Jessica Ennis was labelled "fat" by a senior official at UK Athletics, according to her coach Toni Minichiello.
A "high-ranking person" at the governing body said the 26-year-old poster goal of the London 2012 Olympics is "fat and she's got too much weight", according to Minichiello.
The 45-year-old has coached the heptathlete since she was 11, and poured scorn on the criticism, clarifying Ennis' weight hadn't fluctuated.
"The things you can't deal with are what we've dubbed 'silver bullets'," the 45-year-old told The Guardian. "And other people. You can't deal with the expectations and pressures that are on other people, like the BOA's [British Olympic Association] team management."
Born in Sheffield, like Ellis, Minichiello suggested the distractions in the build-up to the Games stemmed from "people in fairly high positions, who should know better".
Commercial activities have been ramped up with just over two months to go until the Olympics begin, and Minichiello bemoaned the "advice" he has personally received, claiming it is easy to get "distracted by" the "background noise".
The former civil servant however conceded Ennis' image has elevated as London 2012 looms, but stressed she remained humble.
"The difference is that she's now a 'personality'. If she walks into the dining room, people will go 'Ooh, that's Jessica Ennis from athletics.'
"Equally, she'd turn round and go 'Wow, that's David Beckham on the Great Britain football team.' So there's lots of distractions."
UK Athletics have declined to comment.
London 2012 - Saudis resist pressure to include women - Yahoo! Eurosport
Saudi Arabia looks set to send an all-male Olympic team to London after resisting IOC efforts to include women athletes.
IOC President Jacques Rogge has refused to consider the possibility of sanctions against the Gulf state or allow Saudi women to compete under a neutral flag.
"We are continuing to discuss with them, and their athletes are training and we hope that they will qualify in due time for the Games," Rogge said. "There is absolutely no reason to consider the participation of Saudi women under an IOC flag.
"There is a commitment (to allow women to compete), it is not an easy situation and we are working with them to find a solution."
If the issue remains unresolved, Saudi Arabia would be the only country competing in London without a female representative.
Qatar, Brunei and Saudi Arabia were the only countries to send all male teams to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Both Qatar and Brunei have committed to sending women athletes to London.
The IOC has come under pressure to expel Saudi Arabia, as their stance contradicts the IOC charter which reads: “any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, sex or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement”.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson, said:
“Saudi Arabia is the last hold-out denying women and girls the ability to take part in sports,”
“The Saudi government’s position should trigger serious scrutiny by the Olympic family. The dismal and unequal conditions for women and girls who seek to practice sports in Saudi Arabia need to change now.”
London 2012 Olympics: Saudi Arabia Refuse to Lift Ban on Female Athletes - ibtimes.co.uk
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Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei are the only countries that have never fielded women on their Olympic teams. While Qatar and Brunei have announced plans to take female athletes to London, the Saudis have yet to do so.
According to Rogge, discussions with the Saudis are continuing.
He ruled out the possibility of Saudi woman competing in London under the Olympic flag, rather than as members of the Saudi team.
The IOC has come under pressure from human rights groups for not imposing sanctions against Saudi Arabia for not sending female athletes.
Human Rights Watch Middle East director Sarah Leah Witson said: "Saudi Arabia is the last holdout denying women and girls the ability to take part in sports.
"The clock is running out for Saudi women to join the games and for the international community to insist that the Saudi government allow women to participate."
Although Saudi Arabia may not have women who meet Olympic qualifying standards, the IOC is prepared to offer them special conditions or look for other solutions.
As recently as the Atlanta 1996 Olympics, 26 national teams did not include women.
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London Mayor's office: Boris Johnson announces new communications chief - eGov Monitor
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has appointed a senior BBC journalist as his new communications chief. Johnson has said that he is delighted that Walden has taken to position. The post was vacant after Guto Harri, also a former BBC employee, left the position to work for News International.
Boris Johnson has thrown his full support behind Walden, announcing that he will add drive, originality and flair to the position. He went further, adding, I believe Will has exactly the right skills to help us engage with Londoners. He has enormous experience of politics and a great track record at the BBC. I am thrilled to welcome him on board.
Walden has had a long career in journalism, starting in local papers and eventually spending 12 years working at the BBC. He has welcomed the challenge presented by the post, being pleased to join the Mayors office at such a critical time. He said, A diamond jubilee and an Olympic Games represent among the very best that London has to offer.
Johnsons use of another BBC journalists was a small surprise after his scathing comments against the corporation in his column for the Telegraph. He wrote, the prevailing view of Beeb newsrooms is, with honourable exceptions, statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and, above all, overwhelmingly biased to the left.
London Gets Gold for ID Fraud - Yahoo Finance
NOTTINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire -05/23/12)- London could be set for a rise in identity fraud this summer as new figures from Experian CreditExpert reveal that 7.7 million Britons from outside the capital are set to descend on some of the UK's worst areas for ID theft - while 1.9 million Londoners plan to escape.(1)
London, the boroughs around many of the Games venues in particular, is already home to the UK's worst ID fraud hotspots, with rates of attempted fraud up to 11 times higher than the national average. These include East Ham (11 times higher), Woolwich (6.5 times higher) and Stratford itself (six times higher).(2)
There will be a mass influx of people into these areas, carrying personal information in the forms of UK bank account details, and credit card details. This leaves individuals at a high risk of Identity Fraud with individuals, in unfamiliar surroundings, exercising less caution than they would normally adhere to in their normal surroundings. This presents a massive opportunity to fraudsters, with visitors likely to have passports and other pieces of personal identification about their person, be freely using smart phones and unsecured WiFi hotspots, and also potentially sharing hostels or rented accommodation with strangers all of which increase the risk of identity theft.
Visitors are therefore advised to keep a close eye on their personal information, and on their credit report following their visit for any signs of unusual activity. CreditExpert also provides alerts if your personal details appear anywhere unexpectedly online so it is easy to protect yourself pro-actively.
TOP FIVE RISKS TOP FIVE TIPS TO STAY SAFE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Passports Think about how much sensitive information you really need to have about your person - if your hotel booking has your card number and address, do you need to carry it around with you, for instance? Likewise, don't take your passport out with you unless you absolutely have to. If you are staying in a hotel for the Games, ask for sensitive documents to be securely stored in the hotel safe when you are not using them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PIN codes Make sure that no-one else can see you enter your PIN code at ATMs and chip and pin machines, particularly in large crowds. Do not write down or carry your PIN code with you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Smartphones If you have a smartphone, you'll certainly want to photograph and tweet your time at the Olympics, but be particularly careful what you share when connected to an unsecured wireless network. Also ensure you switch off Bluetooth and roaming settings when not required and ensure you use a password. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post If you're going to be one of the lucky ones visiting London for a few weeks to enjoy the Games, think about what you'll do with your post. Intercepted post is one of the key ways in which fraudsters can take people's detail, so it could be worth setting up a redirect for the duration of the Games. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Face-to-face Check the credentials of anyone asking for your personal information, whether by phone, face-to-face or over the internet. If in doubt, don't do it!
The Experian CreditExpert research reveals that no fewer than one in six Britons (16 per cent) is planning on visiting London during the Olympics, half as tourists and half to attend the Games themselves. Seventeen per cent of people coming to the capital have not been for more than a decade, with a further three per cent making their first ever trip to the city.
Nearly six out of 10 (59 per cent) will be staying for several days. Although one in four (25 per cent) will be staying in hotels and one in five (21 per cent) with friends, a significant minority (four per cent) will risk staying in a hostel and two per cent will be renting a property or someone's spare room - some 154,000 people.(3)
And although they are concerned about large crowds (23 per cent) and the expense of London (20 per cent), just three per cent are worried about identity fraud.
The risk of ID fraud among visitors is arguably heightened by the decision of many Londoners to quit the capital during the course of the Games. One in 14 (seven per cent) are looking to leave London for the duration of the Olympics, with a further one in six (17 per cent per cent) planning to get out of the city for at least some of the period.
But it's not just newcomers who need to be careful. The one in 20 Londoners taking on a lodger or renting out a room or their whole property need to be aware they are putting themselves at risk of ID fraud by inviting a stranger into their home and are advised to ensure personal details are locked away and post collected promptly.
Peter Turner, Managing Director at Experian Interactive, commented: "This is set to be a once in a lifetime summer. But that doesn't mean people should let their guard down - just because you are holidaying in the UK, you should still take the same precautions you would if you were on a city break to Europe.
"Identity fraud is one of the fastest-growing crimes of the 21st century, and anyone could be at risk from fraudsters getting hold of their personal information, particularly if they are in an unfamiliar area, renting a flat short-term or a room in a B&B. Likewise if you are a homeowner letting a spare room just for the Olympics, do ensure all your personal details are kept safe from visitors."
"This is why it is so important to have proper safeguards in place to protect your identity. With Experian CreditExpert if the worst should happen you will be alerted to any significant changes to your credit report so that you can react quickly and keep the risks to a minimum."
Identity fraud hotspots
Top 10 10k households Top 10 in 10k households nationwide Cases London Cases ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slough 25 East Ham 78 London (all) 22 Woolwich 46 Gravesend 20 Stratford 43 Birmingham 17 Ilford 33 Luton 16 Walthamstow 27 Manchester 15 Harrow 27 Leicester 14 Cheapside 26 High Wycombe 13 Lewisham 26 Peterborough 13 Hatfield 26 Windsor 12 Enfield 26
To avoid becoming a victim of identity fraud this summer, Experian CreditExpert suggests some further tips:
1. Keep an eye on your credit report It's a history of all your credit accounts and will highlight any irregularities such as suspect applications for credit and rises in card balances. You can view your credit report free with a 30 day trial with Experian CreditExpert.(ii)((i)New customers only. Monthly fee after trial ends) 2. If in doubt, don't click If an email purporting to be from a hotel or linked to the Games seems suspicious, contact the relevant organisation and don't give out personal details. Your bank, credit card provider and any reputable business will never ask for confirmation of details by email. 3. If you do become a victim of fraud Don't forget you can sign up to Experian's CreditExpert whose dedicated victims of fraud team will work on your behalf to resolve the issue.
Notes to editors:
1. The UK adult population is 48,091,600 (ONS). Sixteen per cent of adults are set to come to London during the Olympics. Therefore: 0.16 x 48,091,600 = 7,694,656 or 7.7 million.
The population of Greater London is 7,753,000 (ONS) 24 per cent of Londoners are looking to leave the capital during some or all of the Games. Therefore: 0.24 x 7,753,000 = 1,860,720 or 1.9 million
2. Based on analysis of information from the National Hunter anti-fraud data sharing system and the Insurance Hunter database.
3. 0.02 x 7694656 = 153,893 or 154,000
Key benefits of Experian CreditExpert membership:
- Experian is the UK's most trusted credit reference agency
- Experian is the credit expert with more than 30 years of experience
- Free 30-day trial of CreditExpert(i)((i)New customers only. Monthly fee after trial ends)
- Unlimited access to your Experian Credit Score
- Weekly alerts of changes to your credit report
- Access to an award-winning, UK-based customer services team
- Identity Protection Insurance of up to GBP 75,000(ii) ((ii)terms and conditions apply)
- Expert advice and tools to help improve your credit rating
- Intelligent price matching to credit products suited to your credit history
- Consumers can apply directly from the website: www.creditexpert.co.uk
About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.
Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2012 was US$4.5 billion. Experian employs approximately 17,000 people in 44 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
London picked as test bed for Skynet-like Intel tech - The Register
London will be a guinea pig for future smart city technology after Intel pledged to spend a slice of £25m ($40m) on a new lab in the capital. The chipmaker will also plough millions into research centres dotted around Blighty.
Intel will set up the unwieldily monikered Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Connected Cities in the capital in partnership with Imperial College and University College London, it announced today at an event at 10 Downing Street.
The company will spend the £25m over the next five years on all five of its Collaborative Research Institutes, but wouldn't give the breakdown of exactly how much London would be getting. ICL and UCL will also chip in some dosh, but again no figures were bandied about.
At the same event, Chipzilla said it will open a string of research centres around the UK, investing around £45m in an Intel Labs Europe UK R&D network: this will employ 350 researchers in labs including the one in London and others in Brighton, Swindon and Aylesbury to start with, and five more to be decided on by the end of the year.
"It is investments like this that will help us put the UK on the path we need to take to create new jobs, new growth and new prosperity in every corner of our country," Chancellor George Osbourne said at the launch.
"We are determined to make the UK the best place to do business in the world and a great place for technology companies to invest and build new business. It is encouraging to see major tech partners like Intel investing in this country as a result of the policies that the Government has put in place," he self-congratulated.
Intel will use the London lab to suss out smart city technology and it will also team up with Shoreditch's Tech City entrepreneurs to use their "social media expertise" to "identify and analyse emerging trends with cities".
"Using London as a testbed, researchers will explore technologies to make cities more aware by harnessing real-time user and city infrastructure data," the company said in a statement, describing similar Skynet-like smart city research elsewhere.
"For example, a sensor network could be used to monitor traffic flows and predict the effects of extreme weather conditions on water supplies, resulting in the delivery of near real-time information to citizens through citywide displays and mobile applications."
Rattner: City under pre-planned stress
Intel CTO Justin Rattner also said that the London Olympic games would give the firm a great opportunity to look at a city under pressure and figure out where the weak points are.
"London is, as everyone knows, the host city to the 2012 summer Olympic Games, and we plan to use the event to understand the experiences of a city under pre-planned stress. What systems worked or didn’t work and why? How were the daily lives of the citizens, workers, and businesses of London affected?" he wondered out loud.
As well as giving Intel the opportunity to see it mess up, London is also a good choice for the research institute as the fifth largest city in the world.
"It has the largest GDP in Europe, and with over 300 languages and 200 ethnic communities, its diversity is a microcosm of the planet itself, offering an exciting test bed to create and define sustainable cities," Rattner enthused. ®
London: Six tips for staying sane, saving money, staying in touch - Los Angeles Times
It’s going to be an incredibly busy summer for London, starting with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee June 2-5, followed by World Pride Week in June, the Olympics in July and August and the Paralympics in August and September.
I just returned from four days in London -- so action-packed that I spent part of one day in Greenwich and then went to Paris for dinner and was back in London by midnight. (You can read about this and other suggestions for a different view of London in the Sunday Travel section or online.) Here are the strategies and lessons I learned on this trip, my third to the city. You will know some. You may scoff at others. Or you may have some of your own. If you do, send them to me at travel@latimes.com or share in the comments section below. Herewith, ideas on what travelers should know:
--Two words: Oyster card. That’s the card you need to buy the minute you get off the Heathrow Express that will allow you to use the London subway, trains and buses to get almost anywhere in the city. You buy the card, load it with some pounds and then you have only to plop the card on the ubiquitous round circle on every mode of transport to gain access. Also, you can get some discounts for having an Oyster, sort of like a AAA card but for urban transport.
--The subways are pretty intuitive, but the buses are not. The answer to that: The London Transport Planner. It is explicit about what bus, what stop and where. Pay attention when it says Stop Q or whatever. Otherwise you will, as I did, end up going the wrong way. (A stop may have your bus number but it won’t be going the way you want it.) The detailed instructions make the buses manageable.
--Two more words: chip and PIN. U.S. credit cards sometimes will not work abroad even in cosmopolitan-caters-to-tourist London (vending machines -- which is where I bought my Oyster card -- can be tricky) and having a chip and PIN card, which is the international equivalent of a U.S. credit card but with different security system, will come in handy. (The chip transmits data, and you verify your identity by using a personal identification number.) U.S. MasterCard and Visa are hoping to have this by 2013. Till then, some other options are available -- Chase British Airways, JP Morgan Select, among others. Other companies are testing them. I used a preloaded chip and PIN card, and it got me out of a couple of jams. Mine came from TravelEx, which gave me two in case I lost one. Pretty slick system.
--Phone home but be careful. This gives me such a headache, what with swapping SIM cards and all. Here’s what I did: I left the smartphones at home and bought an inexpensive Samsung phone for about $30. I topped it off with about $8 (5 pounds) of airtime and bought an international phone card for 3 pounds (about $5). This worked fine, but I burned through my time pretty quickly. By the end of my four days, I couldn’t make a call without retopping my phone with some time, but I could send text messages. I decided to stick with text messaging.
--Here’s why: I always travel with a netbook, my small laptop that I bought years ago for less than $300 and which has taken a huge amount of abuse (like dropping it on concrete, which shattered the screen but was easy to replace). Without a smartphone, I needed my mini-laptop (see transport planner above), which also allowed me to edit pictures in my free time.
My best purchase was a Huawei USB wireless stick with a SIM card. This allowed me to connect wirelessly to the Internet. With my Skype account and earphones with a microphone, I could call home when I wanted, which I did every day. My total phone bill using Skype was about $2.
Having the Internet allowed me to buy advance purchase tickets to some attractions (saving time and money), although I then had to find a place to print them out, which is another story. (Think thumb drive/USB stick.) You won’t find the proliferation of Internet cafes you once did (doesn’t everyone have a home computer or a smartphone?), so here’s what helped me out: Mail Boxes Etc. (Thanks to the kind folks at the MBE at 95 Wilton Road.)
--Wear two pairs of socks. Sean O’Neill, an ex-pat living in London, gave me this bit of wisdom: “London is like a track and field event every day.” He’s right. You’ll do a lot of walking, and your feet will need the protection. If your shoes won’t accommodate two pairs, well, then, reconsider your choice of footwear. The streets are uneven in many places; there’s construction everywhere and if you want to walk in stilettos, it’s your funeral. (I also packed Band-Aids and used all of them.)
London is as fashionable as any place in the world, but honestly, people aren’t going to be looking at your feet. On the other hand, I did confess to some London friends who had invited me to dinner that I had done the typically American thing of wearing only running shoes. We ended up dining in. The first thing the hostesses did was offer to let me take off my shoes. I don’t know if that’s because she didn’t want to see those shoes or if she felt sorry for my tender little Angeleno feet, but whatever it was, it was a godsend.
--Buy London A-Z. It’s a book full of maps. You may have a lovely map from a guidebook, but this is very detailed and if you’re trying to find a very specific address, this will help immensely. It’s about $11, it’s spiral-bound and you can usually get it at newsstands or shops that sell phone cards, which are pretty much everywhere. (You can find it on Amazon.com too, but it’s actually less — less! — in London.) And when you do ask for it, ask for it as "London A to Zed." That’s how the Brits pronounce Z. And it’s just one of the many differences that charmed the socks off me.
London 2012: Anna Meares to lead young Australian team - BBC News
Australian sprinter Anna Meares says she will draw on the enthusiasm of a young team in her attempt to beat GB rival Victoria Pendleton in London.
Meares, 28, one of only two Olympians in Australia's track squad, is trying to win a medal at a third Olympics.
"I'm not saying anything personal against Vicky," Meares said. "We're both competing for that gold medal and unfortunately only one of us gets it."
She will compete in the individual sprint, team sprint and keirin events.
"This is a young team," said Meares. "With youth comes enthusiasm, motivation, desire - and that is contagious for me."
Australia's 2012 Cycling squad
- Sprinters: Kaarle McCulloch, Anna Meares, Matthew Glaetzer, Shane Perkins, Scott Sunderland
- Endurance: Jack Bobridge, Amy Cure, Rohan Dennis, Alex Edmondson, Annette Edmondson, Michael Hepburn, Melissa Hoskins, Glenn O'Shea, Josephine Tomic
Meares describes herself as the "old duck" of the Australian team and is expected to be the biggest danger to Pendleton's title hopes in the individual sprint.
She is aiming to be the first woman to win a fourth Olympic cycling medal and the first to win a medal at three different Olympics.
Pendleton beat the Australian at the world championships in Melbourne in April, on the way to a sixth world sprint crown.
The pair, who barely speak to each other, could also lock horns in the team sprint event.
Jack Bobridge, who will lead the team pursuit, joins Meares as the only other Australian with Olympic experience
Alex Edmondson, 18, and his 20-year-old sister and fellow pursuit rider Annette have also been selected.
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