London Mayor Boris Johnson urges Toronto to 'go for' 2024 Olympics - huffingtonpost.ca
TORONTO - A surprise city council decision Friday to consider bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics was given a solid thumbs up from the mayor of London, whose own city is set to stage one of the world's greatest sports spectacles next month.
Boris Johnson said the Games leave lasting value, something he said will happen in his city.
"I think that's a great move," Johnson told The Canadian Press.
"Go for it, Toronto. You won't regret it if you get it."
Toronto has twice before thrown its hat into the Olympic ring — in 1996 and 2008 — only to be disappointed. It did not try for the 2020 event.
If a decision is made to try to land the Games in 2024, Johnson urged the city to "make a case" for staging them to the International Olympic Committee that goes well beyond the athletics.
"What the IOC wants to hear is that this is something that will be transformative for the life chances of people in your city," Johnson said.
"They want to feel that the arrival of the Olympics will be a great thing, not just for sport and for international sports bureaucrats and the global TV audiences, they want to hear about how it will be of huge social benefit in Toronto."
The games have already proven to be a benefit to people in London and will continue to be so in the future in terms of the economic investment and the impact of that investment, Johnson asserted.
"My job is now to get the yield, to get the return, to get the legacy value from that investment."
That legacy value is "jobs, jobs, jobs, homes, growth — that's what we're going to produce," he said.
The hope is also for the creation for a thriving new district around the Stratford Olympic Park and that regeneration will drive further investment in the Docklands area, he said.
The Summer Olympics formally open in London July 27 amid concern about moving the huge crush of people expected to attend around a city already known for its traffic jams.
Johnson said he was optimistic, however, the city would be ready to deal with the crowds, saying this month's Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations showed that to be the case.
"London is going to be as ready as we can make it," Johnson said.
"We're really looking forward to welcoming Canadians and the world in just a few weeks time now."
Johnson, who was in Toronto as part of a tour for his recently published book, said he would not have a chance to meet Mayor Rob Ford, who was not previously enthralled at the idea of bidding for the Games but backed council's motion on Friday.
Council's decision is preliminary, only instructing staff to examine the pros and cons of making a bid and report back next spring.
Our Cars: Vauxhall Ampera - June - News - What Car?
Week ending June 8
Mileage 5030
Driven this week: 180 miles
My brother-in-law is a dyed-in-the-wool petrolhead. The list of cars he's owned includes a Fiat Barchetta, Toyota Celica and VW Golf GTI. His current car is a 1996 Mercedes E240. He thinks electric cars are just a fad.
However, that changed after a half-hour passenger ride in our Vauxhall Ampera.
He liked the instant acceleration, the refinement, and was pleasantly surprised by the fit and finish of the Vauxhall. The range-extending petrol engine wiped out any concerns he had about electric cars and their range.
This total change of mindset bodes well for Vauxhall if it can convince enough people to at least test drive such cars.
I'm not sure that my brother-in-law's next car – or even the one after that – will be an electric car, but at least the acorn that one day he could own one has been planted in his mind.
What we didn't appreciate was the decidedly non-futuristic recharging mechanism. When the car has finished recharging, your hands get covered in dirt and crud as you wind-up the power lead. Some kind of retractable lead, such as that in a vacuum cleaner would be more user friendly, but Vauxhall says the lead can't be coiled when the car is being charged because it will get too hot.
Iain.Reid@whatcar.com
Week ending June 1
Mileage 4850
Driven this week: 100 miles
Now that the fun of having a new car is beginning to wear off, I've started to notice a few issues with our Vauxhall Ampera. It's great to drive through town – there's nothing quite like the smoothness you get from electric motors – and you get just as much attention as you do in, say, a Range Rover Evoque, but there are a couple niggles.
The first is that the incredibly low front diffuser scrapes on every speed bump. Bearing in mind that the car is badged a Vauxhall and, by virtue of its electric powertrain, destined for a considerable amount of town use, it's frustrating that it doesn't seem to have been tested in London, a city full of speed bumps.
The second thing I'm surprised about is that, although there's a fully functional Bluetooth phone connection, there's no Bluetooth audio to allow you to play music from your phone without plugging it in. In any other car, you wouldn't give it much consideration, but in the top-spec version of what would appear to be the UK's most technologically advanced car it's a strange omission.
Ed.Keohane@whatcar.com
London hotels persist with Olympian price hikes - Daily Telegraph
This week JacTravel, which provides wholesale accommodation for inbound tour operators, said its London bookings were down by 35 per cent during July and 30 per cent during August, compared with the same months last year. By contrast, it said that bookings for summer holidays to Barcelona and Berlin had grown by more than 100 per cent.
JacTravel found that some four-star London hotels were charging up to £415 per night for stays during the Games, nearly four times more than usual.
A second hotel booking website, Hotels.com, found that the average price for a room during the Olympics had fallen slightly by five per cent since March, to £202. However, this is still 93 per cent more expensive than the same period last year.
A spokesman for Hotels.com said that some cheaper rooms could still be found if travellers were willing to look to outlying districts.
England sure to win say Uckfield kids - Lewes Today
AS WE fast approach England’s first group match, Uckfield and Heathfield Vauxhall dealer, Goldsmith & Allcorn is encouraging local families to embrace the football fever, after a survey by the car-maker, The England Team Sponsor, revealed that kids in Uckfield are more confident of England’s performance than their parents.
Indeed, kids are more optimistic of England winning this summer’s football tournament, with 23% in Uckfield predicting the team will make it to the final, compared to 13% of parents and a fifth of children believing England will lift the trophy, compared to 10% of parents.
Encouragingly however, parents and kids both display a high level of support for England, with 87% of parents and 89% of children in Uckfield saying they will be getting behind the team this summer.
Trevor Goldsmith, Director at Goldsmith & Allcorn, comments: “With the attention well and truly on the England team, after their recent victory against Norway, there’s never been a better time for parents and their families to join us in getting into the football spirit. “Like the kids in Uckfield, we too are confident England will be scoring a fair few successes on the pitch this summer!”
With more parents than kids expected to watch the England team on television, it would seem that whilst kids are more optimistic about the national team’s chances, parents are still planning to give the team their full attention this June. And in true supporter style, respondents in Uckfield aren’t concerned about the prospect of any England matches going to penalties, with 87% of parents and 88% of kids agreeing that England perform well regardless of whether they are involved in a shoot-out.
Trevor Goldsmith, concludes: “As part of Vauxhall’s sponsorship of the England Team, we’re really proud of the team and excited about their prospects. We’d like to encourage everyone in Uckfield to join us in showing their support for the boys. Also, keep an eye out for the new Vauxhall England TV advert, which aired for the first time on June 2.”
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Print this pageLondon 2012 Olympics: Aaron Cook's Games dream over as BOA ratifies nomination of Lutalo Muhammad - Daily Telegraph
“The results are plain for everyone to see, he is world No 1, European champion and has beaten 10 of the top 15 athletes in the Olympic rankings in his most recent fights. It makes a mockery of the taekwondo -80kg competition in the London Olympics.”
Cook would have been selected if the criteria was on performance, one of the GB Taekwondo selectors, Dr Steve Peters, said. Peters sat in all three meetings but did not vote because he said his role was as an ‘athlete advocate’.
“We all agreed that if world ranking and success in tournaments were the only selection criteria, then Aaron would be selected as he’s an outstanding athlete who could get gold at the Olympics,” said Peters. “All we’re saying is that there are two athletes who can achieve this.”
Peters said Muhammad was ultimately chosen several compelling reasons: he was improving at a rapid rate, including a victory over Cook (although Cook beat his rival soon afterwards) and that his height and flexibility give him an advantage to double tap and earn extra points for headshots in fights.
“People have been confusing the issue, thinking there is something secret or underhand or another agenda and it is nonsense. The fact Aaron is working outside of the academy has never come into the meeting, it is not an issue,” said Peters.
However the BOA has reserved the right to reconsider Muhammad’s selection – an unlikely situation – subject to the findings of an inquiry instigated by the World Taekwondo Federation. Last night Cook was considering his legal options.
The BOA chief executive Andy Hunt said: “After a thorough review, the panel is now sufficiently satisfied that the agreed selection procedures have been followed, and it is on that basis we are ratifying the nomination.”
London 2012: Selection 'a fairytale' for Mohamed Sbihi - BBC News
Mohamed Sbihi has described his selection in the men's eight boat for the London Olympics as "a dream".
The 24-year-old took up the sport nine years ago after being discovered through a talent identification scheme while at school in Surbiton.
He told BBC London 94.9: "An opportunity has become a dream and the dream has started to become a reality.
"I feel very fortunate. It's almost like a fairytale. If I hadn't gone into school that day, I wouldn't be here."
The Molesey Boat Club member was identified after British Rowing's World Class Start programme visited Hollyfield School in south west London.
"They wanted all the tall kids in the year to go to a special PE lesson," Sbihi added.
"I didn't really want to go because I wanted to play football but my PE teacher pulled me back and told me that as I was the tallest guy in the year, I had to go.
"Before I knew it, I was in the top four out of 10,000 kids who had been tested in our area. I didn't like it to start with but then it slowly hooked me.
"I feel honoured and proud to wear the GB flag. I have to thank everyone who has been involved in my development."
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