London 2012 Tickets Tours Hotels: Michael Phelps or Ian Thorpe, who will produce his magic at 2012 Games

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We have an Australian sheila working for us at Spyns and she always loves the Aussies athletes whether it is Cadel Evans in the Tour de France, Lleyton Hewitt at the Loire French Open, or Ian Thorpe in the Olympic pool, she’ll support them through and through.

 Travel to London with the specialists

One of the most highly anticipated finals for the London 2012 Summer Games will be the 100m Men’s Freestyle final, where there is a high chance of Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe having a show down for the Gold medal.

The 100m Men’s Freestyle final is on August 1st. If you would like to be there with us to watch it, we have planned 5, 7, and 10-Day luxury tours that include hotels, breakfasts, transfers, guided tours, VIP access into some of London’s most sort after attractions, and much more.

 Chat with us live online to find a tour that suits you best www.london-olympiad.com.If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at henry@london-olympiad.com.

LONDON Olympic Games boss Sebastian Coe wants a lot of the Ian Thorpe magic at his 2012 Games.
Coe said at New Parliament House in Canberra yesterday he was delighted at the prospect of having Thorpe, one of the biggest stars from the 2000 Sydney Games, making his Olympic comeback in London.

"Ian Thorpe is arguably the greatest swimmer ever," Coe said. "His abilities and skills have inspired a generation of young swimmers in London.

"Ian Thorpe competing in the Games in London is a fantastic prospect."

Coe joked that there was a couple of million dollars earmarked in the federal Budget for Thorpe's return, hidden under funding for rare fish species.

But he claimed some credit for Thorpe's return.

"I had the great pleasure of taking him around the Olympic park just a few months ago into the aquatic centre," Britain's 1500m Olympic track champion in 1980 and 1984 said.

"We walked on to the floor of the swimming pool and I sensed then that he was sort of looking at the facilities and looking at the aquatic centre and thinking maybe this isn't one to sit out."
Thorpe admitted as much when he announced his comeback earlier this year.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates warned Lord Coe that Thorpe looked pretty fit at the royal wedding in April and that was great news for Australia's medal hopes in London next year.

Coates said Australia was hoping to break back into the top five nations at the London Olympics, after finishing sixth in Beijing with 14 gold medals, two places behind Great Britain with 19 gold.

Thorpe's Russian coach, Gennadi Touretski, said the 28-year-old Thorpe had just returned from an altitude fitness camp in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and his preparation was "going according to the plan".
"This is a private plan, I can't talk about it," he said.

"If you ask someone from a professional football team to explain their plans, they won't, no chance. So it's like this."

There has been much speculation about which individual events Thorpe would contest at next year's Olympics trials.

Touretski said it was not up to him to influence which events Thorpe would contest.
"I'm not trying to get into his life. His life is his life, that's my general rule with athletes," he said.
"I expect them to follow their own plan in life.

"He has been preparing his whole life, he has thousands of kilometres of swimming behind (him)."
Thorpe, who is not eligible to compete until his name has been on the drug-testing register for nine months, will make his competitive comeback at the World Cup in Singapore in November.

While many see his age as a disadvantage, Touretski believes it could be the opposite, saying Thorpe is mentally and physically stronger than he was as a teen.

Having masterminded the careers of some high-profile swimmers including Alexander Popov and Michael Klim, Touretski understands Australia's fascination with all things Thorpe.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

London 2012 Tickets Tours Hotels: Get ready for London: Athletes to watch

 Travel to London with the Specialists

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At Spyns is happy to announce that our website is live giving you information on all the tours we have on offer. With so many athletes out there to watch, it makes it a tough choice choosing what Olympic sessions you want to see. We can help you out, and show you around London at the same time. Chat with us live online to find a tour that suits you best www.london-olympiad.com.If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at henry@london-olympiad.com.

Whatever geopolitical or other storylines may surround an Olympics prior to the Opening Ceremony, once the Games commence, the world's athletes usually dominate the headlines for 17 days.
The 2012 Olympics in London should feature many of Beijing's stars looking to write new (hi)stories and a cadre of promising athletes from the host nation vying to become the "face of the Games." Here are some athlete stories to watch in the lead-up to the Games of the 30th Olympiad.

The Fastest Men in Water and on Land
Michael Phelps, whose eight golds in eight events in 2008 may never be matched, will be 27 in London, and though he will swim a slightly reduced program, he should still be the man to beat in the races he enters. The Baltimore native won five gold medals and one silver at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. Already the winner of the most golds in a single Games (eight) and in an Olympic career (14; five more than any other athlete), Phelps enters London in need of three medals to own more medals than any other Olympic athlete, ever (Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina won 18 medals), a feat that he should accomplish, cementing his place as the greatest Olympian ever.

On the track, Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who won both the 100m and 200m with a dramatic flair befitting his record-shattering speed in Beijing, will look to become the first man to twice sweep the Olympic sprints in London, when he'll be 25 years old. Bolt added gold in the 4x100 relay to leave Beijing with three victories, a feat he matched at the 2009 Worlds in Berlin while lowering his own world records in both the 100m and 200m. London could also deliver the matchup many had hoped to see in Beijing: Bolt vs. American Tyson Gay, who will turn 30 during the 2012 Games. Gay won both the 100m and 200m at the 2007 Worlds but a hamstring injury at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials knocked him out of the 200m and he was unable to advance to the finals in the Beijing 100m. Gay was second to Bolt in the 2009 Worlds 100m.

Who will be the "face of the Games" for the host nation?
Great Britain finished fourth in both gold (19) and total (47) medals in Beijing, and should have considerable successes at home in 2012. Here are four of the athletes with a good chance to become Olympic icons on their native soil.

Paula Radcliffe
Radcliffe, the marathon world record holder, will be 38 in Beijing and has one large void left on her resume - an Olympic medal. An injury forced her to the curb in Athens and another injury hampered her training leading up to Beijing, where she struggled to a 23rd place finish. Already a mother (she gave birth to her daughter, Isla, in January 2007), Radcliffe is pregnant again, but should have plenty of time to recover and train for the 2012 Olympic marathon.

Tom Daley
One of the stated objectives of the London 2012 Olympic bid was to increase youth participation in sport. Daley, the 2009 world champion 10m platform diver who will be 18 in London, could just be young man to do that. Despite his youth, he already has Olympic experience - he competed in Beijing as a 14 year-old, finishing 7th in the 10m platform and 8th in the synchronized 10m platform.

Jessica Ennis
Ennis, who will be 26 in London, is the reigning world champion in the heptathlon. An injury forced her out of the Beijing Games, so she will be seeking an Olympic redemption of her own in 2012.

Chris Hoy
At the Beijing Games, track cyclist Hoy became the first athlete from Great Britain to win three gold medals at a single Games in 100 years. Hoy, a Scot who will be 36 in London, also won a gold in Athens and a silver in Sydney. Nicknamed "The Real McHoy", he was named BBC's Sport Personality of the Year in 2008.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

London 2012 Tickets Tours Hotels: The big events that will attract the London 2012 crowds

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Travel to London 2012 with the Specialists

Athletics, Cycling, and Swimming

are the biggest events in the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. At Spyns we get a lot of clients requesting tours for a range of events. Everyone’s preferences are different but most people want to see the Opening or Closing Ceremony, and Athletics, Cycling, or Swimming. Other popular sport are Gymnastics, Beach Volleyball, and Equestrian. With over a year to go to the Olympics, we are surprised at the amount of tours flying out the door. I recommend booking early rather than later as London 2012 gets set to be the biggest Olympic Games yet. If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at henry@london-olympiad.com.

The undeniable "big three" of the 2012 Games will be the athletics, cycling and aquatics. Athletics remains the number one draw, despite the fact that Team GB won just one gold medal in Beijing in 2008, courtesy of Christine Ohuruogu, and four medals in all.

Ohuruogu will be back to defend her 400m title, while Jessica Ennis and Phillips Idowu will be among our other leading contenders.

Expectations will be higher elsewhere - Britain is currently ranked the top track cycling nation.

Last time, British riders won seven of the 10 golds. But it is not just in the velodrome where Britain could shine, with a talented line-up going for gold in the road races, BMX and mountain biking events.

The Aquatics Centre will see swimming's top two nations, the US and Australia, pitched against each other but Britain should feature heavily with a much-improved squad, among them double gold-winner Becky Adlington. World champion diver Tom Daley is also a real prospect for gold.

Cycling

When: Track: August 2-7; Road: July 28-29; BMX: August 8-10; Mountain biking: August 11-12

Where: Track: Velodrome, Olympic Park; Road: The Mall/Hampton Court Palace; BMX: BMX Circuit, Olympic Park; Mountain biking: Hadleigh Farm, Essex

The stars: Beijing triple gold medal winner Chris Hoy and Individual Sprint champion Victoria Pendleton. Australian Cameron Meyer could be a potential star who could ruin British hopes.

The expected drama: because of new qualification rules British cycling boss Dave Brailsford has made it clear that Team GB will not emulate its previous Olympic heroics but the drama will still be about the rest of the world trying to topple the British contingent.

Records to be beaten: perhaps the most prestigious record in track cycling is the 4,000m individual pursuit, which Britain's Chris Boardman used to hold until his time was recently broken by Australian Jack Bobridge. Sadly the event has been scrapped so the main records up for grabs are in both team sprints - the men's record is currently held by Team GB while the women's is in the hands of the Australians.

The highlights: Hoy's bid to retain the triple sprint gold, but he could be matched by Victoria Pendleton.

British hopefuls: there is no shortage of British medal prospects, ranging from experienced names like Bradley Wiggins and Pendleton to up-and-coming stars Lizzie Armitstead and Becky James. The road race is always wide open but in the men's event Mark Cavendish is a potential winner while Armitstead will be among the stars in the women's race along with defending champion Nicole Cooke.

Cost of tickets: £20-£325

Athletics

When: August 3-11

Where: Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park

The stars: on current form, there is just one undoubted star of the athletics, Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt, who won gold in both the 100m and 200m in Beijing and is the world record holder over both distances.

The expected drama: that will come as Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell try to topple Bolt from his position as the world's fastest man. In the women's event, the spotlight will be on Caster Semenya, the South African 800m runner caught up in a gender row at the 2009 World Championships.

Records to be beaten: Bolt's times of 9.58 seconds and 19.19 in the 100m and 200m. In the women's events, all the current sprint records date back to the 1980s so there is plenty of scope there too. The three fastest male 110m hurdlers of all time, American duo Dayron Robles and David Oliver, as well as China's Liu Xiang, look set to break Robles's current best of 12.87 seconds. Over the longer distances, Tirunesh Dibaba, of Ethiopia, will be hoping to beat her own 5,000m mark while pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva is aiming to jump higher than her previous best of 5.06m.

The highlights: the men's 100m on the final Saturday, August 11. The two days of the heptathlon should also keep spectators on the edge of their seats with home interest high in that particular event.

British hopefuls: heptathlete Jessica Ennis is a gold possibility - she missed the last Olympics due to injury but is the current world and European champion. Londoner Christine Ohuruogu will be hoping to retain her 400m crown while, of the field athletes, Phillips Idowu will be among the favourites in the triple jump.

Cost of tickets: £20-£725

Aquatics

When: Swimming: July 28-August 4; Diving: July 29-August 1/August 3-11; Synchronised swimming: August 5-7/August 9-10; Water polo: July 29-August 10/August 12

Where: Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park; Water Polo Arena, Olympic Park

The stars: Michael Phelps of the US will be the swimmer to watch, having clinched a staggering eight gold medals four years ago. But Australian Ian Thorpe's decision to come out of retirement for 2012 adds an exciting twist to proceedings.

The expected drama: Thorpe insists his focus is on making the Australian relay team but there is a potentially electric duel with Phelps in the 200m freestyle. In the diving, Tom Daley will be up against the might of China and Australia's Matthew Mitcham as he goes for gold off the 10m platform.

Records to be beaten: in a 50m pool, not a single world record has fallen since world swimming body FINA banned swimmers from using bodysuits or suits made from polyurethane or non-textile materials.

The highlights: the Phelps v Thorpe showdown plus any other race involving Phelps.

British hopefuls: public expectation will be high for Becky Adlington after her double gold in 2008, but other medal contenders are backstroke specialist and Standard columnist Liam Tancock and freestyle/butterfly specialist Fran Halsall. On the diving board, Daley will be targeting medals in the individual 10m platform and the synchronised event with new partner Peter Waterfield.

Cost of tickets: £20-£450

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

London 2012 Tickets Tours Hotels: London Olympic Park nears completion as Handball Arena is finished

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At Spyns we are about to

send our site live with all the information you need to book a luxury Olympic tour to London. The Olympic kick off on July 27th and finish with a bang on August 12th 2012.
Unlike the doubt surrounding the Beijing Summer Games, London has been beating construction targets months in advance and has nearly completed Olympic Park, the heart of the Games which has most of the major arenas.
If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at henry@london-olympiad.com, or go to our site and chat live with us.

THE Olympic Park is now 83 per cent complete, as the Handball Arena became the latest venue to be finished today.

The 7,000 capacity stadium is where handball, goalball and modern pentathlon will take place during the Games.

And the Basketball Arena is also nearing completion, as the Park shapes up ahead of London 2012.

The Handball Arena - complete with 3,000 square metres of external copper cladding - will become a multi-use sports centre for community use and athlete training after the Games.
The public sector funding package for the Games has stayed at £9.3 billion but the estimated costs for the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), in charge of Olympic build and infrastructure, has been cut by £35 million to £7.3 billion.

This is due to a combination of further savings and reducing risks this year, according to the Government Olympic Executive’s Quarterly report on preparations for the London 2012 Games.
In a written ministerial statement, Olympics minister Hugh Robertson said the ODA had made "strong progress" adding: "We continue to seek value for money and cost savings in our day-to-day running of the project."

More than 240 British businesses won contracts for the construction of the 80,000-seat £486million Olympic Stadium and more than 5,250 people have worked on the project during the last three years.

The last piece of turf on the Stadium’s field of play was laid in March and the 6,000-seat Velodrome was unveiled in February.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

London 2012 Tickets Tours Hotels: U.S. gymnast Nastia Liukin's 2012 Olympic plans still up in the air

Travel to London 2012 with the specialists

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At Spyns we have been getting a lot of requests for Gymnastic tours with most clients buying the 7-Day Closing Ceremony package that starts on August 7th and runs until August 13th. There are a large number of Olympic Gymnastic sessions throughout the games. Here is a quick overview for you:
-    Gymnastics – Artistic        Jul 28th – Aug 7th
-    Gymnastics – Rhythmic    Aug 9th – Aug 12th
-    Gymnastics -  Trampoline Aug 3rd and 4th

The Closing Ceremony is on the evening of August 12th at 7:30 pm. Our tours have been impeccably planned and have the following highlights: stay in a 5-star luxury hotel in central London; guides on call but not in your hair; send off dinner at Chef Gordon Ramsay’s famous restaurant Maze; Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor Castle day-trip; London theatre tickets; Private Buckingham Palace tour; VIP access to London’s major sites (Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and the Churchill War Rooms). If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at henry@london-olympiad.com.
She has become America's sweetheart, albeit with a touch of borscht.
Nastia Liukin is on what is perhaps an unprecedented run of popularity following her five-medal haul from the gymnastics competition at the Beijing Olympics. Almost three years after winning the all-around title, she remains in high demand.
"No, I didn't expect anything like this," she said over lunch Sunday. "It's been three years. London (Olympics) is next year. Usually the year after the Olympics there is a lot of hype. But this? I've been very fortunate."
Liukin, who resides in Texas, was in town to participate in the Susan G. Komen Twin Cities Race for the Cure on Mother's Day. It's one of several causes she does her best to support. She also is here to help promote the 2011 Visa Championships, which will be at the Xcel Energy Center in August.
When she isn't traveling for a good cause she's designing gymnastics apparel, guest starring on TV shows, modeling for magazine covers and working with USA Gymnastics, among other things. Oh, and she's still training. Liukin hasn't ruled out defending her all-around title in London next summer. But she hasn't said she would compete, either.
This is a major topic of discussion in Olympic circles: Will she or won't she? Liukin last competed in 2009 before declaring she needed a break from competition. That announcement received a tremendous amount of media attention but did nothing to curtail her popularity.
"I'm just
taking it day by day," she said. "Like any athlete, it's hard to make that decision. You can't really top what happened in Beijing. But at the same time, you don't do gymnastics just for the medals. It's the journey. You have to have the determination because nothing can make you train seven hours a day if you don't have that determination."
Seven hours a day? Is that all? I'm sure her dad has told her stories about his training days as a member of the Soviet Union Olympic team. Her father, Valeri Liukin, won two gold and two silver medals at the 1988 Games. Her mother, Anna Kotchneva, won gold in rhythmic gymnastics at the 1987 World Championships.
I'll bet they can tell a few tales:
In Soviet Union we no can afford balance beam. We do handstand on back of ox, 25 hours a day.
"Yes, my dad always tells me I have it better than I think," Liukin said with a laugh. "The Soviet Union was so strong in gymnastics back then. If you weren't at your best, there were five people just as good as you waiting to jump in."
No pommel horse. We jump over babushka.
"We train 'only seven hours.' They had three training sessions a day starting at 6:30," Liukin continued. "So they were up at 5 a.m. And when my dad was very young he had to move away to live with his coach. So, yes, I am very fortunate."
Valeri Liukin moved his family to the U.S. in 1992, when Nastia was just two. He and his wife never pushed their daughter toward gymnastics. But she hung around their studio and really took to the sport. And it has paid off. Her five medals in Beijing tied Shannon Miller and Mary Lou Retton for most by a U.S. gymnast in one Olympics. Liukin's nine medals overall in world events ties Miller.
All those medals are safely tucked away in suburban Dallas.
"They are in a safe at my parents' house," she said. "We have a lot of people coming in and out of the house. Not that we don't trust them. But we don't take them out too often. Recently, we took all nine out for a photo shoot."
Liukin and teammate Shawn Johnson were a charismatic duo in Beijing and brought a lot of attention to the sport. Johnson, too, has remained very visible since the 2008 Games. She suffered a torn ACL while skiing in 2010, but has announced her intention of training with the goal of competing in London in 2012.
Liukin isn't so sure. She has so many projects in the works that it could be tough for her to put them on the back burner and make that all-out commitment.
"The determination is still there," she said. "I'll always be involved with gymnastics. I wouldn't be where I am without USA Gymnastics behind me. And the fans, too. I have a lot of opportunities that came from the Olympics. I just don't know what is going to happen."

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            1.888.825.4720      end_of_the_skype_highlighting. www.spyns.com.

London 2012 Tickets Tours Hotels: Michael Phelps set to retire?

London Olympic Tours - travel with the experts

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At Spyns were have planned 5, 7, and 10-Day Olympic tours for travellers who want the best Olympic experience in at the London Summer Games. The Men’s 100m Freestyle Final will be on the afternoon of August 1st. The Games begin on July 27th and run until August 12th. We have arranged hotel suites, will be giving guided tours, have VIP access into some of London’s most famous sights, to name a few. If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at henry@london-olympiad.com.

Michael Phelps thinking to retire after 2012 London Olympics: Swimming News

Michael Phelps, who is America’s top most swimmer for the upcoming world stage of 2011 World Championship and the 2012 London Olympics, is deciding to retire at an age when most individuals try to settle into their practical lives.

North Baltimore’s Phelps, which speaking to the media, is putting his swimming suit in a drawer after the 2012 London Olympics, as he intends to create his interest in something else.

The 14-time Olympic Games gold medallist, Michael, explained that he has an aim to accomplish more in the pool, but there is not much time left. Nevertheless, Phelps ensured that he will try to make a splash at the upcoming world events, as these will be his final events.

The 25-year-old Phelps’s decision is said to be driven by his upsetting performances during 2011. At first, Phelps lost his events of 200m IM and 400m IM from Ryan Lochte at the 2011 USA Grand Prix Series in Austin. Then, he enhanced his performance at the fourth stop of USA Grand Prix in Indianapolis, conquering five gold medals, but failed to retain his position in the 200m butterfly event at the Eric Namesnik Michigan Grand Prix during April 2011.

This was his first defeat in the 200m butterfly event in ten years. Phelps said, "I wasn't too pleased with what happened there. It's frustrating, losing the streak I had in 200-fly."

"That was a streak I wanted to keep throughout my career. I think it was a good thing for me to have now, something I can use as a wake-up call heading into worlds. I will use it as fuel and motivation to be in the shape I want to be in — and need to be in — next time I compete," He added.

With the decision concerning his retirement, Phelps is left only with three championships including the Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix in May, 2011 World Championships in July and the 2012 Olympics.

Furthermore, Phelps’s decision will have a severe affect on USA Swimming, as they might lose the most dynamic athlete in the history of swimming and their medal tally after Phelps’s retirement.
 

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            1.888.825.4720      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlightin. www.spyns.com.