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Tag: Olympics

  • Michael Phelps: Has He Lost His Golden Touch?

    Although we’re only a couple of days into the Olympic games, fans of Michael Phelps are worried that he won’t be able to recapture the lightning he bottled four years ago, as he has yet to score a medal. And although he only needs two more to become the most decorated athlete ever to participate in the games, some are wondering if he’ll be able to pull it off.

    Described as “tired and sluggish” during the 200 meter butterfly semi-finals, he admitted that at least one of his finals swims didn’t go the way he wanted it to and went so far as to call it “crappy”. In several races, he’s managed to only just make the finals by the skin of his teeth, which is unlike him.

    But Phelps says that he was happy with this morning’s butterfly semi-finals–which earned him a spot in tonight’s race–and insists that while he’s tired, he’s not alone.

    “I guess I got to bed pretty late. We’re all falling asleep pretty late. We’re all excited,” he said.

    But while Phelps has some stiff competition this year, he certainly seems to be intent on proving he can do what he came here to do, and if he doesn’t close out the games with more medals than any other Olympian in history, it will be a shock.

  • London 2012 Fencing: Google Doodle Features An Unorthodox Parry

    This year, at the London 2012 Olympics, 212 athletes (105 men, 107 women) will participate in the sport of fencing. They are competing in ten different events, including individual Epée, foil, and sabre, as well as team events.

    And today, Google is honoring the legendary sport of fencing with a Google Doodle, as part of their Olympic Doodle series.

    Fencing is one of the few events to have been part of every modern Olympic games. The sport has been around for hundreds of years, but fencing as we see it contested today is a product of the 19th century. While watching fencing during the 2012 Summer games, you’ll notice that much of the language of the sport is French. That’s been the case since the mid-1500s, when a Frenchman named Henri de Saint-Didler basically wrote the book on the sport.

    As it stands today, Italy is winning the fencing competition with a total of four medals – one gold, two silver, and one bronze. Hungary and Russia both have one medal each. Of course, there’s still a lot of fencing to go in the 2012 games, as the athletes will be taking to the Piste until August 5th.

  • Greek Olympian Banned For Racist Tweet Thinks Her Punishment Was Excessive

    Voula Papachristou, the Greek triple-jumper whose distasteful tweets earned her a swift exit from this year’s Olympic games, thinks that she was treated unfairly.

    Earlier this week, Papachristou was expelled from competing at the London games for tweeting this to her 9,000 followers:

    With so many Africans in Greece … at least the West Nile mosquitos will eat homemade food!!!

    That tweet drew the attention of the Greek Olympic Committee, who promptly dismissed Papachristou from the national team. She issued a lengthy apology (in English) via Twitter, but it was too late to save her position on the squad.

    I would like to express my heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate and tasteless joke I published on my personal Twitter account. I am very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wanted to offend anyone, or to encroach human rights.

    My dream is connected to the Olympic Games and I could not possibly participate if I did not respect their values. Therefore, I could never believe in discrimination between human beings and races.

    I would like to apologize to all my friends and fellow athletes, who I may have insulted or shamed, the National Team, as well as the people and companies who support my athletic career. Finally, I would like to apologize to my coach and my family.

    Now, Papachristou is speaking out. According to her, the committee’s actions were both rash and harsh.

    “After so many years of hurt and sacrifices to try and get to my first Olympics I am very bitter and upset. But what has upset me the most is the excessive reaction and speed of the disciplinary decision,” she said. “”I don’t know if they want to make an example out of me because of my profile, this is for others to judge, but what I believe is that they used their maximum disciplinary power on me for this. They went straight to the final stage in excluding me from the team, which was highly excessive.”

    Social media has been the downfall of many athletes. Papachristou isn’t the first, and she won’t be the last. Whether or not she deserved to be banned outright from participation is up for debate, but it remains as a cautionary tale for anyone that uses Twitter. No matter who you are, and no matter how hard you worked for something, a couple keystrokes can ruin everything in a flash.

    Chalk it up to the perils of social media.

    [via The Guardian]

  • Olympics Opening Ceremony: U.S. Fans Should Follow Along On Twitter

    Unfortunately for Olympic fans in the United States, the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics is underway and they can’t watch it live. That’s because NBC is not showing the ceremony live – either on TV or streaming online.

    Luckily, Twitter can help.

    Twitter has set up a dedicated page for the Olympics, which you can access here. This page is similar to other event pages that Twitter set up for NASCAR events and the Euro 2012 Championships.

    The dedicated Olympics page will feature tweets in real time, and they will be curated with the help of an algorithm in order to bring you the most relevant, timely updates.

    For instance:

    You can also browse the #openingceremony hashtag, where I’ve found plenty of media-rich tweets.

    NBC, with the help of YouTube, will stream the rest of the 2012 games free online.

  • Go For the Gold With This Olympics Drinking Game

    Let’s face it, not everyone is a huge fan of the Olympics. Sure, watching some of the world’s most talented athletes compete for the ultimate glory of honoring their nations is compelling to some. But if you’re like some people, nothing really interests you unless it’s a sport signified by a bunch of capital letters.

    For those who may need a true reason to follow the 2012 London Summer Games, we may have the answer.

    Of course, you can turn anything into a drinking game – it just takes a little bit of hard work and ingenuity. But this Olympics drinking game is readymade for your borderline-alcohol abusing pleasure, courtesy of the Cheezburger network.

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    On a scale of teetotaler to David Hasselhoff, I’m going to give the prospects of this game a drunk Jeff Goldbulm. it definitely has the potential to turn your night into an early one. The “didn’t stick the landing,” “Michael Phelps,” and “Sob story montage” are bound to occur numerous times throughout any broadcast. But that’s just taking a drink.

    Taking a shot for every balance beam fall, gymnast of dubious age, and casual nationalism is a cruel, cruel proposition. Good thing that the instances listed under “Chug! Chug!” are all pretty rare. Otherwise you might find yourself as obliterated as Michael Phelps taking down a five dollar footlong.

  • London Olympics Gets Its Own Dedicated Twitter Page

    Tonight, the 2012 Summer Olympics officially kicks off with the opening ceremony, and the social media buzz is already at a fever pitch. According to Twitter, more tweets are coming in about the London Games in a single day than did regarding the entire Beijing games in 2008. Of course, this probably isn’t so much of an indicator of which games were the most popular or anticipated – but more of a commentary on the growth of Twitter in the past 4 years.

    Anyway, Twitter wants to be the go to place for all of the up-to-date news and analysis about the 2012 Olympics. To the end, they’ve partnered with NBC to launch a dedicated Olympics event page, which you can access at twitter.com/hashtag/olympics.

    From the Twitter blog:

    This page will highlight Tweets from athletes, coaches, teams, families, NBC personalities, fans, and many other Olympic insiders. When those nail-biting, riveting, and emotional moments unfold, you’ll see and hear directly from all of those who are closest to the action.

    Like similar pages that Twitter set up for NASCAR events and the Euro 2012 championship, the dedicated Olympics page wont simply cull every tweet that hashtags “#Olympics.” The tweets will be a hand/algorithmically chosen set of tweets that are the the most interesting and informative.

  • Opening Ceremony London 2012: Google Doodle Celebrates The Festivities

    The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is just hours away, and the world is gearing up for a couple weeks of sporting brilliance.

    Internet giant Google is joining in the festivities (while based in the U.S., it has operations all over the world), and is featuring an Olympics-themed doodle on its homepage today, celebrating the opening ceremony.

    Here are some things that happen during the ceremony, according to London2012.com:

    • The Head of State is received at the entrance of the stadium by the President of the IOC. Jacques Rogge will greet the Queen.
    • There will be a parade of athletes – a procession of all participating teams, country by country, in alphabetical order (except for the Greek team, which enters first, and the host nation, which marches last.
    • Speeches are made by LOCOG Chair Seb Coe and Rogge.Then, the Queen will be invited to officially declare the Games open.
    • The Olympic flag is carried to the stadium, and hoisted, while the anthem plays.
    • An athlete, judge and coach from the host nation each stand on the rostrum and, hold a corner of the IOC flag in their left hand. They each raise their right hand, and take the Oath, vowing to compete and judge based on the rules of their sports.
    • The ceremony ends with the entrance of the Olympic Flame, which is passed through the athletes to the final Torchbearer, who lights the cauldron. This signifies the beginning fo the games, and the flame burns throughout.

    This is not the first doodle Google has featured this week. The company ran one on Tuesday, honoring pilot Amelia Earhart.

    On another Olympics/Internet-related noted note, EDF Engergy and Sosolimited have teamed up to put on what EDF calls the world’s first social media-powered light show. It uses tweets, and turns them into a real-time light show using the London Eye, a famous Ferris Wheel in the city, and determines the mood of the tweets to dictate the color of the lighting.

  • This Ferris Wheel Uses Tweets To Lighten Up The Mood Of The Olympics

    EDF Engergy and Sosolimited are working together to put on what EDF calls the world’s first social media-powered light show. It uses tweets, and turns them into a real-time light show using the London Eye, a famous Ferris Wheel in the city, and determines the mood of the tweets to dictate the color of the lighting.

    “We have written software that captures all the tweets coming out of the UK mentioning the Olympics, and are running sentiment analysis algorithms on them to determine their emotional content,” says Sosolimited’s Justin Manor. “The rising and falling mood of the nation with respect to the Games is charted throughout the day on a large LED wall next to the Eye, and every night at 9pm, that data is played back out across full color architectural lighting fixtures around the Eye and with large ground based search beams.”

    “We have teamed up with EDF Energy, one of the Tier-1 sponsors of the Olympics, as well as Ignite, an amazing events company in the UK, to pull this crazy project off. If you happen to be in London for the Games, please stop by the Eye, and you’ll probably bump into one of our team onsite!”

    [Via Todd Wasserman]

  • Mark Zuckerberg & His Olympian Harvard Roomie Played A Lot Of Playstation

    Mark Zuckerberg & His Olympian Harvard Roomie Played A Lot Of Playstation

    Sometimes, it’s hard to separate the fact from the fiction when it comes to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. We know that he felt jaded by a former girlfriend and created Facebook in an attempt to prove his worth to her and all of the other Harvard elitists that wouldn’t let him in their exclusive clubs.

    No, wait – that’s the plot of The Social Network.

    Ok, but we definitely know that early on in the company, he ran a misogynist boy’s club filled with boob-graffiti and drunken cabin escapades involving sexually demeaning activities.

    No, wait – that’s just what one former Facebook employee said in a recently published tell-all book. Another ex-Facebook employee actually contradicted the whole frat-boy image of early Facebook.

    My point is, it’s nice to find someone with no book to sell or no real motivation for truth-stretching who can talk about the Zuck of Harvard days, before he was a billionaire – before Facebook had nearly a billion users.

    Today, that comes in the form of Samyr Laine, Zuckerberg’s freshman roommate at Harvard. Laine is an impressive character in his own right. He’s a triple jumper who’s about to participate in the London Olympics for his parents’ birth country of Haiti. He holds the Harvard records for the triple jump (both indoor and outdoor). And after he gets done competing for medals, he’s going to be a lawyer in New York City.

    He recently talked to Bloomberg about many things, one of those things being his time spent at Harvard with Zuck.

    Here are some of the interesting tidbits that he drops about the Facebook founder:

    • “We had a good time our freshman year in Straus, we played a ton of PlayStation,” he said.
    • Zuckerberg was a night owl: “We probably didn’t sleep nearly as much as we should have. None of us slept as little as Mark did, and now you can see why.”
    • Zuckerberg was soo godo with computers that Laine and the other two roomies would often challenge him to see how fast he could hack their systems.
    • One time, Zuckerberg overslept and missed an entire hour of a computer science exam.  It didn’t really phase him, as he still ended up scoring the top score in the class.

    Apparently, Laine and Zuckerberg are still friends and keep in touch ever few months.

    So, while Zuckerberg is figuring out how to boost mobiel revenues for one of the most talked-about companies on Earth, Samyr Laine will be competing at the highest level in the world. It’s just funny to think that they once were just two guys who played a lot of Playstation.

  • Australian Swimmer Getting Flack For Twitter Bikini Picture

    Stephanie Rice is a 3 time gold medal winner for the Australian swim team. She also has an awesome swimmers body. So i’m pretty sure that she didn’t see the backlash coming when she posted a picture of herself on twitter wearing a not-too-skimpy bikini. After all, she wears a swimsuit for a living!

    A commenter on Business Insider couldn’t understand the outrage because the volleyball team wears bikinis that actually show more skin than Stephanie’s does.

    She has done a lot of modeling to promote the swim team but it is confusing why this photo is causing such an uproar. Possibly it’s because she is posting them on her personal account.

    The blowback by some Australians is so bad that a few are actually calling for her to be dropped from the team.

    Other people just don’t really care:

  • Official Olympic Song Penned By Muse

    The band Muse has been chosen to provide the official song for the London 2012 Olympics. The very popular group were among those to carry the porch during its long tour of England. The song, called “Survival”, will play at official venues for the duration of of the games, including when the athletes enter the arena and right before the medals are awarded. It is almost guaranteed that you will hate it by the end of the summer.

    If you don’t already. Have a listen:

    Frontman Matt Bellamy made the announcement to the Associated Press “It’s a huge honour to have the track chosen as such a major part of the London 2012 Olympic Games. I wrote it with the Games in mind as it expresses a sense of conviction and determination to win.”

    Muse formed in 1994 and have sold 15 million copies of their albums worldwide. They include Dominic Howard on drums and bass player Chris Wolstenholme and are due to release their next album The 2nd Law in September. You can by the Olympic song on iTunes at 8PM, but I suggest you don’t, because it will be played to death this summer.

  • Ryan Lochte or Michael Phelps: Who Will Steal the London Games?

    These days, mentioning Michael Phelps almost requires you to also bring up his counter-part, USA’s Ryan Lochte. Ever since 2011’s World Championship, when Lochte beat Phelps in the head to head races, the 200 freestyle and the 200 IM, Lochte has stepped up to become the premiere world swimming champion. Lochte took home four medals and the championship, Phelps only took home two.

    But at that time, Phelps was taking a relaxed approach to training, opting to play golf (and smoke pot?) rather than train. His coach said he did about 30% of the work that he asked of Phelps. Today Phelps is giving swimming his full attention, knowing that he has the possibility of becoming the winningest Olympian of all time. And that’s what Phelps cares about. He knows that in the future, no one will remember who won the 2011 world championship, but they will definitely remember who won the most Olympic gold medals of all time.

    This will be Phelp’s last Olympics and he needs 3 medals of any color to claim the world’s record currently held by Larisa Laynina, a soviet gymnast who won 18 medals over three Olympics ending in 1964. Lochte plans to stay in the game for at least one more Olympics after this one. He has six medals in two Olympic games.

    While Phelp’s may be Mr. Olympian, Lochte says they constantly push each other to be better, through friendly competition. He spoke to USA Today about their relationship: “A lot of people ask me, ‘Would I be the same athlete as I am today if he wasn’t there?’ No doubt about it, me and Michael, we push each other all the time.”

    Lochte has a good chance of swimming in nine events after today’s qualifier, Phelps will likely swim in eight. But according to Lochte, he would swim in all 11 if he had the chance: “I would swim every event possible. That’s what I love to do. I love just getting up on the blocks and racing the people next to you, trying to put your hand on the wall first,” Lochte said during a press conference yesterday. “It doesn’t matter what event, what stroke, I just love to race. I honestly don’t know. If I could swim them, I would swim all 11, but I don’t think my coach would allow that.”

    Lochte has been the best swimmer since Phelp’s epic medal run in Beijing, but Phelps has rebounded well since posting mediocre numbers over the past two years. Both athletes are in peak physical condition, and you can expect both of them to go on a medal grabbing bonanza in July. Only time will tell, though, which one will emerge as the stand out star at this Olympic games. Overall, it’s a good possibility that both will share the limelight. Phelps can and should take home the title of winningest Olympian after competing in eight events. Lochte, who is in his prime, and still has another Olympics ahead of him, has a good chance of beating Phelps in the medal count this year. It’s going to be fun to watch.

  • USA Track Star Lolo Jones is Going to the Olympics – And She’s Easy on the Eyes

    Lolo Jones finished the women’s 100-meter hurdles at the U.S. Track & Field Trials in third place with a time of 12:86, qualifying her for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. After placing seventh in the women’s 100-meter hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, Lolo over came spinal surgery and endured strenuous training to achieve her dream of competing for a second chance at a gold medal.

    “It feels amazing,” said Lolo after the finals. “So many road blocks and people counting me out, but I just kept overcoming. I’m thrilled and honored to represent everybody out there fighting for a dream.”

    Lolo’s microsurgery in August 2011 repaired a tethered spinal cord, which may have been the cause for clipping the ninth hurdle in Beijing in 2008. She has since been working with Red Bull’s “Project X” to analyze her technique and optimize the way she gets over hurdles. Jones placed first in the 50-meter hurdles this past January at the 2012 U.S. Open of Track & Field and remained focused and determined to secure her spot on Team U.S.A.

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    [via: Twitter]

  • David Beckham Olympic Torch Sees Huge Auction Bids

    The torch that was carried by David Beckham as part of the 2012 London Olympic Opening Ceremony is getting some huge bids at the official London Olympic Auction Site. According to The Daily Mail, The auction only went up last night and already the bid is up to £5,250.00, which translates to over $8,000 US dollars. Not bad for an opening that started at £50.00 and still has 13 days to go. Did we mention they only cost £500 to produce? That’s already quite a profit.

    The aluminum torch, which won Design of the Year at the London Design Museum, is accompanied by a metallic shard signed by the football (soccer) player.

    It is being sold through the London Olympic Organising Committee (LOCOG), who is selling a lot of Olympic memorabilia for the games. They describe it as “a piece of history from the unforgettable journey of the Olympic Flame through more than 1,000 cities, towns and villages in the UK over the course of 70 days, shining a light on the very best of Britain.”

    The site will also sell of the baton for the men 4 by 100 relay and tennis balls from the Olympic tournament. This direct commercialism has seen its fair share of critics, who argue the Olympic Games are becoming nothing more than a cash grab opportunity for countries lucky enough to be selected to host the event. LOCOG argues that the funds raised are going to be used to offset the cost of hosting the games. They deny that they are following in the footsteps of torchbearers who have taken to eBay to sell their piece of Olympic history.

    london2012.com/auction is selling 20 torches from participant who donated them to the Olympic Committee after carrying them. The torches were offered to participant at a reduced cost of £199 for them to keep as a momento. The one for sale were declined by the participants or donated by celebrities.

    Beckham was the first to carry the torch when it arrives in Great Britain on May 18.

    The 2012 London Olympic Games begin July 27.

  • Facebook’s “Explore London 2012” Hub Offers Athletes, Teams, But No Ads

    If you’re a big fan of the Olympics and want to enhance your experience beyond simply watching the games on the tube, Facebook and the IOC are trying to make it easier for you. While various social media outlets are promoting the Olympics through dedicated pages and the like, it’s Facebook that today has launched a big database for following everything Olympic – the Explore London 2012 hub.

    The hub was unveiled during an event in London this morning, as a effort over a year in the making.

    “We will follow the athletes’ stories for the next 17 days,” said Facebook’s Joanna Shields. “It’s that discovery through friends that makes things interesting and makes you want to click on media. We want to bring discovery to the Olympics.”

    A trip to the hub allows you to find athletes, teams, and even individual sports to follow – as well as suggests that fans “like” the two official pages of the games – The Olympic Games and London 2012. As of now, the Explore London Page offers nearly 200 individual athletes, 60 different teams, and 25 specific sports.

    “Liking” any of these pages will set you up to receive updates from the athletes – something that could be really fun for Olympic fans during the games. Although the IOC has a fairly strict social media policy, they will allow athletes to post text and photos while participating. You won’t see any exclusive videos on Facebook, however, as they’ve been hit with the banhammer.

    Misty May-Treanor 1 day ago

    Congrats to Jake and Sean on their birth into 2012 London Olympics! Powered by socialditto   123 likes ·  14 comments

    The goal is that the Olympians will participate in social media while at the games – that way fans can get an inside look into the process with personal status updates, photo uploads, and more. Of course, the success of London 2012 as a true “social Olympic” experience depends on how seriously the athletes and teams take updating the social media accounts.

    Facebook is also trying to stay in the spirit of the games by offering up these various Olympic-themed pages san advertisements. Since the Olympic stadium will be a “clean venue” without visible ads, it made sense that the athletes and teams’ Facebook pages followed suit.

    The entire London 2012 games will be broadcast live on YouTube, although recent reports predict that online viewership may be lower than expected. A survey also found that only 6% of Brits and 12% of Americans plan to follow the game via a social network. That number more than doubled when it came to the Chinese and the Brazilians.

  • Online Olympic Viewership May Be Lower than Expected

    This London 2012 Olympiad has been touted by the International Olympic Committee as being the first fully digital Olympiad. While that may be true that people have the ability to watch the games like never before, it seems that not very many of them will actually be using their PCs or Mobile devices to do so.

    The study comes from online sports broadcaster Perform Group’s Global Sports Media Consumption Report, which says that most people will be taking in the Olympics on good old fashioned television.

    And not by small margins, either. The study shows that 71% will watch the Olympics on television and a meager 16% will watch them online. In England and the rest of Europe, the story is the same — 9% in England and Germany, 11% in France.

    The only country that breaks free in this category is China, boasting 70% of people watching online. China dominates every category, however, the games being much more popular amongst the Chinese. Couple this with the method in which the survey was conducted. The research groups in every country but China concentrated on a representative sample from all adults. In China, the survey was taken amongst “tech-savvy” consumers. This sample is already considered to embrace different types of media.

    The International Olympic Committee will stream the entirety of the Olympics online via YouTube, but television networks across the globe are all doing the same. NBC will catch a good portion of the coverage they miss on their primary station with coverage on the NBC Sports Network. They will also cover 67.5 hours of trials and qualifiers before the games begin. Some of you may have already caught some of this over the past weekend. In the U.K., BBC Sport will be streaming the Olympics in their entirety across all platforms.

    Most events are scheduled around The Untied States and Europe’s office hours, when fans are likely to watch at their desk. Even with this convenience it seems that most are content to watch what coverage the can in the evenings, on television.

    [source: paidcontent

  • Gabrielle Douglas Squares Off Against the Vault This Weekend

    Gabrielle Douglas, the 16 year-old Olympic hopeful and gymnastics gold medalist, will go up against the vault at this weekend’s Visa Championships in St. Louis, Missouri. The top 15 men and women from this event will move to the Olympic Trials, which will be held in June. Once there, Douglas will face other top athletes for a spot on the U.S. Gymnastics team.

    After spraining her ankle at the Pacific Rim Championships in March, Douglas has had some trouble with the vault. Last month, she opted out of the U.S. Classic in Chicago in order to let her injury heal. However, she’ll have to ignore whatever pain remains in order to overcome what many would call an obstacle.

    “I’m here to prove to you guys that I can do it, and I have my mental confidence up. I want to show you guys on Friday and Sunday what I’m capable of doing,” Douglas told the Indy Star.

    Gabby, who has been dubbed “The Flying Squirrel” by U.S. team coordinator Martha Karolyi, is extremely proficient at the uneven bars, which is typically where America falls short. Douglas, however, is anxious to leave her mark, and if her excitement and confidence are any indication of her performance this weekend, I doubt she’ll have any trouble whatsoever.

    “She has every reason to be confident in herself,” her coach, Liang Chow, explained. “This is the year for the Olympics. We’ve got nothing to lose, but showing her strength, showing her gracefulness, showing her fans what she can deliver. I have faith in her. This is it. It’s show time.”

  • Olympics Committee Says Its Okay to Post Images

    Olympic Organizers are now saying spectators are allowed to upload photos from the London games, after originally saying that it was not okay to do so.

    The terms on an Olympic ticket read:
    “Images, video and sound recordings of the Games taken by a Ticket Holder cannot be used for any purpose other than for private and domestic purposes and a Ticket Holder may not license, broadcast or publish video and/or sound recordings, including on social networking websites and the internet more generally…”

    And the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) internet guidelines says:

    “Participants and other accredited persons can post still photographs taken within Olympic Venues for personal use. It is not permitted to commercialise, sell or otherwise distribute these photographs.”

    These instructions clearly say that images cannot be broadcast, published, or otherwise distributed. That pretty much eliminates social media posts.

    But The @London2012 official twitter account posted these messages a few days ago:

    @London2012
    London 2012    (1 of 3) Social media info: anyone attending @London2012 events is welcome to take pictures in venues… 5 days ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @London2012
    London 2012    (2 of 3) …& it’s ok to share pics from venues on social media as long as it’s not to make money. We’re keen to see & share them!… 5 days ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @London2012
    London 2012    (3 of 3) …If you want to find out more about the @Olympics and social media, have a read of this: http://t.co/BIrMbTt6 5 days ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Which clearly say it is okay to post photos on social media.

    In reality, neither of these rules matter, because IOC officials will have no way of policing every attendee for pictures posted on their social media accounts.

    It would, however, be easy to find a person who is posting on a third party blog or online news publication, and that is what they are trying to prevent. People trying to make money by selling or distributing photos of Olympic athletes.

    The Twitter posts are most likely a PR move from the Olympic Committee, who realize along with everyone else, trying to prevent people from posting pictures on the internet is an impossibility.

    Besides, everybody knows NBC owns the Olympics and anything that happens while they are going on. No one is allowed to report the Olympic Games except NBC and their affiliates, who would like to own the media for the rest of eternity. Thank you.

    (I wonder if it’s okay to post that insignia for the London games? It’s also interesting to note, any image you see of the Olympic logo always has NBC’s logo above the Olympic Rings and is always much larger.)

    [Source: paidcontent]

  • McDonald’s Supersized To 1/2 The Size Of A Football Field

    The most popular fast-food chain in the world is opening up a new restaurant in London just to accomodate the Olympic games this summer, and while it will be made out of 100% recyclable materials, the decision to keep it open only for the six weeks of the games is a questionable one; they’ll be open from late July to September 9th.

    Because of the huge crowd the Olympics are expected to draw, the hamburger joint will be the largest in the world, measuring in at a staggering 1,500 seats and employing 2,000 people.

    With all the negative attention McDonald’s has garnered in recent years–being linked to childhood obesity and health problems in adults–the idea that they are sponsoring the Olympic games is viewed as laughable by some. And the news that they are opening such a huge restaurant for only six weeks has some people scratching their heads.

    (image)@KMAXedOut
    Merry Kaxey    McDonalds is opening a restaurant the size of half a football field in London for the Olympics. Gotta spread our obesity rates somehow #USA(image) 12 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Cherriez_On_Top
    CC    London is opening a McDonalds temp for 6 wks that is 1/2 the size of a football field and holds 1500 ppl JUST 4 the Olympics? Umm ok(image) 32 minutes ago via HTC Peep ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@NotDesmondsBoat
    Natasha.    Oh the irony! RT MetroUK: World’s biggest McDonald’s being built in time for the London 2012 Olympics http://t.co/q4O68Bfn”(image) 8 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@shaundooley
    Shaun Dooley    UK sending the right message to kids: “@olymp2012: World’s biggest McDonald’s with 1,500 seats to be built for games http://t.co/wFHpwxbT”(image) 9 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@LianneMurphy
    Lianne Murphy    McDonalds + Olympics = Doesn’t make sense… London 2012 Olympics to play host to world’s largest McDonald’s http://t.co/ATyBcqR6(image) 9 hours ago via Tweet Button ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Social Media Enhances Olympic Coverage

    Social Media Enhances Olympic Coverage

    Social media has made it easier to connect with athletes in may ways. Tweets from professional athletes make a victory more enjoyable for both the athletes and their fans. Social media has made it easier for athletes to get the word out about their sponsors, making it easier for them to gain new ones.

    Most importantly, for the Olympics Games at least; it has increased viewers. That is why they have started The Olympic Athletes’ Hub, which connects fans to their country’s athletes through Facebook or Twitter.

    Combine that the NBC announcement that they will be covering all of the games in their entirety online, and you get an instant emersion in the games. A far cry from simply reading about it in the papers when the first modern Olympics came into being.

    Thanks to limitless coverage and social media, this years Olympic Games promise to be the most viewed in history.

    Compare the reach of social media today and when the last Summer olympics took place and you will instantly see the stark contrast of how social media can change viewership. In 2008, Facebook had a paltry 1000 million users. Today they have 845 million. Twitter had 6 million in 2008. Today they have 140 million, twenty times more.

    See all the pertinent stats, and the most popular athletes to follow, in the infographic above.

  • Most TV Watchers Don’t Want Apps Or 3D, Study Finds

    The bulk of TV viewers, it seems, are not interested in having their TVs mimic the functionality of their smartphones and tablets. That, at least, is the conclusion of a recent survey of 2,000 viewers in the UK, who ranked 3D TV, TV Apps, and mobile TV at the very bottom of features they found appealing or useful.

    The study was conducted by Freeview, a company that provides British TV programming for free through their line of set-top boxes. Those surveyed were asked to rank the usefulness and appeal of various TV features. Players – i.e., set-top boxes like the Apple TV, Roku. or those offered by Freeview – ranked highest in both appeal and usefulness, at 62% and 63%, respectively. In a close second was the ability to watch programming at any time. That feature was considered appealing by 59% of respondents and useful by 60%. At the bottom of the rankings, though, were 3D technology, mobile TV, and smartphone/tablet-style apps. Only 19% of respondents said they found 3D appealing, and only 16% said it would be useful. Mobile TV appealed to only 12%, while 15% said it would be useful. Apps fared the worst, with a paltry 6% of respondents calling them appealing, and 8% calling them useful.

    Freeview Chart

    All hope is not lost, however, for those who love 3D technology and want to see it in more TVs. Back in January we reported that American audiences would get to see the 2012 Olympics in 3D. It seems that British viewers of the games (which are, after all, in London) will have the same option. Freeview’s managing director, Ilse Howling, pointed out that the integration of 3D – and other new viewing technology as well – into the Olympics has the potential to be a “game changer” that could bring technologies that viewers are currently find unimpressive into the mainstream relatively quickly.

    What do you think? Would you like to see 3D technology on your TV? What about smartphone-style apps? Will you be watching the Olympics in 3D if you can? Let us know in the comments.

    [Source: Advanced Television]