Olympic Park 2012

17th July 2008

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Olympic site excavations were in the news today, as some interesting objects have been dug up. Archaologists confirmed that a flint axe over 4000 years old had been found as well as four prehistoric skeletons buried in graves around an area of Iron Age settlement, a Roman coin, Roman river walls, medieval and Neolithic pottery, Second World War gun emplacements and a complete 19th century boat used for hunting wild fowl on the lower River Lea.

Click through for more pictures from East London’s history:

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The internet has become such an essential part of our life, that I find it quite hard to believe that only the last 4 Olympics actually had a website – that is Atlanta ‘96, Sydney ‘00, Athens ‘04, and Beijing ‘08 (leaving winter games to one side for the moment). Considering that the first radio broadcast was in 1924 and the first TV coverage was in 1936 (Berlin of Jesse Owens vs Hitler fame), we have waited for a long time for a new medium of coverage.

I hope the ‘Technology Partners’ for the London 2012 Olympic Games (see list below) are ready to go for some really inspirational, efficient and sustainable IT infrastructure.

• Atos origin – Official Worldwide IT Partner to International Olympic and Paralympic Committee
• Samsung – Official Worldwide Wireless Telecommunications Equipment Olympic Partner
• BT – Official Partner to 2012 Olympic Games
• Nortel – Official Partner to 2012 Olympic Games (…but they have fallen prey to the downturn … currently operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection …more on that later)

Atos Origin, an international IT services company will be in charge of the IT system that relays results, events and athlete information to spectators and media around the world. It is estimated that games will use c. 900 servers, 1,000 network and security devices, and 8,000 computers, and all applications and equipment will have to undergo loads of testing.

As FT.com reports the supremo at Atos said:

“We are looking to reduce the amount of hardware, power consumption, air conditioning and space needed,” said Michele Hyron, Atos Origin’s chief integrator for the Olympics. The Beijing Games required some 10,000 computers and 50m sheets of paper. Ms Hyron said she hoped to reduce these levels “dramatically” in London.”

Atos needs to be bold, and to be encouraged to be so. The contract it now holds with the International Olympic Committee is the world’s largest IT-related sports contract covering the Athens 2004, Torino 2006, Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012. So it clearly has the confidence of the IOC, but apparently they are still not sure about server virtualisation.

“Atos and the Olympic committee are still evaluating, for example, whether or not to use server virtualisation – a fairly established technique for cutting computer power consumption – at the Games.”  FT.com

Server virtualisation uses one physical server across multiple virtual machines, that can run in isolated operating environments and applications. This reduces need for hardware, power cooling etc.  Nice article by someone who knows much much more than me. It is a young technology and not normally used for large scale ops. but perhaps this is the opportunity to take it to the next stage. If they can do it, it would be nice and maybe that could even be one more ‘legacy’ of the UK games.

So far construction crews are using IT applications inside a virtualised environment, and there is the promise to improve on Beijing in other ways.

“The London Games will also make greater use of remote information systems than any previous Olympics, streaming real-time results and coverage to broadcasters around the world and offering a single feed of all Olympics news. The tech is aimed at reducing unnecessary travel by journalists and using less paper than the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where seven million sheets were printed out.” ZDNet.co.uk

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I wanted to watch the TV programme on BBC 2 tonight called “Building the Olympic dream”, but after 15 minutes I just could not stand anymore.  This was the first in a series of 3 and I suppose I might have realised it would not be great because it focused on the hand over ceremoney in Beijing, which most people agree was a bit embarassing to watch. One big blooper was the exploding London bus, which is not something anyone really wants to dwell on. Also, there was too much small scale action and detail that would have been good on a stage but did not quite work in a large arena. The carnival theme aimed at was not really a UK theme, and even so it ought really to have been bigger and brighter to convey a party going on. I would have liked to have seen a few bold statements, which could have given an image of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the rest of England, for example with a pipe band or other classic UK images for people to relate to.

Anyway, what I had not quite grasped was that so much time, effort and money had been spent planning the handover ceremony, and this is what the programme was celebrating. There did not seem to be much guidance or critical feedback from the overseers who the ceremonies team reported to, which is a pity as they team seemed to be looking for appraisal and open to ideas. I will probably tune in for the next 2 programmes which will focus on other aspects of the build up so far to the London Olympics. Right now I am just hoping we can raise our game a little, so to speak, for the cultural Olympiad and all the up-coming ceremonies, to hit the right note.

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It might seem strange, but the suggestion that the United Kingdom should present a UK football team at the Olympic games including players from all four UK countries, has caused a row. Some people think that having Scottish footballers in ‘team GB’ might jeopardise Scotland’s separate status. Others think footballers in team GB should be guaranteed a future in their original team.

“The football governing bodies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all opposed and wrote a joint letter stating their implacable opposition to the plan earlier this year.” The Scotsman

It is quite telling that England is the only country not feeling threatened by the idea. England is also the only country without its own dedicated parliament (and in fact the other 3 coutries can vote in the UK parliament on issues that only affect England, whereas for example English MPs cannot vote in Scotland’s Holyrood).

Craig Brown, former Scotland football team manager, opposes UK team suggestion

Some people want to know “What did Sepp Blatter really say to George Peat last weekend?”, but I think the real question is actually “Would a one off-team football team gel to win at the Olympics?”

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It is pretty good news for construction workers in East London right now. Every new piece of physical development brings labour opportunities. Take the new bridge for example where two assistant quantity surveyors being sought, according to the Career Engineer:

“New construction opportunities continue to be created at the site of the London Olympics with the delivery of a new bridge in the Olympic Park.”

But let’s hope there is more to it than some welcome construction jobs to see us through the economic downturn. IMHO the focus needs to remain, “the shaping of place and creating a legacy” as Micheal Lyons put it (he is a Labour party councillor and council chief executive, but more relevantly he was educated in East London, so he should have a good idea what the local issues are).

“Local authorities, which really benefit their communities, are about sustainable development, shaping their localities and creating a legacy for future generations.” localgov.co.uk

One way to drive the economy longer term might be to really boost our image as a tourist destination during the games and also using cultural ‘Olympiad’ for this. If we can take advantage of hosting the ‘greatest show on earth’, it could happen. This is where volunteers and not-for-profit can make a difference.

The cultural Olympiad is the ceremonies, major cultural projects and regional events surrounding the Olympic games. Local events and projects around the country can still apply to be part of the culture Olympid. .

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I was quite impressed with the care being taken to preserve local wildlife in the Olympic Park and leave a green legacy for the East End of London. In the next couple of years work 45 hectares of wildlife habitats are to be made. These are the artistic impressions of what the completed work will look like during and after the games.

So far the ecology team have cleaned up some of the canal system’s waterways, and taken some of the aquatic wildlife to a nearby reserve. Local trees have also been taken to nurseries. ‘London Plane’ trees for example that have been here for up to 100 years and replanting of Crack Willion and White Willow will take place. This is a shot of a tree just south of the Olympic Park site, it is a hybrid willow and the shot is from winter 2009 so there are no leaves, but I think it still looks beautiful.

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