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.

Which Michael Phelps will turn up to the 2012 Olympics?

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Michael Phelps, ready for action

We are excited to be sitting with clients and friends as Michael Phelps and 5-time Olympic Gold medallist Australian Ian Thorpe (Thorpedo) head into the pool together. Both have been in and out of form since their previous Olympic Games with Ian Thorpe being out of the pool for 4 years. At Spyns we have arranged 4, 5, 7, and 10-day luxury tours to the London Olympic Summer Games. The 100m Men’s swimming final is scheduled on August 1^st, 2012. If you would like information on how to be sitting there with us to watch it live, email me at henry@london-olympiad.com.

The US swimmer has been a tabloid fixture but is now swimming close to his best again

US swimmer Michael Phelps has had an up and down couple of years. How will he perform in London next year?

What does a man do after winning eight gold medals at one Olympic games? He parties, he turns up on the front page of the News of the World, he loses sponsorship, he rails against the "unfair" advances wrought by technology, he loses his form, he finds it again, he wins five world championship gold medals, he loses his form again, he turns in the worst performances of his career and, finally, he is apparently re-born as the untouchable athlete he was before all of the above took place.

Welcome to the last two and a half years in the life of Michael Phelps, which have been about as predictable as they have been dull; which is to say, not in the slightest.

At least the story has, to this point at least, taken an upturn. Two weeks ago, 25-year-old Phelps looked back to his best - or at least somewhere approaching it - when he won five gold medals at the Indianapolis Grand Prix meeting, the most significant of which came in the 200m individual medley against his team-mate and rival Ryan Lochte, who had supplanted him in 2010 as the world's most dominant swimmer.

"It feels good to be able to race again and race at good speed," Phelps said after setting the world's best time of the year in what is seen as a barometer event. Lochte, who holds the world record in the 200 individual medley, was gracious in defeat. "He's back, there's no doubt about it," he said. "I don't think he's ever not there, no matter what he says. I feel like he can step up and race any time."

Really? That wasn't the prevailing view in January, when Phelps, by his own judgment, swam appallingly, falling into the "B" finals in a couple of events and losing to Lochte in the 200 medley. After Phelps' relatively unproductive 2010 season, people were beginning to wonder again about his dedication to the craft and appetite for competition. It has been a recurring theme since August 2008

Such doubts first surfaced in the aftermath of Beijing when Phelps, at the peak of his fame, was photographed at a student party in Richland, South Carolina, smoking from a "bong". He subsequently apologised for his behaviour, without detailing what his behavior actually was, and then settled back into the life of relative anonymity. In the hierarchy of American sporting obsessions swimming barely climbs on to the bottom rung, especially in non-Olympics years. Even an athlete of Phelps' talent and success has difficulty breaking through this cloud of indifference.

When he has appeared in the public eye, it has usually been for the "wrong" reasons - he might occasionally pop up in one of the supermarket tabloids photographed in the company of a new girlfriend. In August 2009, a few days after winning five gold medals at the world championships in Rome (and threatening to withdraw in protest over "unfair" swimming suits worn by some of rivals) he was involved in a minor car crash in his home town of Baltimore.

In the life of a wealthy, successful, 25-year-old athlete such (minor) scrapes might be expected - by comparison with, say, the average NFL star, Phelps is a saint - but they paint a picture that is at variance with the life dedicated Olympians are expected to lead. And when Phelps performs badly in the pool, as he did at Austin in January, people begin to wonder.

After Indianapolis, they are wondering a little less.

"It was a joke,'' Phelps said of his performance in Texas. "I literally didn't feel like I got one good thing out of that besides swimming slow and realising that I was out of shape."

He spent the three weeks training in Colorado Springs, where he worked on some "technical issues" - to good effect, clearly. "A team-mate told me 'you're actually enjoying yourself, and you can see it. You're happy, you're swimming well, and you're having a good time', " Phelps said in Indianapolis. "That's a part of it that's changed since Austin."

Phelps' next appearance in the pool will be in May, when he is scheduled to compete in the Charlotte UltraSwim meeting, and after that will turn his attention to the July's world championships in Shanghai. "There are a lot of new people out there,'' he said of his return to China. "A lot of the Europeans are swimming really well, Ryan is swimming really well. It's going to be fun this summer to head over to Shanghai and be able to swim with some new faces."

As for his plans for the 2012 Olympics, he and his long-time coach Bob Bowman have given little away, beyond saying he would not compete in the gruelling 400m individual medley. Phelps has mused publicly about competing in the shorter, sprint race but Bowman is having none of it. In all likelihood he will compete in seven events in London

"There are still a lot of goals I have and things I want to achieve before I retire from the sport," he said in Indianapolis, declining to explain what those goals are. "Everybody wants to know that, but no one will know. Bob has them, and I have them, and we'll work together and try to reach them."

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.

Michael Phelps has already been victorious in two events

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Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe in the pool together

At Spyns we are very excited to see Michael Phelps and Australian 5 times Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe battle it out in the pool. We have a range of 4, 5, 7, and 10-day intimate luxury London 2012 Olympic tours packages on offer. Included are Olympic Hotels and Olympic Tickets with VIP London guides into some of the most sort after attractions (Royal Buckingham Palace tour after hours).

Fourteen-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps won the men’s 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly on the opening day of the Indianapolis Grand Prix Thursday. Both victories (1:46.27 in the 200 free and 51.75 in the 100) were the fastest times in the world this year.

“It was the best time in the world, so I’ll take it. I’m definitely happy,” Phelps said after winning the 200.

Tonight, Phelps will try to add a third gold medal in the 200 fly and tomorrow will feature a showdown between Phelps and Ryan Lochte, who established himself as the most dominant swimmer of 2010, in the 200 IM. Lochte, who set the world record at 1:54.10 back at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, is trying to remain the new king of the 200 IM.

The competition, which continues through Saturday, is being held at the Indiana University Natatorium on the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis.

TV: 10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET Friday, Universal Sports

Webcast: 6 p.m. ET Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday, usaswimming.org

GYMNASTICS

Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup, March 4, Jacksonville, Fla.

AT&T American Cup, March 5, Jacksonville, Fla.

Seven Olympians and a competition featuring the nation’s best rising gymnasts will highlight two days of gymnastics at Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville. The Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup Friday features 36 female gymnasts who qualified for the event at 17 regional invitational meets. The field includes 2009 world vault champion Kayla Williams and 2010 Supergirl Cup silver medalist Kassandra Lopez. The meet is run as a partnership between Liukin and USA Gymnastics and is designed to give up-and-coming gymnasts experience in a big-time competition.

The 2011 AT&T American Cup is the first of four 2011 all-around World Cup events, featuring 16 gymnasts, including 2010 World all-around bronze medalist Jonathan Horton, Alexandra Raisman and Jordyn Weiber of the U.S. Weiber won the 2009 American Cup. The field also includes 2010 world all-around champion Aliya Mustafina of Russia. Overall, seven Olympians and 10 world medalists are competing. In addition, six of the seven members of the 1996 U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team will be honored 15 years after their gold-medal performance at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.

TV: 7-9:30 p.m. ET Friday and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Universal Sports; 1-3 p.m. Saturday, NBC

Also in gymnastics:

2011 Winter Classic, March 5-6, George Brown Convention Center, Houston

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Algarve Cup, March 2-9, Vila Real de San Antonio, Portugal

The U.S. women’s soccer team, which defeated Japan 2-1 on Wednesday in its opening game of the Algarve Cup in Portugal, was to continue its Group A play Friday against Norway and Monday against Finland.

Amy Rodriguez and Megan Rapinoe, both members of the Philadelphia Independence in Women’s Professional Soccer, each scored in the first 18 minutes of the game against Japan. Abby Wambach played in her 150^th career game for the U.S., making her the 14^th player in history to do so.

“It was a good start and in the first 45 minutes we played some very good soccer,” U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said.

The Americans have been working on showing patience with their offense.

“We’ve been working really hard on keeping the ball and being patient and getting our outside back involved, and really getting everyone involved, if we can,“ said Rapinoe, a midfielder.

The medal games will be played March 9. If Team USA makes it to the championship game, it would be played at noon ET.

FIGURE SKATING

World Junior Figure Skating Championships, Feb. 28-March 6, Gangneung City, Republic of Korea

Keegan Messing of Alaska, who finished eighth in the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, is skating toward gold at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships. After scoring 72.58 points in his short program Thursday, he led the men’s field. “I went out and had some fun and at the end of my program my energy increased, and I was on top of the world,” Messing told icenetwork.com.

U.S. junior pairs champions Ashley Cain and Joshua Reagan placed fourth, moving up four spots after a strong free skate. Christina Gao was the top American female finisher in the short program in third.

Also in figure skating:

2011 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships, March 2-5, Ontario, Calif.

SPEEDSKATING

Essent ISU World Cup Final, March 4-6, Heerenveen, Netherlands

Trevor Marsicano, who ranks No. 1 in the World Cup standings in 1,500 meters, and Heather Richardson, No. 1 in the 1,000, lead the U.S. Long Track World Cup Team into the World Cup Final this weekend in the Netherlands. Five U.S. skaters are ranked within the top three in their events. Team USA has won 27 World Cup medals and five World Championship medals this season.

“Several of our skaters are in a position to earn both individual and overall medals this weekend, so they are staying focused on the task at hand,” said Ryan Shimabukuro, U.S. tong track head coach.

Also in speedskating:

American Cup Final-Long Track/Champions Challenge, March 4-6, Salt Lake City.

Wisconsin State Short Track Championships, March 6, Waupaca, Wis.

SKIING

FIS World Nordic Ski Championships, Feb. 24-March 6, Oslo, Norway

Nineteen-year-old Peter Frenette of Saranac Lake, N.Y., qualified for the championship round of the ski-jumping competition Thursday on the 134-meter Holmenkollbakken jump, then placed 35th in the fog-delayed event. He was the only American who qualified in the jump.

“For my jump, I could only see right in front of me, but that is about all you need to ski,” he said. “It was fun and there were a lot of people here. You couldn’t see the crowd until you get down to the bottom, you could only hear them cheering.”

Andy Newell, Kris Freeman, Noah Hoffman and Tad Elliott will ski for the U.S. in Friday’s men’s 4x10-kilometer mixed technique relay. The women’s competition in the World Nordics finishes Saturday with the 30-kilometer classic. The men’s 30-k classic will be Sunday.

Also in skiing:

Alpine World Cup, women, March 5-6, Tarvisio, Italy

TV: 2:15-4 p.m. and 7:15-9 p.m. ET Saturday, 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m. and 7:15-9 p.m. Sunday, Universal Sports

Alpine World Cup, men, March 5-6, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia

TV: 5:15-6:30 p.m. ET Saturday, 2:15-3:30 p.m. and 4:45-6 p.m. Sunday, Universal Sports

Freestyle World Cup, March 6, Meiringen-Hasliberg, Switzerland

TRACK AND FIELD

USA Indoor Masters Track and Field Championships, March 4-6, Albuquerque, N.M.

Trish Porter (formerly, Trish King), an Olympic high jumper in 1988, and four-time U.S. Masters champion Dan Holton are among more than 800 athletes, ranging from age 35 to 96, who will compete in the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend. Running events range from 60 meters to 3,000 meters, and the competitor field includes 77 current world indoor master champions and 34 world outdoor master champions.

Also in track:

USA Indoor Combined Events Championships, March 5-6, Bloomington, Ind.

USA 50 Mile Trail Championships, March 5, Rocksprings, Texas

USA 50km Championships, March 6, Lloyd Harbor, N.Y.

LUGE

Norton National Championships and Seeding Races, March 5-6, Lake Placid, N.Y.

Two-time Olympian and 2009 world champion Erin Hamlin and five-time Olympian Bengt Walden will be among the competitors in USA Luge’s final event of the season. The Norton National Championships will decide national titles, as well as positioning for next year’s senior team.

Hamlin is the defending women’s champion and will face 2002 Olympian Ashley Walden and 2008 World Junior champion Kate Hansen, among others. Chris Mazdzer, a 2010 Olympian, will join Walden and 2006 Olympian Preston Griffall in the men’s competition. The national championship races will be held Saturday on the Mt. Van Hoevenberg chute at the Olympics Sports Complex in Lake Placid, with the seeding races scheduled for Sunday.

SKELETON

U.S. National Championships, March 4-5, Lake Placid, N.Y.

More than 30 athletes, including World Cup participants Matt Antoine, John Daly and Katie Uhlaender, will compete in the first national championships to be held in skeleton in four years. Antoine finished seventh in the men’s World Championships last week and Uhlaender was ninth in the women’s competition. “This is a great opportunity to bring athletes from our entire program together,” said Tuff Latour, U.S. skeleton head coach.

Twenty-one men and 15 women will compete on Lake Placid’s 19-curve course, which will be host to the 2012 World Championships. Like the World Championships or Olympic Winter Games, races will be run in four heats with a combined time from all four heats determining the winners. The competition was moved up to Friday and Saturday due to an expected storm system that may bring warm winds to upstate New York.

SNOWBOARDING

Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, March 2-6, Mammoth Mountain, Calif.

Olympic medalists Kelly Clark and Gretchen Bleiler will lead the competition in the halfpipe Saturday in the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix. The two-day event also features slopestyle on Friday with a field that includes defending champion Chas Guldemond and two-time Winter X Games champ Jamie Anderson.

Webcast: 6 p.m. ET Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday, www.facebook.com/ussnowboarding

Also in snowboarding:

World Cup, March 5, Moscow

CURLING

World Junior Championships, March 5-12, Perth, Scotland

Becca Hamilton of McFarland, Wis., and Aaron Wald of Chisholm, Minn., will lead the U.S. women’s and men’s curling squads, respectively, into the World Junior Championships, which begin Saturday at the Dewars Centre in Perth. Wald was an alternate for 2010 Olympian Chris Plys’ junior team in 2009 and 2006. Tara Peterson and Sophie Bronson bring three consecutive years of World Championships experience to Hamilton’s squad, including a bronze-medal finish in 2010. Each team will play in a nine-game round robin with page playoffs beginning March 11.

Also in curling:

USA Curling Club National Championships, beginning March 6, Mankato, Minn.

BIATHLON

IBU World Championships, March 3-13, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey will lead the U.S. in the sprint races on Saturday. The Worlds began with the mixed relay competition on Thursday, with Norway taking the gold.

TENNIS

Davis Cup, USA vs. Chile, March 4-6, Santiago, Chile

Andy Roddick was to play the opening match for the U.S. against Chile’s Nicolas Massu, the first of five matches between the two countries in the Davis Cup first-round matchup. The U.S. is 4-0 in previous Davis Cup meetings with Chile, and would meet Belgium or Spain in July in the quarterfinals should the Americans defeat Chile again.

TV: 10 a.m. ET Saturday, 9 a.m. Sunday, Tennis Channel

TRIATHLON

USA Triathlon Elite Race Series, March 5, Clermont, Fla.

Olympians Sarah Haskins and Jarrod Shoemaker will be among more than 50 Americans competing March 5 in the opening event of the USA Triathlon Elite Race Series. The event will consist of a 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bicycle race and 5-kilometer run. The race is also serving as the first-ever USA Triathlon Elite Sprint National Championship. Nine U.S. men ranked internationally and six women will compete, as well as 2010 USA Triathlon Rookies of the Year Sean Jefferson and Gwen Jorgensen.

FENCING

Men’s Epee Senior, March 4-6, Tallin, Estonia

Weston Kelsey, a 2008 Olympian, Benjamin Bratton and Cody Mattern are among the U.S. athletes competing in the three-day men’s Epee senior event.

Also in fencing:

Men’s Sabre Grand Prix, March 5-6, Budapest, Hungary

Men’s Foil Grand Prix, March 5-6, Venice, Italy

JUDO

Pan American Cup, March 3-5, Guayaquil, Ecuador

Team USA headed to the Pan American Cup this week on a good note. Travis Stevens, a 2008 Olympian, won a gold medal at the Dusseldorf Grand Prix last week, becoming the first American to win gold at the Dusseldorf event.

Also in Judo:

San Antonio Open Judo Championships, March 5-6, San Antonio, Texas

WRESTLING

Hungarian Grand Prix, March 5-6, Szombethely, Hungary

Two-time World medalist Joe Warren is among the U.S. wrestlers competing in this weekend’s prestigious Hungarian Grand Prix. The U.S. won no medals in the same competition in 2010.

Also in Wrestling:

Austrian Junior Greco-Roman Open, March 4-6, Gotzis, Austria

EQUESTRIAN

FEI Nations Cup, March 4, Wellington, Fla.

Four riders, including Mario Deslauriers aboard Urico and Margie Engle aboard Indigo, will compete for the U.S. in the FEI Nations Cup competition March 4 at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Club’s International Arena. The jumping competition is a part of the CSIO Wellington event in south Florida.

ARCHERY

U.S. National Indoor Championships, Feb. 25-March 13, various sites

The national tournament continues this weekend at various venues, including MSU Demmer Shooting Sports Center in East Lansing, Mich., and Diamond Archery Technologies in Wichita, Kan.

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.