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Tag: 2012 London Olympics

  • Michael Phelps is Coming Out of Retirement

    Michael Phelps is coming out of retirement to swim next week in the Arena Grand Prix in Mesa, Ariz.

    The Olympic swimmer will compete in a meet in Mesa April 24-26. It will be Phelps’ first competitive meet since the 2012 London Olympics.

    Phelps, 28, holds 18 Olympic gold medals, and 22 medals overall.

    Bob Bowman, Phelp’s longtime coach, said on Monday that Phelps is entered in three events — the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter freestyle, and the 100 butterfly.

    “I think he’s just going to test the waters a little bit and see how it goes,” Bowman said.

    “I wouldn’t say it’s a full-fledged comeback,” he said.

    Phelps has been training on Monday through Friday with Bowman’s team at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club in his hometown.

    Phelps will swim in the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly preliminaries the first day. If he qualifies, he will decide which race to swim in the evening finals. Bowman said Phelps will swim the 50 meter freestyle on the second day, and that he may also swim the 50 meter butterfly “just for fun.”

    Although Phelps has not confirmed interest in entering to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero, there is speculation he has his eye on the Rio Games.

    Phelps has been back in training since fall, and he also re-entered a drug testing program with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. His six-month waiting period to be eligible to enter the competition ended in March.

    Bowman said Phelps has “gotten back into good shape since September,” but that he is “pretty far” from being back in top form.

    ”He can give a good effort and certainly not be embarrassed. He’s in enough shape to swim competitively,” Bowman said.

    In addition to Phelps, Besides Phelps, Olympians Ryan Lochte and Katie Ledecky are among those expected to swim in the Arena Grand Prix at Skyline Aquatic Center next week.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Grant Hackett: Australian Olympic Swimmer Seeks Rehab Treatment

    An urgent family intervention Tuesday on the Gold Coast prompted Australian Olympic swimmer Grant Hackett to seek help for a drug addiction.

    Now, Hackett is on his way to the United States to admit himself into a rehab facility.

    The 33-year-old gold-winning Olympian is reportedly addicted to the sleeping drug Stilnox, surprisingly the same drug fellow swimmer Michael Phelps once admitted to using.

    In 2012, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) banned the medication during the Summer Games in London. Their decision was in response to Hackett’s admittance to using “such medications while he was competing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.” AOC said that it wanted to avoid any manipulative performances offered by its athletes.

    Hackett was reportedly on Stilnox in 2011 and 2012 for a shoulder injury-something he said at one point scared him because he considered the drug to be “evil.”

    Mail Online reported:

    Stilnox, a Zolpiem drug, is also used for anxiety but can be highly addictive if overused.

    Side effects from the drug have been linked to strange behavior, hallucinations, impaired judgement and delusions.

    A recent episode that occurred in Melbourne’s Crown Casino hotel established just how impairing this drug has made the father of two.

    On Saturday morning, Hackett noticed that his son was missing from his hotel room. He frantically grabbed his daughter Charlize and ran down to the lobby in search for her twin brother Jagger.

    Witnesses say that Hackett seemed a little off, as he was seen wearing nothing else but underwear covered by a shirt. The whole ordeal was captured on security footage, showing a worried Hackett asking the front desk for help.

    The toddler was eventually found safely on another floor.

    Hackett has previously revealed streaks of violence while married to ex-wife and ‘baby mama’ Candice Alley.

    Here is a 2012 report done by Australia’s Today Tonight interviewing Hackett about vandalizing his family home:

    Even though those close to him have denied such claims, it seems that Hackett has dealt with personal demons for a while.

    The swimmer’s loved ones are just happy that he will soon receive well-needed help.

    A spokesperson of the family said in a statement to Mail Online: “His family and friends are enormously proud of his courage in pursuing this course of action.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Usain Bolt ‘The Fastest Man Alive’ Races Bus

    Twenty-seven-year-old Usain Bolt is world-renowned for being the fastest man alive. The Jamaican sprinter sought to prove the title when he raced against a number 59 commuter bus while visiting Buenos Aires to participate in the 80-meter exhibition race. The athlete has six gold medals under his belt after winning three relay races (100m, 200m and 4x100m) during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics.

    Bolt spoke about his aspirations for a win during the 2016 Rio Olympics “One of my main goals is to go to the Rio Olympics, as I was saying, to do it again. To defend my titles and it’s never been done three times so, for me, that’s me trying to set the bar as high as possible. To just push the barrier.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_0cBiFGhk0

    Usain Bolt later won the 120-meter race against fellow Jamaican sprinters Mario Forsythe, Kimmari Roach, and Daniel Bailey. After defeating a bus, winning the 120-meter race should not come as a shock; however, only Bolt knows which race was the hardest to win.

    Bolt won the IAF Male Athlete of the Year Award in November of this year and had this to say, “This season will be the one to go for the (200m) World record. I want to get ready to attack the World record.” Previously, Bolt won World Athlete of the Year for the following years: 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012.

    [Image Via Wikimedia Commons and Courtesy of Steven Zwerink]

  • London 2012 Hurdles Google Doodle is a Playable Mini-Game

    Google has thrown its entire creative weight behind the London 2012 Olympics. Each day of the games, the website has featured a Google Doodle highlighting a relevant Olympic event. Yesterday that meant the javelin throw was spotlighted for the day, though it may have been overshadowed by the late addition of the Mars rover Curiosity in the background of the Doodle.

    Today, the newest Google Doodle is highlighting hurdling. In a fun twist, the Doodle is actually a playable mini-game that challenges players to jump virtual hurdles and compare their best times. The game is played using the left and right arrow keys to make the hurdler run, and the space key to jump. At the end of the race, a player’s time is given in seconds and a number of medals is awarded for the time. It will take nimble fingers and good timing to snag a time low enough to earn three medals. Players who are proud of their time can share it through Google+.

    It is worth mentioning that the Doodle is a sort of QWOP-lite. QWOP the simple, yet frustratingly difficult, flash game that has become popular online. The hurdler in the Google Doodle even bears a a striking resemblance to the runner in that game. The QWOP runner was also featured in the first Olympic Google Doodle.

    As for real-life hurdles, the start of the 2012 men’s 110m hurdles got off to a surprising start this morning. Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, the current Olympic record-holder for that event, stumbled over his first hurdle and aggravated long-standing injuries. Xiang was only able to limp to the finish line. Xiang set his current Olympic record with a dominant victory in the 110m hurdles at the Athens 2004 Olympics. That gold medal-winning victory can be seen in the video below:

  • Crip Walk Dance: Does It Belong At The Olympics?

    The Crip Walk. It’s a dance move that originated in the 1970s from the infamous Crip gang. It has since taken on some mainstream popularity, but its origins have never truly been forgotten. That’s why the response has been divided ever since the dance has entered the Olympic stage.

    Serena Williams, star tennis player, was the second woman to earn a career Golden Slam in Singles according to E! Online. She is also the first woman to earn the Golden Slam in singles and doubles. Add on the fact that she won the gold in Singles at the Olympics and you can see why she was so excited. That excitement is what led to her becoming the first person to reportedly perform the Crip Walk at the Olympics.

    While some people feel that the dance disrespects the Olympic spirit, most of the response from the viewership has been nothing but positive. Even Snoop Dogg Lion congratulated Williams on the win and the dance:

    The other responses on Twitter were just as supportive:

    [Lead Image: Black Media Scoop]

  • London 2012 Javelin: Will The Competitors Set New Records?

    Google is back at it once again, as they have for every day of the Olympics, with a brand new Google Doodle. Today’s Doodle celebrates the sport of Javelin Throw with Knowledge Graph paying close attention to the women’s qualifying round in Javelin taking place tomorrow, August 7.

    Even if you have never participated in Track and Field, you are no doubt aware of the Javelin Throw. According to Wikipedia, the javelin throw came into being during the time in which the Greeks were using spears as a throwing weapon, much like the javelin. The javelin was essentially a lighter spear so that athletes could focus on throwing it further during competition instead of trying to kill somebody with the pure force of weight that a regular spear had.

    You’re in luck if you were wanting to watch the event, the javelin throw event has yet to take place. The first qualifying round for women will take place on August 7 and the men’s will take place on August 8. The finals in will take place on August 9 for women and August 10 for men.

    Beyond the actual competition, one thing to watch for is the emergence of any new world records. Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic holds the women’s record from 2008 with a 72.38 m throw. She will competing for the Czech Republic again this year so a new record is very possible. Watch her record performance at the 2008 games below:

    As for men, Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway won the 2008 javelin toss with a distance of 90.57 m. It was an impressive throw for sure, but nobody has yet to conquer the distance set by Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic with a throw measuring 98.48 m. Thorkildsen has a chance to break that record this year. Check out his winning performance from 2008:

  • A Brits Guide To Avoiding The Olympics [Infographic]

    The festivities for the summer Olympic games in London, England starts on July 21st with the torch carrying ceremonies, and ends August 9th with the closing ceremonies of the Paralympic games. As it turns out, the only people really excited about the games being in London are people who don’t live in England right now.

    In fact nearly 36% of all Brits that are traveling during that time period are leaving England just to avoid the games. That number equates to nearly 4 million people or about a third of the population of London.

    The people at Confused.com decided to create an infographic about this exact topic. It gives you the places to avoid and when you should avoid them, and it even tells you the percentage of people by region who are trying to skip the games.

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  • London 2012 Olympic Torch Wins Design of the Year

    The London 2012 Olympic Torch was create by UK design studio Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby, who won the prestigious Design of the Year award for their work. They were chosen out of 89 entries and presented the award at London’s Design Museum at the annual event, BBC News is reporting

    It is perforated with 8,000 holes, each one representing a torchbearer. The torch relay will run for 70 days starting May 19th. The journey will begin in Land’s End in South West England and ends in Westminster before being brought to the Olympic Park.

    The Design Awards jury consisted of newspaper proprietor Evgeny Lebedev, Wallpaper editor Henrietta Thompson, Dutch designer Hella Jongerious, chairman of the Canary Wharf Group, Sir George Iacobescu, and chaired by designer Lise Crawford.

    Despite winning the prestigious award, it has met with some public criticism, with the English publication The Telegraph holding an informal poll of what the design looks like most: a cheese grater, a cigarette holder, a waste paper bin, or an actual Olympic torch. A cheese grater won out, but it was followed by Olympic torch in a close second.

    The Telegraph posted this picture at the clos of the poll, comparing it to similar looking cheese graters:

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    Hey, it does look like a cheese grater.

    Personally, I think the design is good. I’m not a fan of the 2012 Olympic logo on there, though. If anything, that logo should be criticized, especially if you look at the full color version. It makes it look like this Olympics is being held in 1988, and the jagged design would be more fitting of a winter Olympics, representing a mountain top or ice.

    What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.

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  • Bikini Rules Change For Volleyball At Olympics

    The bikini has been active in a lot of online news lately, especially with the incident at STC in the Philippines. Now, with the upcoming Olympic games in just a few months, the bikini has received some new attention as rules have changed to the way attire is worn during the volleyball events.

    With the Olympics involving countries that hold various (and more conservative) beliefs, the IVF / FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) announced last week that players can now wear shorts and sleeved tops. Richard Baker, a spokesperson for the FIVB told the Associated Press the following statement with regard to this motion:

    “Many of these countries have religious and cultural requirements, so the uniform needed to be more flexible.”

    According to The Telegraph, the modified rule allows that volleyball participants can wear the following.

    • Shorts of a maximum length of three centimeters (1.18 inches) above the knee
    • Sleeved or sleeveless tops

    Volleyball players are still allowed to wear bikinis and the attire listed above is just an option; however, in response to this statement, well-known volleyball player Kerri Walsh exclaimed the following:

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    I think it’s part of the alluring part of our sport, which is women in bikinis, but on the flip side of that, we need to be wearing bikinis. You don’t want to be wearing baggy clothes and be lost in your clothes.”

    The Twitter community has been actively expressing their opinions on this change:

    (image)@Zacklopedia
    Zack Spears    Olympic beach Volleyball players don’t have to wear bikini’s at Olympics anymore. This has me very upset. Why else do we watch that sport?(image) 6 days ago via Echofon ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@troy_tayl
    Troy Everett Taylor    Oly beach volleyball comes to its senses — no longer will require bikini unis. Shorts are OK, just like men.(image) 6 days ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Carlosramossa
    Carlos Ramos Salazar    I don’t think I will be watching Volleyball in the Olympic games this summer. Bikini is not mandatory anymore(image) 4 days ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@MJax0n
    Michael Jackson    Just read that the Olympics are going to let woman volleyball players wear shorts and tee shirt. Misty May better be wearing he bikini still(image) 4 days ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@kellenb93
    Kellen Blair    Womens beach volleyball players are allowed to wear shorts and a t shirt instead of a bikini now. Safe to say that sports dead(image) 5 days ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Do you think that viewership of the volleyball portion of the upcoming Olympics will drop because of this change? Be sure to leave your reaction to this option below in our comments section.

  • Anti-Terror Plan In UK Seeks To Spy, Store Personal Data On Everyone

    We live in a world full of terror. To protect its people from this terror, the UK wants to store all of its citizens personal data – phone calls, text messages, online browsing history – to combat whatever terror is threatening them next.

    The Telegraph is reporting that the UK is cooking up a new anti-terror plan. The plan would require land line, mobile phone and broadband providers to store all of its users information, including the details of every phone call and text message, in a massive database that can be accessed by authorities at any time.

    To relieve any concerned citizen who may feel that this is a massive infringement of their privacy, the plan explicitly states that it would not record the contents of the calls or text messages. It would just record who you made those calls to.

    For those who think that recording who you call or text isn’t that bad, wait till you hear this. The government also wants to store who you send messages to on Facebook, Twitter and in online video games.

    The government is reportedly already in talks with providers over the proposed plan with an announcement planned for March.

    The plan is being spearheaded by MI5, the UK’s equivalent of the FBI, and MI6, the UK’s equivalent of the CIA.

    At least this plan holds some things in common with other plans that sought to store users’ records in massive databases. The UK doesn’t want to pony up the funds to actually fund such a program. They want the companies in question to pay for and support these massive databases that would cost them and taxpayers a couple million a year.

    Laughably, the Labour party drew up plans for a similar database that would be run and paid for by the government, but dropped them in favor of the current plan that would make the companies and taxpayers pay for it.

    The government wants the ability to track suspected individuals in real time with their cell phones. They want to be able to track where they are and who they called when making a phone call. This would allow the authorities to track people down based on their cell phone usage.

    The original plan, as mentioned above, was scrapped due to little public support. The current plan seems to be moving along without much public input to avoid the fate of the last proposed security plan.

    The current plan is supposedly called the Communications Capabilities Development Programme and the government hopes to propose the legislation during the Queen’s Speech in May.

    The government feels they need this plan to combat terrorists who can circumvent modern tracking technology. This is especially crucial to them as they feel the London Olympics this year faces a major terror threat.

    Like with any major revision to privacy and tracking like this, the government needs to keep the people updated on any proposed changes. Creating plans like this in the dark without any public support will only come back to bite you in the end. Just look at ACTA and the storm that has created.

  • London Summer Olympics Social Media Policy Covers 70,000 Volunteers

    It looks like the organizing committee for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London is concerned about the Twitter use of everyone involved, not just the athletes and other official participants.

    The Olympics are a big production to pull off, and it takes quite a bit of help from unpaid volunteers. This year, organizers are actively recruiting 70,000 of these volunteers (or Games Makers, according to the committee) to help.

    According to Reuters, these volunteers are being told to be careful with their social media use. Olympic officials are concerned about these volunteers giving away “breaking news about athletes or disclos[ing] the location of politicians and celebrities.”

    So if you’re working at the Olympics this summer and snap a photo with Michael Phelps or David Cameron, be careful about sharing it on Facebook.

    A spokesperson for the Games had this to say:

    We understand that many of our Games Makers (volunteers) will want to use social media to share their exciting experiences at London 2012 with their friends and family.

    As is standard in most organizations, we have provided some practical guidelines to give basic advice on interacting in a social media environment with the aim of protecting the interests of our workforce and operation.

    Last summer, the International Olympic Committee issued their “Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines for participants and other accredited persons.” These guidelines actually encourage social media use, but limit the type of postings to “first-person, diary-type format.”

    The guidelines also allow for photos and even videos to be uploaded to social sites. Participants and “accredited persons” are clearly barred from “reporting on competition or commenting on the activites of other participants or accredited persons, or disclosing any information which is confidential or private.”

    Another issue the the Olympic Committee appears to be concerned with is advertising.

    Participants and other accredited persons are not permitted to promote any brand, product or service within a posting, blog or tweet or otherwise on any social media platforms or on any websites. Participants and other accredited persons must not enter into any exclusive commercial agreement with any company with respect to their postings, blogs or tweets on any social media platforms or on any websites, unless they have obtained the prior written approval of their relevant NOC.

    Apparently, these social media guidelines are also going to apply to the 70K + volunteers at the 2012 Games.

    The Games are set to kick off July 27th and run until August 12th.