Although the City of London will be the venue for virtually all of next Summers 2012 Olympic Games schedule, spelt by some as Olimpic, the West Midlands will also play its part with Birmingham Olympics 2012 playing host to the USA and Jamaican sports, track and field event teams and Coventry staging twelve Olympic Football matches at the Rioch Arena, which will be renamed The City of Coventry Stadium during the duration of the games. Villa Park, which was the originally nominated Midland venue, has been withdrawn due to the uncertainty of the completion in time of the stadium improvement building works.
Following the London Olympic award, numerous designs were submitted for the 2012 logo, with the choice eventually being made in 2007 of a jagged representation of the year 2012. However, the chosen preference, like numerous other best intentional decisions, has brought the usual and expected criticism from some quarters.
The Olympic Games will also provide many extra jobs at the various event areas and venues, prior to, during and on their completion.
For those lucky enough to have obtained tickets to be at the games in person on the date or dates required, watch the events, soak up the atmosphere and have a great day or days out and good luck to you. For the rest of us, we will simply have to make do with the television and radio coverage of the various scheduled events.
West Midlands businesses, representing Birmingham Olympics 2012, have already won contracts to the tune of some £500m associated with the games with, hopefully, more to follow. The contracts, which have been spread fairly evenly throughout the city and about its surrounding areas, include design and building work in areas of the Olympic Village, personal safety items such as hard hats, protective shoes, boots, gloves etc., plus various items of clothing and equipment. On the more professional side, contracts have also been awarded locally for legal services, consultancy, architectural services and caterers. The region has also won contracts for the supply of numerous items of building & construction material, lighting, web site design, signage and AV equipment.
The NEC catering firm Amadeus, will be the official caterer for approximately 50% of the events programmed for the Olympic Park, East London. These events include handball, hockey, BMX cycling, basketball and velodrome cycling. Amadeus expects to cater for some 100,000 customers daily.
The Olympic torch, which will be produced in Coventry by Premier Sheet Metal company, who beat hundreds of UK manufacturing firms to the award, will be carried around the UK by some 8,000 torchbearers and will start its UK journey at Lands End and will be relayed over a seventy day period as far as the Outer Hebrides', through numerous towns and cities on its 8,000 mile journey, which will include Worcester and Stoke on Trent during May and Birmingham on June 30, where it will take an overnight stay before being relayed to Coventry the following day. It will finish its journey to London six days prior to the commencement of the 2012 Olympic Games on 27 July.
It is anticipated that Birmingham, being far more competitive, price wise, than the capital and being able to provide quick and easy transport by either intercity rail or air travel to London, has obvious expectations that a large number of American and Jamaican visitors, along with numerous other nationalities will base themselves in Birmingham. With shops, restaurants, hotels, pubs, bars & inns and all the local events and attractions expected to do exceptionally well financially.
Other towns likely to benefit are Shakespeare's Stratford upon Avon and the Cotswold town of Broadway, with its well known antique shops, are great visitor attractions, both of whom will see major increases in tourist numbers prior to, during and after the completion of the Olympics.
One of the main negative points is that the City Council proposes to charge spectators to watch the Olympic athletes, including world record holder Usain Bolt, in training at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium in order to boost council income at a time of major austerity cuts. Many of the world's greatest athletes, including world record holder Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay, will be warming up for the Olympics at the state-of-the-art facilities provided at the Stadium in Perry Barr and also Birmingham University.
To all the competitors, spectators, viewers etc, we at Activ Birmingham wish you all well and have a great London Olympics 2012.
In the current climate, the UK is in serious need of Gold and to all those competing for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, remember there's a piece of gold awaiting the winner of each event.
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