Sports in South Africa - From Swimming to Rugby

The New South Africa

Did you know- The new South Africa - post Apartheid-- made its Olympic debut in the Olympiad in Barcelona'92.From the 1900s to 1960,they had participated representing the white-ruled South Africa. During that time, ironically, there were many Olympic champions from South Africa: Esther Brand (athletics/ women's high jump), William Smith (boxing), Joan Harrison (swimming/ women's 100m backstroke), Geral Dreyer (boxing), Reggie Walker (track & field/ 100m), George Hunter (boxing), Rudolph Lewis (cycling), Charles Winslow (tennis), and Kenneth McArthur (men's marathon).

London 2012

Olympic Movement

Did you know- Sa sent athletes to the 1960 Rome Olympics, but this appearance was its last until 1992. Why? Because of the nation's course of apartheid, from the 1960s to 1991, the International Olympic Committee (Ioc), under the pressure from Africa, Guyana, and India, ousted the white-ruled South Africa from the Olympic Movement. In that time, Sa was condemned by the United Nations and other major international organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. As a result, the South African athletes could not compete in the Games and a host of World Championships, from soccer, athletics, swimming and basketball to archery, fencing and gymnastics.

National Idols

Did you know- South Africa's swimmer Penny Heyns was unknown until 1996 when she won two golds in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, Usa. In that Olympiad, she, a white girl, became the first non-European swimmer to win the women's 100-meter breaststroke since 1972. On the other hand, Miss Heyns received a heroine's welcome when she won the Olympic titles. Like Charlize Theron ( world-famous actress) and Nadine Gordimer (1991 Nobel Prize), she is an idol in the African nation.

African Games & Olympics

Did you know- At the Pan African Games, between September 13 and September 23, 1995, in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, the Olympic team of South Africa accomplished first in the medal count, with an African record of 154 medals ( 64 gold, 51 silver, 39 bronze), outpacing Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria. Following on from its success at the African Games, the South African team competed in the 26th Olympiad in America, between July 19 and August 4, 1996. At the Atlanta Summer Olympics,the African team located 27th in the tally of gold medals ( two in women's swimming and one in men's marathon).

1948 Olympics

Did you know- At the London Olympics in 1948, South Africa took 18th place in unofficial team standings, outpacing Norway, Austria and India.

Rugby

Did you know- The South African rugby team is listed among the world's best teams.

Sports in South Africa - From Swimming to Rugby

Weightlifting at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics

A up-to-date item about Fiji sports reported on the excitement in that nation over the invitation extended by the Ioc to their weightlifters for participation in the first Summer Youth Olympic Games that will be conducted in Singapore from August 14 to 26th, 2010. Since I wasn't well-known with the qualifying process I undertook some investigate so that the readers would understand the process and what this might mean in terms of the existing world order of weightlifting.

Next year's event in Singapore will be the inaugural event for the youth of the world. verily this is much more in keeping with the Baron de Coubertin's primary foresight of the contemporary Olympics. He originally proposed that the event be a advent together of the youth of the world (adult professionals were excluded) in the hope that they might form international friendships that would last as they returned to their respective homelands and took up positions of national leadership. This, he proposed, would lead to the amelioration of greater international diplomacy and world peace.

London 2012

The Summer Youth Olympics will also serve as a vehicle to keep up worldwide interest in the Olympic movement as there is verily some waning of interest while the four years between Games. This competition will be restricted to athletes from a very narrow age range, the youngest being those born in 1995 to the oldest who were born in 1992. Each sport may added restrict, but not enlarge that range. The total number of competitors will be 3594 spread throughout 28 already acceptable Olympic sports. This is considerably less than the approximately 10,000 athletes that are incredible for each Olympic Games.

110 of those slots will be given over to weightlifting. The range of birthdates for those competitors will expand from January 1, 1993 to December 31, 1994 (15 to 17 years of age) 60 of those slots will go to men in the following bodyweight classes: 56 kg., 62 kg. 69 kg. 77 kg., 85 kg. And +85 Kg. The remaining 50 will be filled by women contentious in the following bodyweight classes: 48 kg., 53 kg., 58 kg. 63 kg. And +63 kg. This averages out to 10 competitors per class and should make for a capability competition.

The first qualifying event will be the 2009 Youth World Championships, a weightlifting only event scheduled to be conducted every year in which the Youth Olympics are not conducted. Although athletes in the 13-17 year age range will be allowed to compete, only 16 and 17-year-olds will be allowed to promenade on to the Youth Olympics.

In the men's type at the Youth World Championships (Ywc), the top 9 teams (National Olympic Committees--Noc) will be allowed to send 2 males each for a total of 18. 10th through 16th place teams can send one athlete each for a total of 7. This makes up a total of 25 of the 60 projected slots. Of the teams that do not qualify athletes at the Youth World Championships, they may compete at 5 continental qualifying events. The top five ranking Noc's at the European qualifying event will each get to send 1 male. Asia will also be able to qualify 5, while the Pan American, Africa and Oceania events will qualify 4 each production the total 22, which when added to the 25 from the Ywc totals 47. The host nation (Singapore) may qualify one male athlete if it has not done so at the two aforementioned events. This is a total of 48. The remaining 12 to 13 slots will be filled by a prioritizing process established by the Iwf.

In the women's type at the Ywc, the top seven teams will send 2 females each for a total of 14, and 8th through 15th will send 1 each for a total of 8. This will add up to 22 competitors of the originally projected 50. The same process will be in place at the Continental qualifying events with the following numbers of top ranking Noc's being able to send one athlete each: Europe (4), Asia (4), Pan-American (3), Africa (3), and Oceania (3). This totals 17 which when added to 22 equals 39. Singapore may send one female if it has not previously remarkable an athlete. The remaining 11 to 12 slots will be filled by the same prioritizing process of the Iwf.

This choice process looks like a sound one that will allow for a large number of countries to enter athletes in the weightlifting competition. It will need that some nations enlarge their sports allocation as participation by all means; of course raises the credit of the sport and many nations will want to mouth a presence. Travel expenses to the continental qualifying events will be a factor, not to mention coaching salaries, athlete stipends and doping operate costs are going to force some re-thinking of budgets for many national governments over the next few years. It may well, however, continue to raise interest in the sport and that would be a advantage for the followers and practitioners all over the planet.

Weightlifting at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics

London 2012 Olympics - The Games Go Green

Though of course the Olympics games are a celebration of sportsmanship, human achievement and international community, they also characterize an opening to show off the organisational skills and foresight of the host nation. London's Olympic committee have recently revealed their plans to make London 2012 the first sustainable games, which they hope will set new standards for all time to come Olympics events.

2012 will therefore supply a platform for the organisers to demonstrate excellence in the way that the Games are planned and staged, and also the Olympic legacy that they will create, which has the power to inspire changes in behaviour over the world.

Olympics 2012

In light of the ever growing concerns of human impact on our fragile planet, London has put sustainability at the heart of its Olympic plans. Throughout the entire biding process, the London committee pushed its view of a "One Planet Olympics" - an idea derived from the Wwf/Bioregional mandate of "One Planet Living".

As the Olympics are the highest profile event in the world, the Games will give London the perfect opening to demonstrate how we can change the way in which we build, work and trip to fit within the resources available. Indeed, if the entire world citizen were to live the same lifestyle as the citizen of the Uk, we would need thee planets' worth of natural resources to withhold us.

The 2012 sustainable course sets out to light its green beacon in a whole of ways; from the ground up, efforts are being made to minimise greenhouse gas emissions and also create facilities that are able to cope with the impacts of atmosphere change. There will also be a commitment to minimising building waste, and planners have announced that no waste produced while the Games will go to landfill; instead there will be on-site recycling and re-use of waste.

The Games also have a strong biodiversity course spirited the creation of new habitats on and nearby Olympic buildings, and policies stating that impact on the Lower Leah Valley and other Games venues will be minimised.

The other big benefit that organisers are pushing is economic development; the Olympics will have a massive unavoidable effect on the Lea Valley area, boosting regeneration in the East End, as well as providing massive earnings for hotels in London and the Uk tourist business as a whole.

Whether the 2012 Games will turn out to be as green as the Olympics committee suggest is yet to be seen, but if they can pull off their ambitious environmentally cordial plans, the impact is likely to have a huge unavoidable influence not just on time to come games, but on the Western world in general.

London 2012 Olympics - The Games Go Green

The Key to making London Hotels Fit For 2012 Summer Olympic Games

With just three years left before the much awaited 2012 Summer Olympic Games, many are claiming that the London Hotels are not fit to host the tourists that are projected to arrive by 2012. London will come to be the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.

Hotels in London are known worldwide for providing the best services, the most luxurious accommodations and the expertise to thrive in the hospitality enterprise for years. Then what else make London Hotels unfit for 2012?

Olympics 2012

The actual hypothesize has nothing to do with hotel facilities, nor with the increased rates in hotel accommodations. The answer: low wages for hotel staff and crew.

According to a record given by Unite the Union and London Citizens, the largest civic alliance in the capital, hotels in Central London are said to be giving very low wages to hotel workers along with staff and crew, cleaning agents and hotel managers.

The record titled, Rooms for Change: Putting London hotels on track for the Olympics, explains that "the heart of the problem is the treatment of workers and the management's trust on a transitory, migrant labour force that is hired and fired."

Rooms for convert also lobbies for an deal to be signed by hotels which sets out minimum terms and conditions for all workers so that they will have enough ownership to safe themselves from abusive employers. This record also proposes the key to development London hotels fit for 2012: adopt the London Living Wage or Llw which is set at £7.45 at present.

The Llw has been campaigned for since 2001. It is endorsed by Mayor Boris Johnson and already supported by many companies, agencies and firms such as Kpmg, Hsbc, Barclays, the Tate Gallery, the branch of Families, Schools and Children, Tower Hamlets Council and the Westfield Shopping Center.

This campaign justifies that in order to make the London Hotels competitive; they should invest in strengthening their workforce. The competency of a hotel does not solely rely on its corporal attributes such as the grandeur of the suites and the elegance of the architectural designs from Victorian and Renaissance Periods. The true competency of a hotel depends on the people that man the institution. By adopting the Llw and investing on aid training and English classes for their workers, London Hotels will originate a milestone of improvement in the state of their services.

Hilton Chain of Hotels has held meetings with Unite the Union and West London Citizens on a quarterly basis since 2007, but Llw has never been adopted to any hotel.

As for Unite the Union and London Citizens, they have three more years to prove that their explication in promoting the hotels' competency is the right way to achieving success. Either this Llw is the real key to development London Hotels fit for 2012 has yet to be answered in a few years time.

The Key to making London Hotels Fit For 2012 Summer Olympic Games

Uk Olympics - How To Stake Your Claim As A Volunteer In The 2012 London Olympics

Uk Olympic fever moved up a notch recently when the largest recruitment drive in London began. Needing a volunteer force of 70,000, a gigantic panel of 2,500 interviewers began the job of sifting and shaking recruits for the biggest event to hit the capital for years. If you are curious in becoming a history maker, how easy is it to stake your claim as a volunteer in the 2012 London Olympics?

Many habitancy think volunteering in sporting events the best way to see world class athletes for free, but how do you get in on the action? What are your chances of success in the Uk Olympics? How tough is the option process? Nearly 250,000 habitancy have already applied to be part of the 70,000 strong 'Games Maker' volunteer team, so you need to get your skates on for a place in the 2012 Uk Olympics force.

London 2012

1) When can I apply? To stake your claim as a volunteer in the Uk Olympics, apply in London now or keep your eyes peeled for the other eight option centres to open up over the Uk between March and August 2011. Some interviewers began training in January and the rest are staggering to come on board during the year, so applications are being staggered.

2) Who can apply? any person who has 10 days spare and is in good bodily shape. Volunteers are seen as "central to the success of all modern Games", so a high tolerance level and good sense of humour will be needed for this demanding role. If you are applying from covering the London area, don't forget to factor in tour time and the extra power needed to run the commute! Also bear in mind the funds required for daily tour to Canary Wharf, plus board and lodgings for the duration of the event.

3) What types of volunteer are needed? 50,000 volunteers are required for the Olympics and a added 20,000 for the Paralympics. Efforts are being made to make the Uk Olympics accessible to as many disabled and deaf volunteers as possible, but base sense is needed. There isn't the funding for personal assistants or sign language interpreters. Everyone is staggering to work for at least 10 days and enjoy participating in community events as part of a team.

The 2012 Olympics will also draw its own peculiar road artists, dancers, performers and unique market stalls, so be ready to be dazzled or annoyed by the splendid mix of talent and business. The Uk Olympics will be the excellent place for the newly redundant or current unemployed to volunteer and spend time networking for work, so make the most of it and stake your claim now!

Next, if you don't happen to be selected for the Uk Olympics, find out how else you can put your spare time to good use. Make yourself a coffee and draw up a chair and let us show you how you can make money online in a home enterprise that provides residual revenue for thousands nearby the world. I hope you have enjoyed how to stake your claim as a volunteer in the 2012 London Olympics.

Uk Olympics - How To Stake Your Claim As A Volunteer In The 2012 London Olympics