• Injured pair return;Hockey

Olympic Games, because Britain has signed a contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that requires it to welcome all Olympic nations including Zimbabwe.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister denied that any proposal for a blanket ban had been circulating in Whitehall. "We continue to discuss Zimbabwe with the ECB," he said. "This is a matter for them. If they decide they want to ban Zimbabwe, that's a decision we would support."
Brown's strongly held views about the Mugabe regime were echoed publicly last month by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, who said that a cricket tour to England by Zimbabwe would be inappropriate.
"The situation in Zimbabwe is obviously deeply concerning," he said. "I think that bilateral cricket tours at the moment don't send the right message about our concern."
A spokesman for the Foreign Office went farther, saying: "International sports should never be a way for dictators to publicise their misrule. If the situation does not improve in Zimbabwe, we would not want to see the Zimbabwe team tour here in 2009, nor the England team tour there in 2012."
Bright Matonga, Zimbabwe's Deputy Information Minister, raised the temperature by accusing Britain of a "racist ploy". He said: "If we had an all-white team, they would have allowed it to tour. Sport should be a unifying force, not a political battleground." The IOC declined to comment on a "hypothetical" scenario.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Sport

Test results give Pistorius reason for optimism in race for Beijing;Athlet ics

Matthew Pryor

297 字

2008 年 3 月 5 日

The Times

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73

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee sprinter, told The Times yesterday that he is confident of winning his appeal against the IAAF after tests on his blades conducted in the United States this week had produced "completely different" results from those that resulted in him being banned in January. Pistorius had ruled out any hope of running in the 400 metres at the Beijing Olympic Games in August but is now aiming to be there.
"We did tests last week in Houston - they redid the tests they did in Germany and the results were completely different," Pistorius, who has engaged Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, a leading New York City law firm, to fight his case, said. "I am optimistic. I am still hoping I can make the cut-off to qualify for the Olympic Games."
Pistorius, who would need to shave 0.84sec off his best 400 metres time of 46.34 to qualify, said that the lack of able-bodied competition would make it difficult. "I have until mid-June (to qualify) and haven't had any able-bodied races, so it won't be easy," he said.
The IAAF banned Pistorius after organising two days of tests run by Professor Peter Bruggemann at the German Sports University in Cologne. Bruggemann found that Pistorius's "Cheetah" blades gave him a "considerable advantage" over able-bodied athletes. But Pistorius says in The Fastest Man On No Legs, a documentary to be broadcast at 9pm this evening on Five, that his exclusion by the IAAF is akin to racism. "It's like being sexist or racist, saying we don't want disabled people in the sport," he says.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Home news

Architects defend their work for Chinese Olympics

Charlene Sweeney

674 字

2008 年 3 月 4 日

The Times

T

Scotland 8

‚ń文

(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Company has history of controversial work
Building to be base for 5,600 visiting journalists
The boss of a Scots-based company behind a flagship Olympics venue in Beijing has joined the escalating row over China's human rights record in the run-up to the 2008 Games.
Peter Morrison, the chief executive of RMJM, the Edinburgh architectural practice that designed the Beijing Olympic Green Convention Centre, defended his company's work in China and criticised those who are boycotting the Games over human rights issues and the country's failure to intervene in Darfur.
Among those who have attacked the regime recently are Stephen Spielberg, the Hollywood film director, who last month resigned as artistic director to the Olympics over China's inaction in Darfur.
RMJM, the only British company designing an Olympic building, have a history of involvement in controversial projects.
It helped to deliver the over-budget and much-delayed Scottish Parliament building after the death of the lead architect Enrique Miralles, and designed the proposed Gazprom tower in St Petersburg, Russia, which has been the focus of protests over its modernist appearance.
The Beijing Olympic Green Centre is scheduled to host a handful of events, such as fencing, but more significantly will act as headquarters for the 5,600 journalists who are expected to travel to China to cover the Games.
Mr Morrison said that China changing and improving the built environment would help the country to move forward. He said: "Everyone will acknowledge that the China of today is moving rapidly away from the China of the past.
"We are committed to providing the best buildings for the people of China, whether a university building, offices or homes. We don't think that the population should be deprived of world-class facilities because of the problems the country has faced historically.
"Architects have a big role to play in changing perceptions and should be helping to improve people's lives through the creation of quality environments for all to live and work."
He added that RMJM, which has followed a strict moral and ethical code since it was founded more than 50 years ago, was also seeking to improve China's attitude towards the environment as global warming becomes a key concern.
"In a country with such a rapidly growing economy, there is a temptation to build quickly and without consideration for the environment. We have a policy of working closely with our clients to educate them in the building process and to address issues of sustainability," he said.
"We've worked hard to improve the situation for parts of the built environment in China and we have embraced the Chinese culture. I believe this is the key to the development of the country - not to widen the gulf between it and the western world."
The spotlight on China's human rights record and more recently its reluctance to use its influence in Sudan, where 200,000 people have died in the Darfur conflict, has intensified in recent weeks as the country prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
In January Prince Charles vowed to snub the opening ceremony over China's occupation of Tibet and a host of Hollywood actors, Olympic athletes, politicians and peace campaigners have since condemned the country's failure to halt the bloodshed in Darfur.
Shortly after Spielberg made his protest Daniel Libeskind, the Polish-born New York architect responsible for some of the world's most famous contemporary buildings, including the Jewish Museum in Berlin, urged firms to think twice before carrying out work for regimes such as China's.
However, RMJM won support yesterday for its defiant stance from the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.
Neil Baxter, the secretary of RIAS, said: "Architects are ambassadors of goodwill and by creating a mutual understanding you break down barriers. Those who create a hard position against China are doing a dis-service to human rights."
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Sport

Radcliffe sees Beijing as best chance to bury bad memories;Athletics

Rick Broadbent Athletics Correspondent

512 字

2008 年 3 月 4 日

The Times

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73

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
The build-up to the Olympic Games has already been clouded by smog, asthma and surgical masks, but Paula Radcliffe believes the pressure is off as she plans a cathartic triumph in Beijing. The New York City Marathon winner dismissed fears that the pollution and pressure were saddling her with a crushing weight and claimed that she was ready to reap the benefit of previous traumas.
"It will be warm in Beijing and it will be humid, which I think will be a bigger factor, but in the past I have always raced well in hot and humid conditions," she said. "It will be tougher for everybody, but in some ways that will be better for me because a tougher race means the tougher racers will come to the top."
Radcliffe will run the London Marathon on April 13 but her whole year, and even career, is arrowing towards the Olympics, when she knows that she will be Britain's best bet for an athletics gold.
However, she said that far from adding to the burden of expectation, the memory of Athens, when she failed to finish and was pictured sobbing on an Athens kerbside, will be a positive thing.
"I've already experienced the worst that can happen and I've come through and survived, so for me the pressure is less," she said. "I actually feel that that experience will make me stronger in Beijing. You can go into it with a little bit too much pressure on your shoulders and I think my previous experiences will help me treat it like another marathon.
"What I need to do is go there 100 per cent fit and healthy and then just give it the best shot on the day."
Radcliffe, 34, plans to run at the 2012 Olympics, but she is well aware that this is her last great opportunity. She will start as favourite, but potential party-poopers abound.
"There will be strong opposition from the Chinese in their country, from the Japanese who have a great record at Olympics, from the Kenyan girls and Ethiopian girls," she said.
Radcliffe also knows that Olympic finals have a habit of throwing up a dark horse, something her compatriot, Mara Yamauchi, is hoping to capitalise on. "You have to be prepared for someone who you might not be expecting and be ready to handle that, too," Radcliffe said.
Radcliffe's New York comeback in November was the perfect riposte to those who wondered whether almost two years out would leave her a shell of her former self.
"I think I surprised a few people, but I myself never doubted it (that she would win)," she said. "The most important thing is that I did and I am now able to build upon that for Beijing. Having been to three Olympics, where I feel I've never been able to achieve my maximum potential, there is an added fire and momentum."
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Sport

Jowell outlines details of action plan for legacy of London 2012;Olympic G ames

Ashling O'Connor Olympics Correspondent

247 字

2008 年 3 月 4 日

The Times

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67

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, will present a draft version today of a long-awaited legacy action plan as part of London 2012's twice-yearly update to inspectors from the IOC. She is expected to tell Gilbert Felli, the executive director, and Denis Oswald, the chairman of the co-ordination commission monitoring the preparations, how Britain will benefit in the long term by spending Pounds 9.3billion on hosting the Games.
As part of his winning pitch to the IOC in Singapore in 2005, Lord Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, promised that he would deliver a "next-generation" Olympics with a lasting legacy for London, the UK and the Olympic Movement.
A restructure of Sport England has delayed publication of the plan by several months. It is not yet clear whether a budget has been set, but Jowell said yesterday: "It's almost ready to go."
The IOC team will spend a day scrutinising plans for Olympic venues and progress on sponsorship to fund the 16-day event. Their arrival caps a tumultuous past month for the organisers of the London Olympics, in which athletics was dominated by Dwain Chambers and Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, mistakenly invited Linford Christie, a convicted drug cheat, to bear the Olympic torch through London, before dropping him.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Sport

Saunders gets back on track to qualify for Beijing Games;Boxing

Ron Lewis

519 字

2008 年 3 月 3 日

The Times

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69

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Four years ago Amir Khan was the sensation of amateur boxing, a 17-year-old facing and beating the best in the world on the way to winning an Olympic silver medal. This year, an 18-year-old in his first year as a senior has been turning plenty of heads and on Saturday Billy Joe Saunders became the seventh British boxer to qualify for this year's Olympic Games.
Saunders, who comes from a travelling family in Hertfordshire, was a highly rated junior at welterweight, but until a month ago he was thought of as a prospect for the London Olympics in 2012 rather than Beijing in August. But in his first year as a senior he stayed unbeaten, winning gold at the Commonwealth Federation Championships, the prestigious Tammer tournament in Finland and recording a string of international wins, including against the United States. When he won a multi-nations tournament in Bulgaria last month - beating Carlos Banteur, the Cuban champion, on the way to gold - he was called up to last week's Olympic qualifying tournament in Pescara, Italy.
After three wins in three days, Saunders lost narrowly to Olexandr Stretsky, of Ukraine, 15-13 on points - his first defeat as a senior. But Saunders showed great maturity to secure his Olympic spot in a third-place box-off by defeating Pavol Hlavacka, of Slovakia, 20-10.
"I thought I beat the Ukrainian and it would have been my 50th straight win," Saunders said. "I didn't lose any sleep over it and I found it easy to re- focus on my bronze-medal match. In many ways, losing the fight took the pressure off me because I didn't have an unbeaten record any more and maybe my opponent didn't think so much of me. I was aiming at London (in 2012), but I put my head down and trained hard and kept winning."
Great Britain have seven boxers qualified for Beijing - two more than the total that represented Britain at the past three Olympic Games combined. Frankie Gavin, Joe Murray, Bradley Saunders and Tony Jeffries qualified at last year's World Championships, while James DeGale, the middleweight, and Khalid Yafai, the flyweight, qualified on Friday. Stephen Smith, the featherweight, was beaten in his box-off on Saturday, but there will be one more chance to qualify, in Athens next month.
Saunders hopes that Britain can send a full team. "All the GB squad are like brothers, we live together and train together and it's an honour to be part of the squad," he said. "To be going all together to Beijing is great, but it's not a holiday, we're going to win medals.
"I know my family and friends back home will be proud of me and, hopefully, me doing this will prove to people that if you put your mind to it you can achieve things like this. It feels amazing to have got there. It hasn't sunk in yet."
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Sport

Britain thrash Mexico as Olympic campaign gets off to a flyer;Hockey

Cathy Harris in Santiago, Chile

428 字

2008 年 3 月 3 日

The Times

T

63

‚ń文

(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Great Britain could not have made a better start to their Olympic qualifying campaign in Chile. In a remarkable second half, they equalled their best result with a crushing 11-0 win over Mexico at the Prince of Wales Country Club.
Nine scorers and nine goals in the last 23 minutes were reward for a dominant display against lowly ranked opponents. The previous time Britain reached double figures was at the 1948 Olympics in London, where they recorded the same result against the United States.
With a stunning backdrop of the snow-capped Andes and in sweltering heat, Britain's superior fitness after a fortnight's acclimatisation in the Chilean capital of Santiago paid dividends. The only blemish was a poor penalty corner routine, which saw them score only once from ten. Bobby Crutchley, the assistant coach, said: "That was disappointing and some of our skills were intermittent. We had no idea what to expect of Mexico because we had no video footage. They were tough defensively in the first half, but once we picked up the pace and our passing was slicker, our quality showed."
The Mantell brothers, Richard and Simon, gave Britain a 2-0 lead at the break, after which Stephen Dick, Richard Alexander, Barry Middleton, Rob Moore, Ashley Jackson, James Tindall, Simon Mantell and Matt Daly (two) added to the scoreline.
India, widely regarded as Britain's biggest rivals in the event, also cruised to a convincing win, treating the crowd to some superb finishing in their 8-0 win over Russia, while Chile suffered a shock 4-3 defeat by Austria.
Today is a rest day, with Britain in action again tomorrow, against the hosts. Jason Lee will be back in charge after returning from the UK, where his wife gave birth to a daughter on Friday. Chile are the only country among the six here not to have competed in an Olympic Games. The winner of Sunday's final will clinch the only place up for grabs for Beijing.On the domestic front, Bowdon Hightown suffered a surprise 3-0 defeat away to Poynton in the women's premier division - Katie Maltman, Cath Linaker and Phillippa Jones scoring late goals. Slough, the leaders, therefore, opened up a ten-point lead over the Merseysiders after their comfortable 4-0 victory over Old Loughtonians. Alex Scott scored a goal in each half, with Jane Smith and Chloe Strong completing the scoreline.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Business

Andrew Macfarlane;Business big shot;UK Business

Lilly Peel

388 字

2008 年 3 月 3 日

The Times

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41

‚ń文

(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
When Andrew Macfarlane joined Rentokil Initial as chief financial officer two years ago, the pest control and cleaning business was recovering from boardroom upheaval. Sir Clive Thompson, the chairman, had been ousted the year before, followed by James Wilde, the chief executive.
Another round of expulsions within the group is on the cards after its second profit warning in little more than two months. On the same day as the warning, the company announced the impending departure of Brian McGowan, the latest chairman - a double blow that prompted a slide in the share price of 24 per cent last week. Today, at the start of a series of shareholder meetings demanded by furious investors, Mr Macfarlane and Doug Flynn, the chief executive, will fight for survival.
The pair are due to unveil a strategy for once again turning Rentokil around. According to analysts, options could include a break-up.
In November, things seemed to be looking up. A contract to cleanse Beijing of its insect pests in the run-up to the Olympic Games this year helped to lift the company to a 21 per cent increase in underlying profits. A 140 per cent improvement in revenue at City Link, the parcels business, also hinted that business was back on track.
However, blaming the economic climate, Doug Flynn says that 2008 earnings will be "significantly lower" than 2007, in which adjusted pre-tax profits were up only 1 per cent to Pounds 211.4 million.
Mr Macfarlane, 51, joined Rentokil in August 2005, arriving fresh from overseeing a Pounds 2.4billion financial restructuring at Land Securities.
The father-of-two spent a large part of his career at Ernst & Young, working across mergers and acquisitions and various industries in both the UK and abroad, and became a partner of the accountancy firm in 1987.
He joined Bass, later Six Continents, as director of corporate finance and planning, later becoming chief financial officer in its hotels and resorts division, based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Rat-catching is proving to be his toughest job yet. It looks as though both Mr Flynn and Mr Macfarlane may have to emulate the magic of the Pied Piper if they want investors to follow their tune. (Lilly Peel)
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Sport