‘Did you know the Olympic Flame was in Cardiff today?’ ‘Oh relay? That’s exciting…’

That’s right, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you can’t help but have noticed the Olympic Flame has come to Cardiff.

 

On day five of the flame’s 70-day route across the British Isles it left my West Midlands home town of Worcester on Friday morning and made its way into Wales, passing through Abergavenny, Pontypool and Newport, before arriving in Cardiff at 5.30pm. The flame was unloaded in St Mellons in the west of the city and carried down the Newport Road to the city centre, where it was escorted past Cardiff castle, taken around the Millennium stadium by Welsh rugby captain Sam Warburton, and delivered to Coopers Field for a celebratory concert.

 

Spectators outside Cardiff Castle

 

I had watched the torch arrive in Worcester on Thursday via the BBC’s Torchcam online stream, and was pleasantly surprised to see such an impressive turnout, with the city centre streets lined with eager spectators. Having spoken to a few people who witnessed the scenes first-hand the atmosphere seems to have been excellent, with children playing in the streets and a ‘festival-like’ mood taking over. There were even people waiting to wave it off again at 8am Friday morning, when it left Worcester down streets just yards from my home.

 

The Flame approaches Worcester County Cricket Club. (Picture courtesy of Diane Care)

 

I was then in Cardiff to see it arrive, and witnessed the whole city centre shut down in preparation. With the prospect of a Friday afternoon party on the hottest day of the year the people of Cardiff had turned out in force to welcome the flame, as the streets around Kingsway and Castle Street thronged in anticipation.

 

Police patrol Cardiff ahead of the Torch’s arrival

 

With controversies already raging about the security of the London games and the lengths taken in the name of counter-terrorism it was impossible to miss the high police presence. Police vans swept the streets with sirens blazing, officers on bikes, horseback and foot covered every inch of the torch’s route, and the South and East Wales Air Support Helicopter patrolled the skies above us.

1700hrs. Aircraft flying over Cardiff City Centre to support Olympic Torch operation. BBC aircraft also in vacinity if you were wondering

— South & East Wales (@helicops) May 25, 2012

 

Even more pervasive was the corporate influence. The three designated sponsors of the torch relay were clearly making sure to get their money’s worth, each with a fully-manned float leading the Torch, and uniformed employees of all three sponsors dispatched to entertain the waiting crowds. ‘Limited Edition’ bottles of carbonated drink were given out for free, as stilt-walkers in costumes advertising a national bank entertained the crowds.

 

‘Woo, it’s the Olympics! Now does anyone need a mortgage?’ (pic by Diane Care)

 

The flame itself passed by quickly, as it headed into Bute Park for the evening’s concert. Tickets to enter the park were available to anyone who had registered in advance, but judging by the number being given away free take-up must have been low. A friend was handed 40 to distribute as she wanted, and several stewards were giving them out before the flame arrived. (All clearly identified by their bright red uniforms, covered of course in the logo of everyone’s favourite American soft drinks conglomerate).

 

Emeli Sandé at Coopers Field on the big screen outside Cardiff Town Hall. (I’ve never heard of her either, but apparently she was quite good…)

 

If I sound overly-cynical of this I apologise, but this sense of unease has characterised the build-up to the Games for me. The Olympics has always been a heavily stage-managed affair, with involvement at every level from multi-national corporations, but it was still strange to see it in action for myself.

 

On such a gorgeous afternoon the vibe around Cardiff was always going to be a good one, but the whole thing still felt somewhat forced. The Torch Relay is essentially a manufactured, artificial celebration – there’s no real point to it beyond drumming up anticipation for the summer’s events and drawing attention away from London to the rest of the UK – but it’s still a ritual I’ve so far found myself enjoying.

 

The Flame arrives at Cardiff Castle

 

Worcester certainly looked impressive as people lined its streets to welcome the Olympic circus into town, and despite the attention garnered by celebrity torch bearers like Sam Warburton or Matt Smith (who carried it through Cardiff Bay on Saturday morning), the focus given to the stories of the ordinary people nominated to carry the flame is always endearing.

 

I suppose to me the Olympic Games have always been first and foremost a great sporting occasion, with all the pomp and razzmatazz which follows it a necessary, and occasionally distracting sideshow. I’m definitely still excited about working at Horse Guards Parade in August, and for the chance to experience the Games themselves firsthand, but I am wary of the sense of compulsory enjoyment which only seems to be increasing as they draw nearer.

 

 

 

 

I guess you just can’t please everyone…

Olympic hopefuls take to the white water in Cardiff

K1 kayaking in action at Cardiff International White Water

This post first appeared on The Cardiffian, on March 27.

The International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay is well-known as the home of many sports in Cardiff. The Big Blue Tent of the Cardiff Bay Ice Arena has been home to Cardiff Devils Ice Hockey Club since 2006, while Cardiff International Pool features a 10-lane competition pool and space for over 1,000 spectators.

Both developments dwarf the skyline of the Bay, standing out for miles amid the lavish apartment blocks and gleaming glass skyscrapers which have sprung up along the waterside in recent years.

Less well known, but equally as impressive, is Cardiff International White Water – a state-of-the-art artificial white water canoeing circuit. It opened in 2010, and was the location for the British Canoe Union’s recent Premier Slalom event, which took place on March 24.

Saturday’s action saw the first leg of the three-part junior selection event for the British national team, where promising teenagers competed for the chance to represent their country. This was followed by a Premier Slalom meet, where elite athletes from the top division of British canoeing took to the water to try to qualify for the chance to represent Team GB in this summer’s London Olympics.

Two of Britain’s brightest medal hopes were both in action in Cardiff. David Florence, who won silver in the C1 slalom in Beijing in 2008 was competing in the C1 and C2 category, in which he races with partner Richard Hounslow.

David Florence at GBR Team Selection 2011 at Lee Valley White Water Centre (pic via david.ian.roberts)

Speaking of the Cardiff course, Florence said: “It’s a great venue, I really enjoy paddling there.

“It’s a lot smaller than Lee Valley, but it’s got the feel of a much bigger course, with a lot of good drops and rapids.

“The standard of competition in Cardiff was high, with top-flight premier athletes from all over the country competing for the chance of a coveted place in the Olympic squad.

“Hounslow, who races in the K1 as well as C2 with Florence, said: “At the moment the main focus is on selection, which is in three weeks’ time, but we still need to get there first. The race in Cardiff was my last preparation race.

“All the top people in the country were at the race in Cardiff this week so all the people who will be competing for Britain were there.

“Realistically you’re looking at only two or three categories that are in for a chance. If all things go to plan it is only between two or three people in each.”

Saturday’s event is also preparation for CIWW itself, which will host the first leg of the International Canoe Federation’s Canoe Slalom World Cup on June 8-10.

The World Cup takes place over a series of five races spread across different slalom courses around the world. The first heat takes place in Cardiff, before the action moves on to France, Spain, and the Czech Republic, before the final leg in Slovakia at the end of August.

CIWW is also open to the public, who can experience the sport themselves, or try a range of other white water activities, including rafting and river boarding – riding the rapids face down on a flat body board.

Many people in the sport are hoping the impact of the London Olympics will inspire a greater uptake in canoe slalom, and Richard is hopeful Cardiff will see the benefits of any Olympic success.

“Every four years at the Olympics the TV ratings are very good. It’s often up there in the top five along with the 100 metres, but outside of the Olympic years we get nothing. After this Olympics it will be really interesting to see what happens,” he said.

“Hopefully in the country the event will help the sport pick up a little bit.

“It would not only help the course in London but it will help the course in Cardiff as well, as people see the events taking place and think “I’d like to try that”, and of course as athletes we help by winning medals!

C2 canoeing in action

Canoe Slalom: The Basics

There are two distinct categories of canoeing: sprint, where athletes race in a straight line on smooth water, and slalom, which sees individual competitors complete a white water course.

Slalom courses require athletes to negotiate through a series of hanging gates, some of which must be crossed against the current.

Time penalties are applied for any gates which are missed, or if a competitor makes contact with a gate as they pass through it.

There are five distinct divisions in British canoe slalom, ranging from division four, to the premier league.
There is an important distinction between a canoe and a kayak. Canoes are knelt in, and steered with a single-bladed paddle, while kayak racers sit in their craft, and control it with a longer, double-bladed paddle.

Kayaks are always single-person crafts, but canoes can be doubled, where teams of two race a much larger craft with a single paddle each.

Single canoeing is known as C1, doubles are C2, and kayaks referred to as K1 in the sporting classification.

Men and women compete separately in C1 and K1 classes, but can race with and against each other in the C2.

Canoe slalom has been an Olympic sport for 20 years, and will take place this summer at a brand-new purpose-built course at Lee Valley, in Hertfordshire.

Following the flame: Torch relay route through Cardiff announced

The Olympic Flame relay is one of the most important aspects of the London 2012 Olympics.

Despite venues spread across the country, with several events taking place outside of London, for the vast majority of people in the UK the 70-day torch relay is the only chance to directly witness the festivities taking place here.

The locations and sites the torch will be visiting were announced last year, but today the exact route was revealed, showing street-by-street details of the journey the flame will take as it travels the length and breadth of the UK.

The torch relay is due to pass through Cardiff on May 25-26. It will be taken from Worcester into Wales, and is due to arrive in Cardiff at 5.30. It will then be paraded down Newport Road and into the city centre, where it will visit Cardiff Castle, travel round the Millennium Stadium and cross the Taff, before stopping for a free concert in Bute Park.

On May 26 it will start in the Bay at 6.30 and be carried onto Penarth Road, where it will then start the journey to Swansea.

As well as some celebrities and athletes, most of the torch carriers will be local people, who were nominated by friends and family, and will each carry the flame along a section of the route. A full list of runner for the Cardiff leg is available here.

You can also view the entire route in and out of Cardiff the flame will take on the map below.

View Larger Map

Wales: Paralympic Superpower?

Could Wales soon become the greatest Paralympic nation ever?

It may sound unlikely, but following the huge medal hauls of recent Games- 27 in 2004 and 14 in 2008- those responsible for supporting Welsh Paralympic sport are now looking to London 2012 to be their most successful yet.

Sport Wales, the body responsible for encouraging and promoting sport in Wales has set high targets for the upcoming Paralympics, aiming for 30-40 medals across the 2012 and 2016 Games. It also aspires to become “the leading  contributor of GB Paralympic medals on a per capita basis.”

The benefits of the Welsh Paralympic infrastructure have been clearly recognised globally, with the Australian and New Zealand Paralympic teams basing themselves in Wales ahead of competing in London.

Wales already dominates the other Home Nations in terms of Paralympic glory, with Welsh athletes winning a third of all Team GB’s medals in Beijing 2008, and has produced some of the UK’s most well-known and successful Paralympic athletes, including Tanni Grey-Thompson and Dave Roberts, who between them have won 22 Paralympic Golds over the last five Games.

But what is it that makes Wales so adept at identifying and nurturing Paralympic champions? Why is such a relatively small nation able to outperform other larger sporting powerhouses? And how do the sporting authorities hope to ensure continued future success?

Over the next few week Olympic Cardiff will be turning its attention directly to Paralympic Sport in Wales and attempting to answer these questions, as well as assessing how well, with less than a year to go, it is doing in living up to its own high standards.

Confirmed: Team GB to Play in Cardiff

LOCOG have today confirmed that both the men’s and women’s Team GB Olympic Football teams will play qualification matches in Cardiff, at the Millennium Stadium.

The men’s team, managed by Stuart Pearce, will play their final group match in the Welsh capital on Wednesday 1 August, while Hope Powell’s women’s team will play their opening two matches in the city, on Wednesday 25 and Saturday 28 July. The draw for the rest of the teams competing is yet to take place.

Controversy has surrounded the creation of the first ever British Olympic football teams, with the Football Associations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland still opposing their national players being selected, in fear of risking the sovereignty of their national teams. This has not stopped prominent Welsh players, Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale both claiming they would be willing to play for a combined British side.

The remaining available tickets for these matches  will now be released on a first-come-first-served basis, from 11am on 29 November, at www.tickets.london2012.com, or via telephone on 0844 847 2012.

Olympic Flame: Final Route Revealed

Whilst sat in uni scanning through the current trending topics this morning (purely for serious research reasons of course) I was struck by the amount of people that were discussing the  Olympics.

Daily UK Twitter trend graph for #Olympic, 07.11.11, via http://trendistic.indextank.com/

 

I was aware that an announcement had been made this morning about the full route for the Olympic Flame as it tours the country ahead of the opening ceremony in London, but on further investigation was pleasantly surprised to see the scale of the response. There seemed to be an overwhelming sense of excitement at the prospect of the torch coming to Wales,

 

Great to see the Olympic Flame going to so many places in Wales, May 25 – 30, 2012: london2012.com/games/olympic-…—
Paul Chibeba (@chibeba) November 07, 2011

 

Pleased that on 28th May the Olympic relay will pass through Machynlleth, on 30th through Pant & Llanymynech and leave Wales via Welshpool!—
Russell George AM (@russ_george) November 07, 2011

 

bemused by the miseries who can't embrace the olympic spirit! Can't wait to see the torch in wales—
Kirsten Offer (@kirstenoffer) November 07, 2011

 

 

Although of course, you can never please eveyone,

Out of 70 days it's going around the UK, the Olympic torch is in Wales for 6, that's bloody ridiculous!—
Morgan F.W. Neagle (@m0vingt0newy0rk) November 07, 2011

 

 

 

The exact route of the flame’s journey is of particular interest to me because it will be coming directly to Cardiff, the city I’m based in for the coming year, from my home town of  Worcester, and will be more or less mirroring the route I took when I first moved to Cardiff two months ago.

 

View Larger Map

 

The flame will travel from Worcester to Cardiff on Friday 25th May, 2012, stopping off at a range of different towns and villages along the way. The Games’ organisers have pledged that the flame will pass within an hour’s travel of 95% of the UK population, and if my admittedly limited research is anything to go by, it seems to be having a largely positive effect.

 

Although really only a symbolic gesture, the Olympic flame still represents one of the oldest traditions associated with the games, based on the Ancient Greek tradition of using a flaming baton in the relay. In taking the time to arrange a route that covers so much of the country it seems that LOCOG are clearly trying to dispel the perception of the games as a largely London-centric phenomena.

 

After spending the night in Cardiff, the Olympic torch will travel across Wales, stopping over at Swansea, Aberystwyth and Bangor. During its time in Wales it will be carried over 300 miles, by an average of 110 volunteer torch-bearers a day. It will will travel by train, horse and boat, and will visit the tallest tower of Caerphilly Castle, the eastern coast of Aberaeron, and the peak of Mount Snowdon- the highest point it will reach in the UK- before sailing across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and back into England.

 

Major celebrations are said to be planned for the flame’s arrival in Cardiff, which are sure to involve the Millennium Stadium, which is the only Olympic venue in Wales.

 

Although only a small part of the overall Games experience, for those without tickets to see an event live, the torch relay is one of the few chances to engage directly with the Olympics, and an opportunity for fans and athletes to join together in anticipation of the sporting festival soon to follow.

Introduction: Why London 2012?

I’ve always been something of a fraud as a sports fan.

 

I’ve got my teams I follow and I try and watch games whenever I can, but any investigation into my further sporting knowledge would soon reveal the gaping holes in my understanding. If truth be told I can barely comprehend the offside rule, I still struggle with the difference between a flanker and a hooker, and I’m yet to hear a suitable explanation as to why tennis players can only count in 15s.

 

Don’t get me wrong; I love the excitement that competitive sport provides, and the idea of individuals and teams dedicating themselves in pursuit of excellence is always inspirational. That athletes are willing to make such huge personal sacrifices in pushing the limits of what their bodies can achieve is to me what makes competitive sport so compelling, but the obsessive, partisan fan mentality, or need for stat-focused, detailed post-match analysis often leaves me cold.

 

That’s why I’ve always loved the Olympics and Paralympics; you don’t need to be an expert in the intricacies of fencing or taekwondo to enjoy the spectacle they provide. No one really cares if you can’t tell your omnium from your modern pentathlon, goalball from handball, or whether you know the difference between a Grand Prix and a Grand Prix Special; with so many fascinating and diverse sports bought together at the same time there’s always something happening worth watching.

 

This is why I was so thrilled when it was revealed that the Games would be coming back to London. I vividly remember watching the announcement live from Singapore as an excited 17-year-old, and I  knew that a home Games was an opportunity I couldn’t miss. I have  followed its progress every step of the way, as plans were drawn up, mascots selected, and east London was slowly transformed.

 

A lot of cynicism seems to still surround the London Games, especially after the spectacle of Beijing 2008, and much of it is warranted. I will gladly admit the official logo marked a wasted opportunity to mobilise an apathetic public, the ongoing controversy around the legacy of the Olympic Stadium continues to drag on, and serious questions have yet to be answered as to how the Games will really impact the lives of those living alongside it.

 

However I remain resolutely optimistic for the event itself; even after failing in the ballot for tickets I’m determined to make the most of this opportunity, and will be doing my bit next summer as a Games Maker at Horse Guards Parade, location for the Olympic beach volleyball.

 

Events are taking place up and down the country in preparation for next summer, and the Games themselves are not just confined to London- in fact the very first event will be the first women’s football qualifier, and will take place at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium before anything begins in England.

 

Being based in Cardiff for the next 9 months I want to find out how others in the Welsh capital will be gearing up for the Games. As an Olympic volunteer and fan I want to share my excitement for the games, but as a journalist I also want to hear other people’s stories. This site will mark my personal route to London 2012, but also connect with those in the local community with one eye on London. I hope to explore the issues and controversies that surround the Games, and investigate the impact they will have on South Wales.

 

Please feel free to share, comment and contribute; the Games are about all of us, and I hope to channel some sense of that Olympic spirit onto this site.