London Eye Olympic Twitter positivity lightshow launched - BBC News
Legendary athlete Daley Thompson has launched a lightshow on the London Eye which will be driven by Twitter users' enthusiasm for the Olympics.
The landmark will be lit up each night of the Games in relation to positive or negative London 2012 comments on the social networking site.
EDF Energy, which sponsors the wheel, said it was the world's first social media-driven lightshow.
The show will start at 21:00 BST each day of the Olympics and Paralympics.
'Intuitive algorithm'People are being encouraged to tweet their thoughts on London 2012 using #Energy2012.
Experts on "sentiment analysis" developed an intuitive algorithm for the effect, said EDF Energy.
Real-time "social sentiment tracking" splits the tweets into positive and negative conversations and filters them through a programme, which systematically converts them into a lightshow.
If, for example, the nation's energy is 75% positive, three quarters of the wheel will light up.
Each night, the top sporting moments of the day will be projected using different coloured lights.
Thompson, who won gold in the decathlon at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics in Moscow and Los Angeles, said he knew what it meant to know the whole nation was behind you.
He said: "We want to make the EDF Energy London Eye a spectacular showcase of national support for the athletes - and one that will inspire them every night of the Games."
London’s Olympic century paints a portrait of Britain - Financial Times
As the opening ceremony neared for the 1908 Olympics, “there was not much sunshine”. Thankfully, on the day itself, “the rain of the morning held off during most of the afternoon”. Nothing, however, could shift the low July cloud cover, so the clay pigeon shoot had to whitewash the targets to give marksmen a chance.
Plus ça change. But beyond the weather, the great virtue of hosting the Olympics in London for the third time is to see just how much and how little has shifted in a century.
In 1908, Britain stood as a colonial and industrial powerhouse, but Rudyard Kipling’s “Recessional” was already hinting at incipient decline. At the 1948 “Austerity Olympics”, Britain had just enjoyed its finest hour – but was now having to pick up the tab for beating fascism in the bomb-damaged capital.
Yet what is so striking about both previous Olympics is how uninterested the British public and political class were. Today we are used to having the Olympics marshalled by the mass media for some soft-power geo-strategy. The US and the Soviet Union played out their cold war gaming at the Moscow and Los Angeles games; Spain buried its Franco ghosts at Barcelona; China came of age at Beijing. The British bid was itself the product of an attempt to forge a modern, post-imperial identity: the UK as a global, multicultural nation still able to “punch above its weight” (a vision cruelly rebutted the next day by the 7/7 attacks).
But in the early 1900s, few cared for such branding. Pierre de Coubertin had only just begun reinventing the spectacle and Test match cricket or the Great Wheel at Earls Court proved far more popular. Similarly, in 1940s London, planning for the Festival of Britain would far outshine the Olympics – which do not even garner a mention in the then prime minister Clement Attlee’s autobiography. That is not the case with Tony Blair’s account of his years in office.
As every Olympic probe tells us, what has been lost in the journey towards next week’s multinational corporate jamboree is the engaging amateurism. In 1908 there was no shortage of that. With the tug-of-war a component part of the track and field programme, Britain took all three places on the podium – the City of London police team winning gold. When it came to rugby union, the only game played was in a deserted White City stadium between Cornwall and Australasia, who won 32 to 3.
And what of the mother country herself? Figures collated by the House of Commons library reveal two starkly different Britains. In 1908, child mortality remained monstrous with a third of all deaths occurring in the under-fives; today that figure is less than 1 per cent. In the Olympics year, measles killed 50,000 children; tuberculosis and whooping cough another 40,000 each. Cancer was responsible for just 6 per cent of deaths – but by 1948 it had joined heart disease as the largest killer (as it remains today).
Those children who made it past five would grow up in a structured family household. In the first decade of the 20th century there was only one divorce for every 450 marriages, while 90 per cent of men born in 1948 would be married by the age of 40. In 2010 there was one divorce for every two marriages and 46 per cent of children were born outside of wedlock.
Then as now, drink was a formidable component of UK life. In 1905 the average Briton consumed 8 litres of pure alcohol per year. By 1948 this had halved to less than 4 litres, before rising steadily to more than 9 litres in the past decade. However, a century ago, more than 75 per cent of that consumption was beer whereas now this stands at well under 50 per cent.
But what we did enjoy in 1908 and 1948 were some radical, reforming governments. Their focus was not on pay-offs for G4S, but on transforming the welfare state and reshaping Britain’s place in the world. And they did so in tough times. The Liberal government of H.H. Asquith faced a wretched recession in 1908-09, but managed to introduce the state pension and the People’s Budget.
With the Iron Curtain and Indian independence in the in-tray, Clement Attlee’s Labour government still managed to establish the National Health Service in 1948 and introduce the National Assistance Act, abolishing the remnants of the old poor law. What is more, it did so with debt levels hovering at about 250 per cent of gross domestic product rather than our own miserly 70 per cent. However, neither Attlee nor Asquith were quite able to finish off reform of the House of Lords.
What has remained equally unchanged is London’s hegemony. In the early 1900s, the socialist Sidney Webb called the Olympics host “more than a city: it is a whole kingdom in itself”. So too in the 1940s; London housed the UN General Assembly just as the welfare state started to centralise decision-making in Whitehall departments.
Today, even in the aftermath of our financial services readjustment, London remains out of kilter with the rest of the UK – accumulating even more migrants and sucking up public funds, as last week’s census and unemployment figures revealed. It also houses the super-wealthy in a manner that has barely budged.
In 1918 the top 1 per cent received about 19 per cent of all taxable income. Progressive reforms in the 20th century drove that down to 11 per cent in 1948 and 6 per cent in the mid 1970s. More recently, the 1 per cent has reasserted itself and its concentration of wealth has deepened as contemporary Britain looks more akin to Asquith’s than to Attlee’s era.
But enough of politics – how did we do? At White City, 2,184 competitors took part in 21 sports, compared with next week’s 10,500 competitors in 26 sports. In 1908 Britain won a total of 146 medals, of which 56 were gold, more than half of the total awarded – a feat that has never been matched since. In 1948 Britain took only 23 medals, of which three were golds. This year the UK has set itself the target of 48 medals in total.
Statistically we are stronger on home ground. And it would be lovely if the past could repeat itself. But I fear history shows that London 2012 will have a much greater chance of wondering if the rain will hold off for the afternoon.
The writer is a historian and Labour MP
London 2012: Uzbekistan's Sakina Mamedova in Felixstowe - BBC News
"I'm quite famous in Uzbekistan, but no-one recognises me in Felixstowe," said Olympic shooter Sakina Mamedova as she trained in the Suffolk town.
The 27-year-old from Tashkent is the former Soviet nation's only qualifier in the shooting events at London 2012 and it is her first Olympic Games.
She has been training at Felixstowe Rifle Club's ranges since 7 July with her coach Igor Potopov.
Her two events are the 10m air rifle and the 50m rifle three position - which involves standing, kneeling and lying down with a .22 cartridge rifle.
“Start Quote
End Quote Sakina MamedovaI've had fish and chips and it was very nice and I've also tried roast beef and Yorkshire pudding”
"The facilities are very good and the people have been very friendly," she said.
"The sea is nice, but I haven't been swimming - it looks too cold, but we've walked along the promenade for exercise.
"I'm used to plov [rice dish] and fish in Uzbekistan, but I've had fish and chips and it was very nice and I've also tried roast beef and Yorkshire pudding at Bill's house."
Top tipsBill Bond is the vice-chairman of Felixstowe Rifle Club, which has 10m, 20m and 50m ranges.
He said: "I got an email from Vladimir Filimonov, a Russian who I knew as a British Paralympic team coach, and we were obviously delighted at the prospect of having an Olympic guest.
"It was only when Vladimir arrived to check the facilities were OK that I realised he was also an Ipswich taxi driver."
The club is usually only open on weekday evenings and Sunday mornings, so they have had to organise a rota of 16 club members to come in to open up at other times for their guest.
Club members have been able to watch Mamedova training.
"You can pick up tips just by watching Sakina on stance, concentration and the dedication required to develop a rhythm and consistency," said Mr Bond.
"Members have realised there's a huge difference between county standard and Olympic standard."
19th Century gunsAlthough the club was founded in 1900, the Felixstowe range dates back to the Napoleonic era when the town's Landguard Fort was a coastal defence.
Mamedova tried some of the club's replica 19th Century weapons.
"I had a go with a black powder musket and a revolver and it was good fun, but more smoke than I'm used to," she said.
Mamedova is ranked in the International Shooting Sport Federation's top 50 for the 50m three position event and in the 70s for the air rifle event, but she still "hopes to be able to get a gold medal".
She has been staying at The Norfolk Guest House near the seafront and, while they are used to foreign guests from the town's container port, they say Mamedova is their first Uzbek.
Dawn Northcut, owner, said: "We have hosted the rifle club's German guests, so we said we'd love to have an Olympian.
"They're warm and lovely people - she'll come back from a day's shooting and tell us she's home.
"We'll miss them and we'll be following her progress avidly."
London’s film fans searched - The Sun
Rigorous bag searches were conducted at the 830-seat Odeon West End as hundreds of film fans arrived for The Dark Knight Rises.
The strict precautions were imposed amid fears weapons could be smuggled inside to stage a copycat attack.
The Dark Knight Rises had its world premiere in New York last Monday and was first screened in Europe in London on Tuesday.
Its Paris premiere was due to take place last night but was scrapped after the mass shootings in Denver.
The movie’s stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway and others pulled out of interviews to publicise the film.
Bale and other members of the cast and crew were staying at the Bristol Hotel in the French capital when news of the gun rampage came in.
Co-stars Morgan Freeman and Marion Cotillard — who is from Paris — had been due in the studio of France’s main national TV station TF1 but stayed away.
A source said: “They are all devastated. There is no way they can go out and talk about the film — this is a time of mourning.”
The movie’s makers Warner Brothers, who also cancelled a premiere scheduled for Mexico next week, said they had been “deeply saddened” by the shootings.
London cabbies demand U-turn in Olympics row - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - The Olympic Games opening ceremony is still a week away, but for many drivers of London's famous black taxi cabs the end of the world's biggest sporting event cannot come soon enough.
The capital's "cabbies" are furious that they are banned from driving in some of the special lanes reserved for Olympics traffic and fear they will lose money because London will be so congested during the Games.
Hundreds of taxi drivers brought the streets around parliament and Big Ben to a standstill this week, hooting their horns and moving at a snail's pace. They are threatening to hold more protests before the Games begin next Friday.
"I'm a bit sick of the Olympics now. The sooner it's over, the better", said taxi driver Shane Ludlow, 42, at a cab rank in the heart of the City of London financial district. "It's pretty disgusting that we can't use the Olympic lanes. It's our city."
Hailed from the kerbside by briefcase-bearing commuters and tourists alike, black cabs have been a traditional London sight for more than a century and their horse-drawn predecessors date back to the 17th century. Their trade is worth nearly 1 billion pounds a year, according to one union estimate.
As recognisable as red double-decker buses, their image has even adorned Olympics publicity materials and official memorabilia and many drivers might have hoped for a bonanza as thousands of visitors flood the city for the Games.
"We were used as icons, as an iconic vehicle to promote London as an Olympic venue," said Steve Mepham, a committee member of the United Cabbies Union. "Why should we be unable to go around and earn our living in a normal way? We're not asking for 500 or 600 pound bonuses."
Many of London's 25,000 taxi drivers want access to all sections of a temporary network of lanes reserved for Olympic athletes, officials and the media. Black taxis are currently only allowed in two thirds of the 100 mile (160 km) network.
Nicknamed "Zil lanes" after the limousines used by senior officials in the old Soviet Union, they are designed to bypass the huge traffic jams expected in London's narrow streets.
But cab drivers, who study the road network for years in a test called "The Knowledge" before the authorities give them a licence, say the decision to exclude them will leave them stuck in traffic and unable to stop to pick up or drop off passengers.
"It's absolute rubbish," said cab driver James Mahoney, 67, from Essex, east of London. "We're getting nothing from the government. We're the safest cabs in the world but the Mayor and the Olympic committee are not giving us anything, not letting us dip our beak in and just earn a living."
BONUS PAYMENTS
Unlike London's bus and train drivers, cabbies will not receive any bonus payments for working during the Olympics. In February, the city's transport authority, Transport for London (TfL), rejected a request from the drivers' union to raise fares by 22 percent.
The decision fuelled resentment among taxi drivers - never shy of giving passengers their opinions on perceived injustices - that their welfare and livelihoods were being ignored.
Cab drivers said road closures and altered traffic signals had already disrupted their daily work and a downturn in traditional off-the-street business had cut take-home pay.
"There's no street work, there's no one coming over doing business. Most of the places it's quiet," said one cab driver with 29 years' experience, waiting for work a short ride from the Tower of London.
"This week, I'm taking the same money I was taking 25 years ago. I'm getting 50 percent of what I usually do," added the driver, who asked not to be named.
As the countdown to the opening ceremony entered its final week, Transport for London continued to encourage Londoners to walk, cycle or work from home to beat the crowds.
The London Olympics Organising Committee (LOCOG) played down the impact the Games would have on cab drivers.
"We believe the games are a great opportunity for all sorts of people including taxi drivers. We are sure people visiting would love to use their services," said a LOCOG spokesman.
But Steve McNamara, a spokesman for the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, which represents over 10,000 of the British capital's black cabs, rejected LOCOG's statement.
"The whole situation is ill thought-out and just a disaster," he said. "We think the Games are good for London and (LOCOG) tell us there is a price to pay for them, but it shouldn't be any price."
John Mason, director of London Taxi and Private Hire, which licenses black cabs for TfL, said: "We have worked hard to provide drivers with information about operating during Game-time and as much access to the Games Lanes as we can.
"Along with all other motorists, black cabs can use the Olympic Route Network and TfL has agreed additional concessions, including the use of turns along the Olympic Route Network that were initially banned for all traffic except buses."
Despite those concessions, some cab drivers are still angry with London Mayor Boris Johnson.
"Boris, give us a little bit, let us earn our living. That's all we want," said cab driver James Mahoney. (Additional reporting by Himanshu Ojha and Peter Griffiths; Editing by Alison Williams)
London Olympics 2012: As 1,700 fall victim to pickpockets every day, this is how the Eastern European gangs do it - Daily Mail
- Pickpocketing has increased 17% over the last two years
- BBC investigation exposes tactics of professional gangs
- 625,000 'thefts from person' were recorded in 2011/12
- Homicides at level in 30 years... down 14% on last year
- Figures released by Crime Survey of England and Wales
By Jack Doyle
|
Britain is in the grip of a pickpocketing epidemic as Eastern European gangs descend on London ahead of the Olympic Games.
A surge in sneak street thefts means more than 1,700 people fall victim every day – an increase of nearly a fifth in only two years, according to official crime figures released yesterday.
At the same time, police warned that professional gangs from Romania, Lithuania and even South America who operate in capitals across Europe are heading to Britain, intent on cashing in on unwitting tourists at London 2012.
How they do it: A member of the pickpocket gang approaches a BBC reporter investigating the rise in thefts ahead of the Olympics
Keeping him occupied: The man speaks to the victim on the pretense of needing directions while another gang member approaches from behind
A BBC investigation exposed the tactics used by Romanian thieves, who were previously operating in Barcelona, to dupe their victims.
The criminals boasted of their ‘one-second’ theft techniques which leave targets unaware that anything has happened until it is too late. They can make 4,000 a week taking wallets, smartphones and laptop bags. The goods are then shipped back to Romania and sold on the black market.
Scotland Yard has made more than 80 arrests already and warned thieves the capital will be a ‘hostile environment’ in the coming weeks.
The Met has even drafted in a team of Romanian police officers to deal with the problem and patrol in the West End of London and Westminster during the Games. They will not have arrest powers.
Distracted: An accomplice (left) then plays drunk so he can get close enough to the target to strike
Sleight of hand: The 'drunk' man jostles around with the BBC reporter, making it harder for him to notice what is going on
Rich pickings: The sneering thief walks away with the wallet from the unsuspecting victim
Teamwork: The thief quickly hands the wallet to another member of the gang, who spirits it away
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: ‘These Romanian officers will prove to be a huge asset in cracking down on certain criminal networks who are targeting tourists in central London.’
Official statistics released yesterday showed pickpocketing thefts rose 17 per cent in the past two years.
In 2011/12, a total of 625,000 people fell victim, the Crime Survey of England and Wales showed.
That is an increase of more than 102,000 since 2009/10.
The vast majority of the total are classified as ‘stealth thefts’, but in 83,000 cases the victims’ possessions were ‘snatched’.
On the rise: The blue line shows the rise of pickpocketing, increasing 17 per cent compared to 2009/10 figures. The red line shows the rate of household theft
The BBC report showed the first member of a pickpocket gang approaching their victim with a request for directions.
Another member of the gang then plays drunk to get close to the target, while taking their wallet or mobile phone. The stolen goods are handed to a third member and quickly spirited away.
The thieves told the BBC reporter they were examining online maps of London to help plan escape routes.
Detective Inspector Mark Teodorini, the head of Scotland Yard’s Olympics crime team, called for public vigilance. Officers have conducted a series of raids in recent weeks on properties where suspected thieves were living.
He said: ‘We know where people are. We know the addresses they are using, we know the vehicles they are using, and we will come through their door very robustly – and if we find anything on them, we will arrest them.’
He added: ‘We won’t always get them in the act but we are trying to disrupt their activity.
‘It is going to be a hostile environment for pickpockets. My advice to them is “don’t bother”.’
Keep them locked: Official figures show thefts from sheds have risen 10 per cent in the last year
Javed Khan, chief executive of Victim Support, said: ‘The rise in pickpocketing, thefts of wallets and unattended bags is worrying and can be the cause of upset for many victims.
‘So we cannot afford to be complacent in the fight against crime.’
In April, a family of Romanian pickpockets who built expensive homes in their home country with the proceeds of thefts from commuters were jailed.
The Rostas family targeted up to 1,000 train passengers who slept on late trains leaving London.
Five members of the family were jailed for a total of ten years.
London 2012: Coe sparks Olympics sponsorship row - The Guardian
Olympic ticket-holders will be "free to wear the clothing of their choice" inside Games venues, according to organisers, despite the Olympic delivery chairman, Lord Coe, saying people wearing advertising logos of non-Olympic sponsors would be turned away.
In an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Coe said the Olympic organising committee, Locog, had a responsibility to protect the commercial "rights of sponsors".
He said spectators would not be able to gain entry wearing a Pepsi T-shirt but that they would "probably" get in wearing Nike trainers. Commercial rivals Adidas and Coca-Cola are the official London 2012 Olympic sponsors in their industries. The rules are in place to prevent so-called "ambush marketing" by rival brands, but a spokesperson for Locog said people wearing clothing with other brands would not be prevented from entering venues.
Speaking this morning, Coe said: "We had to raise through the organising committee a mountainous amount of money from the private sector.
"The organising committee pretty much raises all of its money through that area and we do it thorough sponsorship and we do it through broadcasting rights. And when you have big British businesses that are prepared to really invest in the Games, you have the responsibility to protect them.
"We have to protect the rights of the sponsor because in large part they pay for the Games."
"You probably wouldn't be able to [walk in] with a Pepsi T-shirt because Coca-Cola are our sponsors and they've put millions of pounds into this project but also millions of pounds into grassroots sport. It is important to protect those sponsors."
Asked if people could enter venues wearing Nike trainers, Coe replied: "I think you probably could … You probably would be able to walk through with Nike trainers."
However, responding after the interview, Locog said: "As an individual you are free to wear clothing of your choice … of course. Including trainers."
They affirmed that this would also include a T-shirt emblazoned with a non-sponsor's logo, adding that the rules were different for those working at venues.
However, Locog's advice to those travelling to events states that there are restrictions of "any objects or clothing bearing political statements or overt commercial identification intended for 'ambush marketing'".
Ambush marketing has a long history dating back at least to the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, when spectators in the crowd were handed Nike paper flags to wave, infringing Reebok sponsorship.
More famously at those Games, Linford Christie wore contact lenses overlayed with a Puma logo during a press conference.
The 2006 Olympics Act allows Locog to take action, enforceable with fines of up to £20,000, against ambush marketing and illicit use of trademarks.
In recent months, Locog has been criticised for strictly enforcing sponsorship advertising rules after a butcher near the Olympic sailing venue in Weymouth was asked to remove a sign displaying a ring of sausages and saying, "fantastic 2012", and a cafe on the torch relay route was asked to stop advertising its "flaming torch breakfast baguette".
A Locog spokesperson said Coe could have got muddled because of differing rules for spectators and those working and volunteering at venues. "I think it is just the workforce who have to wear Adidas trainers. There's a lot going on at the moment."
Ticket-holders for the Games were sent an email last week pointing them to a website with a list of banned items. These include liquids in containers greater than 100ml, alcohol, placards, laser pointers, pets, fireworks and vuvuzelas.
London 2012 Olympics: Oscar Pistorius primed to offer Michael Johnson and critics a swift response - Daily Telegraph
“It only concerns me when people say, ‘Oscar’s prosthetics are lighter, therefore he has an advantage.’ “Michael has calculated a lot of variables: what the experts are saying about my legs in terms of tendons, muscles, straight-line running-speed, acceleration, deceleration. He does not disagree with the tests that we have done. There are just certain points that he has an opinion about.”
The point about Pistorius’s legitimacy, or lack of it, as an Olympian is rather crucial, however. For when this charming young man from Johannesburg appears in the Olympic Stadium on Aug 4 for his 400m heat, it promises to be one of the seminal moments of the Games.
Paralympians have transferred to the Olympic stage before – not least South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, who lost her left leg aged 16 – but never a double amputee. Ever since Pistorius was born on Nov 22, 1986, without fibulas in either of his legs, his resolve to surmount his disability has been a global cause célèbre. He is not prepared for his greatest accomplishment to be eclipsed by the critics.
“These prosthetic legs follow exactly the same model that has been around since 1996,” argues Pistorius, whose right to enter able-bodied competitions was endorsed four years ago by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. “People say that the technology is futuristic, but it’s not. It’s made of carbon-fibre, which has been used in prosthetic legs for more than 20 years.
Michael knows that the leg I’m using is not a cutting-edge piece of equipment. There isn’t a single other Paralympic athlete besides me who has even run under 50 seconds in the 400m using one.” For the record, Pistorius’s personal best in the 400m is an extraordinary 45.07sec, recorded in Lignano last summer.
Let us briefly, but dispassionately, examine the evidence. Pistorius’ artificial legs are, to give them their full trade name, Ossür Flex-Foot Cheetahs, a pair of passive elastic springs designed to emulate biological limbs. The decision by the CAS to overrule the International Association of Athletics Federations, who claimed that Pistorius could run at the same speed as able-bodied competitors while using less energy, was unanimous.
Similarly, the notion that he could be less susceptible to injury, due to the absence of muscles or joints below the knee, was suspect. Paralympians, sustaining nine injuries in every 1,000 hours of training, are shown to suffer more than non-amputee sprinters, who endure an average of six over the same period.
As Aimee Mullins, the American Paralympian who also underwent a double amputation, puts it: “If it was the legs that were making us super-fast, I would have done a decade ago what he is doing now, and so would others. Oscar is not running with any different technology than what I ran with in Atlanta in ’96.”
Pistorius is acutely sensitive to accusations that his mere presence in London threatens to lead his sport into unchartered ethical waters. He walked out of a BBC interview last year when asked if he thought he was an “inconvenient embarrassment” to the authorities. Here, even in the more restful surrounds of Gemona, where the landlady of his hotel has baked him a cake bearing the five Olympic rings, the resentment lingers.
“You’ll find a journalist who has not approached the story properly, or somebody with the title of professor or doctor who wants to make a name for himself. He will argue that water is dry, or that orange used to be green. They will try to be controversial for the sake of it.”
Flanked by long-time coach Ampie Louw and manager Peet van Zyl, he says: “I read an article that mentioned ‘our scientists’. They were not, they were a group of three people we got together and whose findings we promised to publish. These were not guys who had been sucking their thumbs – they had reputations.They did a whole host of tests, and our results are open for peer review.
“Honestly, this is not something I can give much more energy to. I would be answering these questions for days.”
Instead, Pistorius must preserve his intensity for the track. As fortune would have it, the Mayor of Gemona del Friuli is so honoured by the arrival of this celebrated figure that he has built him one. Directly before this interview he has reeled off lap after lap in torrential rain, unrelenting in his quest for the sub-45 second time that he and Louw believe is within reach. But what, in terms of an outcome in London, does he see as attainable?
“A decent position in the semi-final,” he replies. “I wasn’t happy with my performance at the World Championships in Daegu. I had an unbelievable race in the heats, but misjudged the semi and finished last. This time I’ll have to go flat-out from the start.”
The stage is far too grand to afford any miscalculations. The arc of the Pistorius narrative, encompassing his first efforts to walk and his astonishing precocity as a sprinter, has all been leading to the Olympic crucible in London. His parents, his brothers, his best friends and even his grandmother will all be at the Olympic Park to savour his history-making display.
“I’d like to show people that if you put the hard work in and you believe in yourself, then you can do whatever you want to,” he says. “I still find it strange, I suppose, when I say to someone, ‘Can you just pass me my leg?’ But I don’t ever think about my disability.
“Putting on my legs is like putting on my shoes. I understand that’s how some people might think differently, but I hope that in London, their perceptions open up.”
To Johnson and the doubters, there could be no more eloquent riposte.
And there won't be any Police left on the streets ( as if there normally are anyway ) to keep an eye on these thugs.
- Graham, St Albans, UK, 20/7/2012 15:42
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