London Olympics 2012 - Essay Example

Running Head: Olympics Executive Summary: Olympic Games are one of the biggest international events. It features both summer and winter sports in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The games are held in every two years on even numbered years only. Summer and Winter Olympic games, alternate every next year which means that the seasonal games are held every four years. The next big Olympics will be held in London in 2012. London is England’s capital city. It is a metropolitan city and is claimed to be the largest city of Britain. It has been there for 2 centuries and its history dates back to the Roman Empire. Major world events have also taken place in London. In the past it has hosted Olympics twice. Once in 1908 and the second time in 1948. The paper throws light on Olympics 2012, the history of Olympics, about London and the impact of this event on major stake holders in the host community. Introduction: The 2010 Summer Olympic Games have been officially called as the Games of the XXX Olympiad. They are stipulated to go on floor in London, between the 27th July and 12th August 2012. This will also make London the first city to be given the honor of hosting Modern Olympic Games, thrice. This feat is yet to be achieved by any other city. London had hosted Olympic Games, previously in 1908 and 1948 respectively. London was elected to be the host city for Olympics 2012 on 6th July 2005. This was during the 17th IOC Session in Singapore. Their rival competitors were Moscow, New York City, Madrid and Paris. At least 4 voting rounds took place. London was headed by the former Olympic Champion, Sebastian Coe. Olympics have triggered the redevelopment of many areas of London in which the games are supposed to be held. Most of the activities and projects revolve around sustainability. Budgetary considerations haven’t been much and this has generated criticism. The Bidding: The bid submission deadline was of 15th July 2003. By then nine cities had turned in their bids to host the 2012 Olympics. These included cities like Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris and Rio de Janeiro. An evaluation followed on the 18th May 2005 by International Olympic Committee (IOC). This was a scored, properly tabulated technical evaluation which reduced the total number of cities to five. The final decision had to be taken between choosing from the following five cities: London, Paris, Moscow and New York This was followed by candidate file submissions on 19th November 2004 to the International Olympic Committee. An IOC inspection team was formed to visit each of the five candidate cities after this. They visited the cities during February and March 2005. The Paris bid was called off due to various setbacks during the trip. There were a number of strikes and demonstrations that had rocked the city during the time of the visits. It was during this time a report came out claiming Guy Drat was involved in corrupt party political finances. Guy Drut was one of the key members from the Paris bid team The evaluation reports of the five candidate cities were released on 6th by the International Olympic Committee. These reports did not carry any marked rankings or scores. Irrespective, Paris report was considered to be fairly positive with London following closely. Even New York and Madrid received positive evaluation reports. During the entire evaluation and bidding process, Paris was always considered as the favorite and the most likely one to win the nomination. Also the fact, that it was its third bid in recent times, played in its favor. London on the other hand was faring behind Paris by a big margin. Things started changing after the appointment of Sebastian Coe as the new London head on 19th May 2004. Speculations became rife as reports started pouring in that London and Paris may witness a tie in the 2012 bid. Even the final run up to the 117th IOC Session was very close between the two arch rivals. In the words of Jacques Rogge, when asked about the projected winner of the IOC bid claimed: "I cannot predict it since I dont know how the IOC members will vote. But my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, or maybe less". (London tactics upset Paris mayor, 2005) A 117th IOC Session was held on the 6th July 2005. At this session the final announcement was made at the Raffles City Convention Center in Singapore. At the Convention, Tony Blair was the only one who was in a position to make a personal lobby for himself. This was because, he was Prime Minister United Kingdom at that time, and leading five candidate cities at a go gave him considerable age. During the final voting process, Moscow turned out to be the first city to be eliminated. New York and Madrid followed the same suit. This left only London and Paris in the end. At the end of the fourth round of voting London beat Paris by 4 votes and won the right to host the 2012 London Olympic Games. French media blamed their President Jacques Chirac for the loss. They felt the British food was the worst of the lot. Bertrand Delanoes complaint for Tony Blair was also reported by various newspapers. He was accused of holding late night meetings with representatives from Africa. While declaring London’s win, French and British were covered simultaneously by the British media. The jubilant and excited reaction of London was compared with that of the crowd in Paris where many were expecting a French win. However celebrations did not last long due to a terrorist attack on their transport system in less than 24 hours after the announcement. Alex Gilady who was a senior IOC official, claimed that London won the voting rights primarily because of flawed voting. The claim was dismissed by a London spokesman, saying that the ballot was strictly confidential where everyone was entitled to their own opinion and there was nothing to be speculative about. Thus it was amidst these speculations, this kind of competition and controversies did London won the hosting rights for Olympics 2012. (Voting error gave London Olympic Games, 2005) Historical Over view of the event: Olympic Games are one of the biggest international events. It features both summer and winter sports in which thousand of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The games are held in every two years on even numbered years only. Summer and Winter Olympic games, alternate every next year which means that the seasonal games are held every four years. .The history of the game goes back to the 8th century BC to the 5th century AD. The International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 by Barron Pierre de Coubertin. The IOC is the official governing body of the Olympic Movement since then. The body and actions of the committed have been defined by the Olympic Charter. The changing social dynamics of the world during the 20th century forced the Olympic Movement to adapt the Games according to the changing demands and times. In this bid, new Games were added, to the Winter Olympics. These were the ice and snow sports, the Paralympics Games for those athletes who are physically impaired and Youth Olympic Games for teenagers. The IOC has also had to adjust the Games according to changing economic, political and technological climate of the world. This resulted in a major shift in the games. They shifted from pure amateurism to incorporating professional athletes. This was supported by the growing mass media. It helped generate corporate sponsorship and commercialization of the Games. Over the last couple of years, the scale and scope of the Games has grown enormously. It is now represented by every nation on the block. This has obviously given rise to other challenges such as boycotting, fixing, doping and even terrorism. Olympics provide citizens of different nations a chance to represent their country and attain international fame every two years. Even the host country is given the opportunity to promote itself to the world and project it in a good light. Ancient Olympic Games used to be a series of competitions held within Greece. The competitors would be representatives of different city states and Kingdoms which projected athletic, combat and chariot racing events. During these games, Olympics used to be shrouded in both mystery and legend. Some of the popular myths claim Hercules and his Father Zeus to be the pioneer of the Games. As per a legend, Heracles was the one who claimed that the Games were strictly Olympic and used to host them every four years. According to a story widely believed, it is said that once Heracles had completed twelve labor hours, he constructed the Olympic Stadium to honor Zeus. After this completion, he continued to walk in a straight line for 200 steps. This distance was called stadion. Stadion later became the unit for distance. There are various other myths. One month relates these Games with the ancient Greek concept of Olympic truce. One of the most universally and widely accepted date for Ancient Olympics is 776 BC. This myth is based and told on the basis of inscriptions found at Olympia. . The Ancient Games comprised of running events, jumping events, discus and javelin throws, foot race, wrestling, boxing and equestrian events. The annals of Olympic history claim Coroebus, a cook from Elis as the first ever Olympic Champion. Olympics held a lot of religious value in the past. They were to honor and Pelops, both divine heroes and kings of Olympia. Pelops was known for his famous chariot race with King Oenomaus of Pisatis. The winners of these events were immortalized, and were paid homage to through poems and statues. The Games used to take place once in four years and that time period was called the Olympiad by the Greeks. It was during this time period, that they would make time measurements. A cycle known as Pan-Hellenic Games constituted the games. This cycle comprised of the Pythian Games, Nemean Games and the Isthmian Games. The Olympic Games reached the pinnacle of their success in the 5th and 6th century BC. This was followed by a momentary lapse when Romans gained power and dominance in Greece. There is no evidence to claim when the Games officially ended but many claim the end date is 393 AD. Some other sources believe that it is the 426 AD. They say this was when the then rule Theodosius demanded that all Greek temples be destroyed. After the demise of Olympics in this era, they were never held again till the 19th century. The rise of Olympic Games: The first major attempt to revive the ancient Olympic Games was the LOlympiade de la République. This was a national Olympic festival that was held annually from 1796 to 1798 in Revolutionary France. The competition comprised of a lot of traditions from the ancient Greek Olympics. In this era, the metric system was also introduced in the sports This marked the beginning of various other initiatives. In 1850, an Olympian Class was launched to keep the locals health. The imitative was taken by Dr William Penny Brookes in Shrophsire, England. The Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire marked the Greek interest in the revival of Olympic Games. This was way back in 1821. Panagiotis Soutsos, a newspaper editor and poet was the first one to propose this idea. He did so through his poem Dialogue of the Dead which was published in 1833. Evangelis Zappas wrote to the King Otto of Greece in 1856. he insisted on funding a permanent revival of the games. His offer was accepted and Zappas turned out to be the first ever sponsor of Olympic Games, 1859. The games were held in Athens. Athletes from Greece and Ottoman Empire took part in the first Olympic Game. Panathenaic Stadium was renovated so that it could host any future Olympic Games. The stadium renovation was funded by Zappas. Dr Brookes adopted the games held at Athens in 1859 in future Wenlock Olympian Games. Dr William Penny Brooks from Great Britain organized Olympic Games in 1866 at London’s Crystal Palace. This was followed by Olympics hosted in 1870 and 1875. Both times, the Olympics were held at Panathaiko Stadium. Bs About London: London is England’s capital city. It is a metropolitan city and is claimed to be the largest city of Britain. It has been there for 2 centuries and its history dates back to the Roman Empire. The Romans used to call it Londinium. London’ core comprises of fairly ancient boundaries. In the current century, the bulk of conurbation makes up the London region while the Greater London administrative area has been elected by mayor and assembly. It is also considered as the world’s largest financial center and is rated alongside New York City. London is a commercial hub and is home to UK’s top hundred companies and top 100 of Europe’s 500 largest. London’s sphere of influence spans across politics, finance, education, entertainment, media, culture and arts. It is one of the most loved tourist destinations for both domestic and international visitors. Major world events have also taken place in London. In the past it has hosted Olympics twice. Once in 1908 and the second time in 1948. Now the city will host the 2012 Olympics. Where heritage is concerned, even there London is rich. It contains four World Heritage sites. These are the Tower of London, the Royal Botanic Palace of Westminster and St Margaret’s church. It is also the center of Greenwich and GMT.Gardens, the London has a wide array of people culture and religions. It is home to a lot of foreigners and it is said that more than 300 languages are spoken within its confines. In July 2007 its population rose above 7 million within its boundaries. The London Underground network is huge and very intricately connected. It was administered by the Transport for London and is oldest underground railway network all over the world. It’s the second most extensive network after the Shanghai Metro. It’s Heathrow Airport is the world’s busiest airport both in terms of passengers it carries and the airspace it caters too Critical evaluation of the impacts of the event on the host community and other stakeholder groups: Olympics are a huge event and many cities look forward to host it. This is one game which involves participants from all over the world and hence its impact just as magnanimous. When it was declared on TV that London would be hosting Olympics 2012, thousands of spectators and fans had gathered to hear the announcement and when the announcement went up, it turned into a jubilant celebration. The host community was ecstatic to be given the honor of hosting these games for the third time now. Celebrations poured in but unfortunately at that time, the span of the celebrations was short lived because London was soon rocked by terrorist attack on its transport network. This put a halt to some of the major celebration arenas. (London 2012 invites the UK to party, 2008) But now as Olympics draw close, preparations to host the big game are in full swing. A lot of money has been set aside just to use this opportunity and take London to new heights. Lots of expectations have also been kept from the event and the management responsible for all the arrangements of the game. It’s expected to be a huge lavish, extravaganza affair. When the Games, will go on floor, it will bring a momentary full stop to the routine life of the commuters and Londoners present over there. People will plan their routines according to the games, so that they are able to take time out of them amidst their busy schedules. For social groups, especially those in schools and colleges, Olympics will give me another place to choose from when deciding on their favorite hangout for a planned outing together somewhere. Families will schedule visits to see the games. The buzz for as long as the Olympics are on air would be central to the games only. People from the host community will be seen in t-shirts, caps, watches carrying the game mascot and symbol. At the same time, the game will also impact the corporate world and the entertainment industry in London. Sponsors would rush in to capitalize on the popularity of this event and promote their brand. Most of them would spend millions just to see their brand logos on the event boards, players t-shirts and in TV advertisements. For them this is a huge opportunity to drive customers to their homes. Media powerhouses would have enough of a spectacle to cover up. They will get to cover the games, the players, the predictions, the bets and any ups and downs. They will also get to interview these players, broadcast them, interview commentators, past winners, losers, and post their opinions. Thus for the media, everything will be central to Olympics for a while. Where entertainment industry is concerned, music, music videos, and celebrities, everyone will be seen on the fore front promoting the game in some way or the other. Just like, FIFA 2010, brought songs like waving flag and Wake Waka to the lime light, Olympics 2012, will also have its own claim to fame. These songs and celebrities endorsing them will completely hog the screen space for a while because of the sheer popularity of the games and their own work. Conclusion: O Olympics 2012 would take place in London. This is the third time; the city has been given this honor to host the event. The last two times it hosted the event, it was in 1940 and 1948. London won the bid in a close one-on-one with Paris by 4 votes. Events as huge as Olympics 2012 have a big impact on the host community and surrounding stake holders. They shake everyone, be it the corporate world, the media, or the entertainment industry. Because the focus shifts from routine life and other things to the games, all genres of the business world, rush to capitalize on the games. \ Bibliography 2012 Olympics to be broad cast on Prime sky. (2007, 11 29). Retrieved 07 24, 2010, from throng: http://www.throng.co.nz/olympics-prime-sky/2010-and-2012-olympic-games-to-be-broadcast-on-prime-and-sky Dean, J. (2005, 11 09). 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