The Olympics

[Shaggy]

Said Aouita and Noureddine Morceli

[Rich]

I remember Aouita very well but only vaguely recognise the name of Morceli.

[Slim]

This article is from a few years ago but has some nice bits about the old ITV athletics Friday nights


THE STARS always shine brightest in the evening, certainly when they are athletics stars at Crystal Palace at the end of the track season.

Tonight's Norwich Union Grand Prix at the fading grande dame of British stadiums represents a return to the great nights of British athletics invitation meetings, stretching back to the popular Coca- Cola meetings of the 1960s and 1970s, and with a lineage that recalls the glory nights of the White City half a century ago.

"My Crystal Palace memories are of late nights and a packed stadium," says Steve Cram. "When I raced Steve Ovett there in 1983, there was a phenomenal atmosphere - more like a football match. The Friday night meetings definitely had something special about them," adds the former world record- holder for the mile, who tonight will be commentating for BBC television.

The meeting was first staged in 1968, making the most of the novelty of the country's first rubberised all-weather track before the British team set off for the Mexico City Olympics. In a more innocent age, when the gathering of young people in south London for a "Coke meet" had no sinister connotations, the event really was the forerunner of the modern Grand Prix meetings as we know them today and did much to transform international athletics into a professional sport.

Over 20 years, the Coca-Cola meeting established itself as the finale to the European track season, always attracting the world's best athletes and placing Britain's finest at centre stage.

By staging this year's event on a Friday evening, the meeting organisers are putting themselves in a position where they might regain such international pre-eminence. Sitting in the stands tonight will be Lamine Diack, the president of the world governing body, the IAAF. It is one of the worst kept secrets in international athletics that the London meeting is being considered for inclusion in the Golden League, the collection of the world's top meetings.

But the evening setting also somehow adds extra magic to the proceedings at the Palace. The last time a world record was set at Crystal Palace, it was on a Friday evening, the transmission of the News at Ten being delayed to accommodate Steve Backley's final effort in the javelin that night. "It was a courageous decision by the editors," says Peter Matthews, the commentator that night.

"I remember us showing Steve's throw, going to the finish of the 1,500 metres, and then going back to the javelin to confirm the distance. I said something like `and that's a world record for Steve Backley, now over to the news.' It really was unheard of. We went to the news three minutes late."

It seems that anyone who is anyone in British athletics over the last 30 years has enjoyed a night of nights at the Palace: Sebastian Coe's first British record was set there over 800 metres in 1977; Steve Ovett stepped up in distance to win a famous duel with the Kenyan distance legend Henry Rono over two miles a year later, setting a world best; Brendan Foster beat the Olympic gold medallist Frank Shorter in a gripping battle in his 10,000m debut and stayed late into the night, signing autographs and tending to his blisters.

Matthews, a former editor of the Guinness Book of Records, rattles off the statistics like a machine gun, from John Boulter's 1,000m British record in 1969 through the likes of Alan Pascoe and Geoff Capes in the 1970s, and Kathy Smallwood and Zola Budd in the 1980s.

"There is something magical about the event, when the floodlights come on and focus the packed crowd's attention on the athletes," Matthews says. "It was the same in the 1950s, with those special nights at the White City." Indeed, the 17,000 seats for tonight's meeting were sold out two weeks ago, prompting plans to add temporary seating in 2003.

Maurice Greene, a student of the sport as well as being the world's fastest man, agrees: "The history of Crystal Palace always gives this meeting something extra. I love running here. The atmosphere is great, the crowd is great - it's a fun place to go."

Possibly the last great Friday night meeting at Crystal Palace was after the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. Coca-Cola ended its sponsorship soon after and the introduction of the IAAF Grand Prix saw London jockeyed out of its traditional date. When the meeting moved out of London it went into decline. A row with Cram, one of the event's biggest stars, who felt he was railroaded into a clash over one mile against Said Aouita, did not help.

The meeting had been originally staged by the International Athletes' Club to raise some travelling expenses so that Britain's elite athletes could have some warm-weather training. Long before the sport was professionalised, it led the way in making payments to athletes, usually in wads of cash straight out of a briefcase, with a queue of expectant world-record holders and Olympic medallists lined up in a hotel corridor.

When Cram raced Aouita in 1984, the meeting received pounds 27,000 in TV rights fees and had a budget for athletes of pounds 150,000. Eighteen years on, and now organised by Fast Track, a company run by the multi-millionaire former athlete Alan Pascoe with Lord Coe as the chairman, tonight's meeting is part of a pounds 17m, five-year TV deal with the BBC. Greene is said to be receiving pounds 75,000 for racing in the 100m and the event's overall athletes' budget is more than pounds 1m, making it the world's richest athletics meeting. But, with the floodlights on, there will still be something magical about the Palace - and it will all be over before the 10 o'clock news.

[zimbo]

. "A row with Cram, one of the event's biggest stars, who felt he was railroaded into a clash over one mile against Said Aouita, did not help."

That was one of the best races I think I've seen. The two best middlers in the world at the time, Aouita just coming through and was obviously going to be a big name.

Cram broke with about 600 to go, piled it on and built up a lead of about 60 metres. Aouita fought back and, as Cram tired and his wobbly head became more pronounced, the gap became smaller and smaller. It looked for all the world as though Aouita would overtake him, but Cram just held on and fell over the line about half a yard in front. Well that's how I remember it anyway.

We went to the Crystal Palace Grand Prix about 5 years ago. Sat just level with the starting line for the 100m. My youngest was 3 then and to keep him occupied we stuck him in front of a Nintendo and let him attack random space monsters. All well and good until the 100m was about to start, with Dwain Chambers at the peak of his pharmaceutically enhanced powers, when during the painstakingly-observed silence between the '...Set' and the crack of the gun, a small voice piped up, at the top of his tiny lungs, with a cry of "I've killed him."

Yes, they did have to get the athletes to stand up.
Yes, everyone in the stand did look at us in a disapproving, unfit parents kind of way.
Yes, it was actually quite funny, though perhaps more in hindsight.

[Shaggy]

[Joe King]

Beijing Olympic 2008 opening ceremony giant firework footprints 'faked'



As the ceremony got under way with a dramatic, drummed countdown, viewers watching at home and on giant screens inside the Bird's Nest National Stadium watched as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks processed gloriously above the city from Tiananmen Square.

What they did not realise was that what they were watching was in fact computer graphics, meticulously created over a period of months and inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment.

The fireworks were there for real, outside the stadium. But those responsible for filming the extravaganza decided in advance it would be impossible to capture all 29 footprints from the air.

As a result, only the last, visible from the camera stands inside the Bird's Nest was captured on film.

The trick was revealed in a local Chinese newspaper, the Beijing Times, at the weekend.

Gao Xiaolong, head of the visual effects team for the ceremony, said it had taken almost a year to create the 55-second sequence. Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible: they sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to recreate the hazy effects of Beijing's smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter.

"Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks," he said. "But most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished."

He said the main problem with trying to shoot the real thing was the difficulty of placing the television helicopter at the right angle to see all 28 footsteps in a row.

One advisor to the Beijing Olympic Committee (BOCOG) defended the decision to use make-believe to impress the viewer. "It would have been prohibitive to have tried to film it live," he said. "We could not put the helicopter pilot at risk by making him try to follow the firework route."

A spokeswoman for BOCOG said the final decision had been made by Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, the joint venture between the International Olympic Committee and local organisers that is responsible for providing the main "feeds" of all Olympic events to viewers around the world.

"As far as we are concerned, we let off the fireworks - that's what's important to us," she said.

Mr Gao said he was worried that technologically literate viewers who spotted the join might be critical, but comments online suggested more admiration of the result.

Although the event as a whole received rapturous reviews abroad, that has not been entirely the case at home. Some internet comments were hostile, saying that while it looked stunning the contents were vacuous.

Others focused on the sheer numbers of people involved - more than 16,000 performers, mostly from People's Liberation Army song and dance troops.

"That certainly showed China's unique character," said one comment. "Namely, that we have 1.3 billion people."

[Tee]

That was one of the best races I think I've seen. The two best middlers in the world at the time, Aouita just coming through and was obviously going to be a big name.

Cram broke with about 600 to go, piled it on and built up a lead of about 60 metres. Aouita fought back and, as Cram tired and his wobbly head became more pronounced, the gap became smaller and smaller. It looked for all the world as though Aouita would overtake him, but Cram just held on and fell over the line about half a yard in front. Well that's how I remember it anyway.

We went to the Crystal Palace Grand Prix about 5 years ago. Sat just level with the starting line for the 100m. My youngest was 3 then and to keep him occupied we stuck him in front of a Nintendo and let him attack random space monsters. All well and good until the 100m was about to start, with Dwain Chambers at the peak of his pharmaceutically enhanced powers, when during the painstakingly-observed silence between the '...Set' and the crack of the gun, a small voice piped up, at the top of his tiny lungs, with a cry of "I've killed him."


Yes, they did have to get the athletes to stand up.
Yes, everyone in the stand did look at us in a disapproving, unfit parents kind of way.
Yes, it was actually quite funny, though perhaps more in hindsight.

That is just brilliant.. made my day!!!

[Sisterstiffticket]

Asafa Powell has just run 9.72 in Lausanne! The second fastest time ever.

Why oh why can't he do it when it matters. Imagine if he'd turned up in Beijing!

Yeah....He'd have finished second!

[Pablo]

Tyson Gay has pulled out of the race now. Not that surprising he was on a hiding to nothing. No way he can compete with Powell and Bolt on current form.

[Shaggy]

Pity but as you say not surprising. What was his excuse? Injury? A lack of general race-sharpness? Or has he just plain bottled it?

[Pablo]

Officially its an injury, but it looks like a nailed on bottle job to me.

[Shaggy]

This meeting is on Setanta tonight at 10pm. Don't think it's live though.

[Shaggy]

That was a ****ing awesome race.

[Rich]

Well?! What happened!!

[Shaggy]

Into a headwind in a cold, rainy atmosphere, Bolt was literally left in the blocks and Powell led at one point by about a metre. Bolt picked up at 60m and ran flat out to the line to power past Powell with about 15m to go and win in a breathtaking 9.77. Powell ran 9.83 and the pair were miles clear of the rest. Superb sprinting.