London 2012 could be first ever Paralympic Games to sell all its tickets - The Guardian
Paralympic officials say they are confident the London Games could become the first to completely sell out in the event's 52-year history, following another round of strong ticket sales.
More than 1.2m of the 2.2m tickets on offer for the 2012 Paralympics, which run from 29 August to 9 September, have already been sold, the bulk of them in a much-promoted initial sales window in September. Another 125,000 were sold last week.
"We're probably in the strongest position we've ever been in for ticket sales ahead of a Paralympics," said Craig Spence, head of communications for the Bonn-based International Paralympic Committee. "Our intention is that it would be great if we could sell out the Games. It's definitely possible; there's a real potential for us to do it.
"It would be amazing. Bear in mind that in Sydney 12 years ago they were still giving away a lot of tickets. Tickets being sold for a Paralympic Games is still a fairly new thing, so to sell all of them for full price would be pretty remarkable."
Adrian Bassett from the London organising committee, responsible for the ticket sales, said the scale of early sales had been unprecedented: "A sellout is certainly possible. When you look at previous Paralympics it's quite often during the Olympics or just before that people wake up to the Paralympic Games and there's a surge of ticket sales then. We're expecting to still be selling tickets quite close to the Games themselves."
Even if the Games opened with just a few remaining seats available it would be a significant achievement, both for the London Games and the wider acceptance of Paralympic sport by the public.
At most of the 15 summer Paralympics since the first event, in Rome in 1960, seats have been given away for free. Organisers of the 2000 Sydney Games sold 1.2m tickets in all, with a figure of 850,000 in Athens four years later. Beijing in 2008 saw more than 3.6 million people watch Paralympic events in all, but almost half of tickets were distributed by the Chinese government to schools and community groups. Even the 1.82m full-price tickets were relatively cheap, ranging from 30 to 80 yuan (about £3 to £8).
The London Paralympic prices remain competitive – aside from the opening and closing ceremony the highest figure is £45, while 75% cost £20 or less.
The interest in tickets has been prompted by a number of factors, Spence said, ranging from pre-Games coverage by Channel 4, which will broadcast the Paralympics, to the wider awareness of Paralympics sports in the UK. He said: "People are buying into the concept. British Paralympic athletes are far more well known, say compared to China. We're in a far stronger starting position here than we were going into the Beijing Games. Paralympic sport is probably more accepted in this country than in any other country in the world."
Interest has also been spurred by the likelihood of some home success: the British team won 42 golds in Beijing, and has come second in the medal table in the last three summer Games. Spence said: "Everyone buys into winners, but I think people are also just buying into the fact that it's elite sport. They know they're going to see some really competitive action. It's elite sport at its best."
Such has been the interest that London officials are at pains to point out that while some lower-capacity sports such as wheelchair tennis and wheelchair rugby have largely sold out, tickets remain for many sessions in the 80,000-capacity Olympic stadium and in the aquatics centre.
For example, tickets are still available for the evening session of 6 September, where the finals include the men's wheelchair 800m, with London marathon winner David Weir a favourite, fellow Briton Hannah Cockcroft going in the women's 200m wheelchair race, and the men's T44 100m sprint, where the field is headed by the Paralympian superstar Oscar Pistorius.
The latter race would most likely be more exciting than its Olympic equivalent, Spence predicted: "At the men's T44 100m in the world championships last year just 0.09 seconds separated the top four finishers. Then think of by how fair Usain Bolt usually wins his 100m."
London 2012 - Argentine rowers bridge distance for London tilt - Yahoo! Eurosport
Ariel Suarez trains in Buenos Aires and Cristian Rosso 400 kilometres away in Mar del Plata but the Argentine rowers hope hard work and a helping hand from their French rivals will overcome the difficulties of training apart and let them shine at the London Olympics.
The Argentine duo have had to find a way to make their partnership work after teaming up two years ago. The Pan-American double sculls champions hope to do their country proud in London among a group of nations fighting it out behind the medal favourites.
Suarez and Rosso said their cause was helped by a productive training spell with the French team.
"We trained with the French national team and they told us we had a bright future, that the boat looked good but we had to iron out some issue we couldn't see here in Argentina," Suarez told Reuters in an interview.
"We improved a lot in technique, they gave us a lot of confidence. Physically we weren't able to improve much," he said at the national rowing centre in the suburb of Tigre in the delta of the Parana river.
"They showed us how they work ... The change was so big it was like a different sport, another way of rowing," said the 32-year-old, who has been competing since 2000.
After qualifying for the July 27-Aug. 12 London Games at a regatta in Slovenia, the South American pair's goal is to keep getting better, but they are aware that despite their improvements there are teams of a much higher standard.
"We're looking to improve on last year. We want to take that step, reach an 'A' final, that's our goal," Suarez said.
"Our keenness to improve isolates us from thoughts about going to an Olympic Games. That probably takes the pressure off and helps me relax."
The pair debuted together at a World Cup regatta in Switzerland in 2010. That same year they also took part in the world championships in New Zealand, finishing in the top 10 in their category and just outside the final.
Last year, they had an unhappy start with poor results in an old boat with the wrong oars, but there was a radical change at the World Cup in Hamburg where they won a silver medal.
"It was impressive, we didn't expect it," said Suarez.
That success led to two gold medals at the Pan-American Games in Guadalajara in October in the double and quadruple sculls.
"We live in different cities, he in Buenos Aires and I in Mar del Plata (400 km south on the Atlantic coast). We formed a group of four people with an agreed work plan," Rosso told Reuters.
"The coaches look to correct the same things despite the distance so as to work together on technique," the 28-year-old said.
The pair hope this way they will be able to edge closer to the big guns in rowing.
"There are two or three who can win medals, which are out of our reach. Then there are five or six, one or two seconds behind and we're there, from fourth place down," Rosso said.
"New Zealand, Australia, France and Germany are in the first Group. Then in the bunch you have Slovenia, Estonia, Norway, us, Canada, Lithuania. In that peloton of six boats, we want to try to be at the front, to be the first who are below those in the top level."
London 2012 Olympics Cause Many to Reconsider Their Data Centre Provider - business2community.com
With the London Olympic Games fast approaching, many businesses in the city have expressed concerns over the inevitable strain on the London power grid. There have already been power shortages across the capital, due to the extensive building and renovation operations being made in preparation for the biggest sporting event in the world.
Some of those most concerned about possible power outages are those in the data centre business; rising electricity costs are increasing their overheads, and understandably, they fear that any sudden loss in power could damage the long-term reputation of their business, even if the fault is not their own.
One extra worry for businesses who utilise data centres within the capital, is the unavoidable issue of physical access – the huge crowds descending upon central London and surrounding areas, along with water-tight security, will put traffic levels at an all time high. Problems could present themselves if engineers are unable to reach and repair equipment in the event of
technology failure.
Some providers have had the foresight to offer short-term service contracts for the entire duration of the Olympics and Paralympics, allowing both new and current clients to temporarily colocate their data / servers outside of London. While this solution is not ideal for every business, there’s no doubt it will appeal to those who will require efficient, uninterrupted access
to their data during the games.
Situating data centres outside London is becoming an increasingly common solution. The Olympics could be the catalyst that encourages more businesses to consider permanently relocating their data to a more remote location. And it’s not just Olympic-related disruptions that are causing this sudden rush to relocate data centres. There are additional benefits of using data centre services outside of the Capital:
- Many data centres outside London are brand new and purpose built, meaning better facilities, cutting edge technology and increased energy efficiency
- The cost of property and power is significantly less outside metropolitan areas, resulting in savings for the both the client and provider
- Wages outside major cities are usually much lower, again resulting in savings for both the client and provider
- The chance of a terrorist attack is significantly less, when compared to that of London
As well as the potential power outages, increased energy bills and limited physical access, there is growing concern regarding the availability of bandwidth, or rather the lack of it. Whether there will be enough to handle the huge influx of people that will be coming to London during the course of the Olympics is debatable. The vast majority of large service providers will be able to
overcome bandwidth issues, but businesses in London relying on other providers can expect a somewhat slower service during the London 2012.
As the Olympic Opening Ceremony draws ever closer, potential data issues are sure to escalate, and while it’s next to impossible to even approximate the levels of disruption the games will cause, it would appear that there’s never been a better time to relocate data outside the Capital.
Vauxhall inks parts distribution deal with Norbert - Automotive Business Review
Vauxhall Motors has awarded a GBP1m contract to Norbert Dentressangle for the distribution of its parts further three years.
As per the deal, Norbert will be responsible for the overnight distribution of automotive parts to 300 Vauxhall and Chevrolet retailers throughout the UK.
The logistics firm will also collect orders from Vauxhall's parts distribution centre in Luton, UK for overnight delivery to retailers through its national shared-user network.
Norbert will also offer various services including waste management, sorting and management, yard services, site shunting and outbound loading.
Vauxhall Motors warehouse operations manager Peter Durham said that Norbert Dentressangle provides a transport solution that enables the company to maintain a high level of service to its retailers.
"This combined with the a range of added value site services means we will continue to benefit from a reliable and cost effective parts distribution operation," Durham said.
Norbert has been providing Vauxhall with aftersales parts distribution since 12 years, and with this contract extension it will offer services to 35 new trailers.
London 2012: Road cycling tickets go on sale - BBC News
More tickets for road cycling events at the London Olympics are on sale, organiser Locog says.
Tickets are available for Box Hill in Surrey - where the road races can be viewed - and Hampton Court Palace, for the time trials.
Tickets priced from £5 to £15 are available on a first come, first served basis until they are sold out.
Box Hill is a special conservation area, but Locog said it was working to minimise the impact on wildlife.
The decision to charge for the 15,000 tickets being allocated to the prime viewing point has angered some local people, including local councillors, who say any profits from the event should go to ensuring the Olympics leave a legacy for the area.
Tickets providing access to The Hill and the big screen at Wimbledon - where the Olympic tennis events are being held - are also on sale, as well as tickets for the Orbit sculpture on the Olympic Park, Locog said.
The Orbit, which is between the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre, will give visitors a view of the entire park and across London's skyline.
BBC's Olympics correspondent James Pearce said he had been "inundated" by reports from people complaining that the London 2012 website was not working.
But the organisers said the problem had been resolved.
A London 2012 spokesperson said: "The sheer volume of demand meant that we managed transactions slowly in the first 20 minutes. However transactions now flowing through in their thousands."
Our correspondent tweeted that the site was meant to cope with 250,000 transactions an hour.
Unsold ticketsVisitors will be able to take a trip up the structure in a lift and have the option of walking down the spiral staircase.
Tickets for the Orbit are available only to those who have Olympic Park tickets or tickets for an event in the park, and only for the day they are due to visit, Locog said.
On Friday, the BBC reported that about 300,000 Olympics tickets that went on sale earlier this month remain unsold.
That is out of 928,000 put on general sale earlier this month and are in addition to the more than one million football tickets which remain unsold so far.
All tickets have been sold in some sports, including athletics, track cycling, equestrianism, rhythmic gymnastics and swimming.
The opening and closing ceremonies are also fully sold out.
But tickets are still available for sports including boxing, basketball, beach volleyball, weightlifting and football.
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