London 2012 outlined plans Thursday for the largest ever Cultural Olympiad and a major investment from Youth Music. At the centre of the Cultural Olympiad are a UK-wide Cultural Festival and ten major projects which are being created in partnership with the BBC, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, the UK Film Council, and the Arts Councils of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The event will comprise ten major projects – Film and Video Nation, International Exhibitions Programme, Artists Taking the Lead, 2012 Sounds, International Shakespeare Festival, Live Sites, Celebration of Disability Arts and Sports, 2012 Carnival, World Cultural Festival and World Festival of Youth Culture. There will also be a four-year UK-wide Cultural Festival starting in the summer of 2008 which will encompass thousands of national, local and regional events as part of the nationwide celebrations to mark the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The BBC quotes a senior police officer saying the board that has been set up to plan the 2012 London Olympic Games is “not fit for purpose” regarding security issues. Richard Bryan, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said decision-making by the Olympic Board is slow and convoluted. He has asked for the police to have a “primary voice” on the board. Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said officials are considering new legislation for Olympic security. Bryan said, “the people who are involved in the Games are not privy to the environment that we are operating in”.
By the time the London 2012 Games begin there will be increased testing for banned substances to cover about one in every two athletes. The IOC envisages 5,000 athletes will be tested in 2012, compared to 4,500 at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 3,700 tested during the Athens 2004 Games. IOC president Jacques Rogge said, “the IOC will augment tests”. The IOC will also recommend increasing bans for first-time offenders from the current two years to four years and in exceptional cases life bans could be handed down. Rogge added that the entourages of the athletes would also be more carefully scrutinized while there will be an increase in unannounced out-of-competition tests.
Those planning to attend the London 2012 Games should start booking their accommodations. HotelsLondonOlympicGames.co.uk, called “the one-stop resource for information on booking accommodation, car hire and insurance” for the Games, announces that finding accommodation nearer the time of the Games could be more difficult than many travelers have been anticipating. Also closer to the event hotel prices will likely increase as the event gets closer, says Bruce Abbot, a spokesman for the website. He said, “at the moment hotels, guest houses and rented accommodation owners are happy to offer reduced pricing to ensure they have an adequate amount of bookings for the event. However as the event gets closer as they become more confident of being fully booked, they will start to shift the price point upwards in anticipation of an increased demand for accommodation during the event. This is why we are encouraging people to place an initial booking at this time; they will be able to relax knowing they have somewhere to stay, and they will inevitably save money as well”.
