The Olympic Park for the 2012 London Games takes shape. Photo credit: Tamsin Slater
The background
The first official event of London 2012 is set to take place on 25th July, when Britain’s women’s football team take on New Zealand in Cardiff – two days before the opening ceremony. But this isn’t the only Olympic story of note to emerge in recent days.
Check out The Periscope Post’s round-up of five more unusual Olympics stories.
Moth attack!
“The Olympic park is at the center of an area infested with fabric-chomping moths – and Stratford was pinpointed yesterday as one of the worst hit areas in the UK,” reported The Daily Mail. This may conjure up images of athletes running for their lives from a swirling cloud of moths, but it seems there have yet to be any complaints. However, this may change: “With this many people concentrated into such a small area, there is enough grub here for a plague of biblical proportions.”
Mother to judge son
CNN revealed that New Zealand Kayaker Mike Dawson’s mother will be one of the judges for the men’s kayak competition – meaning she will be judging her own son. Sounds a bit dodgy? Apparently not: “As one of the gate judges, Kay Dawson has an important role, but her decisions will be scrutinized by other officials.”
Heavily pregnant shooter aims for gold
The Olympics are all about record-breaking. And Malaysian shooter Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi is set for a world first just by showing up: at eight months pregnant, she will be “the most pregnant athlete to have taken part”, reported the BBC.
Hotlympics, anyone? Check out this Tumblr list of the hottest Olympic hunks competing at London 2012. With pictures.
For whom the bell tolls
“Big Ben is to chime non-stop for three minutes to help ring in the London 2012 Olympics,” revealed The Guardian. The chimes will ring out from 8.12 am on Friday 27th July – and organisers hope the whole country will join in. “The celebration aims to set a world record for the largest number of bells being rung simultaneously and can include anything from children with handbells to people ringing bicycle bells and doorbells to experienced ringing experts of tower bells and church bells.” Just think about that for a moment: what exactly would you do if someone started ringing your doorbell repeatedly for three minutes at 8.12 in the morning? And where does one find a handbell?
Fun fact alert
To celebrate the London 2012, The Sun published 200 “fun facts” about the Olympics. These include such gems as: “Before the Games in ancient Greece athletes ate mainly cheese.” And: “Gymnasium literally means ‘School for naked exercise’.”
