2008 Olympic Games

Swimmers, their families and fans will be given the Toyota treatment June 29 to July 6 at Qwest Center Omaha

As U.S. Olympic swimming hopefuls, their families and fans plunge into the excitement of the Olympic swimming trials in Omaha next week, Toyota will be doing its part to make sure that all in attendance have a good experience.

At the Qwest Center Omaha on June 29 through July 6, swimmers will be treated to special amenities in the Toyota Energy Zone lounge. Including comfortable chairs and fun diversions that are calculated to quiet any pre-competition jitters, the Energy Zone has been designed to create a comfortable atmosphere to help calm the athletes during the intense competition.

Located next to the warm-up pool, athletes can fuel up with fruit, water and energy bars in the 40-by-60 square-foot “Energy Zone” outfitted with two large flat panel TVs that will be connected to the newest video game systems that athletes can use to work off the stress of competition. Additionally, athletes will have access to computers and the internet in the Energy Zone.

Between races fans can enjoy a range of special features by visiting Toyota’s 8,000-square-foot Aqua Zone, a space devoted to Olympics-related activities or by taking a spin in any one of three hybrid vehicles while visiting Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive Tour.

Toyota will also exhibit its line-up of hybrid vehicles in the Aqua Zone and hold autograph sessions with two top swimmers, Cullen Jones, an NCAA champion, and Brandon Hansen, an Olympic gold medalist. Jones will be signing autographs at 4:30 p.m. on June 30 and Hansen at 4:30 p.m. on July 4.

Toyota will also provide a lounge area for the exclusive use of Olympic swimming alumni and the parents of recent additions to the U.S. National Swimming Team.

The Toyota National Team Family Hospitality Suite will be used to assist families of the 2008 Olympic team to understand plans for traveling to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games as well as provide them a place to relax between races. Swimmers heading to the Olympics and their parents will also have an opportunity to have their photographs taken at a podium in front of the American flag.

Visitors can also create and star in their own Toyota TV commercial or take their own photos in a special booth at the Toyota Studio within the Aqua Zone.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to support such a great event,” said Keith Dahl, National Marketing Manager for Toyota. “This is a wonderful opportunity for us to support those who train so hard to reach the Olympic trials and to entertain their friends and families between races.”

Across the street from the arena, located in the Hilton Omaha Hotel parking lot, Toyota’s nationally touring exhibit, “Highway to the Future: Mobile Hybrid Experience,” will offer visitors the opportunity to test drive the Prius, Camry and Highlander hybrid vehicles on July 4, 5, and 6.

Toyota is also supporting six members of USA Swimming’s National Team with its Engines of Change program, a nod to Toyota’s hybrid technology and the swimmers personal accomplishments in the pool and the community. There will be an Engine of Change display within the Aqua Zone.

Those swimmers are Hansen, Jones, Tara Kirk, Aaron Peirsol, Kaitlin Sandeno, and Dara Torres.

Toyota will also provide a courtesy shuttle service for the swimmers, as well as their families and friends, between the airport and the hotel. Anyone attending the trials can register for this service online at www.toyota.com/swimming to be picked up.

Source: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

Web Site: http://www.toyota.com/swimming

Pupils from schools across the country are being encouraged to explore their identity, ask what it means to be British and celebrate diversity as part of the first Who Do We Think We Are? Week to help build community cohesion.

Schools Minister Jim Knight will today launch a week of national events by visiting a trailblazing scheme where schools with largely white pupils in rural areas link with those with a majority of Muslim pupils in urban Bradford to develop understanding, appreciation and shared values to overcome tensions and bring people together.

Sir Keith Ajegbo’s review of Diversity and Citizenship in the curriculum, published in January 2007 and welcomed by the Government, recommended a week in which schools focus on exploring issues of identity, diversity and shared values. This will mark its first year. With the Olympics around the corner, it will also give young people a chance to explore ideas of national pride, ‘Britishness’ and international cooperation, especially as today also marks International Olympic Day. Classrooms during the week will also consider challenging issues around faith, community, history and ethnicity. The Ajegbo report found that white working class boys and girls have a negative perception of their British identity and can feel as disenfranchised and negative about their British identity as non-white pupils.

Jim Knight will be travelling around the country during the week visiting various schools and projects. The Bradford model of school linking Mr Knight is visiting has proven very successful in promoting community cohesion and led to the Government investing £2m, supported by £1m donation from the Pears Foundation, to establish the Schools Linking Network in October 2007 to support all schools across the country to set up linking projects.

In Bradford he will be accompanied by Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson -one of the country’s most decorated athletes, as part of a series of visits around “Britishness” and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. They will discuss with school pupils sometimes controversial issues, such as: ‘which national team do you support’; ‘is it alright for sportspeople to switch the country they compete for’; and ‘how much does national pride have to do with the will to win’.

This year children of many cultural and ethnic backgrounds from primary and secondary schools in Bradford will come together at Marley Stadium to stage their own sporting event.

Jim Knight will also visit the country’s only maintained secondary Sikh school, Guru Nanak in London, which Ofsted considers to be a model school for meeting the new duty to promote community cohesion. He will then return to his own primary school in Greenwich - an opportunity to reflect on his own identity. Over 500 schools have formally announced their intention to get involved in the week, and planned activities include:

• cultural video diaries;
• cultural celebrations of dance, food and drama;
• visits to places of worship;
• firming up national and international school links;
• local research and community projects around local history and geography
• fieldwork;
• school debates around values, identities and diversity;
• guest speakers from the community;
• working with museums, archives and libraries.

From September Ofsted will begin to inspect schools on their duty to promote community cohesion. Activities like Who Do We Think We Are? Week and school linking are key ways schools can fulfil this duty. It will also help students and teachers prepare for the new ‘identity and diversity’ strand of the citizenship curriculum - which will be taught from September.

Minister for Schools and Learners Jim Knight said: “The Olympic spirit, which brings people from different cultural backgrounds together, is embodied in these projects. Young people from different backgrounds are discussing some of today’s most controversial questions in an atmosphere of mutual respect. “Schools should be our breeding grounds for tolerance - one of the essential British values. In a world and society that seems to be constantly challenging young people, it is important that pupils have a voice and an understanding that bind communities together. “The citizenship curriculum encourages them to take an interest in topical and controversial issues and to engage in discussion and debate. Pupils learn about their rights, responsibilities, duties and freedoms and about laws, justice and democracy. They learn to take part in decision-making and different forms of action. “Every school has a moral responsibility, regardless of the social or ethnic make-up of its pupils, to educate children so that they can live in, work in and enjoy our diverse society. That is why Ofsted will be inspecting schools on how well they promote community cohesion from this September.”

Sir Keith Ajegbo said: “People migrate, people travel, people trawl the globe on the internet. We are a world on the move. But do we know who lives around us? Why we live where we do? What is good and bad about our neighbourhood? “I hope that ‘Who Do We Think We Are’ week gives pupils the opportunity to look first at their local communities and to study the relationships, the triumphs and the tensions around them. We believe the journey begins at home and then moves outwards to the wider UK and global contexts.”

Source: Department for Children, Schools and Families

Non-Traditional Sports set to Fly the Flag for GB

Britain is pinning its hopes for a golden summer of sport on the Olympics and is relegating high profile sports to the bottom of the expectation heap, according to a survey commissioned by long term investment company, Skandia.

Brits said that they would be more interested in following the Olympic Games than Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix or the Cricket Test Series against South Africa this summer.

Around one in three (39%) of those polled believe that Great Britain will win gold medals at the Olympic Games this summer compared to less than one in 10 (9%) believing British Number One Andrew Murray will win at Wimbledon, proving there is optimism that Britain’s sporting prowess can excel on the world stage.

When it comes to what we see as the golden sports at the Olympics, it’s the less mainstream sports, such as rowing, cycling and sailing, rather than athletics or swimming that Brits believe will bring home the medals.

Greats of the past such as Coe, Ovett, Christie, Holmes and Gunnell are being replaced by the likes of sailor Ben Ainslie and cyclist Victoria Pendleton as the sports stars who are capturing the nation’s imagination and fuelling optimism that Britain can compete and win in world- class competition.

“Thanks to recent the success and the rise to fame of British sailors such as Dame Ellen MacArthur and Ben Ainslie, the sport of sailing is enjoying a purple patch at present, which has captured the public and the media’s attention. It’s really encouraging that the British public recognises that the great hasn’t completely gone out of Britain when it comes to sport,” says Tim Sewell from Skandia, a major long-term sponsor of sailing.

Skandia commissioned BMRB (British Market Research Bureau) to conduct a survey using a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults.

Survey Results

• 39% of the British public believe that it is more likely that ‘Great Britain will win gold medals at the Olympic Games’ this summer than ‘Andrew Murray will win Wimbledon’
• The British public believe that Great Britain has better medal potential in rowing, cycling and sailing than in equestrian, athletics or swimming
• 40% of the British public are most interested in following the Olympic Games this summer, rather than Wimbledon (33%), the British Grand Prix (30%), the Cricket Test Series against South Africa (15%) or the British Open (10%)

Source: Skandia UK

Roadtrips has tickets available in select travel packages

The Beijing Summer Games may be the first Olympics to completely sell out at the ticket window, but travelers interested in attending these historic Games can still purchase deluxe packages featuring tickets to any sporting event through Roadtrips, an international sports and special event tour operator.

Over six million event tickets were available for the 2008 Summer Games and with just under two months until the Opening Ceremonies, most are completely sold-out. However, Roadtrips has a limited number of packages available featuring first class accommodations, daily breakfast, a Beijing city tour, event transfers, commemorative gift package, on-site hospitality desk, pre-travel concierge service and top category seating to travelers’ choice of any four events, starting at $5950, based on double occupancy.

“With over a half million people in Beijing for the Games, demand is extremely high for tickets as fans want to see the best athletes compete in some of the world’s finest venues,” said Dave Guenther, Roadtrips’ President. “We still have access to excellent seats for many gold medal events at the National Stadium or the Aquatics Center. Seeing these brand new facilities hosting top competitors is a major draw for many travelers.”

Roadtrips has five star accommodations at the Sheraton Great Wall and at Beijing’s newest luxury hotel, the Park Hyatt, which is opening just prior to the Games. Tickets for additional events can be added as desired, while other four and five star hotel options are also available. Trip extensions with private guide services are also available to Xian, Guilun, Shanghai, Chengdu and Hong Kong for equestrian events.

For more information on Beijing Summer Games travel packages, please call a Roadtrips Sports Travel expert at 1-800-465-1765 or visit Roadtrips.com.

Roadtrips, Inc. is celebrating their 17th year of providing amazing travel experiences to the most exciting sporting events in the world for fans, incentive programs, and corporate hospitality. A recognized leader in the sports travel industry, they take pride in delivering amazing sports travel experiences for thousands of guests every year.

Source: Roadtrips

Olympic athletes aren’t the only ones facing challenges at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China this summer. Spectators traveling to the Games in August may have a few trials of their own as well. The obstacle course of travel delays, detours, and cancellations, public health issues, and the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in central China have made travel to Beijing a marathon event. The race can be won though with advance planning and preparation that includes travel insurance to protect against these types of risks.

“Headlines have been rife with reports of Beijing’s extreme air pollution levels, and travel notices are in effect for hand, foot and mouth disease, as well as avian flu,” says Jim Grace, President and CEO of InsureMyTrip.com, the leading online travel insurance comparison site. “Understandably, travelers heading to China this summer have many concerns for their health and well being while they’re abroad. Our customers want to know ‘Am I covered if I become ill or injured while I’m there?’ and ‘What kind of insurance provides the protection I need?’”

“Travel medical insurance is a ‘must have’ for anyone spending time abroad because it provides coverage where many traditional healthcare plans leave off,” explains Grace. Many national healthcare plans provide limited coverage for their members when they travel outside the U.S. and some don’t provide any coverage at all. Additionally, most healthcare plans do not provide coverage for medical evacuation, which is very important for travelers to have in case of an unexpected injury or illness.

“It’s important to first check with your healthcare provider before venturing outside the U.S. to learn exactly how your policy will respond in the event of a medical emergency,” advises Grace. “Even if you have some international coverage on your domestic health insurance policy, travel insurance should always be considered. Typically, if you have a medical emergency overseas, your U.S. health insurer is ill equipped to help which leaves you on your own.” Two types of policies offer the most comprehensive benefits for overseas travelers:

• Travel Medical: International travel medical insurance policies provide medical coverage for travel up to a year in length as well as coverage for medical evacuation.

• Medical Evacuation: This coverage can be purchased as a stand alone policy or it is often included in other travel policies. It provides evacuation to the nearest appropriate care facility or, in some cases, to your hospital of choice depending on the company and plan.

For those most concerned about risks to the financial investment side of their travels, you may want to consider Trip Cancellation Package Policies. These policies offer comprehensive coverage including travel medical and evacuation protection. One of the top reasons travelers purchase insurance is concern over losing the financial investment in a trip. For a fraction of your trip cost, Trip Cancellation insurance is a smart investment to make in case you unexpectedly need to cancel your trip, or travel delays or interruptions interfere with your itinerary.

• Trip Cancellation Package Polices: These policies are designed for travelers going on a single trip. Most offer trip cancellation, baggage, medical, dental, emergency evacuation, 24 hour traveler assistance, baggage delay, travel delay, and accidental death coverage.

InsureMyTrip.com allows consumers to review, rate, compare, analyze and purchase travel insurance from all the leading U.S. travel insurance companies in a completely secure environment. To learn more about the protection plans that best suit your travel needs, visit www.InsureMyTrip.com online or call (800) 487-4722 to speak with a licensed travel insurance professional. Whether you simply need one question answered or want step-by-step help in selecting a travel insurance policy, InsureMyTrip’s professional Customer Care representatives are waiting for your call.

Source: InsureMyTrip.com

Gymnasts Team Up with LISTERINE(R) Antiseptic to Drive Support for Right To Play’s Red Ball Child Play Program

Olympic Medalists Paul and Morgan Hamm are teaming up with the makers of LISTERINE(R)* to help Americans bring the benefits of healthy sports and play to underprivileged children across the world. Recognizing the importance of healthy routines and physical activity, LISTERINE(R)* and the Hamm brothers are supporting the Right To Play Red Ball Child Play program, a charity created to assist children affected by war, poverty and disease by teaching healthy behavior and important life values such as fair play and teamwork. These values have played a big role in helping the Hamm brothers’ achieve their Olympic dream and they aspire to help provide children-in-need access to the same essential lessons that carried them to medals in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Starting today and throughout the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the makers of LISTERINE(R)*, through their affiliation with a Worldwide Partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, will donate one dollar for every person (up to 100,000) who visits www.listerine.com and clicks on Right To Play’s red ball. Reaching this goal will help Right To Play improve the lives of 500,000 children in 23 countries by engaging kids in activities that teach healthy living through the Red Ball Child Play initiative.

“Growing up, Morgan and I had amazing opportunities through sports to discover the positive impact of making healthy choices and being a part of a team, however, not all kids are so lucky,” says Paul Hamm, 2004 Olympic gold medalist. “A powerful way to assist children is by teaching life skills found in sports and play. We’re committed to supporting the Red Ball Child Play influence and ask Americans to do the same,” added Morgan Hamm, 2004 Olympic silver medalist.

Founded in 1992 as “Olympic Aid,” Right To Play uses specially-designed play and sports programs to improve health, build life skills and foster peace for children and communities. The organization has turned a simple concept into a powerful platform that has enriched the lives of millions of children annually.

“Children in disadvantaged areas need extra help to ensure they have healthy childhoods,” says Ahna Machan, National Director, Right To Play. “Our partnership with the makers of LISTERINE(R)* will allow more communities to participate in Red Ball Child Play programs and will make a big difference in kids’ overall health.”

Right To Play and the makers of LISTERINE(R)* share the common goal of promoting well being globally. They hope to raise awareness of Red Ball Child Play with the Hamm brothers, honorary Right To Play ambassadors.

To learn more about the Hamm brothers and their call-to-action for Right To Play, log on to Listerine.com.

  * The LISTERINE(R) brand is affiliated with a Worldwide Partner of the
International Olympic Committee, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the
Proud Partner of the U.S. Olympic Team.

Source: Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc.

Web site: http://www.listerine.com/
http://www.righttoplayusa.org/