Well today was amazing, following a gruelling cab ride to the North of Beijing - think nearly an hour, for a half hour journey - we met Sir Clive Woodward, our tour guide for the Olympic Village.
Following a briefing over coffee in Clive's hotel on how not to spend the next 21 days in a Chinese prison, we were whisked away in an Offical Beijing 2008 (VW) Car towards the highly secure Olympic Village, which is due to house the carnival that is the Olympics. Consisting of 15,000 athletes, the same again or more in workers, and plenty of officials.
Getting into an airport or out of a prison (Chinese?) might be an easier task - however for this trip we'd be guests of the GB NOC, and a few words had us our passes and into the camp.
No cars were allowed in the village, so by foot we went in the most humid and smoggy conditions we had experienced. we dropped in on the British quarters where the blocks are plain but serve a purpose, being nicely dressed by Team GB sponsor - B&Q who have made them look a little more like home.
Clive handed us over to Simon Clegg (CEO of BOA) - who took us round the rest of the camp. Clearly a lot of work still to do (finishing touches!), but seems a really great team and an amazingly small one!
One of our highlights being shown around was being given the opportunity to hold one of the Olympic torches - not something any of the Flyers would have thought possible.
Some thoughts following this experience:
1. It put the Olympic games into some perspective - the games are BIG; a massive undertaking for all involved, especially the host nation, one that we certainly hadn't appreciated.
2. London has a big challenge ahead of it for delivering 2012 and needs to be supported.
3. Several brands managed to gain exposure within the village by providing a key service to the athletes (e.g Coke provide free drinks, McDonalds have a restaurant, Lenovo provide the cybercafes, Visa/Bank of China jointly share ATMs).
4. Within the Team GB compound there was little evidence of sponsor activity, other than B&Q. It would seem comparatively liitle investment here could create advocates amoungst the athletes creating a nice "halo" effect.
Later we went to the 'Birds Nest' stadium and the Aquatics Centre. We struggled to get near, with many of the nearby streets locked down.
See pic below (more to come later!).
Aarti, Ross and Nicky. xx
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