Olympic fever hits London…sort of!

So with the Winter Olympics starting in Vancouver today Olympic fever also arrived in London, well sort of. Yesterday the Mayor of London and the Canadian High Commissioner unveiled this ice statue in Trafalgar Square to mark the 2010 games and during the next sixteen days a big screen will be showing all the Olympic action for the tourists. Today was supposed to be a day of celebrations in the Square, but in reality it was all a bit of a damp squib.

Apart from the ice sculpture and the big screen (showing the Opening Ceremony) the only thing going on in the Square was a very small games tent where people could play winter sports games on an Xbox or Wii console.  Not exactly a packed day.  Given that the annual Canada Day celebration in Trafalgar Square is always a big event, I figured they’d go to similar efforts for the Olympics.  It could have been so much more – throw in some Canadian Mounties, a bit of street hockey, it could have been so much better.  Just hope they put a bit more effort in when it comes to the 2012 celebrations.

Shooting the Winter Olympics

Tonight, or really very very early tomorrow morning the 2010 Winter Olympics will kick off in Vancouver with the Opening Ceremony.  For the next sixteen days the UK and much of the world will become obsessed with sports they haven’t even thought about since the last time this all happened in Italy (me, i’m looking forward to the Ski Cross event). 

But as well as the world class sport on display we’ll also see some fantastic photography, it’ll be everywhere i’m sure.  To get a taster of what you’ll see I would heartily recommend you check out this short video on the New York Times photojournalism blog – Lens.  The video features the photographer Doug Mills who will be at his seventh Winter Olympics as he talks about what its like to work at the games (and it sounds tough!).  Unfortunately I can’t embed the video here (or if you can I can’t work out how!) so head over to the excellent blog here to have a watch.

Olympic Spirit

So yesterday was the Olympic Victory Parade through Central London, and despite poor planning by the Mayor (more on that further down) I managed to make it to part of the festivities.  Most of the country was so proud of all the athletes whether they came home with a medal or not.  2008 was easily one of the best years for British Olympians.

What I really don’t understand is why the Mayor decided to hold the Parade on a Thursday!  So many people (including me) will have wanted to get out on the streets and really congratulate our Olympic athletes.  But starting the rally at 11am on a weekday inevitably meant plenty of people simply couldn’t be there.

Surely it would have made sense to hold it on a Saturday when more people would have had the opportunity to see it.  Any, enough moaning about our “esteemed” Mayor.  

I really hope that the support and positivity demonstrated towards the Olympics and our athletes this afternoon continues for the next four years to make the 2012 games in London a really great British event. 

One from the Archives

With the Beijing Olympics just passed (and the Paralympics underway) I decided to revisit the pictures I took during the London leg of the Olympic Torch Relay.  It was in London that the major protests against the Olympics began.

 

1,000s of protesters turned out to demonstrate against the Chinese government and its human rights record.  By far the most vocal supporters were those supporting Tibet.  At numerous points along the relay route protesters tried to extinguish the torch or disrupt the relay.  As a result the police made plenty of arrests.

London was also witness to the end of the Olympics when it became the new Official Host City for the 2012 Olympic Games.  As well as holding a handover concert/party on the Mall, 1,000s of people gathered at giant screens around the country, including this event in Trafalgar Square.