There's been a bit of a theme in the diary this week. I've had a lot of meetings that are NOT about Sport and have been much more to do with the wider legacy of the London 2012 Olympics for the United Kingdom.
I know the 'L' word - legacy - is a tricky one, but it's unavoidable in my job.
We're bombarded with ideas and documents about the economic legacy, the sport legacy, the social legacy and countless others - and you can read some of the government's documentation .
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From time-to-time in this blog there'll be entries from other key senior members of the team leading our work. My colleague Dave Gordon is head of major events for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport and he writes the following:
Sandwiched between the two milestones of three years to go at the end of July and 1000 days to go at the end of October, it's time for another landmark in the countdown to London 2012.
This time it's the turn of broadcasting. All the world's leading Olympic broadcasters have gathered in London this week for the first briefing on preparations for the Games.
It's a time to meet friends we last saw in Beijing and some we caught up with earlier this year in Vancouver at their World Broadcaster meeting.
There are new faces too. While the rights holders in the USA are still , have been replaced by and have given way to who are naturally excited at the prospect of doing their first Games, the , in their home country next February.
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I'm speaking today (Thursday) at . Below is the full text of what I'm saying, but the aim is to do three main things:
1. Point to the range of innovation our audiences can expect in - from our commitment to broadcasting every single hour of every sport and to the and
2. Underline that this is about success for the UK, the creative industries and the legacy for the wider world
3. But also to outline how it gives us an opportunity to showcase the vigour and relevance of public service broadcasting in the digital age
Here's the detail...
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It was back to work for me and many thousands of other people this week, so this blog will reflect that in the coming weeks.
I'll be aiming to write more about what we're actually doing in the project - with the "1000 days to go" landmark due at the end of next month - and less about what I watched on TV while I was on holiday (which you may have spotted was the World Athletics).
But one question raised in a previous post is going to keep coming back between now and 2012, so I wanted to have a bash at it. It was Bristlehoundog who asked:
"Can someone please tell me why our Olympic athletes are known as TEAM GB and not TEAM UK??? Surely this title is an insult to the people of Northern Ireland who are also competing for medals for the UK."
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