Archives for December 2009

Westfield is building a $2.4 billion shopping center near the site of the 2012 Olympics. M&S, Waitrose, John Lewis, and maybe Primark are now on board

Primark is eyeing a huge store in the £1.5bn flagship shopping centre of the 2012 London Olympics, as the line-up for the Australian developer Westfield's (WFGPY) scheme in east London takes shape.

Other retailers interested in signing up to Westfield Stratford City are thought to include Adidas (ADDYY), Boots, WH Smith (SMWH), H&M (HNNMY), Next (NXGPF), and Topshop, as well as Forever 21, the US fashion brand that could open its first UK store there.

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Primark is eyeing a huge store in the £1.5bn flagship shopping centre of the 2012 London Olympics, as the line-up for the Australian developer Westfield's scheme in east London takes shape. Other retailers interested in signing up to Westfield Stratford City are thought to include Adidas, Boots, WH Smith, H&M, Next and Topshop, as well as Forever 21, the US fashion brand that could open its first UK store there.

Sources said that Westfield was late in starting its recruitment drive for the centre and as recently as October the developer had signed up just three retailers – the anchor tenants John Lewis, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer – out of 300 units. But the east London site, which is one of the few major schemes to open in the next five years, is starting to gain traction among retailers.

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The Filipino athletes had performed better in the Olympic sports in the last 25th Southeast Asian Games than in the immediate past editions of the biennial conclave when their predecessors excelled more in events not played in the Olympic Games.

The Filipino athletes, displaying resiliency and determination to win despite odds, had brought home a total 29 gold medals in 10 Olympic sports in what could serve as sign that it won’t be long before the Philippines would end its long, 85-year gold-medal draught in the quadrennial sporting extravaganza otherwise known as “The Greatest Sports Show on Earth.

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BT has reinforced its plans to have superfast broadband in place in Britain before the 2012 Olympics by publically announcing their commitment. Via their fibre-optic network, customers in strong signal areas will be able to download at a speed of 100Mbps. BT has a customer base of around five million and originally claimed superfast broadband would not be ready until 2013.

The service will be accessible to approximately 40 precent of the population with those receiving 100 Mbps able to watch High Definition video online. Ian Livingston, chief executive of BT, said: “Given the progress we’re making, four million homes will have access to fibre by the end of next year. 2012 will be an important year for the UK given the Olympics and so I’m keen we provide 10 million homes with access to fibre by the time the games begin.”The recent Digital Britain report commissioned by the government, plans to roll broadband out at a minimum speed of 2Mbps to every home in the UK Stephen Timms, Minister for Digital Britain, has ensured the current government’s commitment to the scheme by introducing a 50p a month tax on fixed phone lines to pay for it.

BT has announced that the roll out of its next generation broadband should be completed before the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Previously, the network – which will reach blistering speeds of up to 100Mbps, allowing for high definition streaming and silky smooth online gaming – was supposed to be finished by the end of spring 2013.

But good headway has apparently been made on the project, and some ten million homes – 40% of the UK – will have the luxury of high speed net access around nine months earlier than expected. The areas covered will be mainly large population density cities and towns. Quite when the rest of the UK can expect next-gen broadband is something of a bone of contention. BT expect the government to step in and help financially to widen the coverage further, as it wouldn’t be an economically viable project otherwise.

The campaign to end rough sleeping in London for good began in 2005 straight after the capital was awarded the 2012 Olympic Games. In the wake of the decision, umbrella charity Homeless Link, which represents more than 480 frontline charities, said the event should be used as a catalyst to redouble efforts to end homelessness in London, the only area not to meet the government's 1998 target to cut rough sleeping by two-thirds.

Homeless Link chief executive Jenny Edwards says the Olympics "gives us a very nice, particularly high-profile timetable around which to achieve a once-in-a-lifetime offer", while Richard Blakeway, director of housing for London mayor Boris Johnson, says it is taking "a unique moment in time" to end something that has been "symbolic in London for several decades".

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A PARALYMPIAN hopes to row for gold at the able-bodied Olympics in London. Becca Chin, from Deganwy, only took up the sport a year ago but has already made waves in the able-bodied single sculls and novice women’s eight.

She was previously diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy and took part in the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008, but has since been re-diagnosed with Carter Wilkinson Signs and dyspraxia (people with dyspraxia have poor understanding of the messages their senses convey and difficulty relating those messages to actions) and is keen to make her mark at the able-bodied games.

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Wimbledon’s tennis fans will see a historic Olympic first at the London Games. Mixed doubles will make its debut as an Olympic event when the All England Club hosts the 2012 tennis tournaments.

Mens’ and womens’ singles and doubles competitions are well established fixtures at the Olympics, with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and the Williams sisters winning gold medals in Beijing. The mixed doubles competition will only feature players who are also competing in the other singles and doubles tournaments. Its inclusion was requested by the International Tennis Federation, the sport’s governing body, and announced by the International Olympic Committee on Friday. Merton Council and the borough’s chamber of commerce have launched a campaign, Going for Gold, to try and help businesses capitalise on visitors to the games.

American swimmer Jessica Hardy will face a court hearing next year that will determine whether she will compete in the 2012 London Olympics. The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Tuesday set a March 12 date to hear the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal against Hardy. She served a one-year ban after testing positive for the anabolic agent clenbuterol before the Beijing Games. WADA wants Hardy banned for two years and ruled ineligible for London under International Olympic Committee doping rules.

A U.S. tribunal set a shorter ban and asked for Hardy’s Olympic status to be preserved because it believed a contaminated supplement caused the positive test. Hardy has set several breaststroke world records since her ban expired last July.

Roddick, 27, the men's world number seven, has had discussions with Williams, 28, the women's number one. And Roddick said on Twitter: "It's confirmed! Serena and Andy teaming up for mixed doubles at 2012 games if they push the mixed doubles through."

The tennis events at London 2012 will take place on Wimbledon's grass courts. The International Olympic Committe announced last week that mixed doubles would be introduced to the Olympic programme in time for 2012. But Roddick and Serena could face competition to represent the US from doubles star Bob Bryan, who hopes to form a pairing with Serena's elder sister Venus, 29.

Bryan, 31, who has won seven Grand Slam doubles titles, and six Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, said on Twitter: "It's not confirmed yet but if Bob and Venus play in 2012 we'll smoke Andy and Serena."