Just about every muscle-flexing activity practised by man – and woman – and quite a few that aren't, are jostling to climb aboard the Olympic Games bandwagon. From angling to arm-wrestling, chess to cheerleading, bog-snorkelling to ballroom dancing, darts to dominoes, all seem to think they deserve to share the spotlight of the five ring circus.

However, I admit to doing a bit of a "Victor Meldrew" when reading an agency report saying that sheep-shearers now desire to join the Olympic elite. "I don't believe it!" I declared aloud at the words: "The time has come to elevate sheep-shearing's sporting status to the ultimate world stage." According to a New Zealand farm lobby group, "the world's top shearers are athletes who take it to another level."

Apparently, it is already recognised as a sport in New Zealand and Australia and has pressed for inclusion in the Commonwealth Games. But the Olympics? Surely they are trying to pull the wool over our eyes. More seriously, there is an upcoming tussle for future recognition among the 28 currently recognised Olympic sports, and which I hope will see victory for one which has been mysteriously overlooked for too long.


This will be the third time of asking for squash to get into the Olympics. It tried unsuccessfully for 2012 and 2016, and is now up against seven other 2020 wannabes: karate, roller sports, baseball, softball, sport climbing, wakeboarding and, wait for it, wushu.

Of these, karate seems the most legitimate contender but is it really more worthy than other already established contact sports like judo, taekwondo, boxing and wrestling?

Baseball and softball, dropped for London, may well have had their day in the Olympic sun.

Sport climbing? Isn't that something kids do on walls in leisure centres while their mums are having a cafe latte?

Wakeboarding? Does the Games really need more fun-in-the-sun seekers skimming over water? And as for wushu, it sounds like something to be sneezed at but is actually yet another martial art, almost exclusively practised in China.


Actually there will be nine sports in contention for in 2020 because in addition to the eight already bidding there will be one that must drop out after London 2012 to accommodate the inclusion of golf and rugby sevens in Rio 2016.

In my view squash surely has the most compelling case – and I say that without the sound of grinding axes, never having played the game myself. For it now seems to tick all the boxers in terms of its growing global popularity, diversity of champions, pure athleticism and increased spectator appeal.

Moreover, it might produce medallists from several nations which otherwise rarely get a whiff of Olympic glory.

Given the choice, I would say that squash is rather more deserving of an Olympic berth than its racket cousin, tennis, where a gold medal, is less valued than a Grand Slam victory.

"We certainly feel we have a much stronger case than before as we have learned from things the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have told us," says Andrew Shelley, newly appointed British chief executive of the World Squash Federation (WSF). "Making the sport more telegenic has been one of the most significant moves. We are confident but there is a long way to go, but at least this time we are not competing against rugby sevens and golf which were such strong contenders."

As it happens, of the prime movers and shakers behind the strategy which saw rugby sevens rolling up, from Rio was Mike Lee, the promotional architect of London 2012's successful bid and also that of Rio 2016 and the Qatar 2022 World Cup.


Lee (pictured), sport's supreme spin doctor, has been recruited by squash to fight its corner, a shrewd move, as he has established valuable contacts at IOC level where he is well regarded. "We feel we have been reasonably professional on the past two occasions, but Mike will give us an extra professional edge," says Shelley.

Lee is already at work on the sport's bidding blueprint. He tells me: "Squash has learned lessons from its previous campaigns and has worked very hard at modernising the presentation. It is definitely more televisual. The glass walled courts can show all the angles of shots and are great for spectators. There is a video review system and the use of 'super slow-mo's'.

"Some of the venues for events are iconic, like Grand Central station in New York and beside the Pyramids in Egypt. This year's British Open will be at the O2.

"The fact that it is played among nations other than the traditional ones should also help, as it did with rugby sevens. It will be good to see new nations possibly coming to the podium.  It fits very well with the universal message of the Olympic Games. Also, because there are now so many squash courts in so many countries, you have an increasing number of people playing the game for fitness and leisure."


Shelley (pictured left with Nicol David), who worked for the English Squash Federation for 18 years before running the women's professional tour, adds: "We have a great product in squash which is an easy sport to stage, but we know we have needed to place our bid on a higher footing. We are a worldwide sport played in 190 countries by 20 million people. Squash is youthful and athletic which has had world champions from every continent. Through the men's tour, and now the women's tour, we have improved the quality of television coverage and it has become a much more spectator and media friendly sport.

"We think we know now what the IOC are looking for and we feel we have a very good chance.  If you look at the current scene there are top players from places as diverse as Egypt and Malaysia. Squash will give the opportunity for some players to win Olympic medals from countries who otherwise would be unlikely to do so in other sports."

GB have a particularly good track record in the sport too, so the nation's medal tally would also quite probably be enhanced. At the moment the top English players are just ahead of the top Egyptian and French players. England currently boasts the world's top two players in the men's game, fellow Yorkshiremen James Willstrop and Nick Matthew, whose long-standing rivalry is akin to that of Seb Coe and Steve Ovett on the track.

Just two weeks after battling for the world number one ranking in New York, the pair renew combat this week in the British National Championships in Manchester. In the first ever all-English final of the prestigious PSA World Series Tournament of Champions at Grand Central Station, Sheffield-based Matthew – who topped the world rankings throughout 2011 before Willstrop replaced him in January – reclaimed pole position.


On the world stage their closest challenger is Ramy Ashour (pictured), a 24-year-old swashbuckling Egyptian. There are also emerging stars from Hong Kong and Mexico.

Supporting the 2020 Olympic campaign is Malaysia's women's world number one, Nicol David, a record six times world open champion who says, "There is no question that the Olympic Games would be the absolute pinnacle of my career and I would happily trade all of my six world titles for an Olympic gold.

The final decision is earmarked for the IOC session in September 2013 in Buenos Aires. But this spring, the IOC will send questionnaires to the bidding federations.  There will then be an IOC evaluation event which is likely to be for squash, the Hong Kong Open in November. The sports will present to the IOC Programme Commission at the end of this year or early next and next February, one of the sports which participated in London will be dropped.  It is not yet clear whether all the sports on the current list will go all the way to the decisive IOC vote.

At the moment, the sport looking most vulnerable in London is taekwondo, currently one at which Britain has become increasingly successful. There has also been speculation about the future of the modern pentathlon and equestrianism.  Had the recent investigation into amateur boxing not cleared the sport of the corruption allegations relating to Azerbaijan, that too, might have been in question as there are elements within the IOC who have long wanted to see it removed.  However, this is now highly unlikely with the introduction of women boxers.

All of the 26 sports in London will be technically assessed during the Games by the IOC as to their sustainability for future Olympics.

"People have seen big changes in squash, they like the innovations, and there is unity among the various national federations. So far, the feedback has been very good.  We just have to keep going until the finishing tape," says Lee.


Having been pipped last time by a larger oval ball and an even smaller golf ball surely squash cannot be squeezed out again. Otherwise we might as well start counting sheep.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title from Atlanta to Zaire.

Ten years ago tonight, now a decade past, 2,000 fans braved temperatures in single digits to welcome the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games Flame to Memorial Park in Colorado Springs after an afternoon-long relay with 200 runners. The proud relay participants had endured snowy streets, traffic jams on the route from Monument through the Air Force Academy into the city and to the USA Olympic Complex. The flame had been in Denver the night before, and Colorado Springs turned out to welcome the flame, one week before the Opening Ceremony in Salt Lake City.

The runners chosen to carry the torch in Colorado Springs ranged in age from 12 to 82, including two time USOC President Bill Hybl, mayor Lionel Rivera, Olympic athletes, college and high school students, teachers, Fort Carson soldiers, Air Force Academy cadets, airline workers and retirees. Others included Salt Lake Tribune writer Dick Rosetta, blind local businessman Brian Smith, UCCS professor Dr Ginny Keatley, Noretta Watts, president of Colorado Amputees in Motion, marathoner Gina Garcia-Shaw and scores more who would be warmed on that bone-chilling day by the Olympic flame in their hands.

Thousands lined the route of the flame, many inspired by the light and the emotions of a nation still raw from the tragedy of September 11, 2001, in New York City.  Some 250,000 Americans had applied to carry the torch on the 13,500-mile run through 46 states than had begun in Atlanta on December 4. The Olympic Torch was carried across the nation, borne by runners using trains, motor vehicles, aircraft, boats, canoes and bicycles.



The 17-year-old Paralympic skier Allison Jones was the final runner to carry the Torch into Memorial Park, and she mounted the steps on the platform to ignite the cauldron and warm those who had come to the park to be part of the historic moment in the special city known across the world as America's Olympic city, the home of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) since 1978.

During the chilly evening ceremony, USOC President Sandra Baldwin dedicated the organization and the American team to the victims and families of the September 11 terrorist attacks. A few hours earlier, Gerri-Anne Satterfield ran the torch to honour her brother's memory. Satterfield's brother, George Howard, was killed September 11 while rushing toward the World Trade Center to help the injured. Satterfield received the flame from Cadet 1st Class Warren Halle (pictured below) at the Air Force Academy.

"As I ran the torch I kept thinking of my brother, saying to myself 'this one's for you'," said a visibly moved Satterfield to reporters.


Halle, the lone cadet to run the Torch, was elected by vote to represent the academy by his squadron. He dedicated his run to those fighting for America in the war against terrorism.

On February 8, three billion people around the world watched as a tattered American flag retrieved from the rubble of the World Trade Center, thanks to the resolve and courage of the USOC, was carried into the Olympic Games Opening ceremony at Rice-Eccles Stadium by eight US athletes and three New York City Port Authority police officers with the 211-member United States Olympic team and delegation.

The USOC's idea of bringing the cherished flag into the Opening Ceremony with the team had at first been rejected by the IOC as being too political. But some within the staff would not take no for answer, and three days before the Games, with the flag in the city and millions of Americans reacting with outrage thanks to media coverage, the IOC reversed the decision and the celebration was on.


The threadbare flag was borne to the base of the stage where the president of the United States, the president of the IOC and the president of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee awaited. As the national anthem of the United States, the host nation, was played, a new and whole flag was raised, but the statement had been made – the reflection of a nation answered superbly.

Carrying the flag for the United States team were Kristina Sabasteanski (pictured above), a biathlete in the U.S. Army;  Lea Ann Parsley, a skeleton athlete and firefighter in Ohio; Stacy Liapis, a curler whose boyfriend was a firefighter; Todd Eldredge (pictured above), a three-time Olympian in figure skating; Angela Ruggiero, a hockey player and close friend of teammate Kathleen Kauth, who lost her father in the World Trade Centre attacks; Mark Grimmette, a three-time Olympian in luge; Chris Klug, a snowboarder with a liver transplant; and Derek Parra, a speed skater. The eight athletes were accompanied by three Port Authority policemen – sargent Tony Scannella, officer Frank Accardi and officer Curt Kellinger. An honour guard of NYPD officers and NYC firefighters was also on hand. When the flag was borne by the athletes and New York officers into the stadium, it was one of the most emotional moments in our nation's history, and Americans wept.

It was the end of a three-decade long quest by Salt Lake City to host the Winter Games.


The city was the American candidate city in 1966 when the 72 Games went to Sapporo and again in 1973 when Denver withdrew. Both Lake Placid and Salt Lake wanted to stand in for Denver, but Salt Lake gave up when no federal funding support could be found. The IOC went to Innsbruck instead in 1976.

The USOC chose Salt Lake as its candidate for the 1998 Games after unsuccessfully bidding Anchorage for 1992 and 1994. When Nagano won the 1998 Games, the USOC stood by the Utah City for 2002 and it won easily on the first ballot by the IOC on June 16, 1995 in Budapest.

When 52,000 fans saw the 1980 United States Olympic ice hockey team (pictured above) light the cauldron to open the Games, it began the most memorable Olympic Winter Games in history for the United States – 17 days that would unexpectedly stamp the USA, for the first time, as a winter sports power.

The high-energy evening completed a marvelous chain of events that had threatened the Olympic movement when the news of the bid scandal erupted in 1998.


Led by President Bill Hybl, the USOC moved swiftly to take a proactive role. Hybl appointed a special bid oversight commission chaired by senator George Mitchell in late 1998 that quickly reformed the domestic bid process and started the process of restoring the organization's reputation, as he had done as interim president several years before.

The panel, which included Ken Duberstein, Jeff Benz, Don Fehr and Roberta Cooper Ramo, moved at warp speed to address the issues and fashion the necessary reforms.

Meanwhile the battered Salt Lake Olympic Organising Committee turned to a Brigham Young University graduate and businessman, selecting Mitt Romney as its president in February 1999. Romney made shrewd, decisive moves, helped to calm jittery Games sponsors, found new sources of revenue, restored confidence internationally, and along with the USOC, a great staff at the organizing committee, and thousands of volunteers, got everything moving.

What helped to save these Games was a unique United States Olympic team itself, for the first time a genuine tapestry of America and its diverse population. A team of young men and women that bonded with millions of Americans in a way I had never seen since Lake Placid and the Miracle on Ice.


Long track speed skaters Derek Parra (pictured top) and Jennifer Rodriguez became the first Hispanic Americans to win medals in the Winter Games. Bobsledder Vonetta Flowers (pictured above with flag) became the first black athlete to win a gold medal in the history of the Winter Games. Male bobsledders Randy Jones and Garrett Hines, a pair of former football players from the south, became the first black men to win a medal in the Winter Games with their silver. Figure skater Naomi Lang became the first Native American to represent the USA in the Winter Games. Asian American athletes won five medals.

Third generation skeleton athlete Jim Shea won gold, teenager Sara Hughes shocked the figure skating world with her ladies gold, Kelly Clark (pictured below) and Ross Powers triumphed on their snowboards, Chris Witty, Casey FitzRandolph and charismatic Apolo Ohno joined Parra with gold medals in speed skating.

Riding a wave of cheering crowds and the electricity of a nation roaring its support, the team swept to a record 34 medals, second only to Germany's 36, the most in history by an American team at the Winter Games.

The USOC, under the skillful direction of Scott Blackmun and chief of sport performance Jim Scherr, directed $37 million (£23 million/€28 million) to support the team, including a special "Podium 2002" war chest of $18 million (£11.5 million/€13.5 million) in the final year ahead of the Games, to targeted athletes and teams with a chance to reach out and grab their dreams on the medal platform.


Blackmun, serving as the USOC's interim CEO after the departure of the controversial Norman P Blake in 2000, had brazenly predicted a haul of 20 medals in early 2001, and tied staff bonuses directly to the performance of the team in Salt Lake City. It was a gutsy call.

Sheer genius, backed by financial support, a world-class staff and committed national governing bodies, the kind of thing that now has Blackmun sitting in the CEO chair at the USOC as it enters a new era of success and restoration and Scherr the new commissioner of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

The USOC, which had stood by Salt Lake for a second time as America's candidate city after losing narrowly to Nagano in 1998, earned a 25 per cent share of a $101 million (£64 million/€76 million) surplus from the Games. The USOC had created OPUS (Olympic Properties of the United States) as the sponsorship and marketing centr for the Games from the start, and it was brilliant. The organisation, as well as the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee, endured the chaos of the tawdry 1998 Olympic bid scandal and massive IOC reforms to fashion a magnificent success story.


OPUS, formed by the USOC in advance of the 1998 Nagano Games, generated $874 million (£554 million/€660 million)against the Games' budget of some $1.390 billion (£881 million/€1.05 billion), and USOC-driven negotiations produced a fee of some $545 million (£346 million/€412 million) from NBC Sports.

The Salt Lake City Games became the most successful Winter Games in history, with 1,525 million tickets sold, 8,730 media accredited, 13.1 billion television viewing hours in 160 countries, 77 participating nations, 2,399 athletes and 187 million American television viewers.

Ten years later, the Salt Lake Games remain a refreshing memory for millions who watched and enjoyed the American dream, achieved by 211 athletes and their families from cities, towns and hamlets across the nation.

An Olympic Winter Games that once seemed on the verge of scorn and ridicule in 1998 now enjoys the warm glow of history and praise.


Mike Moran was the chief spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee for a quarter century, through 13 Games, from Lake Placid to Salt Lake City. He joined the USOC in 1978 as it left New York City for Colorado Springs. He was the Senior Communications Counselor for NYC2012, New York City's Olympic bid group from 2003-2005 and is now a media consultant

I was 11 years old when my country hosted its first ever Olympic Games which coincidently, like Sochi 2014, was the XXII edition – but in this case, of the Summer Games.

I was just an ordinary boy and, like many of my classmates, all I wanted was to have an item of Olympic memorabilia. My Mum got me a pin with Misha bear, the symbol of the Moscow 1980 Games. I still cherish that pin today.

Who would have thought that years later, Russia's first ever Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games would come to Sochi and I would find myself President and chief of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee?


In exactly two years time, on February 7, 2014, the Sochi 2014 Winter Games will begin with a spectacular Opening Ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the heart of our Olympic Park – a compact cluster of competition, media and accommodation venues situated right on the coast.

And for the two weeks after the Games' opening, and then again for the nine days of the Paralympic Winter Games, the world's finest winter athletes will compete in Sochi and in our Mountain Cluster venues, only some 30 minutes away, for the glory of taking part in the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

It is a huge undertaking for us: 98 medal events in seven Olympic sports with 5500 athletes and officials from 80 nations. And 70 medal events in five Paralympic sports with 1,350 athletes and officials from 40 nations.

There will be 2,800 accredited journalists and photographers at our Games with a worldwide television audience of about three billion.

I mean to say, how would you feel if three billion people were looking in on your work?!

But despite these challenges, we will deliver on all our promises because we have built up one inspired team. I am fortunate to be surrounded by amazing and talented people who share my passion and my commitment for this once in a lifetime opportunity.


As the Olympic Flame is extinguished on March 16, 2014 at the conclusion of the Paralympic Winter Games, we would have only reached the halfway stage of our incredible journey. The post-Games legacy story that will positively transform society will begin to unfold in Russia.

But actually the legacy of the Sochi Games has already been – and is being – widely felt across Russia. In fact the Games legacy began straight after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the Games to Sochi back in 2007.

I am hugely proud of the tangible benefits that are being felt throughout Russian society as a direct result of the Sochi 2014 Games preparation.

Take, for example, volunteerism.

In the post-Soviet era, Russia did not have a volunteer culture.

It was the Sochi 2014 project that acted as a catalyst for Russia to embrace the concept.

There will be 25,000 volunteers for the Sochi 2014 Games. The process of selecting and training these volunteers has already begun in earnest with volunteers trained at special centres in 26 universities across Russia.


Our very first volunteers have already attended the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and many other major events in Sochi and Russia as part of their training process.

And several of our leading volunteers were actively involved in helping to deliver the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck last month. I was so proud of the way they conducted themselves and by the positive response they received from the Olympic Family.

Our volunteers will also be involved in the forthcoming pre-test events this month, as well as having an active involvement during the London 2012 Games.

Today, the notion of volunteerism is enshrined in Russian law. Sochi 2014 is helping to increase the number of Russians involved in volunteer activity from around nine per cent at present to over 25 per cent as in other European countries.

But Sochi 2014's legacy today goes much further. Already there is a significant increase in awareness and appreciation of the role that people with a disability play in Russian society.


There is also a better understanding of the need to adopt international standards in corporate governance and transparency. Sochi 2014 is demonstrating a best practice model in this regard.

And the Sochi 2014 Games are helping Russia to adopt the highest standards in environmental and ecological sustainability.  I love the fact that one of our Games mascots is the snow leopard, which was the species we recently reintroduced to the caucuses as part of our green Games policy!

I know from talking to my good friend, Lord Sebastian Coe that the next two years will go in the blink of an eye. But it is an incredible honour to lead this project of national importance and, despite the inevitable challenges that lie ahead, I aim to enjoy every single minute of the countdown.

Because, on the eve of the Games, I want to stand on the Black Sea shore and look up at the snow-capped mountains around my home city, confident that we have done everything possible to ensure the world receives the warmest of Russian welcomes; that we have done everything possible to ensure that Russia's first ever Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be the most innovative and inspirational in history.

Dmitry Chernyshenko is President and chief executive of Sochi 2014

Fourth place.

For many athletes, it is the most difficult result at the Olympic Games.

While it represents a remarkable achievement, it is also painfully close to a podium finish and the realisation of a dream that drives so many athletes, which is to one day be called an Olympic medallist.

In my conversations and interaction with the athletes and coaches who are training and competing day-in, day-out, in hopes of representing Team GB at London 2012, one of the observations many have shared with me is the mixed blessing that is a fourth place finish.

On the one hand, you (or your team) are the fourth best in the world, which is a tremendous accomplishment in any endeavour. On the other, a podium finish was clearly within reach.

Therefore, it was important to note in the Infostrada virtual medal table published this week in a national newspaper that Great Britain, along with Russia, are predicted to record more fourth place finishes – 21 – than any other nation.


While the overall medal projections continue to provide a basis for optimism for Team GB, there is still considerable work to be done. This is why the British Olympic Association (BOA) has a four point performance strategy for London 2012, which guides how we allocate our resources and focus our support. You'll hear more about our overall performance strategy in the coming weeks, but for now, I'd like to focus on those near podium finishes:

It is vitally important to translate as many of the fourth, fifth and sixth place finishes from major international competitions in 2011 into podium finishes at London 2012.  These athletes are within clear reach of winning an Olympic medal, and 2012 should be their moment to shine. The 21 fourth place finishes that Infostrada are projecting is too many, and – working with the National Governing Bodies – it is a priority to provide those athletes with the high performance resources and logistical support necessary to take that final step and claim their place on the Olympic podium.

We are convinced that one of the biggest advantages Team GB athletes will enjoy will be the vocal support of the home crowd – and for many, this undeniable lift will elevate them to the podium.

Our performance ambition for London 2012 is to see Team GB athletes win more medals across more sports than in a century.  This is a massive challenge and we are under no illusion about how difficult it will be to achieve.  However, given the overall strength and depth in the British sport system, we have the athletes who can deliver.


One sport which has shown tremendous progression over the last Olympiad is hockey. Both the men's and women's teams are now ranked fourth in the world and clearly have the talent and potential to challenge for the medals in London. England's men became European Champions in 2009 and the women claimed five bronze medals at the World, European and Commonwealth levels over the last two years.

I was greatly impressed by the speed, skill and strength of the GB women as they claimed a breakthrough silver medal in the Champions Trophy in Argentina this week. Having failed to qualify for Athens 2004 and finished sixth in Beijing 2008, they now have the opportunity to peak at the right time this summer and secure Britain's first hockey medal since Barcelona 1992. We hope a combination of first class preparation and the passionate support of the home crowd will create a perfect atmosphere for our athletes to fulfil their undoubted potential this summer.

There is no doubt we are entering an exciting period with the track cycling, diving and swimming test events taking place in the Olympic Park over the next five weeks.

As well as offering critical Olympic qualification points and, in the case of our swimmers, the opportunity to secure their place on Team GB, these events will give our athletes the chance to experience firsthand the loud and fervent support of British fans.

We know the margin of difference among the nations placed fourth to ninth in the London 2012 medal table will be razor thin. I believe the British public – the hundreds of thousands of fans cheering and encouraging Team GB's athletes in the stadiums – will make all the difference.

Andy Hunt is chief executive of the British Olympic Association (BOA) and Team GB Chef de Mission for London 2012

Despite the freezing temperatures, the icy weather did little to cool the buoyant mood of the 10,000 London 2012 Games Maker volunteers that descended on Wembley Arena this morning for their first orientation training event.

Also lost on the chirpy Games Makers was the fact that the doors opened at an unearthly 8:30am, which appeared to me to be an unnecessarily early start for an event held at the weekend and for which none of the 10,000 attending were being paid for.

But as I stepped out of Wembley Park tube station rather groggily (due to lack of sleep, rather than an overconsumption of alcohol the night before, I hasten to add), my cynical attitude slowly melted and all down to the sheer excitement of the Games Makers, whose comforting midst, I found myself in.

All I heard on my short walk from the tube station to Wembley was joking and laughter coming from the Games Makers. And rather than the usual pushing and shoving I associate with busy, early-morning London, I didn't encounter a single volunteer that didn't let me go first at every turn, or apologise profusely for slightly bumping into me.

The mood of the army of Games Makers wasn't dampened by the by the long queues in the sub-zero conditions and, for once, I felt slightly guilty about completely bypassing the crowds and walking straight through the media entrance without delay.


Once inside, it was impressive to see how quickly the huge venue filled up and how alive it was with the hum of chatter between complete strangers.

It was not long before London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe and chief executive Paul Deighton entered the arena – both appropriately dressed down in casual clothing, very much in keeping with the mood of the event.

"I'm confident everything here will go very well because, of course, the people we have here are the most dedicated and excited people about the Games," Deighton told me as he looked around the arena with a smile.

"I think the buzz we have here will carry on right up to the Games.

"But I think everyone here is also aware that this is one of the most important things that we will do in the lead up to London 2012.

"That is because as well as being friendly and welcoming, these Games Makers must actually have a clear knowledge of what they are doing and that they can actually help sort out problems.

"That is ultimately why they are here.

"I'm sure none of them just want to be standing around waving during the Games – rather they will want to be as helpful as they possibly can."


It was quite clear that the Games Makers themselves had the same attitude.

There are 70,000 Games Makers in total, and they range from 15 to 80-years-old (with an average age of 35) and an equal 50-50 split of male and female volunteers.

The chosen Games Makers came from a pool of nearly a quarter of a million people applicants, and it's clear that they want to represent London to the world as best as they can.

'I can't wait for Games," said 74-year-old retired newsagent Elizabeth Ragget from Brighton, who has been assigned a role based at the International Federation Office at the ExCeL where she will be involved in the Paralympic sport of boccia.

"It's a fantastic opportunity to show the rest of the world what Britain can do.

"I applied so I can do something worthwhile and be part of it all."

Samantha Kenyon, a 25-year-old from Manchester, echoed similar sentiments.

"It's going to be such a good experience," she said.

"I'll get to meet new friends and every step will get more and more exciting."

As Coe took to the stage to a rapturous ovation, he made it clear just how important the Games Makers would be to the success of London 2012.

"The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games simply wouldn't happen without you," he said.

"You are the people that will make this event a success and the people that will define the experience for the millions of visitors to the Games from around the world.

"I hope that this orientation training will make you even more excited about being part of the London 2012 team this summer."


The key aim of the orientation training events is to provide an introduction to the heritage and importance of the Games as well as an insight into what working at London 2012 will be like.

Six smaller regional orientation sessions will be held in March for Games Makers who have been offered roles at venues outside of London – in Weymouth, Portland, Cardiff, Coventry, Newcastle, Manchester and Glasgow.

By the time the Games start, the volunteers will have collectively undertaken 1.2 million hours of training.

It is, therefore, clear how much importance is being placed on the volunteers and how much Coe and his organising committee want them to be, not only a smiling and friendly face of the Games, but an informed and helpful one.

They have a big challenge ahead and clearly a lot rests on their 70,000 collective shoulders.

But if the first major training event is anything to go by, the early signs are very positive indeed.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames. You can follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Football at the Olympics is greeted with a shrug here in Europe. Sales of tickets for this summer's Games in London demonstrate that point illustratively. 1.5 million tickets for the football went back on sale at the end of November, months after the mad dash for seats in the original ballot. With 8.8 million tickets overall for the Olympics, this represents a significant share given that it is one of only 26 sports.

Meanwhile, Brazilians snapped up football tickets more enthusiastically than the Europeans, even though the tournament is on their doorstep. But for all the apathy, as qualifiers are held and nations book their places, there is, if one looks at the teams and players travelling to London this summer, plenty to look forward to.

Even the four representatives from Europe, for whom the tournament is inconveniently juxtaposed between the European Championships and the start of the domestic season, may have added motivation to shine.

The British hosts, will be participating with English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish players – a novelty in front of a home crowd. Plus the strong possibility that the likes of David Beckham, Joe Cole and Ryan Giggs will be given the last chance of their careers to make their mark in a major international tournament will make matches even more appealing.

Players such as Wales' highly talented Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, will look to Giggs and ponder that they may never have the chance to compete at a major international competition, and so will make the most of this opportunity.

Then there's Spain, who as World and European Champions, qualified for the Olympics by winning the European under-21 championship. Their hegemony in the global game could be cemented further by winning the Olympic title. True, it's not as prestigious as winning the two major global championships, but this Spanish team is filled with talents such as Isaac Cuenca, Iker Muniain and Thiago Alcântara, who will want to prove themselves – and after all, it is the only title they have left to win.


For Belarus, having the chance to compete in the final stages of a major international championship is a unique opportunity. And although Switzerland haven't qualified for Euro 2012, they have  players like Basle's Xherdan Shaqiri (pictured above) and have shown in the Champions League what they are capable of, and will surely prove a handful.

The favourites for the title come from South America, as usual. Brazil is desperate to win the one major international football competition they are eligible for, but has so far eluded them. Santos duo Neymar and Paulo Henrique Ganso may feel they have a golden chance to etch their names into Brazilian history books and announce their arrival on the world stage as the stars of the new Brazil team. Lucas Piazón, Leandro Damião and Rômulo could join the Santos pair in London too.

Then there are those three players over the age of 23 who can be selected. Could Kaká be among them? Or perhaps fans may have to settle for watching Ronaldinho, seemingly resurgent at club level with Flamengo or Jádson, who has returned to Brazil with Sao Pãulo.

Brazil give more reasons than most why the London 2012 football tournaments are worth watching for more than to just see whether the presence of Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish players can change English fortunes in the dreaded, but inevitable penalty shoot out. There's the Uruguayans, for whom the under 23s will look to repeat the recent success of the senior team, and the African contingent, headed by Gabon, surprise winners of their qualifying tournament. African nations have a rich heritage in the Olympic men's football, winning two of the last four tournaments (Nigeria at Atlanta 1996 and Cameroon at Sydney 2000). Both Egypt and Morocco will come to London looking to continue that.

The Asian representatives and a team from Oceania are yet to be determined, as are the North American qualifiers. Then finally, Senegal will have a play off in Coventry against an Asian side to see if they will secure the last spot at the Games. And it is, of course, not just the men who are worth watching, as last year's women's World Cup in Germany, where Japan beat the United States in a thrilling penalty shoot out, proved.

Last week the CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) women's qualifiers concluded with the US, the reigning Olympic champions, booking their spot at London 2012. With that, 11 out of the 12 qualifiers for the women's tournament are confirmed, and all that is remaining is for a representative of Oceania (i.e. New Zealand) to book their spot at the Games.


The USA cruised through qualifying in style; scoring almost eight goals a game and without conceding any in Vancouver, they maintained their record of having never lost an Olympic Games qualifier. Pia Sundhage's (pictured above) women weren't always at their best, despite the convincing scorelines, but the World Cup runners up, along with Japan, will be the teams to beat. The US may be marginal favourites to win their third crown in a row as they will surely be desperate to avenge their penalty shoot out loss in Germany last year.

Also hopeful of breaking the American dominance of previous Olympic tournaments will be Brazil, who will look to Marta as their inspiration. They will want revenge for their defeat to the USA in the final of the 2008 tournament in Beijing. Oh, and the 2004 defeat in the final to the same opponents, that time in Athens. In fact, like the men's tournament, Brazil has never won the Olympics.

North Korea's women were able to participate and qualify in controversial circumstances. Their presence will be much to the anger of the Australians whom they edged out narrowly, despite the Koreans being banned from the next World Cup after five of their players tested positive for drugs in Germany last year. South Africa and Cameroon will represent the African continent, whilst Sweden and France will also be in London. Indeed France will be hopeful that they can do well, with a number of their squad from the Olympique Lyonnais team that won the European Champions League last season. Canada is the other team definitely on their way to London, but they will do well to reach the semi-finals.

Of course, it's not the same in terms of quality as the European Championships, the Copa America or the World Cup. But the Olympics is different. Unlike the World Cup, it can be won by a nation outside of South America or Europe, as the USA, Nigeria and Cameroon have proven. Japan too, may prove that once more this summer, and in a world where football seems ever more predictable, with a group of Catalans dominating at both club and international level, that unpredictability is a novelty. It is a chance to see the stars of tomorrow, the Neymars and Alcântaras, in front of your eyes for just £20. And it is after all, football. A referee, a ball and 22 men running up and down a pitch. Or women, of course.

David Gold is a reporter for insidethegames. You can follow him on twitter here.

If Muhammad Ali was The Greatest then so was Angelo Dundee. The greatest coach and cornerman boxing has ever known.

His death from a heart attack just a few months after his 90th birthday will be mourned by millions of fight fans, but especially by Ali, who owes not only his career to the perky little Italian-American from Philadelphia but quite possibly his life.

They were together for the last time less than a month ago when Ali celebrated his own 70th birthday in Louisville.


Dundee was in a wheelchair but still very much the life and soul of Ali's poignant party.

Dundee's name will be forever bracketed with the legend he helped make truly The Greatest.

Yet no one has schooled more world champions – Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Willie Pastrano, Carmen Basilio and a host of others – 15 in all in his 50 years as boxing's supreme Svengali.

"Thank God I'm in good health," he had he told me rather ironically from his home in Clearwater, Florida in the last interview he gave on the eve of his birthday.  "I've got a new hip but otherwise I'm OK and keeping as busy as I want to be."


Back in his alma mater, the newly re-built Fifth Street Gym in Miami's South Beach, a veritable emporium of fistiana again redolent with vividly nostalgic echoes of boxing's most memorable bygone era, the sixties and seventies, Dundee had been in his element once more, working with a "bunch of good looking amateurs"  some of whom are prospective Olympians. "I'm loving it." he told me then.

"Some of these amateur kids may not be ready for your Games in London, but they will be for the next Olympics.  I see some 14 and 15-year-olds now with some tremendous talent."

"Angie", as the boxing world knew him, was more than Ali's little helper. A trainer par excellence, he was also his counsellor, confidante, and occasional minder, chasing away the "foxes" when Ali, always a ladies' man, eyed a spot of horizontal sparring even on the day of a fight.

Above all he was the best cornerman in the business, from where he not only saved Ali's career, but quite possibly his life.


They were together for over two decades, from the then Olympic champion Cassius Clay's second pro fight against Herb Siler in Miami in December 1960 until, exactly 21 years later, when the washed–up shell of ring's sublime artiste, who had turned boxing into a thing of beauty, rather than just booty, was left beaten out of sight in the Bahamas by a ho-hum heavyweight named Trevor Berbick.

Their 59-fight journey from Miami to Nassau was both exotic and exciting before its poignant conclusion, embracing the moment he pushed him back to win the heavyweight title when Ali told him to cut the gloves off, believing he was being deliberately blinded by liniment on Sonny Liston's own gloves, to the triumphs of the Rumble in the Jungle and the Thrilla in Manila.

But people still ask why Dundee had stayed with Ali to that sad and bitter end, when the boxer's personal physician, Ferdie Pacheco walked away after he won a brutal fight with Earnie Shavers in  1977, Pacheco urged him to quit because of the body punishment he was taking – Ali was peeing blood for days. Dundee was criticised for not quitting too, but explained: "I honestly felt that if Muhammad was insisting on fighting on, I had to be there to make sure he didn't get hurt real bad."

This was evident in the fast-fading Ali's penultimate fight when he was belaboured by Larry Holmes in the car park of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Even Holmes himself had beckoned to the referee to call a halt and it was left to Dundee to do so at the end of the tenth round when he defied elements in the camp apparently more interested in keeping their meal-ticket going. "I am the chief second and I stop the fight," he declared.

If Dundee saved Ali's life that night then unquestionably he had rescued his career 17 years earlier on that electric evening at Wembley when young Cassius was felled by 'Enry's 'Ammer.


"I so upset that we don't have Henry [Sir Henry Cooper] anymore and so is Muhammad," he said in our interview. "They were still great friends you know. Muhammad had a lot of respect for him. Especially that left hook."

To this day the debate still rages as to whether Dundee craftily tore Clay's glove to give him more time to recover from that fourth round knock-down. He chuckled as he denied it.

"Whatever people tell you, I never cut the glove, it was split right from the beginning. All l did was stick my thumb in it and call the referee's attention to get it changed."

Then there was his rope trick in Kinshasa before the George Foreman fight. We saw him in the ring an hour before, apparently loosening them, yet Dundee insisted: "Honest, I was actually tightening them. But the heat loosened them again. They were 24 foot ropes and I never wanted Muhammad to lay on them and rope a dope. In fact I whacked his butt whenever he did because I was worried Foreman would hit my kid in the chest and knock him out of the ring. But Muhammad being Muhammad he did his own thing. He always did. I just added a few wrinkles and put the reflexes in the proper direction.  I never trained Muhammad, I just directed him."

To Dundee, Ali was always "my kid" and they stayed in touch mainly through Ali's wife Lonnie, when the former champion found difficulty in communicating because of his illness with Parkinson's syndrome.

Dundee lost his own wife Helen following a long illness two years ago after 58 years of marriage.

He said he was happy to make 90 "because after Don King (80 last year) I will be the oldest boxing guy around.  I am forever young because I am always dealing with young people but if it's a physical endeavour, I am in trouble.  When you are 89-years-old, you are not that sprightly doing push-ups, but mentally I am there.

"I feel blessed and I am happy I had the life I had. We had fun, didn't we?  I hope I can hang around because I think I can add a little something. You gotta have something to do, or you go goofy. I don't want to go goofy."

His last words to me were:"With Muhammad every time we did something it was excitement. It is unfair to try and compare anybody with him 'cos he's a once in a lifetime guy. There'll never be another Muhammad Ali."

Nor another Angelo Dundee.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title from Atlanta to Zaire

It is not often that you get to train with an elite athlete; and rarer still an elite one who's made the podium at the 2011 World Athletics Championship, and is now one of Britain's biggest London 2012 Olympic gold medal prospects.

That's why I jumped quickly at the chance to take part in a training session at Lee Valley Athletics Centre with Hannah England (pictured below) – the rising 1500 metres star.

It wasn't that long ago that the 24-year-old from Oxford was relatively unknown to those outside the athletics world, but last September at her major senior championships, England ran a stunning last 100m to come from seventh place at the final bend to silver medal position, just behind Jennifer Simpson of the United States. Her amazing result put England firmly in the spotlight, just ahead of the London 2012 Olympics.

Despite the recent limelight, England looked extremely relaxed as she took a group of brave journalists and myself for a "light" training session.

It will be one of the great symbolic moments of the London 2012 Opening Ceremony, a huge bell from  the very foundry which cast Big Ben to ring in the Games.

It is a terrific idea but one which has been done before, at arguably the most infamous of all Olympic Games, those held in 1936 in Berlin.

At the behest of the Nazi Government, the Organising Committee spared no expense to make their Games, and indeed their Opening Ceremony, the greatest yet seen.

Central to their plans was a huge bell, designed by Walter Lemcke in 1933, it was cast from 16.5 tonnes of molten steel in the town of Bochum. When the time came for transportation to Berlin, it was set upon a huge transporter which had been used to carry the stone to make the memorial to President Hindenburg.

As the bell made its way through Germany at a stately 12 miles an hour, crowds came out onto the streets to watch its progress and at certain key points, German military bands were waiting to send it on its way with a musical salute.

"The German radio informed their hearers (sic) about the transportation of the bell to Berlin and the festivities en route," said the Official Report of Berlin 1936.

Factory hooters sounded and church bells pealed as it passed through each town.



"The Olympic bell is a symbol of Peace," said Rudolph Hess in a speech to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1936, apparently without irony.

"It bears the inscription I summon the youth of the world. In changing this to I greet the youth of the world, I am voicing the feelings of the Fuhrer and all the German people."

More menacingly, the bell was greeted by a rally of Hitler Youth.

"The bell will swing above the demonstrations of our unity. On this occasion let us cast a glance into the future. I see generations upon generations f German men and women approaching, magnificently resolute in their physical strength and staunch loyalty to the sacred soil of the father land,"  said Hans Von Tschammer und Ostend, a leading Nazi sports official.

One early morning in May, amid great secrecy, it was raised to the top of a tower at the Olympic Stadium. It was powered by a massive electric motor. It rang on the opening day of the Games and is shown prominently in Leni Riefenstahl's legendary film "Olympia".

When the Games were over, the bell tolled a solemn farewell as searchlights lit the skies above, a portent of the conflict to come.

When after the war the bell was once again put on display at the stadium, welders had done their work. Where once an Eagle clutched the swastika, the Nazi symbol had been obliterated.



The Germans were absent from the Games in 1948, but what of the Opening Ceremony which took place the last time the Games were in London? The IOC members lined up to be introduced to King George VI before the parade of nations, a quarter of the size that  will be seen this summer. It was headed according to tradition by Greece.

The instructions to each team were rather patronising.

"It is IMPORTANT that an official from each nation and the athlete chosen to carry the flag should present themselves at Wembley Stadium East Gate, in order to have the instructions for the ceremony fully explained to them on the ground. Please make every effort to be punctual at this rendezvous."

As it turned out it was the host nation which had most to worry about.

As Great Britain entered the stadium, few realised an embarrassing moment had been avoided. The organisers had forgotten to provide a British flag but Chef de Mission Evan Hunter had packed one in his car. His prescience was awarded, his young assistant, a certain Roger Bannister retrieved it in time and no one was any the wiser when Emrys Lloyd dipped said Union Flag in front of the King.


The Ceremony was simple to the point of austerity. After the King's speech, limited to the traditional words, a release of pigeons – birds supplied by local fanciers and a 21 gun salute, the flame arrived carried by Cambridge University athlete John Mark (pictured) who was even asked to hand his pass back after the Ceremony.

The Archbishop of York offered a blessing, the choir sang Roger Quilter's hymn Non Nobis Domine, complete with words by Rudyard Kipling. There was also  a quick burst of the Hallelujah chorus, both conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent before hurdler and Spitfire ace Donald Finlay took the oath.

A quick "God Save the King" and the whole thing was over in under two hours.

Philip Barker, a freelance journalist, has been on the editorial team of the Journal of Olympic History and is credited with having transformed the publication into one of the most respected historical publications on the history of the Olympic Games. He is also an expert on Olympic Music, a field which is not generally well known. 

It is exactly 30 years since I had one of the most poignant interviews of my sportswriting career when I went to Oxford to meet the late, great Bobby Moore.

Alas, he wasn't receiving an honorary doctorate from the University – though he surely deserved one as much as he does a posthumous knighthood.

Instead I knocked on the door marked "Manager" outside an old Portakabin in the car park of Oxford City FC, then a struggling club of part-timers in the bowels of something called the Isthmian League. Moore was sitting behind a cluttered desk.

"Bloody hell, Bob," I said as we shook hands. "What on earth is the former England captain doing in a place like this?"

He shrugged and smiled wryly. "Well, no one else will give me a job."

It is to the eternal shame of football – and the Football Association – that nothing more worthy was ever forthcoming for the only Englishman ever to have held aloft the World Cup. "Mooro", as was his old adversary Pelé, should have been one of the game's outstanding global ambassadors.

How the mighty have fallen, I thought to myself as I drove back to London, a phrase which sprang back into the consciousness recently with the news that the one-time Olympic super-heavyweight champion Audley Harrison is making yet another comeback.

Though he seems never to have been away.


Last seen being booed from the ring in Manchester 14 months ago after throwing only a single token puny punch before being left wild-eyed and legless by David Haye in only seven embarrassing minutes for the World Boxing Association heavyweight championship, dear old 'Fraudley' refuses to put us out of our misery.

I wonder when he stood on that rostrum 12-years-ago in Sydney, lovingly caressing the gold medal draped around his neck  as Britain's first Olympic boxing champion in 28 years, whether he ever envisaged ending his fighting days not at illustrious citadels of sock Caesars Palace, Madison Square Garden or Wembley, but the Brentwood Leisure Centre in Essex.

For that's where he'll be on Saturday April 14, with the man in the opposite corner named Ali.

But Ali's no Muhammad. He's one Ali Adams, an Iraqi-born novice heavyweight who has won 13 of his 17 fights and apparently is being groomed for better things by local promoter Steve Goodwin, who says he sees the now 40-year-old Harrison strictly as an opponent.


Mention of the word "strictly" reminds us of Audley's last public offering, as a contender in the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing where he showed better, rather niftier footwork in the ballroom than he ever did in the professional prize ring, where he so frequently forgot it takes two to tango.

I have always found Harrison amiable and engaging and not one to bear grudges despite the criticism that he has received from myself and others.

When I saw him win his Olympic title he displayed a boxing brain which suggested he could go on to join luminaries such as Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Leon Spinks, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko who also struck gold which they converted into the ultimate accolade of the world heavyweight champion.

But once the BBC, in their wisdom, provided him with a £1 million windfall Audley decided to take what he thought was the easy way up. It soon became apparent that the Londoner who called himself the A-Force was not A-list.

The truth was, that while Audley loved the fight game, he had no great love for fighting


The humiliatingly brief encounter with the Hayemaker was by no means the first time he had been forced to return, unlamented,  to his adopted home in California a busted flush, shorn of his bombast and bravado, knowing he had to rediscover not only his self belief, but find himself again.

He seems to have had more resurrections than Lazarus but he still refuses to admit the party's over.

"I have never been more disappointed in myself than I was that night against Haye," he says. "Anyone can lose but I didn't lose with dignity so I was never going to retire on that. I know I still have a future.

"There was a lot pride to be swallowed, a lot of soul searching and looking into myself after all the things that were said about me – if only people knew what I am really about.  I've dug deep into that well and now you will see my true character.

"There's a story to be told, and I will tell it one day, about all the problems that I have had, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. But I am never going to go back to that bad place again."

Barry McGuigan is among those who have questioned Harrison's heart and desire. Harrison says this hurts more than anything his 32 opponents ever threw at him. "As an ex-fighter Barry should know better. I have never lacked bottle.


"I might have thick skin but I am a human being like everyone else and I want the fans to be behind me like they were in the Olympics.  I just want to be able to go out there, do my job and for people to appreciate I am an entertainer.  People say I was arrogant, but I like to say self-assured. I think I've realised what it's about and I don't take things so personally.

"I am fortunate that I have done quite well financially out of boxing so I am not fighting just for the pay cheque.  There is an air of desperation about me now. The bottom line is that my goal is still to become a world champion and then unify the title.

"I know I'm in the valley looking up at the mountain but I'm ready to climb again. I refuse to believe it is too late."

The boxing ring is strewn with shattered reputations and ruined aspirations and while Audley is no Bobby Moore in terms of stature and achievement it does seem equally poignant that for him now the only way is Essex.


Well Audley, you are entitled to dream. But as you take your partner for what surely must be your last waltz, I think I'll sit this one out.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title from Atlanta to Zaire.

An early draft of the London 2012 Opening Ceremony has come into insidethegames' possession

The draft includes a number of handwritten annotations mainly signed 'DB'; these are reproduced in italics.

9pm sharp. The Great Olympic Bell tolls. BONG, BONG...

Cue London 2012 Opening Ceremony (applause)

Sir Trevor: "And finally...

"Oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clement's..."

As Sir Trevor reads the words of the children's rhyme, which have been modified to capture the Olympic spirit, church bells across the city of London begin to peal out.

By the time the last line - "I do not know, says Sebastian Coe" – is reached, every bell from Heathrow to Harlow is ringing. [Muezzins? DB]

9.10pm The main stage rises up from the centre of the stadium to reveal Pink Floyd, the great British rock band, who play the song Time from Dark Side of the Moon, the great British rock album.

As they play, children from East London schools act out the lyrics; on the line, "No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun", they are joined by Usain Bolt.

Meanwhile, a giant plastic pig floats slowly into position above the stadium. [Memo to self: Get Dave to tweak that line "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way". Too close to the bone...DB]

9.15pm As Gilmour sings "The tolling of the iron bell...softly spoken magic spells" we realise that the Great Olympic Bell has indeed started tolling again.

9.16pm Lights down. Silence. Spotlight on the figure of Caliban (actually David Tennant), who addresses Olympic dignitaries: "Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises..."

As he speaks, children from East London schools appear and cavort around the arena waving the Official Caliban Puppet ™, available in Official Olympic Merchandise Outlets from tomorrow.

An Underworld soundtrack, incorporating blaring horns, sirens, pneumatic drills etc, starts to play.

9.20pm and 12 seconds [See what we've done there? DB] As Caliban/Tennant declaims "I cried to dream again", the procession of great British institutions begins.


Pink Floyd provide the soundtrack – Wish You Were Here, Another Brick in the Wall and so on.

The procession includes:

- Arthurian knights [Antonio is requesting exclusively black horses. Seems harmless enough. DB]

- Eton College schoolboys [actually children from East London schools in costume]

- Bobbies on the beat (from the forces which won a clean sweep of Olympic Tug-of-War medals at the London 1908 Games).

- Posties waving sheets of Official Gold Medal Winners stamps ™, available from tomorrow

- NHS nurses [Lansley assures me he can find at least half- a-dozen who can be trusted not to use the occasion to protest against his bill. DB]

- Bank of England [May need re-thinking if Euro-zone collapses. Too provocative?]

- The obligatory London bus, open-topped, with proverbial 'Man on the Clapham Omnibus' (in this case, the member of the London 2012 backroom team who came up with all those useless but endearing London bus-related stats) waving from the upper deck.

9.45pm sharp. Athletes' procession starts. [To prevent viewing figures from imploding, this MUST be kept moving briskly. To that end, as well as the upbeat Underworld soundtrack...]

Each team to be led by a man in unkempt blond wig riding a penny-farthing bicycle. [As luck would have it, the Coventry factory where penny-farthings were made was called "Ariel". Ariel/Caliban. Geddit? Doncha love it when a plan comes together!? DB]

[Memo to self: Don't order the wigs yet. We may need to rethink some of this in light of the result of the London mayoral election on May 3.]


By convention, the Greek team is first to enter the stadium [Apparently the Germans want them to go up to the crowd rattling collecting buckets to help pay for the 2004 opening ceremony. What do we think? DB]

11.59pm (Following all the solemn Olympic pageantry) Cue Sir Trevor McDonald (applause). 

Sir Trevor: "And finally..."

12 Midnight. The Great Olympic Bell chimes twelve times.

As the twelfth chime dies, the Olympic torch arrives in the stadium, carried by...Ariel, Shakespeare's "airy spirit", or in this case the Procter and Gamble employee who did most to lift the company's profit margins in 2011, as assessed by an internal global competition.

[For pete's sake, make sure the costume doesn't look too much like a packet of Excel Gel. DB]

As the cauldron is lit, "Ariel" turns to the crowd and speaks a single word: "Brrrrrilliant!"

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 World Cup. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed by clicking here.

As a non-cyclist – University days apart, and if anyone has seen my bike, with an F144 number on the back mudguard and last seen in 1979 locked to a post outside the Pike and Eel pub, then please do get in touch – I prefer running.

OK, it takes longer, but it's pretty simple, isn't it? Which is why organising running events is simpler than organising cycling events. I ran the Virgin London Marathon last year, and I can honestly say that over the whole of that long and winding road I didn't witness one serious crash – that is, if you discount the very occasional sound of exhausted bodies hitting the tarmac.

What I did witness on my first marathon was, as I expected, a tumultuous level of support. It was great. But if I'm being honest, there wasn't the sense of sheer excitement among spectators that I witnessed when I did the Tour de France in 1994.

I'd better qualify this. When I say "did the Tour of France" I don't actually mean I cycled it. As I've already pointed out, I'm not one of life's cyclists and besides, thanks to person or persons unknown, the only proper bike I have ever owned has mysteriously vanished.


And when I say "did the Tour de France" I don't also mean I was involved for the whole business, all the way to the Champs-Elysees. But, reporting for The Independent, I was in the lead car for the Motorola team, for whom a certain Lance Armstrong (pictured) was riding, as the Tour made its return to Britain for the first time in 20 years.

Sitting in the front passenger seat alongside team manager Jim Ochowicz as the car raced through the Kent and Sussex countryside was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.

The response of the spectators – hunched back into high hedges, settled on to garden chairs in their driveways, waving paper Union Jacks in the packed town centres – was astounding. Even to Ochowicz and Geoff Brown, who was mechanic for the Motorola team.

"I've never seen so many people at a bike race. Never," said Brown, who has been on the circuit for eight years. Ochowicz, who cycled for the US team at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, commented wryly: "The Queen doesn't get a turn-out like this, does she?"

The progress did indeed seem a royal one, nowhere more so than in Royal Tunbridge Wells, where the centre was thronged.

Thirteen years later I was back in Royal Tunbridge Wells as a spectator watching the Tour sweep through on its first stage from London to Canterbury, having run the prologue time trial the previous day in and around Hyde Park, taking in some of the capital's iconic landmarks.

Once again, in glaring sunshine, the levels of enthusiasm were amazing. There was a real sense of the streets that this was the real deal, a rarity, a world class event.

It is a fair bet that a good proportion of those who were so thrilled by the Tour's arrival on those occasions will already be making plans to witness similar scenes in 2013, when the first of what organisers hope will become a treasured national event takes place – a two-day festival of cycling with a London Marathon-style race involving 35,000 enthusiasts and around 200 elite performers over a distance of 100 miles on the second day.


Having announced their plans this week for what will be the first post-London 2012 event to be held – or in the race's case, started – in the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – London & Partners, acting for the Mayor of London's office, are now engaged in their own race.

If the event is to make it onto the international fixture list for 2013, the world cycling body, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) needs to know who the partner/main sponsor will be by July, according to Jonny Clay, British Cycling's head of cycling sports.

Pat McQuaid, the UCI president, has already expressed his enthusiasm for this Big Idea: "To be able to have a race in Britain of this status in a city the size of London is hugely exciting for our sport – and for the public and athletes."

But first there needs to be that name in the frame who will take the event on, ideally, for the first five years at least.

When I raised the question with Ian Edmondson, head of major events for London & Partners, after the press, he replied that the room was full of interested parties who already had a track record in staging such events, whether they were to do with running, cycling or triathlon.

Among those interested parties were two representatives from Upsolut, the German-based company which has played a major part in organising the annual Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship event in Hyde Park, which involves a mixture of enthusiasts and elite performer, and which has also organised the Vattenfall Cyclassic, the biggest cycling event in Europe, since 1996.


The Vattenfall Cyclassic, the only German UCI ProTour one-day race, regularly features more than 160 of the world's best riders along with up to 25,000 enthusiasts, and regularly draws crowds of 800,000 out onto the streets of Hamburg, attracting live coverage on German TV.

"We have had 16 years' experience in staging events like this," says Dr Michael Hinz, the Upsolut chief executive. "We have pioneered city cycling events involving enthusiasts and elite riders."

Robert Puestow, Upsolut's operations director, adds: "The model we have used in Hamburg would fit exactly in London. And the model we have been operating in Hyde Park for the triathlon is similar.

"We already have a very strong relationship with UCI, and we know about the difficulties of closing a city down.

"In order for an event such as this to work, as we have discovered, you have to have a guaranteed core of elite riders, the best of the riders, there. Once you have that certain level, everything else will work.

"It probably wouldn't make a profit for three years, but that would change in the long-term, especially for an event such as this, involving London."

So will Upsolut turn out to be the name in the frame?

"We wouldn't be here if we weren't interested," Hinz comments. "We are certainly looking closely at the tendering process. But it is a case of having a vision."

That initial vision has already been expressed by London & Partners. But is Britain ready for the London Marathon on wheels? You bet it is.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

For the hundreds of athletes striving for gold at this year's London Olympics – the countdown is now truly on.

The Games are just six months away and, as an athlete, this is when the anticipation of the Olympics really starts to build.

The years of hard work, training, commitment and sacrifices are now all starting to come to a head, as the lure of London gets closer and closer.

For some athletes the first huge task of qualifying for the Games is over. To date, we have selected team members from open water swimming and sailing – and for those athletes, the focus is now solely on training hard and keeping at the top of their game ahead of the Games commencing in July.

With over 400 athletes to still select on the Australian Olympic team, the intensity of competition among the sports is at its peak. Over the coming months, athletes will battle it out for a spot on the team, representing for some the culmination of years of effort and focus.

Australia expects to send a team of approximately 420 athletes to London, competing across 25 of the 26 sports.

Our aim as a team is to place in the top five in both the overall medals and gold medals. In 2011, we witnessed a number of outstanding individual and team performances placing Australia in the top four on overall gold medals. However, in the overall medal tally, Australia placed eight. Despite this result, the future is bright. Australian athletes placed fourth and fifth in 37 events. The focus now is to convert these places into medals.


The end of 2011 saw our sailors dominate the World Championships in Perth with three gold medals and the Kookaburras defend their hockey Champions Trophy in New Zealand. These results have further buoyed our belief that Australia is rising again in international sport and that we will win medals in a broad range of sports in London.

We hope that over the next six months we will see some of our fine athletes that were achieving high results in 2011, convert their success into podium finishes at the Games.

As for London itself, I believe the city is ready to hold a successful and exhilarating Games.

The Olympic Village is of an incredibly high standard and during our planning visits to London we have been extremely pleased with the Village accommodation, facilities and spacious surrounds.

The finishing touches are being put on the sporting venues and I can guarantee that Australia's athletes and spectators alike will have an incredibly exciting Games experience.

Nick Green is a double Olympic rowing gold medallist and Australia's Chef de Mission for London 2012

From William the Conqueror to William Tell, via Sherwood Forest and a few war-whooping twangs from Geronimo, bows and arrows have been among man's most prolific pursuits. Yet the long-established sport of archery is not one that has had the great British public all of a quiver, despite its Robin Hood romanticism.

It's among the most ancient of all Britain's sporting activities, dating back competitively to the middle ages with the first Grand National Archery meeting held at York in 1844. Many of today's clubs had their beginnings on the country lawns of Victorian England, although archery did not make the Olympics in its modern form until 1972.

The modicum of publicity it has received here in recent years is largely down to the lively Shropshire lass Alison Williamson, five times an Olympian and a bronze medallist in Athens, but about the only time archery got the tabloid treatment was when she took her top off in 1996, posing semi-naked with a strategically-placed bow and arrow for photos that were displayed in the National Portrait Gallery.

All tastefully done, but there was a sharp intake of breath from the blazers and blazerettes.

Williamson and other top archers among the 35,000 so practitioners who belong to the Grand National Archery Society are resigned to scant recognition for their endeavours, which have included fistfuls of medals at world, European and Commonwealth level. But Olympic gold has proved irksomely elusive.


Could that change in London, where the focus is likely to be on 40-year-old Williamson and a new kid on what is the shooting line? The sport's equivalent of the oche: Amy Oliver, from Rotherham, is 17 years Williamson's junior and on course to make her Olympic debut.

If Williamson does get selected it will be a remarkable achievement for only two other Britons have competed at six Olympics – the javelin thrower Tessa Sanderson, who won gold at her third Games in 1984, and fencer Bill Hoskyns, who competed from 1956 to 1976 at the Games, winning two silver medals.

So is there a more creditable candidate to carry the GB flag at the Opening Ceremony?

It would be an immensely proud moment for Britain's highest-profile archer, a one-time primary school teacher who had to give up a lot for the sport she took up well before the luxury of lottery funding was a twinkle in John Major's eye.

But as she says: "If I had done something else, I would have ended up scratching my head and saying to myself, 'What am I doing, I could have been at the Olympics.'


Williamson (pictured) established herself as one of Britain's all-time best performers in a career which has seen her claim individual world silver in 1999 and Olympic bronze in 2004, as well as a world team bronze in 2007 and – very nearly – an Olympic team bronze at the Beijing Games, where she and her two fellow shooters were beaten in the third and fourth place match by France.

"Since I started, the standard has certainly risen. It's certainly more athletic and the level of professionalism is higher. The image is different too, I am sure some people used to think of it as glorified darts. Internationally we have showcase venues and there is a World Cup circuit. We are quite used to shooting now in iconic venues so we are delighted to be at Lord's.

"With some sports, the older you get the more difficult it becomes, but that's not so with archery. When I look back on the '92 Olympics, when you walked into the cafeteria in the village, you'd look around and you wouldn't be able to spot an archer because no one knew who they were, but it's a lot different now.

"We are more recognisable. It's more open competitively, too. You used to say that the Koreans would always win a medal, but none of them were on the podium in the world championships women's event. A Chilean won.

"Now I am lottery funded and I am grateful for that. And as for 2016, well, never say never. There are archers older than me, and Rio sounds quite nice."

What motivates her now is the memory of competitions such as that she experienced last April, when she won gold in the final of the European grand prix in Antalya, Turkey against Italy's multiple world champion Natalia Valeeva, who at 41 is aiming to add her first Olympic gold to the CV next year – and who is also making out at least as good a case as Williamson that archers can have a career almost with the longevity of their namesake radio serial.

"I think it's always been that way in archery," says Williamson. "If you are good when you are young you can still carry it on. Experience counts for a lot in this sport. I react very differently now to the way I did when I was 18 or 20. If you haven't had a good competition when you are that age you react in a different way. Nowadays I am able to see the bigger picture.

"Sometimes you think 'Oh God, you are getting too old for this.' But after competitions like the one I had with Natalia, you realise 'No. I can still do it'."


Williamson's biggest fan also happens to be her newest rival, the 23-year-old Oliver (pictured left) who a bronze medal in mixed team tournament with Larry Godfrey at the recent World Archery Championships in Turin and with Williamson (right) and Naiomi Folkard (centre) won an Commonwealth Games team silver in Delhi. She has established herself as a regular in the women's recurve team and, like Williamson, comes from an archery family.

Oliver had her first archery lesson at seven. "But I didn't really like it because it was kind of like a boys' sport," she said. "I liked ballet and stuff like that. When I was 16 I decided to try it again and I got the bug."

Of course, there are more than two strings to Britain's bow.

"There are three places available in both men's and women's teams and several contenders for each," Oliver explains.  "If I shoot the way I have been, it won't be a problem but it could be tough because everyone else is shooting so well," she says.

"Alison is an inspiration for me, even training with her is fantastic. She has so much experience and listening to her stories helps me with my own competitions. She is so generous with her knowledge and she has this loud, infectious laugh.

"When she won her Olympic medal I didn't actually watch because I was five, and too busy with my majorettes and things like that, but being one of her competitors now is just incredible. You can't imagine the respect I have for her. When I watch her shoot she is so calm and confident and focused and that's what I'm striving for. That's such a big thing in archery. If you look nervous, then opponents think they have one up on you. Alison always looks like she is ready. She is a true legend.

"I want to be like Alison Williamson and I hope that one day someone else is going to be looking at me saying, 'I want to be like Amy Oliver.'


"Not many people actually follow archery but the fact that it is taking place at Lord's will give it a much higher profile and when they do watch it, I hope they will say, 'wow, look how exciting it is. Look at those arrows fly. See how far the targets are away'."

Does she get fed up with all the inevitable allusions to Robin Hood and William Tell?

"Yes, people quite often ask me if I am related to Maid Marian or if I could shoot an apple off their head. I get a lot of jokes about it."

"Ours is a healthy rivalry," adds Williamson, who says they are hopeful of a team medal. "Seeing Amy's energy helps motivate me but I'm not going to be pushed out just yet!"


The good news is that Britain is assembling a quiver full of potentially world-class archers in both recurve (the Olympic discipline) and compound, which this time is in the Paralympics. The difference is in the type of bow.

These days bows are hi-tech and made of aluminium or carbon fibre with stabilisers, sights, an arrow rest and grips, and can cost upwards of £1,000 (€1,193/$1,570).

At Lord's competitors will fire from the pavilion end at target about the length of three cricket pitches away. Their main worry will be the wind which, says Williamson, can makes things very tricky.

She also makes one plea to first-time spectators: Quiet please!

"In Delhi many of the crowd probably had never seen the sport before and some people were making a noise when archers were shooting, which is a bit like shouting when tennis players are serving."

Obviously you can't guarantee silence at an event, but at Lord's it may well be golden.

The layman may call the tiny circle the size of a 50p piece in the target the bull's-eye, but to the archer it is the gold. And that's precisely what sorcerer Alison and apprentice Amy have in their sights. Geronimo!

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world titles from Atlanta to Zaire.