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| Gymnast Alaina Williams performs on a trampoline in New York’s Times Square during US Olympic Team festivities, on Wednesday. The event marks 100 days until the London Olympics. AP Photo |
The Olympic Games are here. Time training venues and centres are ready to go in London. How does T&T fit into this equation? Nothing has officially been done to inform the public that the Games are in July. This is the responsibility of the TTOC. This is their bag. The issue of “TRI” or “T&T” or “TrT” is still hanging in the air. The attitude of our administrators suggests nothing will be done. Correct entries must be rehearsed. Technical meetings must be attended by knowledgeable people. In the meantime, London is in full flight. They are sending out news of training venues that will be used by athletes from more than 200 countries. Athletes will finetune final preparations immediately prior to and during the Games. The facilities will be used by athletes when they move into the Olympic Village in mid-July, and will play a crucial role in the final preparation for competitors from all over the world.
These venues are crucial to the preparation of international athletes. Each venue will be no more than 30 minutes drive from the Olympic Village, and will offer facilities, equipment, medical facilities and changing rooms. T&T must come up with a transparency plan to handle and provide the emotionally charged expectations of our athletes—pre and during the games. The London Organising Committee is preparing to deal with the large crowds that will be based in London during the games. The data points to the fact that the United Kingdom will experience a huge surge of overcrowding especially during the three weekends in which the games are in progress. The commissioner of transport for London, Peter Hendy, commented on the expected numbers of people in London while talking to The Daily Telegraph in the following manner: “Our approach is to be ready for more people to turn up than you can ever imagine, simply because it is a great place to be. We do not want to discourage people, but we will inform people if they can’t get into central London.”
The measures to be taken by the TTOC in order to speedup our processing for the games are:
1. Estimates of the number of athletes travelling.
2. Visa preparations though not necessary for T&T.
3. Passports.
4. Reassessment of their plans to deal with protocol.
5. Training of T&T team officials for the games.
6. The media certifications.
7. Specialist passes for the coaches of our elite athletes.
8. Family passes.
The city of London has established protocols that will be helpful to facilitate these acquisitions. Live big screen coverage will be provided for spectators in Hyde Park as well as the Royal Parks of St James and Green Park. The London 2012 Olympic Games are scheduled to start from July 27 and last till August 12 during which the city of London will be overcrowded. Home Office is guarding against disruptions by protestors at some London 2012 Olympic Games events. The Home Office has declared its commitment to take all possible measures in order to tackle any disruptions that might take place on the upcoming Games. Lord Moynihan said: “It’s not likely to be a well-orchestrated campaign through Twitter or Web site. It is likely to be someone similar to the idiot on Saturday who causes major disruption. That is why all the security measures need to be put in place to minimise the chance of that happening. You can never completely remove it—but you can do everything possible to protect the interests of the athletes by minimising it.” The London Organising Committee is concerned that some of the major events might be disrupted by the protestors. Among the Olympic events, the first event that can fall victim to the protestors is the Olympic torch relay as the path of the relay will be exposed. Apart from that, once the games start, the most susceptible events to the protestors will be road cycling, race marathons, open water swimming as well as triathlon races. In order to protect events from protestors who might want to gain attention by disrupting the events, the LOCOG has decided to line up stewards at a distance of 25 yards from each other on the edges of such race.
