London 2012: Aaron Cook to reveal next move in British taekwondo row - The Guardian
Aaron Cook is set to reveal whether he will continue fighting his controversial non-selection for the Great Britain Olympic taekwondo team, a day after his rival Lutalo Muhammad asked everyone involved to move on.
Cook has called a press conference for Wednesday morning and is expected to reveal whether he plans further legal moves, having seen an appeal to the British Olympic Association fail.
Muhammad, 21, was nominated by GB Taekwondo, and ratified by the BOA, ahead of Cook to fight in the under-80kg category at London 2012, despite Cook's status as the world No1.
Muhammad has stepped down from the under-87kg class where he won a European title in Manchester earlier this year, and the decision to select the Londoner, ranked 59th in the world for that weight, has drawn criticism.
Cook earlier revealed his belief that there is an agenda against him after he resigned from the Great Britain world-class performance programme to pursue his own training schedule outside the guidance of GB Taekwondo last June.
"It is hard to put into words," Cook told the Daily Telegraph. "I just feel numb. The last five weeks have been a nightmare. My results are vastly superior to Lutalo's. The quality of players I have faced is far higher and I have won nine of my last 12 tournaments.
"I have recently defeated 10 of the top 15 qualified 2012 Olympians and world medallists including the five-times world champion and two-times Olympic champion Steven López and the current under-87kg world champion Yousef Karami and the under-80kg world champion Farzad Abdollahi.
"According to my coach, Patrice Remarck, GB Taekwondo also questioned my ability to perform under pressure and how I might perform in front of a home crowd.
"I find this a strange point as I have a proven track record of success under pressure at home as well as abroad, including seven British Open wins, an Olympic test event win and the European Championship.
"Why have I not been selected? Simple. Because I left the British Taekwondo system last year."
Muhammad, ranked 59th in the world in the under-80kg division, insists the controversy has been hard on him too and should now be put behind them as the focus turns towards the Games.
"It's been tough on both of us," he said. "It was always going to be a tough decision that would have created a tough ordeal for both of us. But I think the situation has really been blown way out of proportion more than any of us expected.
"It's been tough on both of us and I don't really think that's been fair. At the end of the day we're both European champions. We both just want to compete to the best of our ability so I think the fact that there's been all this going on is probably not fair on me or him."
Muhammad insists there is no personal animosity, though the pair have not spoken about the selection issue.
He said: "I have no problems with Aaron. Even after this ordeal, I still don't have any problems with him. But the nature of sport is that there will always be winners and losers.
"I wish him the best with his future and all through this ordeal, but my focus right now can't be Aaron Cook. It has to be being on the top of that podium in a few months' time."
Muhammad added: "I have to put all of this out of my mind and focus on my training. I'm just really excited about showing what I can do. It's gold or nothing for me in terms of targets."
The WTF has also launched its own investigation. The BOA Team GB chef de mission Andy Hunt, though, has no doubts proper procedure was followed in the selection process.
"The WTF have not come back yet with a clear plan as to how they are going to undertake their review process of what went on in the selection process with taekwondo," he said.
"There is no timescale and I do not know the composition of that review. We will absolutely comply and provide whatever information they need."
'London 2012 terrorist threat' adverts banned - The Guardian
An advertising campaign by a firm aiming to cash in on the fear of terrorism during the London Olympic games by using images of the 7/7 attacks to sell bomb-blast window film has been banned by the advertising watchdog.
The Advertising Standards Authority described the campaign, which used an image of the bus destroyed in Tavistock Square in the 7 July 2005 bombings, as "wholly inappropriate and shocking" and likely to cause serious offence.
In its ruling the ASA said that the campaign had "exaggerated the potential threat faced by businesses due to the Olympic Games and could have caused undue fear and distress to someone who received the mailing".
The advertising regulator added that the campaign was in breach of the advertising code and banned it.
Used as part of a direct mail campaign by a company called Northgate Solar Controls that aimed to drum up orders for its anti-shatter window film, the 7/7 image was sent to about 4,400 businesses.
Northgate Solar Controls told business owners they may have already been visited by the Metropolitan police or another "government agency" to warn of a "red alert for the Olympic Games".
The campaign talked of a "very real threat" of suicide bombers entering the country more easily because of large numbers of visitors swamping ports of entry and "undetected terrorist sleeper cells" that could launch an attack affecting businesses.
Northgate Solar Controls said that it only targeted businesses in London and the home counties, where most of the Olympic activity is taking place, and that it was not scaremongering but instead wanted to "help minimise the risks in the event of an explosion by the application of bomb-blast film".
However, the business that complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about receiving the direct mail shot was based "almost 50 miles away from the nearest Olympics venue in Essex".
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The surprising reasons behind London's oldest place names - Daily Telegraph
Also lost in the mists of time is the meaning of Thames, which may mean something as simple as ‘flowing’. A fairly basic name for a river, you might think, but then it would have been the only major one that the early inhabitants of London knew. Modern-day Londoners still refer to it as ‘the river’, as if it were the only one that existed or at least the only one that mattered, and this may well have been the rationale for the Celts of 2,000 and more years ago.
The Romans left London surprisingly few place names, but they did leave the wall that guarded the settlement – you can see a chunk of it in the Museum of London, on the street called (reasonably enough) London Wall. To get in and out of the walled city it was necessary to pass through gates, substantial affairs offering accommodation to the gatekeepers and, in some cases, serving as prisons or as places to display the heads of executed traitors. The gates were dismantled, along with the wall, in the 18th century, a time when London was expanding so much that they were just in the way. But the names linger on. Ludgate, commemorated in Ludgate Hill (where there is a plaque to mark its site) and Ludgate Circus, almost certainly means nothing more imaginative than ‘back gate’ or ‘side gate’. Cripplegate originated not with cripples but with creeping: it may have been a low, covered passageway. And Aldgate may be a corruption of ‘ale gate’, because ale was brewed nearby and sold to travellers entering the City.
After the Romans left, Britain was invaded by Angles and Saxons from northern Europe and it is to them that we owe the vast majority of the names of other, smaller settlements that were later subsumed into London. Most places ending in –ham, –ton or –ington are named after otherwise forgotten Anglo-Saxon chiefs. Paddington, Kensington and Tottenham are three of these – originally farms or homesteads associated with Padda, Cynesige and Totta, whoever they were. Similarly, a name ending in –ley is likely to have been a clearing in a wood and Wembley was the clearing associated with Wemba.
The Thames was the lifeline of London’s trade, so landing places on it were crucial. The Old English word for a landing place was hythe, still recognisable in Rotherhithe and Greenhithe, but also corrupted into Lambeth (where lambs were landed) and, less obviously, Chelsea (where chalk was landed) and Putney (once Puttenhuthe, possibly where hawks were landed, but more probably named after a man who had hawk-like features).
As well as all these outlying hamlets, the Anglo-Saxons sowed the seeds for London becoming the sprawling city it is today: they built a monastery or minster church to the west of the city. Expanded by their pious king Edward the Confessor, it became known as ‘the minster in the west’ – Westminster.
Image: Alamy
After the Norman invasion of 1066, most of London’s business was still conducted in what we now call the City. To this day names tell us what was sold in the various streets: Cornhill was the site of the great corn market; Cheapside (from the Old English for market, which also survives in names such as Chipping Norton and Chipping Camden) was the main street, with Bread Street, Poultry and Ironmonger Lane nearby. Stew Lane was equally explicit to a speaker of medieval English, who would have recognised that it advertised not casseroles but brothels.
Expansion over the centuries meant more and more development to the west. In the park adjacent to St James’s Palace, James I kept exotic birds: the road that ran alongside it is still called Birdcage Walk. Piccadilly was also named around this time: the word comes from the piccadill, a wide, decorated collar that was sufficiently popular to make the fortune of a tailor called Robert Baker. When he built himself an impressive residence hereabouts it was promptly dubbed Piccadilly House, presumably by people who thought he was getting above himself.
After the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the king gave great parcels of land in Mayfair (named after the spring fair once held here) to his supporters. Albemarle Street, Jermyn Street, Berkeley Square and the Burlington Arcade all commemorate Restoration courtiers. So too does Arlington Street, named after the Earl of Arlington, who had the unenviable task of procuring and managing the royal mistresses – a pretty full-time job under Charles II, one would imagine. Royalty, too, has left its mark on street names: all those Charles Streets, George Streets, Victoria Streets, Kingsway and Queensgate bear witness to the fact that royal patrons liked to have their patronage acknowledged.
Place names also commemorate public events: Trafalgar Square, Waterloo and, less famously, Maida Vale recall British victories in the Napoleon Wars. Maida Vale in fact takes its name from a now vanished pub, the Hero of Maida; the hero in question was General Sir John Stuart, whose triumph at Maida in Italy did much to restore British morale after the defeat at Austerlitz. (The French are proud of that one and, like us with Waterloo, still have a station in Paris named after it.)
And finally, to answer the one remaining question from my first paragraph: there was indeed a bridge in Knightsbridge: it stood where the main road west went over a river called the West Bourne. ‘Knight’, in earlier times, meant simply ‘lad’, particularly one employed as a retainer. One explanation for the name Knightsbridge is that it was a place where the local yoof hung out, long before those elegant department stores were thought of.
Caroline Taggart is the author of The Book of London Place Names, which explores the hidden meanings behind well-known London places. Published by Ebury Press, it's priced at £9.99. You can access Caroline's website here.
Olympic Park hotels open for start of London spectacle - The Sun
IHG showed off their flagship Holiday Inn and plush Staybridge Suites located at the epicentre of what will be London’s finest spectacle this summer.
Not only are IHG the Official Hotel Provider to the Olympic and Paralympic Games but they are also tasked with the overseeing of the Olympic village which will be housing 17,000 world class athletes.
Denise Lewis, 39, former British Heptathlete with three Olympic games under her belt attended the launch and described life in the Olympic Village as "daunting". The gold medal winner also gave the thumbs up for the running of the village to be handled by experts in hospitality: "It’s good if someone takes care of you so you can take care of your performance; it needs to feel home from home."
This seems to be the mantra for the Staybridge Suites which aims to be more home than hotel. Rooms are decked out with their own kitchen and they are also the first hotels to be kitted out with Apple TV in the UK so guests can play their music through the television or download movies from iTunes. Already five people have booked a room for a year.
Denise was joined by Great Britain’s leading ribbon gymnast Frankie Jones, 21, to create a special routine for the opening who will be competing on the 9th and 10th August. The ex-Olympian said: "As one of Team GB’s Olympic hopefuls it’s exciting to hear about Frankie’s preparations, coupled with seeing the area come to life. The views from the hotel are incredible and give a sneak preview to guests of the action and excitement to come this summer.”
Not only do the hotels offer spectacular views of the Olympic Park and London skyline but it’s also located right next door to Europe’s largest Westfield shopping centre complete with a hub of transportation links from Canary Wharf and the O2 Arena to the centre of London.
It's certainly looking like the Olympics have given Stratford the golden touch, let's hope the same can be said of team GB and the likes of Frankie now!
London 2012: Syria's National Olympic Committee Head Could Be Banned From Games - huffingtonpost.co.uk
The head of Syria's national Olympic committee may be banned from attending the London games because of his links to President Bashar Assad.
General Mowaffak Joumaa is expected to be refused entry to the UK because of his connection to the Syrian military, The Guardian reported.
The troubled Middle Eastern state has seen a recent spike in violence by the forces of President Assad's regime.
The Home Office is responsible for carrying out background checks on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and advises the committee on whether an applicant is suitable for accreditation.
A statement on the Home Office website says: "Accreditation will also not be recommended where an individual's presence at the Games (or in the UK) would not be conducive to the public good."
The Foreign Office is also involved in exclusion decisions, and sources said particular interest would be shown in visitors from countries where there are human rights abuses. Officials are expected to keep a close eye on Syria.
Foreign Secretary William Hague has compared the recent massacres in Syria to those in Bosnia in the 1990s while Prime Minister David Cameron has condemned the killings as "brutal and sickening".
The Syrian charge d'affaires in London has already been expelled in the wake of mounting condemnation of the attacks.
Visas are still being sought for all of the 11 athletes and 20 officials - including coaches - wanting to attend the games on behalf of Syria, whose regime has been condemned by Britain for its crackdown on opponents.
It is thought that the athletes may receive visas because those of Olympic standard are not required to serve in the armed forces, but there is a question mark against General Joumaa and other officials.
General Joumaa has said he will complain to the International Olympic Committee if his visa is denied.
General Joumaa said: "If anyone was blocked because of their military background, that would be unfair. Anyone who has a military background in Syria, they are an ordinary citizen of this country.
"You have seen how much Syria enjoys security and safety. We are a peaceful country. The Syrian people have love in their hearts for the British people."
Last month Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said that no figures associated with atrocities would be allowed into Britain, under new rules preventing entry by people who are not "conducive to the public good".
However, he would not give assurances on specific individuals.
"As far as we are concerned we have recently said very clearly - if you have abused human rights and that is shown to be the case, you can't come into this country," he said.
Asked whether anybody connected to the atrocities in Syria would be blocked from coming for the Olympics, he said: "Of course, what I can't tell you is exactly who those names are."
The decisions on the Syrians are thought to be imminent and showjumper Ahmed Hamsho, 18, is expected to be allowed to compete, The Guardian said.
Hamsho, who has close family ties to the regime of Mr Assad, is the first ever Syrian equestrian to qualify for the Olympics.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We are undertaking stringent checks on all those seeking accreditation.
"This rigorous process has been designed to ensure those working at the Games are fit to do so. We will leave nothing to chance in our aim to deliver a safe and secure Games that London, the UK and the whole world will enjoy."
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