening ceremony there had been terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, and 'Free Tibet' protests in Beijing. Even the ceremony itself came in for criticism...
August 21, 2008
Celebrate the Olympic handover to London on Flickr and YouTube
In just a few days time, at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, China will hand over the Olympic flag to London. I'm quite relieved it is just the flag actually, because I had this terrible mental image of them handing over the Olympic Flame, and then Boris having to keep it burning in his draw in City Hall for the next four years. He'll be receiving the flag though, from the Mayor of Beijing, in a handover ceremony...
Olympic milk, or gold medal substitute?
When I was in Macau, it wasn't just the clothing industry that was hi-jacking the Olympic brand and symbols to try and sell products. Take something as mundane as milk for example. Going to the local corner shop or supermarket presented you with a choice. You could either buy an official, Olympic endorsed "Milk Beverage"... ...or you could pick up the Kowloon Dairy's Gold Medal "Milk Drink"...
August 20, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Athens 2004
Before and during the course of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing I've been writing a series of posts looking at the complicated history of politics, protest and dissent that have surrounded the modern Games since they were first held in Athens in 1896. On that occasion they were marked by an overt display of national pride by the hosts, and a protest run by Stamata Revithi who wanted women to be allowed to partake in the event. Athens...
August 19, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Sydney 2000
To accompany the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games I've been writing a series of posts looking at the history of politics, protest and dissent since their modern beginning in Athens in 1896. The Games celebrating a century of modern Olympiads were marred by a terrorist attack by an American anti-abortion campaigner Eric Rudolf. He killed one person in an explosion at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park. The next Olympics were also marking a significant numerical milestone - the dawning of the...
August 18, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Atlanta 1996
I've been writing a series of posts looking at the history of politics, protest and dissent at the Olympic Games. On two occasions that dissent has turned into murderous terrorism. In 1972 there was an attack on the Israeli delegation that left 11 dead. In 1996 it was domestic American terrorism that killed one person and wounded over 100 others, when a bomb was placed at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. The bombing Alice Hawthorne was killed in Atlanta's...
August 17, 2008
The Olympic Swim-O-Matic on display in Macau
Unlike at Euro2008, where UEFA's top sponsors had billboards all over the stadia, one of the challenges of sponsoring or being a marketing partner at the Olympics is that you can't directly advertise within the sporting arenas themselves. Marketing activity has to take place away from the Games, and, as I saw in Macau, is at risk of being usurped by 'fake' Olympic branding. There was a lot of official marketing around as well, and Olympic timekeepers Omega had...
August 16, 2008
Macau presents for your enjoyment....Olympic horse-back fencing!
As I mentioned, I was in Macau during the build-up and start of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Although Macau is a 'Special Administrative Region' of China, and so under a different legislative framework, the area is still proud to be associated with hosting the Olympics. There are street signs and evidence of Olympic-related activity almost everywhere you go. Macau is an interesting area because of the mix of the Chinese population with the Portuguese heritage of the former colony....
August 15, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Seoul 1988 & Barcelona 1992
As this years' Olympic Games have been progressing, I've been writing a series of posts looking at the complex history of politics, protest and dissent at the Olympics since their modern inception in 1896. The first two summer Olympiads held during the 1980s both suffered from Cold War boycotts. The US led a coalition of countries who refused to attend Moscow in 1980, and the Soviet Union and the countries in their sphere of influence stayed away from the...
August 14, 2008
Promotional Olympic leaflets in Macau
I was in Macau during the build-up and start of this year's Beijing Olympics, and, since it is one of China's "Special Administrative Regions", I really got a taste of what it was like to be in the host country. The British team stayed in Macau in the run-up to the Olympics, and we spotted quite a few people walking around with their Olympic accreditation badges and 'Team GB' shirts on. The reason they picked Macau was because it...
August 13, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Los Angeles 1984
I've been writing a series of articles looking back at the history of politics, protest and dissent at the Olympic Games. In the last part I looked at the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which was led by the USA in protest at Soviet military action in Afghanistan. Whilst that boycott is often now regarded as a principled, if misguided, action, most observers regard the corresponding boycott of the 1984 Olympics by those in the Soviet sphere of...
August 12, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Moscow 1980
I've been writing a series of posts looking at the history of protest, politics and dissent at the Olympic Games since their modern inception in 1896. From 1968 to 1984 the Games saw some of their most turbulent times. 1968 was marred by protests on the podiums and a massacre away from the stadium, 1972 was scarred by the appalling terrorist murders of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic delegation, and 1976 saw the first mass political boycott. The...
August 11, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Montreal 1976
With the Olympic Games being held in the People's Republic of China, there has been plenty of attention focussed on the Chinese record on human rights, the environment, and particularly the relationships between China and Tibet and Taiwan. Earlier this year the Olympic Torch Relay became a focus for political protest, and I've been writing a series of posts looking at the history of Olympic dissent. In the previous post in this series I looked at the lowest point...
August 10, 2008
Counterfeit Olympic branding in Macau
For the last couple of weeks, during the build-up to and start of the Beijing Olympics, I've been in Macau, the ex-Portuguese colony that is one of China's 'Special Administrative Regions'. China has a reputation as a home for counterfeit goods and piracy, as any trip to the average corner shop or Internet cafe in Macau will show you. If you venture further, into a shopping centre somewhere on mainland China like Zhuhai, you'll find you can get pretty...
August 9, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Munich 1972
Over the last week or so I've been writing a series of posts looking at the history of dissent, politics and protest at the Olympics. 1968 was the first time that lives were lost on account of the Games. A political demonstration in the Tlatelolco area of Mexico City ended in state organised violence, killing hundreds of students, just days before the Olympics were due to begin. In 1972 in Münich, death came to the Games itself, with a...
August 8, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Mexico 1968
To coincide with today's opening ceremony in Beijing, over the last few days I've been writing a series of posts looking at the political controversies, protest and dissent that has often surrounded the Olympic Games since their modern foundation in 1896. Some, like the student prank of a fake Olympic torch in Sydney for the 1956 games were funny. Others, like Peter O'Connor's protest at having to compete as an Irishman under the British flag, or Stamata Revithi's marathon...
August 7, 2008
Introducing Olympic Fansivu
As well as Olympic Chipwrapper, I've made an Olympic version of Fansivu - my one page aggregator of user-generated content around a sporting event theme. Olympic Fansivu picks up the latest chatter from Twitter about the Olympics using Tweetscan, and adds links to the latest blog posts appearing on Technorati about the Beijing Games. Photos are automatically pulled in from Flickr, and I've tried something different this time from my Euro2008 Fansivu. Rather than blending a couple of tags...
Latest Team GB news feed now on Chipwrapper...but not the BOA site
As Olympic Chipwrapper is focussed on British news about the Olympics, I've added the official Team GB RSS feed into the headlines mix, so that as well as seeing what British newspapers are saying about the Games, you can see what the BOA thinks. At the moment, it is one of the easiest places to find British Olympic headlines, as I had to do a bit of a hunt around for the feed address. The BOA site claims to have...
'F' for 'Former', 'R' for 'Republic' or 'M' for 'the M word'?
There will be one piece of Olympic politics and protocol closely observed from the spiritual home of the Games during tomorrow's opening ceremony in Beijing - whereabouts in the parade of athletes those representing Skopje will feature. Politics have featured in the athlete's entrance several times over the course of the history of the Games. Most recently, in 2000, the significant event was the way that the athletes from divided Korea marched. Although their separated nations are still technically...
August 6, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: The post-war years 1948-1964
With all eyes on the political situation surrounding the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China, I've been writing a series of posts looking at the history of politics, protest and dissent at the Olympic Games. In the last post I was looking at what was the low-point of the Olympic movement to date - the hijacking of the games by the Nazis for propaganda purposes in Berlin in 1936. London in 1948 After World War II the Games resumed with...
August 5, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Berlin 1936
Selecting China as this year's host for the Olympic Games has opened the country up to intense media exposure over issues like human rights and the environment. It has also made the Games a focus for protest over Tibet. It seems that ever since the modern Games were founded, politics, dissent and protest have been part of the spectacle. I've been writing about how these phenomena manifested themselves at the Games in 1896, during the pre-war years, and at...
August 4, 2008
Introducing Olympic Chipwrapper
When a global sporting event like the Olympics comes around, you can be sure that there will be acres of coverage in the British media, even if public interest is dwindling. And for every newspaper contingent that is slimming down this time around, the BBC can be guaranteed to be sending a bigger team than Team GB itself. If there is masses of coverage, you need something to guide you through it. That is where Olympic Chipwrapper comes in...
August 3, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: The inter-war years 1920-1932
The public eye has been on China's human rights record as the Olympic Games approach, with some people calling for a boycott of the games over political issues. It seems that almost everywhere the Games have been held over the last 112 years, there has always been an element of politics, protest and dissent. I've been writing a series of posts looking at that history, starting with the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896, and an overview of...
August 2, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: The pre-war years 1900-1912
Hosting the Olympic Games in the People's Republic of China has put the spotlight on China's human rights and environmental record, and there have been some calls for the games to be boycotted. It seems that even from the start of the modern Olympics in 1896, the games have found themselves inevitably entwined with politics, protest, and dissent. Yesterday I wrote about how the Greek hosts in 1896 used the opportunity to boost national pride, but also how one...
August 1, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Athens 1896
The selection of Beijing and The People's Republic of China to host the 2008 Olympics was always a controversial choice, which has thrown a sometimes unwelcome spotlight on the country. China's record on Internet censorship, human rights, the death penalty and the environment have all been questioned by the Western media as they cover the build-up to the games, and the torch relay, intended to be a celebration of the spirit of the games, was instead a focal point...
July 29, 2008
60th anniversary of the 1948 London Olympics
With the 2008 edition of the Olympic Games just days away, today is the sixtieth anniversary of the opening of the 1948 London Olympic Games. Unlike the previous time that London held the games, in 1908, when they started in April and lasted most of the summer, the 1948 games had a recognisably modern two week format. London had only a couple of years to prepare, having been awarded the games ahead of Baltimore, Lausanne, Los Angeles and Philadelphia in...
July 19, 2008
2008 Olympic "Spambush" marketing
'Ambush marketing' at major sporting events has become a prevalent phenomena in the 2000s, affecting the Olympics despite the incredibly complex sponsorship rules drawn up by the IOC. The 2002 Winter Olympics saw Sprint running a snowy campaign that associated the brand with sponsoring 'everything fast, new, and really quite amazing', whilst during the 2004 Athens games, beer Miller ran a campaign proclaiming victory in an Athens-based taste test. Athens, Georgia, mind you, but Athens nevertheless. And who can...
April 27, 2008
100 years since the first London Olympics
Earlier this week I wrote a post on the anniversary of the 1906 Intercalated Olympic Games in Athens. We are used to the Summer Olympics being held later in the year nowadays, but April used to be the chosen month to get the games underway. Today is the centenary anniversary of the first time that London held the games. Following the first three modern Olympiads in Athens, Paris and St. Louis, the 1908 Olympic Games were scheduled to be held...
April 22, 2008
1906 Athens 'Intercalated' Olympic Games anniversary
The fact that the modern summer Olympics have generally been run in late summer means that there is a cluster of Olympic anniversaries in August. However, today is the 102nd anniversary of the opening of the 1906 games being held in Athens. These games are remarkable because they are no longer counted as 'official'. Athens held the first modern Olympics in 1896, and also wanted to host the 1900 edition. Paris was offered this honour instead, but by way of...
April 6, 2008
Propaganda, politics and censorship - The Olympic Torch Relay since 1936
Today the Olympic flame will be passing through London, and we will almost certainly see some form of protest about China's treatment of Tibet. And importantly, we will almost certainly see it in the media. This was not the case in Greece, where the state-run media tried its hardest to suppress any images or reporting of protests that took place on the flame's five day trip around the country. State television only showed the protest at the lighting ceremony...
January 23, 2008
Greece admits defeat against Olympic phone-tapping spies
It sometimes seems that, rather like the funding mechanisms of the British Labour Party, politics in Greece simply lurches from one scandalous crisis to the next. Before Zahopoulos there were the accusations by the government that the opposition party was deliberately starting the devastating summer forest fires, and before that there was the bond sales saga. Way back when I first arrived in Greece, it was the Vodafone phone-tapping issue that was top of the scandal agenda. Whilst the Zahopoulos...
January 14, 2008
Greece lets Athens Olympics domain names lapse
Whilst I was poking around the English language Greek news sites for information on the Zahopoulos case, another news item caught my eye in Kathimerini. 'Games website lost for a pittance' explains that: "Internet users wishing to find information on the Athens 2004 Olympic Games are no longer able to access its official website after the government failed to renew the rights to the domain name. A 29.30-euro fee required by site owners to renew domain name ownership rights every...
June 4, 2007
How many logos does one London Olympic Games need?
Do you have a logo for your business or event? Does it neatly encapsulate the vision of what you are doing - say for example including a recognisable landmark like the Thames, in the colours of something to do with what you are promoting, I don't know, say the Olympics? Does it carry all the vital information you need to convey, say for example the date and location of the event? Have you sold a ton of merchandising already featuring...
July 6, 2005
Olympic Round-Up
The BBC wasn't the only site to suffer from the volume of Olympic related internet traffic just after decision time this afternoon - whilst we had to switch to our frankly ugly mini-me version of the homepage to help the servers cool off, london2012.org died completely. Elsewhere on the web the DCMS opted for a massive splash graphic to announce the news, whilst london.gov.uk went for a more restrained approach. Meanwhile the official Olympics site used the iconic image...
May 25, 2005
Olympic Unveiling Ceremony at the BBC's Broadcast Centre
Yesterday I got a shock when I went in to work, to find that the side of my office which had recently gained an Olympic Plaque on the wall, had suddenly been covered up by a flag. In fact it was shrouded in preparation for it being formally unveiled in front of BBC Director General Mark Thompson, and President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge. The plaque commemorates the 1908 Olympics held in White City, and also the centenary of the...
May 17, 2005
The 1908 Olympics in White City
Another thing that happened whilst I was away from work was that the BBC's Broadcast Centre got a wall display about the 1908 Olympic Games that were held on the site. As I approach my office every morning I cross over a marker on the ground that shows where the finish line of the 1908 track was placed. (Sometimes, if I think nobody is looking I approach it in a faux slow-motion run whilst whistling the Vangelis theme tune from...
March 10, 2005
A warped sense of loyalty
Tonight's Evening Standard printed a letter from a London Assembly Member, Labour's Cllr Murad Qureshi: I see that French Arsenal and Chelsea players have aligned themselves with the Paris bid to host the 2012 Olympics I would have thought Londoners who pay £40 a match to watch footballers who are paid £20,000 a week would expect a little more loyalty. Hmm, I wonder what the public reaction would be if a certain David Beckham and Michael Owen showed the kind...
August 14, 2004
The Olympics have started on the BBC
I've never been a huge fan of the Olympics in the past. When I was growing up the events most likely to make an impact on my consciousness were the politically-driven boycott-stricken years of 1980 and 1984 - which all seemed a bit silly to a 9 year old. For Athens though I have a professional interest - the BBC has invested a huge amount of time in securing and delivering broadband media rights, and we have multi-screen interactivity on...
