Paris might have lost out on the 2012 Olympics to London, but according to Olympic rules the French have claimed a small but significant victory in terms of ceremonies, announcements etc.
French is the first language of the International Olympic Committee and as such that means that it must take precedence at all Olympic ceremonies including when medals are being handed out. Therefore although French is often used as a secondary language in many international ceremonies as a matter of courtesy and practicality, in the case of the London Olympics all announcements must be made in French first not English.
The revelation came about when the The Spectator magazine and the Games Monitor website finally won a Freedom of Information request after a two year battle with the London Olympic organising committee to obtain the Olympic technical manuals which were signed by the organisers in 2005.
Other requirements found in the documents:
- At least 40,000 hotel rooms for IOC members, foreign sports administrators and other official guests, 1,800 of which must be four or five star. London will be expected to pay for at least 7,000 of the rooms.
- Making sure the Queen is available for a “ceremony planned by the IOC” just before the Games open.
- The Union Jack should only be flown fifth in precedence behind the Olympic flag, the London 2012 symbol, the United Nations flag and the flag of Greece.
- A recommended 700 people will have to be given a dedicated car and chauffeur, while another 400 should get a pool car and a driver.
- The city must also “obtain control of all billboard advertising, city transport advertising, airport advertising etc for the duration of the Games and the month preceding”, to make sure only official Olympic partners are advertised.
- All spectators “must be prohibited from wearing clothes or accessories with commercial messages other than the manufacturer’s brand name”, which if taken literally would prevent people from wearing football jerseys to events.
- All IOC meeting rooms must be provided with “photocopy paper in various colours (white, pink, green, blue) according to the precise instructions of the IOC”.
A spokesman for the London Olympics said “This is information provided to cities to get them thinking about all the things they need to do”, “The ambush marketing provisions are targeted on mass ambushes, not people wearing their football shirts*. The hotel room numbers are guidelines and we may not necessarily need, for instance, 100 rooms for the ceremony stars.”
* A reference to not wearing non-sponsored advertising at events, such as football matches.
Editorial comment: The really significant part of these further revelations is the hotel rooms requirements which although possibly very good for hoteliers, is not going to help London tourism as a whole since taking 40,000 hotel rooms out of circulation well before the event significantly reduces the number available for the public. Even if they don’t need all these, a significant portion will have to be pre-booked until they know exactly how many are needed.
With this in mind, it’s beginning to feel like the “Olypmics will be great for London” message is a getting a little stretched, especially after the revelations about the strict advertising rules of the London Olympics Act 2006 which mean that you can’t for example say “Come to London in 2012″ on an advert without risking a £20,000 fine!
If you want to visit the Olympics, you might be best off grabbing a London hotel room pretty soon before the Olympic committee take them all.
Original source: Eurosport on Yahoo.
