LE PARISIEN reported that French President Francois Hollande was in London to support the French athletes at the Games and took the time to "evoke the possibility" of a French bid for the 2024 Olympics. However he made sure to declare "he was not announcing a bid" and it was just "something to think about for the future" (LE PARISIEN, 7/31). In London, Simon Kuper wrote that Hollande "could not resist a jibe at the neighbours." The French President said, "The British have rolled out the red carpet for French athletes to win medals" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/31).
SOCHI PARK: The London Games' Sochi.Park premiered its ice show "Sochi: Small Stories of a Big City" to mark the ice rink's opening. The show was to be attended by six Olympic champions and presented by World Champion and Olympic figure skating medalist Ilya Averbukh. In total, more than a dozen theatrical performances will be presented during the Games at the Sochi.Park ice rink. Meanwhile, the Russian Int'l Olympic University also unveiled its new education program, a year-long Master of Sport Administration course at Sochi.Park. The main feature of the course is the study and use of an entire series of issues related to the preparation of the Olympic Games. Students will being their semester in the fall of '13 with the first students graduating the following summer (Sochi 2014).
TO THE MUSIC: In N.Y., Diksha Sahni noted in the India Real Time blog that musicians Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire are "asking Indians to cheer" on their 81 athletes who are competing for the country at the London Games. They uploaded a track on YouTube last week, and it is "rapidly gaining popularity," already with more than 500,000 views. The main idea behind the song is "to draw attention to sports other than cricket" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/31).
NIGHT OWLS: SPORT24.co.za noted with London nine hours behind Australia's eastern states and six or seven hours behind most Asian nations, many events are being held overnight, "meaning a potentially tired and dysfunctional workforce for the next two week." A recent nationwide poll in Australia reported 86% of those questioned "planned to watch the Games on TV" (SPORT24.co.za, 7/31).
