BEAT 2012

Like all the editions of the Olympic Games, London has its own song. Maybe you have already seen the commercial on television. This time the song is made by Mark Ronson and Mother London in collaboration with Coca Cola. Check the commercial below!

This Olympic Anthem is made up of different sports sounds that are produced by five ‘hero athletes’ while performing their sports. Also a chorus of teenage athletes cooperated to set up BEAT 2012. It took five months to tape all the different sounds and create a song out of it. Furthermore, the whole song and act for the commercial were performed live in front of three thousand kids from London nearby the Olympic Stadium. The Move to the Beat campaign has one important objective: help young people to connect with the Olympics of 2012. Here you can see a little bit of ‘the making of’:

The Beat Wall, an urban artwork painted by different international young artists in East London, states the launch of the Move to the Beat campaign. This wall is a visualization of how Mark Ronson travelled around the world to collect the sports sounds. Check out the Beat Wall here:

Like to see more of the Move to the Beat campaign? On Thursday 1 March, you can see the Move to the Beat special on MTV at 8.45pm.

Are you already an Olympics fan? Or are you a big fan of the BEAT 2012 campaign? Check out the Coca Cola Facebook page for the Track the Beat-app and keep in touch with our Facebook!

Try not to laugh!

Everywhere people go, funny things happen. It is inevitable and a blooper is easily made. Read more about the most strange things that have happened through all editions of the Olympic Games

 

Sigrid Fick was a tennis player and formed a mixed double with Gunnar Setterwall, who represented  Sweden in 1912. Because of her, they lost the golden medal. She accidentally smashed Setterwall in the face with her tennis racket!

In the latest edition of the Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, the Chinese basketball superstar Yao Ming made an estimation error. In the preliminary basketball match against the United States, he wanted to dunk towards the basket but fell on top of the reporters who were standing next to the sideline.

Besides, reporters can also make some funny or stupid mistakes. For example a boxing analyst said once: "Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them are really that serious." Or the sexual pronunciation of a soccer commentator: "Julian Dicks is everywhere. It's like they've got eleven Dicks on the field." Or just read this one, said by a tennis commentator: "One of the reasons Andy is playing so well is that, before the final round, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them... Oh my God, what have I just said?"

However, the next blooper did not happen at the Olympic Summer Games, it is difficult to withhold you from this amazing videoclip. Here you can see Gillian Cooke, a female member of the UK Bobsleigh team, who splits her pants at the Olympic Winter Games. Try not to laugh! 

Hopefully, you are in a good mood after reading about these funny moments so we will see you back next week! 

Need a ticket? And a place to sleep?

Do you want to go to the Olympic Games in London? And you still do not have a ticket? Well, the first thing you should do is: read this blog. We can tell you so much more about how to get a ticket and where to sleep once you are in London.

 

The second thing you should do is: network. Maybe you or someone else may have friends, relatives or acquaintances who live (nearby) London. How to contact these people? Post a message on your Facebook, Twitter, Website, MySpace or other social networking site. You would be surprised how many people will help you.

If there is nobody to stay at during the Olympics, do not worry,  just take a look at: Thomas Cook. Thomas Cook has so called ‘Games Breaks’, which guarantee a ticket, accommodation and travel card for your favourite competitions.

Another website is Visit London, where you can find an amount of hotels, hostels, homestays and camping’s.

If you do not want to spend so much time on searching for the best way to get to London, take a look at this website who is planning your journey especially for you: Journey Planner.

Just make sure you are buying tickets to the Games via official London 2012 sales channels. If you are not sure about anyone who is trying to offer you tickets, then go to the website checker to see if the tickets are official.

We hope we have helped you with this information to get an enjoyable stay at London.  For more tips to buy or win tickets to the Olympics in London, just follow us on Twitter or Facebook. If you have questions or suggestions, please leave a message on this blog. You can also contact us via Email, Twitter and Facebook.

Hope to see you next week, then we will show you some bloopers during the Olympics.

Think positive, test negative

"Zero Tolerance for Doping" was adopted as an official slogan for the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing, China. This year, the anti-doping program will be tougher than it has ever been. Chief Sebastian Coe warned the athletes by saying ‘You come to London and you try that, we will get you’.
In Harlow, thirty kilometers away from the Olympic accommodation in London, the doping lab is inaugurated for the Summer Games in 2012. During the Games more than 5.000 tests, upon 10.500 athletes, will be analyzed. That is a record in the history of the Olympic Games. The blood samples will be analyzed by a team of 150 scientists. The laboratory, which covers an area of seven tennis fields, will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the Olympics. According to the organizers, all medal winners and nearly one in two athletes in total will be checked for doping.

Hopefully the athletes get the message of chief Coe. Nevertheless, there are always some people who do not get it. Or they just attempt to circumvent the rules. In the end, these athletes were caught and tested positive on using drugs.

For example Marion Jones who won five medals at the Olympic Games in 2000 in Sydney, Australia. However, all medals and prizes dating back after her admission that she took drugs to enhance her performances.

For this year’s Olympics in London, the first suspension is known, the 23-year-old American sprinter LaShawn Merritt. On April 22th, 2010, it was announced that he had twice tested positive for doping. His punishment for this is a suspension of six months and exclusion from participation in the next Olympics. Afterwards, it turned out that the doping test appeared positive because he used a medicine for penis enlargement. Embarrassing!


This was just the top of the ice berg; more athletes crossed the boundaries who think they can win by using drugs, but in the end they go home without any glory. Are you getting curious? Do you want to read more about this topic? Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.