GamesBids.com: GB Briefs

GB Briefs
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GB Staff on Monday, November 16, 2009  11:13am EST
 
London may have to ban cars and reschedule events during the 2012 Summer Olympic
Games, to ensure the best conditions for the athletes, according to an
air-quality scientist. Professor Frank Kelly, director of the King's College
Environmental Research Group, said London is in a "new era" of air pollution,
mostly caused by emissions from diesel-powered cars, vans and buses, reports
Bloomberg. The city reportedly has the worst record for nitrogen dioxide
pollutants among European capitals and one of the worst for dangerous airborne
particles. Organizers may have to limit traffic, reschedule events to a time of
day with better air quality, or move them to less polluted sites said Kelly.
Russia has decided to put the environment ahead of cost in planning for the
Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. At a meeting held by officials it was decided
the combined road and rail link between Adler and Alpika Service will go via an
overpass to protect an ancient grove of box-trees. The decision is estimated to
increase the cost of the project ten-fold, but it will ensure that more than
2,000 endangered plants are protected for future generations. Oleg Tony, Vice
President of the Russian Railways company, confirmed that changes to the plans
for the combined road will not change the construction schedule or delivery
date, which sees the project completed in 2013.
The cost of staging the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games has increased by 81
million pounds to 454 million pounds, reports the Evening Times. Glasgow 2014
Ltd., the Games Organising Committee, blamed the increase on rising broadcasting
and legislative costs. The additional funding will come from a mix of public and
private money. When the bid was first submitted the cost to stage the games was
373 million pounds.
Vancouver 2010 is to broadcast the Winter Games in 22 languages, with sports
commentary and play-by-play analysis to be delivered in a wide range of tongues.
The CBC reports Keith Pelley, president of the broadcast consortium in charge of
the coverage, said the scope of multilingual coverage was determined by APTN,
ATN and OMNI, which crafted their plans based on the communities they served and
the terms of their broadcast licences. He said, "we went to all three of our
partners and looked at it and said, 'you know your audience best, you know your
languages best, you know your sports best. It's not for us to make that
(decision)'". According to Pelley there are notable omissions including German
and Spanish. He said, "I know that I think Spanish will play a bigger role in
(the 2012) London (Olympic Games) but they looked at this and these are the
languages they felt was most appropriate for the sports at this time". However
not every Olympic sport will get multilingual coverage, reports the CBC. But
each of the 22 languages will be paired with a sport that holds the most appeal
for the community involved said Pelley. A schedule detailing which sports will
be in each language is to be announced in early January. Broadcasters speaking
13 languages will cover the Opening Ceremony February 12, 2010.