Published in Nerve Magazine for Bournemouth University, December 2011 Issue In co-operation with Nerve Sports Editor Toby Gray. Full article can be found HERE
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When Coca Cola perched their iconic red bus down at Talbot Campus to give people the chance to get their photo taken with the Olympic Torch, anticipation for 2012 to kick off got that little bit more real. Nerve Sport headed down to the event to catch all the hype that next year is already giving off, with interviews from all the key people involved.
On the road since May, the Coca Cola Torch Tour is travelling to every major town and city in the UK to give people the opportunity to become part of London 2012 by having their photo taken with the historic torch, as well as nominating 1 of 8000 torchbearers who will carry the Olympic flame through Bournemouth next year. With the tour now reaching its finale, the NUS tour is the final leg, with the bus visiting 20 selected universities across the UK, making students the only candidates left available to become torchbearers.
The torchbearer themselves will become part of a completely unique Olympic event. By taking part in a 70 day tour across the UK, 8000 people will travel 300m each through their own town or city with the Olympic flame; a feat that has never been performed at any Games before. The idea behind this is that 95% of the UK population will be within 1 hour drive of the Olympic flame, and for people who weren’t able to get tickets for 2012, this is a way of feeling a part of the legacy. It is estimated that within the 70 day tour, the flame will travel 8000 miles across the nation until the opening ceremony kicks off on July 27
th.
Bournemouth is set to have the torch towards the end of the tour on the 13
th July, and according to organisers, the town the flame ends up in each night will host a huge celebration, with a range of musical artists and events to commemorate the occasion, all whilst the flame remains alight.
Yet the day wasn’t simply about the torch, it was about promoting all things Olympic, whether that be university based, or through the local community. Sport BU used the day to increase sport participation at the university, with rowing and kicking competition as well a punch bag tournament, designed to increase student involvement in sport. This was supplemented the presence of various volunteering opportunities, including the Relays (
Regional Educational Legacy in Arts and Youth Sport) which aims to increase sporting participation to schools around the area in conjunction with 2012.
We caught up a host of personalities around the event to gauge their reactions on this memorable day.
Andy Cope –Coca Cola Torch Tour Team Representative
Part of a small team touring every corner of the UK, Coca Cola Torch Tour Representative Andy Cope spoke to us about the journey.
“We’ve been on tour for about 3 and a half months now, and visited over 100 locations. We will literally finish one evening and drive up to 100 miles to our next location. We’ve done all the music festivals, most of the theme parks and currently this is the last leg of the tour; the NUS tour which will last 4 weeks.”
Talking about the aims of the tour, Andy highlighted the importance of getting everyone involved in next year. “2012 is a huge event for the UK as a whole, and I know loads of people that have applied for tickets and haven’t been able to get any, myself included. But the Olympic torch tour will go all around the UK, so everyone will be within 1 hour drive of the Olympic flame. We know how much it means to everybody. Everybody loves the Olympics here.”
As students are the only remaining candidates eligible to become torchbearers, Andy reinforced the importance of young people representing Britain, as they represent the brand motto of “Future Flame”.
“People at university are the future and young people are leading us there, so we want young brand ambassadors that people can look up to and bring fresh ideas to the community.”
The decision to who the 8000 torcbearers will become will be passed to a panel including Olympic athletes, brand ambassadors and the International Olympic Committee, and Andy claimed the board were looking for passion.
“We’re looking for future flames so someone with a passion for anything. It could be sport, environment, or anything that gives back to the community. You need to sell yourselves to us and we can decide whether you can carry the flame next year.
The arrival of the Olympic Torch was obviously the focus for the day, and Andy explained the fascinating story behind the Olympic flame’s journey:
“The flame is always lit by the power of the sun, using a parabolic mirror in Greece. It is then transported by private plane with 24-hour security alongside back up flames from the original fire source.
You can’t just light it from any means; it has to be from the sunlight in Greece. If it any point, all the back up flames do go out (which won’t and hasn’t happened), we would have to transport it back to Greece to relight it. So in reality, the flame itself is more important than the torch. “
Toby Horner – SUBU President
As one of only 20 successful university applicants, Bournemouth University’s Student Union President Toby Horner spoke of the impact the event had at BU.
“The torch is an excellent thing to have, and not only for the university but for the local community too. We’ve had schools coming along today as well as members of the public, so it’s a really good thing for Bournemouth in general, not just the university.
Students have now been given even more opportunities to get involved in sport thanks to new sportBU schemes. Toby told Nerve: “It’s great to see that sportBU have a presence at this event, and we’ve got people recruiting volunteers locally for the Games when they come to Weymouth. It’s just about highlighting the different ways that students can get involved in sport and be part of the Olympics.
“Here at BU we have the initiative to get students more aware of the Games and heighten excitement.
In our bid we had a
BU Medal Challenge for students taking part in pre-Games physical activity, ranging from free social sports and sport club parties to free group fitness sessions for students taking part in social and group sports."
On the back of a grant from Sport England, sportBU are also running Free Your Fitness – a campaign promoting taster sport sessions throughout the term to really get students involved in sport, be it on land or sea.
Virginia Bailey – RELAYS Coordinator
Virginia Bailey, the schools coordinator for local volunteering scheme Relays (Regional Education Legacy in Arts and Youth Sport) spoke of her pleasure in welcoming a leg of the Torch Tour to
Bournemouth.
“Visually it’s been fantastic. It’s starting to get people really excited about next year, and it’s been a great platform to launch everything Olympic related that we’re doing down at the university.”
“These guys have been on tour since May, hitting every corner of the UK to get everyone involved in the biggest sporting event in the world. It’s a brilliant idea”
Due to the scope of the event, the Olympics has facilitated for a number of volunteering opportunities available next year. Virginia spoke of the impact: “We’ve already had 100 people sign up to various volunteering schemes so today has really fore fronted the various ways students can get involved in the Games.”
As for Relays, which aims to improve school involvement in sport in the build up to the Olympics, Virginia said she would love to see one of her volunteers chosen as a torchbearer for Bournemouth.
“All our volunteers have been brilliant, not only today but with their overall contribution to Relays in general. One of our guys has just won a South West award for volunteer of the year, so hopefully some of our people have a good chance of becoming a torchbearer.”
Amanda Kevern – Sports Development Officer
SportBU’s Sports Development Officer Amanda Kevern also spoke of her excitement after the Torch Tour, and has high hopes of student involvement in sportBU this year.
“The Coca-Cola tour has allowed us to promote volunteering opportunities within sport, directly linked to the Olympics, be it through participation or volunteering. As well as sportBU promoting physical, healthy activity, we also played host to RELAYS – an Olympic-based athletics project – and the Weymouth and Portland ambassadors scheme – a volunteering opportunity for students wanting to help at next year’s sailing events down here.”
Thanks to the various schemes sportBU offer, the Olympians of tomorrow may only be a stone’s throw away. “Our varsity programme is where we do our elite end of sport. We have students represent us as teams and as individuals, and last year we came 30
th out of 146 institutions in the British Universities and College Sports (BUCS) competition, being the lowest-populated university of the top 30.
“Athletes also represent us at an international level, and attend the World Games for universities. Alongside this, we also give scholarships for athletes that represent us at a national level or above.”
Dividends often pay off for sportBU athletes, and the university boasts a fleet of talent. A proud Amanda said: “Our golf team is the best in England, and often get invited to represent BU on a large scale.
We also have England football squad trialists, with one player put on the reserve list to represent Great Britain at the World University Games in China this summer.
“Ultimately though, we strive to push both ends – participation and elite – and although varsity trials have finished, there are other ways of getting involved in Sport BU, such as intramural or social sport in the lead up to the Games and beyond.”
