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olympic values...
You've probably heard of the overzealous Olympic Games "brand police" harassing old ladies making Olympic cakes and other shop owners getting into the Olympic spirit, but how about the "Wi-Fi police"?
The Olympics brand is the second most valuable brand in the world at $US45 billion.
Sponsors pay tens of millions of pounds to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for exclusive rights to spruik their wares around London and beyond, and the IOC will stop at nothing to protect those revenue streams.
BT is the "official communications services provider" for the Olympics and has 1500 Wi-Fi hotspots at Olympic sites, with prices starting from £5.99 for 90 minutes. It's the largest single Wi-Fi venue installation in Britain, according to BT.
To protect this lucrative deal - and presumably minimise any potential technical interference - LOCOG, the London Olympics organising committee, has banned "personal/private wireless access points and 3G hubs" from Olympic venues.
- By Gus Leonisky at 3 Aug 2012 - 5:24pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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meanwhile in the cheating department...
The British cycling team's opening-night Olympic gold medal is under the spotlight, after one of its riders admitted to deliberately crashing to force a restart.
Philip Hindes crashed early in the qualifying round of the men's team sprint against Germany, with competition rules allowing for a restart of the race.
German-born Hindes told reporters after the race he had crashed deliberately because Great Britain had got away to a poor start.
He said the strategy had been discussed prior to the race.
First man Hindes seemed to have trouble with his front wheel and crashed after a quarter of a lap in the race against Germany.
After Britain were allowed to restart, Hindes made a cannonball opening to perfectly launch his team.
Britain then went on to win the heat and retain the men's track cycling team sprint title, beating France in the final.
"We were saying if we have a bad start we need to crash to get a restart," Hindes was quoted as saying by British newspapers on Thursday.
"I just crashed. I did it on purpose to get a restart ... it was all planned really."
However, speaking after the team went on to win the gold medal, Hindes seemed to correct himself, saying he merely lost control of his bike and crashed.
Hindes, 19, switched his allegiance from Germany to Britain two years ago.
British Cycling team officials blamed the controversy on his lack of fluency in English, saying it was "lost in translation".
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-03/controversy-over-english-cycling-gold/4175440
money money money...
Kevan Gosper said on Monday that Australian athletes had been hampered by a lack of public funds and government focus and said more money needed to be spent on top-level coaches and elite athletes.
"We've been down on the sort of financial support that we were accustomed to when compared with the financial support that's coming through from other countries, particularly here in Europe," he told ABC radio from London.
"The fact is you do need more money in international sports and preparing if you're going to compete with the world."
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/off-the-field/government-blamed-for-australias-medal-drought-20120806-23pm3.html#ixzz22l2ruNN4
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Art, science and gardening needs more money than F%#@&*g sport...