March 15, 2012!

I want to thank everyone who has enjoyed my blog over het last few months. I had a great time running the blog and updating stories for anyone who was interested to read about the London summer Olympics. January 19th was my first blog post and today, March 15th is NOT my last... The London Olympics will start on July 27th, 2012 and until that time I will keep posting on my blog! 

For more information about the London Olympics: http://www.london2012.com/ or Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/London2012  (everyday updates and highlights).

Keep following my blog!

A. (The Dutch Sportaholic)

Olympic qualification for fencer Bas Verwijlen!

Bas Verwijlen is very happy to tell everyone that he qualified for his second Olympics. Due to his silver medal at the European Championships and his silver medal at the World championships. He was pretty sure of competing in the 2012 London Olympics for the worldwide governing organization for Olympic fencing, but not for the Dutch committee.

For the Dutch Olympic Committee he had achieve a top-8 result in 2011 and one top-16 in 2012 all at a pre-selected competition. In 2011 he had a top-8 result at the Tallinn worldcup (3th place) and in 2012 he finished 3th in the Qatar Grand Prix. 

After returning home some people told him that he could be the new #1 on the world ranking list. He waited until monday and saw the updated ranking……it was true! He is very proud to be the first Dutch fencer ever to be ranked #1 on the world ranking list for some weeks.

Unfortunately it was just for a few weeks.
The Italian Worldchampion Paolo Pizzo catched up on him because of his good result at the 2012 Tallinn worldcup. Next weekend is the worldcup in Paris. This will be the last olympic qualification moment and will be very exited and stressful for some fencers.

A. (The Dutch Sportaholic) 

Australia´s Twitter warning to athletes!

Australian athletes have been warned against using Twitter during competition after officials found competitiors tweeting during last week´s Olympic diving test event in London (England).

Mike Tancred, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) director of media and communications, fears athletes tweeting during competition. Coaches and team managers needed to implement rules to eliminate the risk of social media undermining performances at this year's London 
Games. 

The problem was highlighted at the diving test event in London where athletes were tweeting during the competition. Tancred said: "Last week diving officials stopped the use of social media during the competition, which was also a World Cup event, once they recognized it was happening".

The International Olympic Committee will allow athletes to use social media such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter during the Olympics because it is keen to encourage more youth interest in the Olympics.

The official Olympics and Paralympics Twitter account has 389,103 followers and Tweets every day about sport, culture, behind the scenes information and opinion on the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics!

A. (The Dutch Sportaholic)

Fifth Olympics for Dutch rower Diederik Simon!

Yesterday, March 9th, 2012: Dutch rower Diederik Simon (41) qualified for the London Olympics. He qualified for the 'Holland eight' with Olivier Siegelaar, Jozef Klaassen, Sjoerd Hamburger, Matthijs Vellenga, Rogier Blink, Mitchel Steenman, Roel Braas and Peter Wiersum.

Diederik Simon is a big name with a successful Olympic history. He won three Olympic medals in total. Gold at the Olympics in Atlanta (1996) in the Holland Eight (8 +), silver in the 2000 Sydney olympics and in 2004 Athens he won again silver. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing the team took a fourth place. The London Olympics will be his fifth Olympics in a row.  

More Dutch or Belgium Olympic news........

Elco van der Geest qualified this week on behalf of Belgium for the Olympics in Judo. Elco van der Geest was born in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Van der Geest, which compete in the category up to 100 kilograms, changed his citizenship to Belgium because he lost the competition in the Netherlands with Henk Grol. Every country may select only one judoka in every weight class.  

LUKX.nl sponsors Elco van der Geest on his road to the Olympics in London 2012! They created a nice promotion movie about him.

A. (The Dutch Sportaholic)

Extra financial support for 8 Dutch Olympic Medal contenders!
Eight Dutch Olympic athletes signed a sponsorship contract for the next four years! Energy supplier Nuon is the new sponsor of a team of eight athletes.  All athletes are successful, talented, dedicated, ambitious and passioned, but none can reach the top without the support of friends, family, trainers and coaches. This financial support helps them to reach their major goal: Olympic gold! 

Team Nuon: 
Judoka: Henk Grol
Track Cyclist: Teun Mulder,
Beachvolleybal: Marleen van Iersel and Sanne Keijzer
Track & Field athlete: Dafne Schippers
Fencer: Bass Verwijlen
Snowboarder: Dimi de jong
Ice skater: Kjeld Nuis

There is a strong link between the ambitions of Nuon and the ambition. Both Nuon and the athletes are constantly working to get energy as efficiently and effectively as possible to develop their skills and techniques.

This new sponsorship contract runs to 2016. It will cover three Olympics: London 2012, Sochi 2014 and Rio de Janeiro 2016!

A. (The Dutch Sportaholic)

Blog update: Dutch Road to London 2012

Last week many Dutch athletes qualified for the Olympics in London. This is good news and in today's video a short update about two sports:Track and Field and Swimming!

Enjoy!

                                     

A. (The Dutch Sportaholic)

Hilda Kibet qualifies for the Olympic marathon!

Hilda Kibet has qualified for the marathon for this summer's London Olympics. She ran the RAK Half Marathon in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Her time 1.11.07 was much faster than the required 1.13. She finished fifth in a top field of athletes.

Hilda Kibet is the first Dutch Track & Field athlete who qualifies for the Olympics in London. The other athletes who were nominated in 2011 for London in 2012 should prove shape retention by achieving the IAAF B limit. The Dutch nominated Track & Field athletes:

·  Churandy Martina 100 and 200 meter: 10.24/20.65 sec.
·  Lornah Kiplagat marathon: half marathon 1.13.00
·  Gregory Sedoc 110 meter hurdles: 13.60 sec.
·  Rutger Smith discus: 63,00 meter
·  Erik Cadée discus: 63,00 meter
·  Monique Jansen discus: 59,50 meter
·  Eelco Sintnicolaas decathlon: 7950 points
·  Dafne Schippers 200 meter and Heptathlon: 23.30 sec. / 5950 points
·  4x100 meter relay women  

A. (The Dutch Sportaholic)

Athlete Podcast Discussion – Dutch road to London 2012

Wednesday, February 14th, I had the opportunity to have an online podcast discussion with  two exchange students: Shaun D’Souza and Rich Freeling regarding hot topics related to the upcoming Olympics in London. They are both highly involved in sports. 

The podcast topics include:

• Guest introduction
• London 2012
• Sydney 2000
• Expectation Dutch athletes and teams

A. (The Dutch Sportaholic)