London's Mayor speaks about Volunteer Program

The Mayor of London has spoken about the importance of volunteering at the Olympic Games in 2012 and how important it is to keep your eye on the ball and remain optimistic about what the games will mean for London and the U.K.

Read the post in Boris Johnson's Blog

Spirit of Sydney Lunch Photos

Pictures from the February 2009 Spirit of Sydney lunch are now available in slideshow format by clicking this link.

More success for Jayme Paris in Beijing

Jayme Paris just missed out on a second Bronze medal at the Beijing Paralympics on Wednesday being pipped by New Zealand's Paula Tesoreiro by just four hundredths of a second.

In posting her time, in the 3000m Individual Pursuit, Jayme beat her personal best by 15 seconds.

Well done Jayme we're so proud of your achivements.

May Luncheon Photos

Click on Flipbook to browse through the photos. Click the photos to the left or right to scroll forward or back. Click the centre photo to view the original.

Sydney Olympic Games Volunteers Mark 7th Anniversary

Volunteers from the Spirit of Sydney Group commemorated the 7th Anniversary of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with a celebratory lunch at the Noble Dragon Restaurant in Sydney's Chinatown on Saturday 15th September.



The group was honoured to have present, Sandy Hollway, (former CEO of the Sydney Organising Committee - SOCOG), who shared with us his wonderful memories of the best games ever. Sandy also spoke about the business opportunities Australian industry gains from showing the world how we handle large events.

Presentations were also made by Rosemary Mula who spoke about her experiences volunteering at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year. In the absence of Daniel Beniston, Rosemary also shared information about accommodation choices and pricing in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games. Rosemary then spoke about London 2012 and the opportunities she has from being associated with teams at the Pan-Am games.

Team poet, Vera Rothwell, came out of retirement to write an inspirational poem that brought back so many memories of the Opening Ceremony. Vera also mentioned that the pen-pal program she started with Atlanta 1996 volunteers, could be restarted with volunteers in London.

Special thanks go out to Mavis Booth, our e-Mail Co-Ordinator and Social Secretary who once again has co-ordinated our lunch and meeting to perfection. Thanks also to our Treasurers and Administration Co-Ordinators, Ralph and Joan Stilgoe who again helped to make the day such a wonderful success.

Finally, to the excellent staff and owners of the Noble Dragon Restaurant, a hearty well done! Your food, and great service continues to make us all happy, content and rolling out the door with big smiles on our faces. The Noble Dragon is in Chinatown, at the corner of Dixon and Little Hay Street, Sydney.

From a personal perspective, I am still amazed and inspired by this wonderful groups of friends, once strangers, but brought together by the Olympic Games in 2000. Each of you, through your volunteer efforts continue to make us all proud, and keep our spirit alive. Let there be many more anniversaries of this great moment in Australian history. (Peter Konnecke).

The next meeting of our group will be held on Saturday 16th February 2008.

Tags: sydney 2000 volunteers, sydney 2000 olympic games, olympic volunteers, australian volunteers, volunteers, sydney volunteers, spirit of sydney, spirit of sydney volunteers, spiritofsydney, peter konnecke, konnecke, spiritofsydney.com, beijing 2008, beijing olympics, 2008 olympic games, beijing 2008 olympic games

Remember Sydney 2000

Our resident poet Vera Rothwell has been at it again writing another excellent poem recapturing the Spirit of Sydney during the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Tags: olympics, paralympics, sydney2000, spirit of sydney, volunteers

DO YOU REMEMBER?

Do you remember that night in September,

When all of our dreams came true,

When the horse reared on high against the night sky

And the world was enthralled - where were you?

Were you part of the crowd, cheering out loud?

Feeling your heart burst with pride?

Or were you watching at home with family around?

Feeling that warm glow inside.

Did your heart skip a beat when the flag was unfurled

To flutter so high in the sky?

When the athletes marched in did you feel that the world

Should always be on the same side?

Did you rise to your feet when the Aussies marched in?

Was there a quiet tear or two?

At what we’d achieved, all the work we’d put in

Did it mean that much to you?

When the crowd roared as one to welcome the Flame

Did you feel it’s warmth in your heart?

When Cathy stepped forward did you shout out her name

Then pray for the damn thing to start?

Do you think back to that time and “remember when?”

People were friendly, trains ran on time

Do you sometimes wish we could go back to then,

And follow along the blue line.

So, do you remember that night in September?

Does your heart still swell with pride?

I’ll never forget, I’ll always remember

It will be with me till I die.

Sydney World Expo Bid Still Alive ?

A recent article in the Fairfax papers contained one very interesting paragraph.

"From abroad, NSW is considering a bid for the 2020 World Expo,
according to a spokeswoman for Ian Macdonald, the Minister for
State Development. But then, last year Sydney sought to bid for the
right to host the 2012 expo — and lost."

Could it be that major events are still on the agenda in Macquarie Street ?

Read the Full Article

Sydneysiders to Welcome World Youth Day Pilgrims

Sydneysiders are being asked to help host the thousands of young people expected to attend World Youth Day in July 2008 (WYD08).

With exactly one year to go until the Opening Mass of World Youth Day to be celebrated by Cardinal George Pell with bishops and priests from all over the world - organisers today opened registrations for HomeStay, a program in which Sydney homeowners host two or more
visiting pilgrims from overseas or outside Sydney.

Read the full story

Technorati Tags: world youth day, spirit of sydney

Olympic families Tour Beijing

One of the more unusual promotional activities BOCOG is using to promote the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is an online contest to select ten families to tour the Olympic facilities before the games.

Click here to read the story

Technorati Tags: beijing 2008, olympic games, olympics

50 Olympic Logos from 1924 till 2016

50 Olympic Logos from 1924 till 2016

And now, lets look at the Olympic logo designs from the past (1924) till (2016) alphabetically displayed.It';s an interesting look at the past, the proposed, and the future of Olympic design. The alternative London 2012 design isn't bad either, but there's not a lot you could do with it shape wise. There's no real shape.

Technorati Tags: olympic games, olympics, london2012, peter konnecke, spirit of sydney

Beijing Interns Tour venues

I'm assuming these interns may be used for escorting dignitaries around the venues or as managers for spectator services. The attached story doesn't speak much of their roles however. They are currently assigned to various departments within BOVOG.

Read the story here

Design your our own London 2012 Logo

LOCOG (London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) is giving the pubic a chance to design their own London 2012 Logo with a very clever feature on it's website.

We've incorporated a link to this on the right hand side of this page which randomly displays some of the design's received so far.

Technorati Tags: london2012, olympics, spirit of sydney, peter konnecke

Website Updates

Some of you may receive an item update from the site this evening relating to a story about a Ford Falcon selling for a record price. This message was not an attempt to spam you.

This post was an error on my part and was intended for another news service which I run.

I've placed some new code into our site which will prevent accidental cross posting in future.

On another topic .... London's new logo will launch in the next few hours and I look forward to bringing you all the news as it happens then.

Technorati Tags: peter konnecke, website news, volunteers, spirit of sydney, london2012

Olympic lottery games make £150m

Olympic lottery games make £150m

The UK lotteries which raise money to help run the London 2012 Olympic games have already raised 150 million pounds.

Technorati Tags: london2012, spirit of sydney, olympics

Website Changes

I've made some small but very important changes to the website today. As you know the staging of a successful Olympic Games requires that the Olympic brand be protected so as to give maximum opportunity for the organising committee to raise the necessary funds for the running the event.

The changes I've made today bring our website into line with the requirements London has in place to afford such protection. I'm sure you'll understand these changes and if there's any questions please contact me.

The changes are most noticeable in the right hand column of the site but are clear enough to maintain ease of use. More changes are likely over the next few days in relation to the Beijing content.

Technorati Tags: website news, peter konnecke, spirit of sydney, group news

Lunch at the Athenian

504188380
Originally uploaded by Peter Konnecke.

The Spirit of Sydney group celebrated another successful lunch today with guest speakers, Rosemary Owens, and Daniel Beniston.

Rosemary spoke of her extensive experience as a technical official and volunteer with Athletics Australia. Rosemary has travelled the world and relayed to us, her wonderful experiences.

Daniel spoke about his recent trip to Beijing and his enthusiasm for all things Olympic.

Our next meeting is on September 15th, the 7th Anniversary of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Technorati Tags: website news, spirit of sydney, sydney2000, peter konnecke, london2012, beijing 2008

Updated Communications

We've made a change to this blog to enable instant subscriptions to a news feed. To subscribe to the feed, just click the link on the right, enter your e-mail address, and you'll be sent a confirming e-mail. Follow the instructions and you'll be subscribed.

Every time a new story is published, you'll receive an e-mail with the information and a link to the story.

Technorati Tags: spirit of sydney, peter konnecke, website news

London reaching out to Communities

The London 2012 weblog had a post recently about the community programs being run to reach out to the Sikh community in London.

Peter Konnecke from spiritofsydney.com posted a comment on his experiences when he spoke to community groups in the lead up to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Read the full story by clicking here and visiting the London 2012 weblog.

Technorati Tags: spirit of sydney, london 2012, olympics, london olympics, sydney 2000, volunteers, olympic volunteers, olympic games

Sandy Hollway on London 2012

Sandy Hollway gave a brief interview to the London 2012 Weblog recently. He spoke about London's Olympic plans, and the good progress being made towards delivering a successful games in 2012.

Click here to view the video on-line.

Technorati Tags: london 2012, olympics, olympic games, olympic volunteers, volunteers

Beijing Taxi Ride

scan
Originally uploaded by Peter Konnecke.

Recently we discovered some of the more unusual customs of the next Olympic city. I'm sure they'll "be alright on the night". Nobody ever really fails to deliver the games.

Click the image at the right to read more.

Tags: beijing, beijing 2008, olympics, olympic games, olympic games 2008, 2008 olympic games

2008 Beijing Olympics tickets go on sale

BEIJING, April 16 -- More than seven million very affordable tickets are now on sale for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) announced Sunday. About 75% of the tickets will be sold domestically and the rest will be available to the overseas public.



read more | digg story

Michael Phelps in seventh heaven: Now the target is Mark Spitz's record

American king of the pool Michael Phelps just missed out on eight World Championship gold medals, but now he's got his eye on bettering the legendary Spitz's seven Olympic golds.



read more | digg story

IOC proposes four new members

Four new members of the International Olympic Committee ? The IOC has announced four news members to join up.



read more | digg story

Beijing 2008 Summer Games Springboard to other Asian Destinations

Almost 90% of the people who plan to attend the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games plan to visit another city or cities in China or another Asian destination.

read more | digg story

Technorati Tags: olympics, olympic games, beijing 2008, peter konnecke, spirit of sydney

Beijing flushes out pubic toilets - Lost in Translation

Have a good laugh at some of the comical translated English of signages and restaurant menus in Beijing.Beijing is undergoing a frenetic makeover of citywide proportions. Urban planners seem to have taken the Olympic motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger" to heart, as construction workers toil to complete Olympic infrastructure on schedule.

read more | digg story

Technorati Tags: beijing 2008, olympics, olympic games, spirit of sydney, peter konnecke

Beijing 2008 International Volunteers Recruitment

The official website for recruiting volunteers for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has opened.



Prospective volunteers should visit http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/html/EV.htm

Technorati Tags: beijing 2008, volunteers, peter konnecke, olympics, olympic games, spirit of sydney

Lasting Legacy for Sydney

The following letter was shared with us recently. It was written by Sandy Hollway, the former CEO of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Organising Committee, in response to a suggestion made by an article which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on January 31st, 2007. The response was not published by the S.M.H.
- Peter Konnecke (Webmaster)

Dear Sir,

Given the amount that has happened in the past six years, it is hardly plausible to blame the alleged decline in the New South Wales economy on the spending for the Olympic Games (SMH 31 January).

The net cost of the Olympic Games to the New South Wales Government was, for the biggest event on earth, a creditably low $1.3 billion spread over the years of preparation. The event itself was financed largely from around $2.6 billion obtained from broadcast rights, sponsorship, ticket sales and merchandise. The private sector contributed $1.1 billion of the $3 billion of construction costs.

In fact, for this investment, Australia gained an increase to GDP estimated at $6 billion. We acquired the world-class sporting venues which a growing Sydney needed for community use, as well as commercial benefit. The Games stimulated inward investment and export, and Australia has become an impressive supplier of smart services to other events around the world. The Games dramatically elevated Sydney's international brand and recognition as the Anholt-GMI index shows.

In any event, it is recognised these days that the Games need to be evaluated on the basis of a triple bottom line -- economic, social and environmental. The Olympics was the catalyst for large-scale remediation at Sydney Olympic Park, and necessary infrastructure development such as the Eastern Distributor.

What ,I think, is true is that maximising the legacy from the Olympics requires a sustained, aggressive follow-through --in the development of new tourism product, high-quality architecture and building, infrastructure investment, environmental innovation, and so on. We could probably have used a bit more of that since the Games, but the legacy has still been overwhelmingly positive.

People are entitled to feel very good about the Sydney Olympics for cold, hard objective reasons, not just the fact that it was a great party.

Technorati Tags: sydney2000, spirit of sydney, volunteers, peter konnecke, olympic games, olympics

Chinese Advisor wants Bible in Hotel Rooms

Chinese media have reported that a political advisor wants Bibles to
be placed in hotel rooms over the period of the Olympic Games when they
take place in Beijing in 2008.

Liu Banyan, vice-president of the state-sanctioned China Patriotic

Catholic Association, believes placing the Bibles in the hotel rooms
would help repair China’s reputation abroad as a religiously intolerant
country, the Xingu news agency reported.

Read More

Technorati Tags: , beijing 2008, olympic games, olympics, spirit of sydney, peter konnecke

Beijing Olympic Parade

2008 Balloons
Originally uploaded by Sam Proof.

Hollywood hosted a Beijing 2008 Olympic parade this past week, and celebrated the Year of the Pig in style.

Vancouver 2010 News

We've started reporting news from Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Just in case anyone is interested. It's sure to be a wonderful event.

Technorati Tags: vancouver 2010, olympics, olympic games

World Masters Games - Newsletter Update

The 2009 World Masters Games are coming to Sydney. Be sure to visit www.worldmasters2009.com to sign up for the newsletter and be informed about this exciting event.

February Newsletter Example

International Aids Society Conference

The 4th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2007) is being organized by the International AIDS Society (IAS) and the Australasian Society of HIV Medicine (ASHM).

If you'd like to be a part of this event please visit their website at www.ias2007.org

AOC Announces Funding Increase for AYOF

The Australian Olympic Committee has announced a major funding increase for the 2009 and 2011 Australian Youth Olympics Festivals.
Read More

Team GB hails success at AYOF

Britain's success at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney has been hailed as very encouraging for Team GB's chances at London 2012.

Read More

GB and Australia agree 2012 Deal

Britain and Australia have struck a deal to help both nations compete against the "sporting superstate" of China at the 2012 London Olympics.

The deal will see Australian athletes compete in events in London before 2012 and British youngsters take part in the Australian Youth Olympics.
Read more here

Technorati Tags: beijing 2008, spirit of sydney, peter konnecke, london2012

AOC Appoints Ticket and Travel Partner

Global Sports Consultants LLC, which does business in Australia under the brand name of CoSport, announced today the conclusion of a sponsorship agreement with the Australian Olympic Committee (“AOC”) and the Australian Olympic Team as the official sponsor for hospitality programs, management services, corporate and consumer ticket and travel packages, and individual tickets through the 2012 Olympic Games.
Read more here

Sherpas to carry Olympic torch atop Mt Everest

The unveiling of a plan this week by Beijing to do a rehearsal this Spring for next year’s Olympic torch relay atop Mount Everest, or ‘Qomolangma’ in Chinese, has Nepal’s sports and mountaineering authorities excited.
Read more here

Dive team rebuilds for Beijing

AUSTRALIA head diving coach Hui Tong has described the Melbourne world championships as a stepping stone for the national team as it rebuilds for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Read more here

Beijing edict: Be nice or else!

In preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing is intent on putting on a new face. The city, home to 15.3 million people, is building a 91,000-seat Olympic Stadium and "Water Cube" aquatic center, among other curiosities.
Read More Here

World Dragon Boat Championship Update

Volunteer applications are open for interested person too apply on the official website for the World Dragon Boat Championship "Dragons Down Under".

If you're interested please click here for details.

IAAF World Championship Bid Update

As of the deadline on 1st December 2006, the IAAF had received bids from five cities who want to host the World Athletics Championship in either 2011 or 2013.

The bids received are as follows :

Barcelona (ESP) 2011 Only
Brisbane (AUS) 2011 and 2013
Daegu (KOR) 2011 and 2013
Goteburg (SWE) 2011 and 2013
Moscow (RUS) 2011 and 2013

The votes will take place in Mombasa (KEN) on 27th March 2007.

World Masters Games Volunteers

Volunteer applications for the World Masters Games 2009 in Sydney will open later in 2007. More details on the official web site.

Click Here

Vancouver Volunteers

According to the Vancouver 2010 website, volunteer applications will open in 2008. Some of our readers might be inclined to look to Vancouver for their fix of Olympic spirit in the time between now and London in 2012.

Technorati Tags: vancouver 2010, volunteers, peter konnecke, spirit of sydney

Australian Youth Olympic Festival

With 11 days to go, the Australian Youth Olympic Festival preparations are in their final stages.

Spirit of Sydney will be there on two fronts. Some of our members are volunteering at the events, whilst Peter Konnecke will be staying in Olympic Park as a spectator taking lots of pictures for our site, and also at the Opening Ceremony on January 17th.

Stay tuned for more updates and posts as the Festival begins.

Technorati Tags: ayof, peter konnecke, spirit of sydney, olympics, olympic games

Facelift and PreLaunch

I've just give the site a bit of a facelift and improved the links on the sidebars, so that they point at the correct place.

I've started creating the flyer and usage tips tonight, and will distribute them at the group meeting on Saturday.

Lastly, HAPPY 6TH ANNIVERSARY ! Yes it's hard to believe it but it's been six yars this friday since the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Tags: sydney 2000 olympic games, olympics, sydney 2000, sydney, australia

More coming soon

I have been involved in a major overhaul of site designs for my other blog recently and have not focussed much of my attention on this one.

This is about to change and in a week or so I will have a whole new setup running for this site as well as some good news in respect of a launch date and the imagery project.

In the meantime, please be patient I promise it will be worth the short wait until everything is settled.

Tags: sydney 2000, olympics, sydney 2000 olympic games, beijing 2008, london 2012, vancouver 2010, olympic games, paralympic games

Sydney 2000 Picture Map

I have about 5000 pictures from the period of 1992 through to the end of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Thanks to some very cool web services (Flickr, Google Maps, and CommunityWalk) I've created a photo map of pictures related to the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the preparations in the years before.

The collection contains some wonderful memorabilia from the time that Sydney won the bid, to the time of our lives at the Games. It's something I've wanted to do for years but had found it too difficult a task to manage until now.

To use this Photo Map, simple click on the Photo Map link to the right of this screen, under the section marked "Multimedia". Once you have arrived at the Photo Map home page please feel free to click on any of the markers (there are different colours for each period of time - pre-games, games time, and post games.) See below.



The marker will pop-up a little cartoon like balloon with details of the picture, and a small version of the picture itself. Best of all the picture marker is at the approximate location of where the picture was taken, which gives a real world perspective on the collection. (see example below).



Even more exciting for our members, is that very soon you will be able to send me a scanned image of your pictures from Sydney 2000, or the original if you require it to be scanned, and I can add it to the map, complete with credits to your name if you desire. This is really one of the "blockbuster" things I wanted to do with our new site. Please stay tuned, I'll be calling for submissions in September 2006.

You can visit the photo map directly by clicking here, or via the link in the Multimedia section on the right hand side of this page.

Please enjoy.
Peter Konnecke
Webmaster

sydney 2000 picture map general

Welcome

Welcome to Spirit of Sydney.

We're a group of volunteers who were part of the workforce at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Some of us were part of the Rugby World Cup workforce in 2002, some travelled to Athens in 2004, and others to Melbourne in 2006 for the Commonwealth Games.

This website takes the form of an online diary or weblog. After some careful design considerations, I decided that the blog format was the best way to present information to our members and to keep them informed of our activities.

Members or interested persons can subscribe to the site and receive a copy of new items the minute they are posted. This will therefore become an essential communication channel for upcoming events we are involved with.

In addition to the weblog, I will maintain categorisation of posts about each project we are involed with for easy reference. I'm sure this will become a easy way to see what is happening with our group.

No personal information about members, or thier e-mail addresses will ever be published on this site or given to other parties without express permission of the member.

Peter Konnecke
Webmaster