www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181066...ml?ito=feeds-newsxml


And plod lost the keys to Wembley

I predict lots of people getting excited by the performances of people they've never heard of before, in sports they've never shown an interest in before, all because they were born inside the same arbitrary 'borders' as themselves.

oioioi wrote:
But the olympics is a place for the world to compete in a healthy non violent way.

Let them play sports so they don't have to shoot each other with guns.

sports > war

But it's a good way to establish the mindset needed for army recruits.

A centre has opened near the Olympic Park in east London to tackle an anticipated rise in domestic and sexual abuse linked to the Games.

An expert on domestic violence said the threat came from more people having to spend time at home, large crowds and possibly athlete-on-athlete assaults.

He said research indicated cases of domestic violence increased with large sporting events.

The centre will provide the first data linking the issue with the Olympics.

It is based in The Grove, Stratford, and will be open for two months.

Just found an interesting link..

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18950390

Thanks Lesley...you can bet your arse that this service will be targetted at women. I used to work with DV some years ago, and even grew up with it for many years, and it never fails to piss me off how some people will do everything in their power to secure that 'funding' by making this into a gender issue, which it patently isn't.

Ab Origine wrote:
Well, I did find this link on the f-word blog which is about contemporary UK feminism

And why are the french such good swimmers?

And very nice to look at

Prof Allan Brimicombe, a statistician and expert in domestic violence, believes the disruption caused to residents in Stratford and the surrounding boroughs may "exacerbate troublesome relationships".

Sudarshan Bhuhi, chief executive and founder of Aanchal Women's Aid, said: "We definitely predict a rise [in domestic violence]."

In fact, she said there had already been an increase and there have already been more calls to the charity's helpline from women "worried about being cooped up in the home".

A centre has opened near the Olympic Park in east London to tackle an anticipated rise in domestic and sexual abuse linked to the Games.

..The centre will provide the first data linking the issue with the Olympics.

It is based in The Grove, Stratford, and will be open for two months.

London 2012 Olympics: China and South Korea under investigation after badminton match descends into farce

The women's doubles competition at London 2012 descended into farce and scandal at Wembley Arena as two pairs appeared to deliberately start playing to lose

Chinese top seeds Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang and the South Koreans Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na were booed off after an extraordinary match in which players regularly served into the net or hit wide apparently on purpose.

Both pairs had already qualified for the last 16 and their actions appeared to be an attempt to manipulate the final standings in Group A.

The reasons for both pairs wishing to do this were unclear but by ultimately losing the match, the Chinese now cannot play their compatriots and second seeds Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei until the final.

Tian and Zhao were sent off their natural path to the final as second seeds after losing to Denmark's Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen earlier in the day.

The downside to losing is that they could face a theoretically tougher Olympic quarter-final.

The Korean pair left court without speaking to waiting reporters to explain the reasons for their involvement in the fiasco after the 23-minute match.

Yu claimed she wanted to ease up ahead of the knockout phase.

She said: "Actually these opponents really were strong. This is the first time we've played them and tomorrow it's the knockout rounds, so we've already qualified and we wanted to have more energy for the knockout rounds.

"Really, it's not necessary to go out hard again when the knockout rounds are tomorrow."

The Korean pair won the match 21-14 21-11. The longest rally in the first game was just four strokes.

Match referee Thorsten Berg came on to court at one point to warn the players.

The farce continued later in the evening when another Korean pair, the third seeds Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, appeared to start playing up against Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

Both pairs had also already qualified for the next stage from Group C, the connection with the earlier incident being that the pool winners would play Wang and Yu next.

The Korean pairs would play each other in the quarter-finals if Ha and Kim lost.

Berg returned to court and brandished the black card, which means disqualification, but after protests from the Indonesians it was rescinded and the match resumed.

Paisan Rangsikitpho, a member of the Badminton World Federation's technical committee, said the governing body was aware of what had happened.

He said: "We will have a real discussion tonight to see what has happened, but I have to get all the facts."

Whatever the reasons for the bizarre spectacle, it is certain to spark debate about the decision to introduce a round-robin stage as opposed to holding a straight knockout tournament.

The spotlight will also be cast once again on the Chinese, who dominate world badminton but have been accused of manipulation before.

Petya Nedelcheva, the Bulgarian women's singles 15th seed who had been playing on an adjacent court at the time of the first incident, was forthright in her general criticism of China.

She said: "China control everything. I don't know who controlled the match to lose but if it is China again, they did it so many times last year, they didn't play against each other in 20 matches. They do what they want."

Nedelcheva's comments are supported by figures compiled by online magazine Badzine earlier this year which show that of the 99 all-Chinese matches played in major tournaments in 2011, 20 were walkovers.