Mihir Bose's Blog, page 64
August 1, 2012
The French sign on the British?
Evening Standard
Has the Paris Tourist Board put a jinx on British gold hopes? Absurd you may say but consider this. Exactly a month before the Games began, the Paris tourist board launched a competition offering British citizens a luxury holiday in Paris every time Britain won a gold.
Has the Paris Tourist Board put a jinx on British gold hopes? Absurd you may say but consider this. Exactly a month before the Games began, the Paris tourist board launched a competition offering British citizens a luxury holiday in Paris every time Britain won a gold.
Ye Shiwen is tainted by China’s secrecy but Ruta Meilutyte profits from an open attitude
Evening Standard
The only surprise about the storm generated over whether China’s 16-year-old wonder swimmer Ye Shiwen has taken drugs is that it has blown up so swiftly. Normally, after a new Olympic star steps on the podium to accept gold, there is a decent pause before the whispering starts.
It did not help of course that Ye did something that was truly unheard of. In winning the 400 metres individual medley, she not only broke the world record but actually swam faster than a man: her time of 28.93 seconds in the last 50 metres of the freestyle leg easily bettered the 29.1 seconds that the American Ryan Lochte had managed in the men’s event minutes earlier.
The only surprise about the storm generated over whether China’s 16-year-old wonder swimmer Ye Shiwen has taken drugs is that it has blown up so swiftly. Normally, after a new Olympic star steps on the podium to accept gold, there is a decent pause before the whispering starts.
It did not help of course that Ye did something that was truly unheard of. In winning the 400 metres individual medley, she not only broke the world record but actually swam faster than a man: her time of 28.93 seconds in the last 50 metres of the freestyle leg easily bettered the 29.1 seconds that the American Ryan Lochte had managed in the men’s event minutes earlier.
July 31, 2012
Are you cheerful or cynical about the Olympics?
BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours
Julian Worricker talk to Mihir Bose, and asks listeners, how they feel about the Olympic Games.
Have you got the Olympic spirit?
The games are now well underway, so how is it for you so far? If you were always a fan have you become an Olympic junkie? And if you were a cynic, have you put aside your grumbles about the rising costs and the commercialism to muster some enthusiasm? If you've already seen an event live, was it the promised 'once in a lifetime opportunity' or are you one of the many frustrated sports fans unable to buy a ticket and angry at the fiasco over empty seats?
So cheerful or cynical - which are you?
Click here to listen to the programme (Note: The section with Mihir starts at 0:12:00)
Julian Worricker talk to Mihir Bose, and asks listeners, how they feel about the Olympic Games.
Have you got the Olympic spirit?
The games are now well underway, so how is it for you so far? If you were always a fan have you become an Olympic junkie? And if you were a cynic, have you put aside your grumbles about the rising costs and the commercialism to muster some enthusiasm? If you've already seen an event live, was it the promised 'once in a lifetime opportunity' or are you one of the many frustrated sports fans unable to buy a ticket and angry at the fiasco over empty seats?
So cheerful or cynical - which are you?
Click here to listen to the programme (Note: The section with Mihir starts at 0:12:00)
July 30, 2012
Host battle is hotting up
Evening Standard
The long-anticipated Olympic version of the Ashes battle is yet to get going but another fascinating duel is developing between Russia and Brazil, hosts of the next two Olympics. It is clear both countries see London as their springboard, much as Britain did Beijing.
Russia want the 2014 Sochi Winter Games to revive their sporting fortunes, which have been in decline since the collapse of Communism. As if to mark the first step, amid much joy at the ExCel Centre on Saturday, Arsen Galstyan beat Japan’s Hiroaki Hiraoka for the under 60kg title, a first Russian Olympic judo gold since the dissolution of the USSR.
The long-anticipated Olympic version of the Ashes battle is yet to get going but another fascinating duel is developing between Russia and Brazil, hosts of the next two Olympics. It is clear both countries see London as their springboard, much as Britain did Beijing.
Russia want the 2014 Sochi Winter Games to revive their sporting fortunes, which have been in decline since the collapse of Communism. As if to mark the first step, amid much joy at the ExCel Centre on Saturday, Arsen Galstyan beat Japan’s Hiroaki Hiraoka for the under 60kg title, a first Russian Olympic judo gold since the dissolution of the USSR.
Sir Steve’s bold vision
Evening Standard
Sir Steve Redgrave may have been a bit disappointed that he did not light the Olympic Flame but he could not have been very surprised that London chose to be different. After all, he raised the possibility in a Standard Sport interview last November.
Then, as our only Olympian to win five golds, he was the bookies’ favourite and I asked him whether he was worth a punt.
Sir Steve Redgrave may have been a bit disappointed that he did not light the Olympic Flame but he could not have been very surprised that London chose to be different. After all, he raised the possibility in a Standard Sport interview last November.
Then, as our only Olympian to win five golds, he was the bookies’ favourite and I asked him whether he was worth a punt.
Don’t blame London for the empty seats. It’s a family issue
Evening Standard
Lord Coe and Locog should stop trying to pretend they can solve the problem of empty seats at Olympic venues. They cannot.
Coe hinted as much at his press conference yesterday as the swathes of empty seats led to a public outcry.
His explanation: “There are tens of thousands of people at this moment within the accredited ‘family’ that are trying to figure out what their day looks like, where they are going to be asked to go to, frankly working out how you divide your time.”
Lord Coe and Locog should stop trying to pretend they can solve the problem of empty seats at Olympic venues. They cannot.
Coe hinted as much at his press conference yesterday as the swathes of empty seats led to a public outcry.
His explanation: “There are tens of thousands of people at this moment within the accredited ‘family’ that are trying to figure out what their day looks like, where they are going to be asked to go to, frankly working out how you divide your time.”
July 28, 2012
The Vatican of Sport
History Today Volume: 62 Issue: 8 2012
The modern Olympic Games are an international phenomenon, often criticised for their controlling commercialism. However, as Mihir Bose explains, they owe their origins to a celebrated novel set in an English public school.
The death in June of the Cuban boxer Teofilo Stevenson provided an opportunity to remind everyone of the magical pulling power of the Olympics. Stevenson, who won three heavyweight golds in successive Olympics in 1972, 1976 and 1980 – he might have won a fourth had the Soviet bloc not boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games – was offered eight million dollars by an American promoter to turn professional. This would have seen him fight Muhammad Ali, then the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. And with Ali having announced himself to the world by winning gold in the 1960 Rome Olympics this promised some fight. Such a contest might have been impossible given that Fidel Castro had banned professional boxing in Cuba. But it is Stevenson’s words in imperiously rejecting the Yankee gold that have echoed down the decades: ‘What is eight million dollars when you have the love of eight million people.’
The modern Olympic Games are an international phenomenon, often criticised for their controlling commercialism. However, as Mihir Bose explains, they owe their origins to a celebrated novel set in an English public school.
The death in June of the Cuban boxer Teofilo Stevenson provided an opportunity to remind everyone of the magical pulling power of the Olympics. Stevenson, who won three heavyweight golds in successive Olympics in 1972, 1976 and 1980 – he might have won a fourth had the Soviet bloc not boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games – was offered eight million dollars by an American promoter to turn professional. This would have seen him fight Muhammad Ali, then the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. And with Ali having announced himself to the world by winning gold in the 1960 Rome Olympics this promised some fight. Such a contest might have been impossible given that Fidel Castro had banned professional boxing in Cuba. But it is Stevenson’s words in imperiously rejecting the Yankee gold that have echoed down the decades: ‘What is eight million dollars when you have the love of eight million people.’
July 27, 2012
The commercialisation of the Olympics
ABC News - Lateline
Mihir speaks to Lateline about the commercialisation of the Olympics.
Click here to listen to the programme
Mihir speaks to Lateline about the commercialisation of the Olympics.
Click here to listen to the programme
Let the London 2012 party begin
London gets everything, moans the rest of the country. Mihir Bose explains why this has to be the Olympic case
PlayUp
The start of the Olympics, with the women’s football match between Great Britain and New Zealand at Cardiff’s Millennium stadium, has ignited the old controversy: why are the Games given to a city and not a country? Why does the International Olympic Committee not follow FIFA and take its events round the country?
When you put this argument to the IOC, their answer is always the same: the format works so why change it? That is exactly what Sir Craig Reedie, the Briton who sits on the executive of the IOC, said to me. I had prefaced my question by making the same point that quite a few critics have made: that the IOC format of one city takes all, devised back at the end of the 19th century, does not work for the 21st.
PlayUp
The start of the Olympics, with the women’s football match between Great Britain and New Zealand at Cardiff’s Millennium stadium, has ignited the old controversy: why are the Games given to a city and not a country? Why does the International Olympic Committee not follow FIFA and take its events round the country?
When you put this argument to the IOC, their answer is always the same: the format works so why change it? That is exactly what Sir Craig Reedie, the Briton who sits on the executive of the IOC, said to me. I had prefaced my question by making the same point that quite a few critics have made: that the IOC format of one city takes all, devised back at the end of the 19th century, does not work for the 21st.
July 25, 2012
FA’s reticence to act over John Terry affair sends out confusing message over its stance on race issues
Insideworldfootball
The Football Association (FA) does not often deserve sympathy. It has certainly had little over the John Terry affair which had such dramatic consequences that it produced, arguably, the most unexpected collateral damage ever seen in the game. England lost their manager Fabio Capello just months before the second most important tournament in the world. And this, in turn, set off a chain of reactions that also contributed to the departure of Harry Redknapp from Tottenham Hotspur.
Yet it is hard not to feel a smidgen of sympathy for the organisation as it considers whether it should now charge Terry, having resumed its inquiry now that he has been cleared in a criminal court of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand (pictured below). It is interesting to note that no sooner was the verdict reached, many in and outside the game made it clear the FA should carry out its own investigation. As Paul Elliott, Chelsea's first black captain, put it to me: "Not withstanding that John Terry has been cleared in a criminal court, the FA must see if any rules of football have been violated."
The Football Association (FA) does not often deserve sympathy. It has certainly had little over the John Terry affair which had such dramatic consequences that it produced, arguably, the most unexpected collateral damage ever seen in the game. England lost their manager Fabio Capello just months before the second most important tournament in the world. And this, in turn, set off a chain of reactions that also contributed to the departure of Harry Redknapp from Tottenham Hotspur.
Yet it is hard not to feel a smidgen of sympathy for the organisation as it considers whether it should now charge Terry, having resumed its inquiry now that he has been cleared in a criminal court of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand (pictured below). It is interesting to note that no sooner was the verdict reached, many in and outside the game made it clear the FA should carry out its own investigation. As Paul Elliott, Chelsea's first black captain, put it to me: "Not withstanding that John Terry has been cleared in a criminal court, the FA must see if any rules of football have been violated."
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