Handshakes Banned

The British Olympic Association (BOA), ever vigilant about the health safety of our nation's athletes, have come up with a "terrific wheeze" to keep our athletes safe.

The BOA have banned them from shaking hands with rivals and dignitaries at the London Olympics, lest some bug be passed on.

Given that other teams are not advised about handshakes, does this not make the BOA look rather ridiculous?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Barefoot Athletes

There seems to be something of a hissy fit going on between the BOA and the agents of one of the sponsors of the London 2012 Olympics.

The agents of some competitors, who are sponsored by Nike, have told the BOA that athletes would be in breach of contracts if they are forced to wear Team GB’s official ”presentation outfit” which is sponsored by Adidas.

The agents have told the BOA that athletes might have to take off their shoes before mounting the presentation dais.

The BOA have hit back, and said that the rules mean that the athletes must wear the sponsor's (Adidas) footwear at all times.

What a complete load of old bollocks and fuss over a matter of footwear.

There seems to be too much money and too many corporate egos involved with these games.

As noted many times before, the Olympics are about money not sport!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Knobheads

Lord Coe has waded into the dispute between the knobheads running the British Olympic Association (BOA) and Locog.

The dispute is over how any post Games surplus (there's optimism for you!) should be defined.

The BOA argues that the surplus should be calculated before any loss from the Paralympics is taken into account. Locog and the IOC argue that the Olympics and Paralympics should be treated as an integrated whole.

Lord Coe is thoroughly fed up with the increasingly absurd and greedy position taken by the BOA, he is quoted in the Telegraph as saying that it is a "spurious case":

"This is not about a sum of money or a contractual misunderstanding, this is very clear, and the best demolition of that case is the IOC's judgment and they are the only appropriate organisation to adjudicate on that.

The Government have made it very clear there is no public money in settlement of that case, the IOC have made their position clear and as the organising committee we are running hard to maintain a balanced budget."

Sadly for Lord Coe the BOA are not listening, and are simply not interested in facing reality.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Time To Knock Some Heads Together

The government has woken up to the fact that the absurd row between the British Olympics Association (BOA) and Locog, over the share of post Olympics spoils (if there are any), is severely damaging what is already a rather tainted brand.

The Sports Minister, Hugh Robertson, has weighed in and stated that he is "prepared to do anything" to end the row.

Which is political speak for "I will knock some heads together".

Robertson will meet BOA chairman Lord Moynihan today, and doubtless explain to him that everyone thinks that the BOA are acting like a bunch of knobheads.

The meeting will of course be reported as being a "full and frank" discussion:)

The BOA's and Moynihan's positions have been further undermined (they have been made to look even more foolish) by the the statement issued by London 2012's chief financial officer, Neil Wood, as per the BBC:

"With reference to a claims by the BOA of a meeting last July between Locog and the BOA in which statements allegedly were made by me to the effect that the Olympics would make a profit of about £400m with the Paralympics making a corresponding loss and at a subsequent meeting I allegedly revised this figure down to £300m - I have never made such statements, which are in fact untrue."

As I noted earlier this month, "as regards the BOA, it is clear that not one penny more should be allocated to this inept and incompetent body".

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Knobheads Pissing Money Away!

I noted earlier this month that the British Olympic Association (BOA) seems to be "pissing money away".

Not content with the flow rate of piss, the BOA have now got themselves involved in a costly and time consuming legal spat with Locog.

The Guardian reports that Locog are now so "irked" by the BOA that they have barred the BOA chairman Lord Moynihan and the chief executive Andy Hunt from attending its board meetings.

Aren't these "illustrious" bodies meant to be focused on organising the 2012 Olympics?

The dispute is over how any post Games surplus (there's optimism for you!) should be defined.

The BOA argues that the surplus should be calculated before any loss from the Paralympics is taken into account. Locog and the IOC argue that the Olympics and Paralympics should be treated as an integrated whole.

Given that the BOA is skint, the fact that it resorts to costly litigation over a technicality that is unlikely to become reality hardly "burnishes its brand".

Were there to be gold medals awarded for pissing money away, the BOA would be top of the league tables!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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British Olympic Association Pissing Money Away

As I have noted many times on this site, the Olympics "budget" (currently standing at £12BN, including £2BN running costs) is out of control.

It is little wonder that it is out of control as the Telegraph reports that the British Olympic Association (BOA) is again on its knees passing the begging bowl around for more money.

Andy Hunt, the BOA CEO, claims that there is a "financial gap" in its accounts.

Really?

What happened to the £6M in extra funding BOA was given by Locog just before the 2008 games in Beijing?

This £6M is on top of £28M from the Joint Marketing Programme Agreement, and another £6.5M from sponsorship/asset sales in 2009.

BOA seem to have pissed away £40M.

Where has all of this money gone, and why has the BOA failed to properly budget for the 2012 games?

With this level of incompetence it is hardly surprising that the main Olympics budget is out of control.

As regards the BOA, it is clear that not one penny more should be allocated to this inept and incompetent body.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Bankruptcy Looms

The British Olympic Association (BOA) made a £1.5M loss last year (the previous year it made a loss of £1.3M), which required it to beg for £2M of funding from the Organising Committee for London 2012.

In the event that the BOA cannot staunch these ongoing losses, it will be bankrupt before the games in 2012.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Team GB Deficit

Aside form the £12BN or so costs of holding the 2012 London Olympics, there is the small matter of actually funding the British athletes.

Team GB currently faces a £50M shortfall in its budget. As a result of the shortfall some events may take place without British competitors.

The British Olympic Association has joined with other 2012 stakeholders to raise extra cash through a new "Team 2012" sponsorship programme, and tap the public for more funds (outwith the tax that they are already paying).

In theory, if the public pay up, they might be able to raise around £10M - £20M.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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British Censorship Shambles

The British Olympic Association (BOA) was forced into a humiliating, and well deserved, climbdown yesterday over its pathetic attempt to bar UK athletes from talking about politics and human rights during the Beijing Olympics.

The BOA had initially insisted that British athletes, if they wanted to compete in Beijing, would have to sign a contract stating that they "are not to comment on any politically sensitive issues" involving the host country.

Needless to say, this incredibly inept attempt at thought control went down like a lead balloon; and the BOA found itself under almost as much attack as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The BOA has now attempted to rewrite history, and perform an emergency makeover of its PR.

BOA Chief Executive, Simon Clegg, said in a statement:

"This is not our intention, nor is it our desire to restrict athletes' freedom of speech and the final agreement will reflect this."

The BOA now claim that it had only wanted to draw athletes' attention to a rule in the Olympic charter barring political propaganda at Olympic venues.

BOA claim that the goal is to focus Olympics' coverage on sports, rather than politics.

Well, they would say that wouldn't they?

Doping Row Erupts

A row has broken out between Britain's doping authorities, over measures to improve controls before the 2012 London Olympics.

The British Olympic Association announced that it had established its own anti-doping commission. This sparked a furious reaction from UK Sport, the Government body which runs Britain's anti-doping programme.

John Steele, UK Sport's chief executive, said:

"We are in no way complacent.

Against that we must be wary of constant investigation and review, in particular where there is no formal mandate for it.

The last thing British sport needs, as we build up to Beijing 2008 and London 2012, is distraction, confusion about roles and duplication of effort. We all have significant roles to play - let's just get on with them."

The BOA commission has a mandate to make recommendations to "improve and strengthen" British anti-doping controls and to publish a report before next year's Games in Beijing.

A BOA spokesman said:

"Clearly we are disappointed at the reaction, as we honestly believe the commission's work can play an important part in the fight against doping.

Neither is it meant to imply any criticism of UK Sport, who work hard to ensure sport in this country is drug free."

It seems that the government doesn't like others to interfere in its plans for the Olympics.