22° CScattered T-Storms

20° CPartly Cloudy

Photo of the Day (ATR/Panasonic Lumix)Photo of the Day (ATR/Panasonic Lumix)insi

de

sundayaugust 5, 2012

mondayaugust 6, 2012

The Hula Report You Go, Girls!

Medal Events What and Where

View from the Top ArcelorMittal’s “Gift for London”

n Joint IOC/LOCOG Press Briefing – 11 a.m. at MPC

n Michael Phelps & Visa Press Conference – 1 p.m. at London Media Centre

n Men’s 100m Final – 9:50 p.m. at Olympic Stadium

n Joint IOC/LOCOG Press Briefing – 11 a.m. at MPC

n Equestrian Team Jumping Final – 2 p.m. at Greenwich Park

n Final Shooting Events of Games – 4 p.m. at Royal Artillery Barracks

A R o u n D T h e R i n g s . c o m 2 0 y e A R s AT # 1 A u g u s T 5 , 2 0 1 2 i s s u e 5 o f 8

“I think many people are looking forward to women’s boxing beginning,” C.K. Wu told ATR during a ringside interview at ExCeL, the venue for his and six other sports at London 2012.

“We know the women work very hard, and people will notice that they are good boxers,” said the IOC member from Chinese Taipei.

“Women’s boxing, I think, is something even better than the men’s in some cases,” he added, “so we are looking forward to that.”

London 2012 marks the first time the Games will feature both sexes competing in every sport on the program now that women’s boxing is joining the fold.

Round of 16 bouts begin Sunday with all medals (fly, light and middle) to be awarded Thursday.

Overall, Wu said he’s very happy with the competition so far.

“It’s very smooth, good results, transparent and open.”

In addition to women’s boxing, AIBA is also debuting a new scoring system here in London.

A computer selects the three closest scores of judges rather than eliminating the highest and lowest. Wu said the old system is still subject to manipulation.

Ready to RumbleThe president of the International Boxing Association tells Around the Rings competition in the first women’s Olympic tournament could surpass the men’s event. Written by ed hula iii

savannah marshall, wearing red, is Britain’s first-ever women’s world champion. she’s pictured here at november’s test event for boxing in exceL. (getty images)

continued on page 4

A R o u n D T h e R i n g s 3

W W W . A R o u n D T h e R i n g s . c o m 3

EDITOR & FOUNDEREd Hula PUBLISHERSheila Scott Hula EUROPEAN EDITORMark Bisson EDITORIAL STAFFEdward Hula III, Assignment EditorMatthew Grayson, Assistant EditorKaren Rosen, ReporterChristian Radnedge, ReporterHannah Reid, Junior WriterAaron Bauer, Editorial AssistantEvan Owens, Editorial Assistant

DESIGN AND LAYOUTSally Burroughs, Collins Digital

SOcIAL MEDIA Marcel Tirado, Digital & Social Media Director BUSINESSTammy Cox, Accounting ManagerJanice McDonald, Special ProjectsKathy Kuczka, Circulation Director(kathy@aroundtherings.com)

EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING1776 Peachtree StreetSuite 436 NorthAtlanta, Georgia 30309 USA PHONE: +1 404 874 1603FAx: +1 404 874 3248

ADVERTISING INFORMATIONBrian Baker brianbaker@truenorthmgtgroup.comIsia Reaves Wilcox isia@aroundtherings.com Paulette Hebert, Abu Dhabi advertising@aroundtherings.com

AROUND THE RINGSISSN 1095-9394www.aroundtherings.com

WORLD FOOTBALL INSIDERwww.worldfootballinsider.com 68-B Statensingel 3039LR RotterdamThe NetherlandsPHONE:+31 6522 17373

facebook.com/AroundTheRingstwitter.com/AroundTheRingspinterest.com/AroundTheRingsyoutube.com/AroundTheRingswww.AroundTheRings.com

MedalEvents

sund

ay, a

ugus

t 5

mon

day,

aug

ust 6

Athletics – Women’s Marathon (The Mall), Women’s Triple Jump, Women’s 400m, Men’s 3000m Steeplechase, Men’s Hammer Throw, Men’s 100m -Olympic Stadium

Badminton – Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles -Wembley ArenaTrack Cycling – Men’s Omnium -VelodromeDiving – Women’s 3m Springboard -Aquatics ArenaFencing – Men’s Team Foil -ExCeLArtistic Gymnastics – Men’s Floor, Women’s Vault, Men’s Pommel Horse

-North Greenwich ArenaSailing – Men’s Star, Men’s Finn -Weymouth and PortlandShooting – Men’s 50m Pistol -Royal Artillery BarracksTennis – Mixed Doubles, Women’s Doubles, Men’s Singles -WimbledonWeightlifting – Women’s +75kg -ExCeLWrestling – Men’s 55kg Greco-Roman, Men’s 74kg Greco-Roman -ExCeL

Athletics – Women’s Shot Put, Men’s 400m Hurdles, Women’s 3000m Steeplechase, Men’s 400m, Women’s Pole Vault -Olympic Stadium

Track Cycling – Men’s Sprint -Velodrome

Equestrian – Team Jumping -Greenwich Park

Artistic Gymnastics – Men’s Rings, Women’s Uneven Bars, Men’s Vault -North Greenwich Arena

Sailing – Women’s Laser Radial, Men’s Laser -Weymouth and Portland

Shooting – Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions, Men’s Trap -Royal Artillery Barracks

Weightlifting – Men’s 105kg -ExCeL

Wrestling – Men’s 60kg Greco-Roman, Men’s 84kg Greco-Roman, Men’s 120kg Greco-Roman -ExCeL

AR

ou

nD

Th

e R

ing

s

The hula Report you go, girls!When the curtains fall on the London Olympics, 2012 might just be considered the year of the female athlete – and perhaps even the Games that ushered in a golden age in women’s sports.

More women than ever are competing at these Olympics, and it’s the first time every single participating nation has female athletes in the Games. In fact, some of the largest delegations sport more women than men.

So it was sweetly fitting that it was not just one, but two women who brought home Great Britain’s first gold medals, in women’s pair rowing, on Wednesday.

Just as “girl power” is increasingly evident from the playing field to the medal stand, women are also moving into more positions of power at the executive level.

That’s not to say we’re there yet. There are only 22 women on the IOC to 86 men. But the progress is undeniable: three women on the Executive Board, and a woman – fencer Claudia Bokel – as the first female chair of the Athletes’ Commission.

Last month, Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco – herself a gold medalist, in 1984 – became the first woman from a predominantly Muslim nation to be elected a vice president of the IOC. She has also been mentioned as a possible successor to IOC president Jacques Rogge when his term expires next year.

But back to the medal count. It’s worth noting that up until last week, Russian gymnast Larissa Latynina held the record for most career medals – 18 – a record that stood for 48 years.

When Michael Phelps broke that record with his 19th medal, there was a lot of discussion about whether that made him the greatest Olympian in history.

Time may prove that to be the case.

But we think the title of “greatest Olympian ever” ultimately will be determined by more than who wins the most medals. We wondered

who our old friend, the late Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan, might have nominated.

We were surprised – and pleased – when his longtime partner told us Fanny Blankers-Koen, a 30-year-old Dutch mother of two who competed in track and field at the 1948 London Olympics.

At the time, she was criticized first for being too

old, and then for competing when she “should have been” at home, caring for her children. She went on to win four gold medals and to become the most successful athlete of the Games. Had it not been for the quaint notion that women were too delicate for more than four competitions, she might have taken home even more medals.

Yes, we still have a long way to go. But we’ve come so far in the 64 years since Fanny Blankers-Koen and the second London Olympics. To that, I say – you go, girls!

And never look back. Your day has come. n

– Sheila Scott Hula

4 A R o u n D T h e R i n g s

Wu added: “Nobody knows what the three closest ones were.”

At the end of the round, the scores of the judges are shown on the scoreboard.

“This is the new scoring system for the Olympics and is absolutely open and transparent,” he said. “This is very important for the judging and the refereeing judges.”

All judges received extensive training on the system prior to the Games, according to Wu, and had to pass an examination in order to judge Olympic bouts.

“The federation is happy, boxers are happy,” he said.

A total of 79 countries are competing in the 2012 Games. AIBA ran a “Road to London” program for developing countries to send boxers to Cardiff University for three weeks prior to the Olympics, where they received training and coaching.

“They’ve performed very well. We are very happy, and the program

has helped. We are very happy, and we want to continue in the future.”

Tickets, Wu claims, are sold out for the duration of the Games. ExCeL seats around 10,000 for boxing.

Wu has high marks for the venue, a massive exhibition center in London Docklands.

With six other sports inside its cavernous halls, spectators can float from sport to sport throughout the day – provided they have tickets, of course – helping to boost attendance. He also noted the clean sight-lines for spectators and very comfortable seating.

In addition to the president of Mongolia and the Ecuadorian sports minister, more than 10 IOC members have paid a visit to the Olympic boxing competition so far, with a total of 22 doing so in Beijing.

“They want to come back,” Wu said. n

Ready to Rumble continued from cover

Boxing’s setup inside exceL. (ATR/Panasonic Lumix)

8 A R o u n D T h e R i n g s

8 W W W . A R o u n D T h e R i n g s . c o m

SubscriptionsChristianRadnedge’sOlympic Haiku

halfway through the games,

The athletes start their onslaught,

Let the great ones shine{ 20 years at #1: your best source of news about the

olympics is www.aroundtherings.com for subscribers

only. email: kathy@aroundtherings.com for pricing.

View from the Top

Speaking to Around the Rings from the Orbit’s viewing platform, ArcelorMittal’s head of brand Ian Louden says that’s always been the case.

“What Mr. Mittal said at the beginning when he got involved with this is ‘I want to leave a gift for London.

“He said that he wanted to support the Olympic Games. He thinks the Olympic Games are something that is really worth the support of major corporations. We’re a global company, so it made sense to us,” says Louden.

“Not only are we the first steel company to ever sponsor an Olympic Games, but to sponsor it by doing something like this is really quite an innovation.”

Mittal has been keen to show off his multi-million dollar investment, hosting the Queen on July 28 and visiting the viewing platform himself multiple times in the past few months.

In fact, the entire Mittal family has taken an interest in the Orbit, perhaps the most visible symbol of the steel empire’s portfolio.

Mirrors from Anish Kapoor, the sculpture’s designer, adorn the walls of the top floor and were paid for by Mittal’s wife Usha. Tobin Postma, a company spokesman, said Usha felt “something was missing” and commissioned the mirrors, a Kapoor trademark.

The location of the landmark, right next to the Olympic Stadium and Aquatics Center,

ensures the Orbit will be a fixture in the public imagination for years to come.

“For us, it’s been a huge source of pride that we’re right next to the stadium. We’re right next to the Aquatics Center, right in the middle of Olympic Park,” says Postma.

“It’s an opportunity to show everyone that steel can be used to make beautiful structures. This couldn’t have been built with any other material.”

Olympic fans hoping to get into the Orbit during the Games will have to wait until the Olympic Park’s post-Games conversion is complete by 2014. Tickets to the viewing platform are sold out. Around 5,000 were available for every day of the Games.

Neither Louden nor Postma would reveal how long ArcelorMittal’s partnership with the Olympics will continue – if at all – offering only a coy “perhaps.”

“I think we’ll let this Olympics finish and then see how it goes,” Postma tells ATR. “I know Rio’s coming up next, and you never know.” n

The Orbit, perhaps the most recognizable element of Olympic Park, is part of a personal effort by ArcelorMittal founder Lakshmi Mittal to increase corporate engagement in the Olympic Movement.

Written by ed hula iii

“This couldn’t have been built with any other material,” says Arcelormittal spokesman Tobin Postma. (ATR/Panasonic Lumix)

An observation deck atop the orbit looks out over olympic Park in one direction and down into olympic stadium in the other. (ATR/Panasonic Lumix)