Showing posts with label athletes village. Show all posts
Showing posts with label athletes village. Show all posts
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
At the Olympic Village in Seoul
21 years ago their Olympic Games helped consolidate democracy here, boosted the Korean medal tally dramatically, raised the country's profile around the world and increased GDP. It also - as I witnessed today - left a lasting legacy of impressive and rather beautiful infrastructure.
I shamelessly took notes as the custodians of this wonderful site explained how all the athletes' apartments had been pre-sold before the games. I marvelled at the aquatics centre which had hundred of youngsters training hard in it - and does so from 6am till late practically every day. Sports participation here took a big leap two decades ago and has never looked back
Their Olympics museum is designed to draw in the crowds and preserve the fond memories of those games and others. The gymnasium - as I entered - was being prepared for yet another concert.
Seoul - my friends - is a shining example of what every Olympic Games could be and what London 2012 has to be. I came here primarily for a climate conference, but seeing the Olympic park has been a huge bonus - a reminder of the challenge and the opportunity we now have in London.
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Tour of the Athletes' Village
Dream day so far. Breakfast time tour of athletes' village. Sun shining, UK athletes smiling and facilities looking splendid.
Flags on arrival suggest we've arrived at a UN conference on birth control. And the UN are in fact handing out condoms here - advising athletes to 'play safe'.
Ben Hunt-Davies, a rowing gold in Sydney, shows me his quarters - an attractive apartment with bespoke pillows, great bathrooms, TV, fridge, wifi and a TV studio nearby.
An enormous basement runs under the entire village - more storage space than you'd ever need, doubling up as a secure bunker. The heavy doors suggest this is designed to withstand a very serious bomb - a sobering reminder we have to take security very seriously.
Oriental gardens to soothe the soul lie next to an impressive gym and 50 metre swimming pool. Those working out here are an awesome site - top of their game; the finest physical specimen in the world.
They're modest too and unnervingly well adjusted. Goldie Sayers explains calmly how she missed a medal by 38 centimeters. Ben confirms to me that she'll relive that javelin throw for ever - adding that his own worst experience of life, as well as his best was at the Olympics.
What these athletes manage is Herculean. Those of us charged with delivering 2012 in London have a huge responsibility to do them justice. They need the best facilites - to prepare for the games and inhabit when they're underway.
But the village we build them has to be attractive to others when the Games are over. The Chinese have no doubt that the flats filled by Olympians this week will be easily sold to the emerging middle class of Beijing. And if they can manage that - so should we.
Flags on arrival suggest we've arrived at a UN conference on birth control. And the UN are in fact handing out condoms here - advising athletes to 'play safe'.
Ben Hunt-Davies, a rowing gold in Sydney, shows me his quarters - an attractive apartment with bespoke pillows, great bathrooms, TV, fridge, wifi and a TV studio nearby.
An enormous basement runs under the entire village - more storage space than you'd ever need, doubling up as a secure bunker. The heavy doors suggest this is designed to withstand a very serious bomb - a sobering reminder we have to take security very seriously.
Oriental gardens to soothe the soul lie next to an impressive gym and 50 metre swimming pool. Those working out here are an awesome site - top of their game; the finest physical specimen in the world.
They're modest too and unnervingly well adjusted. Goldie Sayers explains calmly how she missed a medal by 38 centimeters. Ben confirms to me that she'll relive that javelin throw for ever - adding that his own worst experience of life, as well as his best was at the Olympics.
What these athletes manage is Herculean. Those of us charged with delivering 2012 in London have a huge responsibility to do them justice. They need the best facilites - to prepare for the games and inhabit when they're underway.
But the village we build them has to be attractive to others when the Games are over. The Chinese have no doubt that the flats filled by Olympians this week will be easily sold to the emerging middle class of Beijing. And if they can manage that - so should we.
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