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Adrian Warner - BBC Sport

Listed below are comments made by Adrian Warner - BBC Sport between Friday, 21st November 2008 and Monday, 5th October 2009.

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IOC ready for battle with London's Mayor 4:29pm on 05 Oct 2009 Euloroo, interesting points you make. I just took a look at my blogs from last year and next week it will be exactly 12 months since I first broke this story about the plans to scrap the temporary venue and move some sports to Wembley. The fact that it hasn't been solved yet shows how reluctant many of the sports are to force competitors to take on the North Circular. I was surprised how well informed badminton officials were about the route when I spoke to them a year ago. Remember, London promised the world athletes would "compete and not commute" in 2012. Having said that, I think there is a good chance that Wembley will be used but 2012 officials are going to have to convince badminton that their players will not suffer. There is no problem with Wembley as a venue. In fact the world badminton champs are going there in the year before the Games. But this is all about what they call "back of house" facilities at the Olympics -- all the space needed for competitors, sponsors and the extra security etc. Wembley Arena is quite small in that respect.
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Transport questions that just won't go away 12:17pm on 25 Sep 2009 Very interesting views on the river (in both senses of that sentence!) I agree that one of the best ways of seeing London is by boat and I can't think of a better way of going to the 02 to watch the gymnastics than on a ferry. In fact I'm planning to buy tickets for my family for next month's world gymnastics champs at the 02 and take the boat there.
But the problem is that 2012 have been struggling to persuade ferry operators to set up these new routes because some firms are worried they won't be able to make them profitable afterwards. They have a point. Maybe it needs Government and City money to be bold with ferry services and use the Games to get more people on to boats. Boris Johnson is a fan of ferries.

There is also a strong argument that sponsors and the IOC should be housed closer to the Olympic Park. But the idea of the IOC taking public transport is complex. Many can't because of the security implications, especially those from royal families and those who need bodyguards because they face serious threats.
But not everybody in the Olympic family has these issues. And why can't they set the tone for future Games by taking public transport -- or even a bike -- when they can?
Wouldn't it be a brilliant PR coup for a blue chip sponsor like McDonalds or Coke to get their executives being green and healthy? How about a bike supplier providing a set of top-class bikes for fit IOC members? They keep telling us how important it is to have ex athletes in the IOC. The problem, often, is that Olympic figures love to talk about Green Games but you don't see much evidence of them turning the words into action.
Youth appeal 5:13pm on 04 Sep 2009 Kwickscull, you make an interesting point.
Many of the world's media think it is a done deal that rugby 7s and golf will be in the 2016 programme but I'm not so sure.
Wait for the vote in October. There are plenty of people who may be worried about accepting both sports because it will close the door on all the other bidding sports for a long time.
Sometimes, the key to understanding the IOC is thinking beyond the simple question in hand and thinking about other agendas.
In this case, stop thinking about whether these sports have the right to be in the Games and think about whether all the IOC members will want to pour cold water on all of the aspirations of other bidding sports.
Some will say it's good to have people continually knocking on your door and wanting to come to your party.
Others will want sports more popular in their part of the world to have a decent shot at the Games.
And some won't like the idea of the IOC's leaders telling them what to do by putting up just two sports instead of all of the others. Don't underestimate that.
So the solution for 2016 might be: rugby 7s in but one spot left vacant for the next Games.
Funny, old world -- sports politics, eh?
Three years to go 6:03pm on 13 Jul 2009 Thanks for your comments, akabarrington and 1988Jamie. BBC London would be delighted to talk to you more about this. Can you please email yourlondon@bbc.co.uk with your details if you want to take part in our programme. That goes also too for kwickscull -- a regular critic of my blogs. If you have time, drop us a line. Thanks.
Can the French muscle in on 2012? 10:22pm on 13 Jun 2009 Akabarrington, you are absolutely right with your last comment and I keep telling the key people running 2012 and key figures in the Government that the key to this is making sure train tickets are a reasonable price so that people from all over the country can travel to London. Extra trains travelling late in the evening are also crucial. During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the Bundesbahn put on extra trains and this needs to happen in the UK during the Games.
It is possible that Eurostar may put on extra trains from France and Europe during the Games. I know there are people pressing them to do so.
It would be disappointing for Britons if this happened for European visitors but didn't happen for people living in the north of England or Scotland.
Be green, don't just 'talk' it 00:12am on 09 May 2009 Kwikscull, you have ever right to express your opinion but I'm afraid you simply haven't got your facts right.
BBC London covered the visit by the IOC's coordination commission in great detail during the week starting April 20th.
I was live at the Olympic site for our 6.30 programme on both the Tuesday evening (April 21) and the Thursday evening (April 23) of the three-day visit. My reporting included a live discussion with our senior presenter about the visit and detailed two-minute reports which covered the events of the day, including comments made by the IOC.
In fact I was one of just three reporters from British TV who was in the main stadium when the IOC contingent visited it. Most of the rest of the reporters were from the international media.
The reporting wasn't cheerleading for 2012. That is not my job. It included serious analysis of the state of London's preparations and analysis of how much progress Londoners also felt about 2012's progress.
I've covered many positive aspect of the Games. Ask London 2012.
I am sorry if you haven't been around to watch them. I can only request that you watch our programme more regularly before you pass judgement on my work.
best wishes.
London confidential 12:32pm on 28 Jan 2009 Grunny92, unounos, and ukkeeper.

Please contact me over your various comments and requests through yourlondon@bbc.co.uk and I can get back to you. I'm very interested in hearing more information on your specific comments.

On other matters: This is a very interesting debate because there are so many different views on what a journalist should do.

There are clearly people here who think that when a journalist finds something out which he or she believes will interest the public and then puts it into the public domain this is somehow mud-slinging or sensationalist.

On this specific story, there was no personal agenda involved here, no desire to constantly report bad news -- just straight-forward investigative journalism.

I discovered that the ODA was issuing unusual confidentiality undertakings. I was told that the clauses in them were particularly harsh. Over a period of two months I worked hard to make sure the details of these allegations were correct.

1) I spoke to companies who had received them and they admitted they were shocked by some of the clauses. (By the way, do they really have a choice whether to sign them in the middle of a recession when getting business is tough?)

2) I showed the clauses to legal experts who agreed that it was excessive to demand access to search offices for evidence of whistleblowers and to demand confidentiality for six years.

3) And I then took the story to a human rights lawyer who says the current Olympic Act already in place raises serious concerns about freedom of speech.

4) I then took the information to the ODA who supplied me with what they said was their corporate contract which did not contain any of these clauses.

I then asked the Shadow Olympics Minister, who is across all aspects of the Olympic project, what he thought about this.

All these views were not put researched overnight. I worked on them carefully and systematically and we did not run the story until we were satisfied all of it was correct.

The views were not coming from me. They came from people involved or from experts who know the law much better than me or many of us.

You have the right to call this sensationalist.

I could, of course, only report on positive things about the Games and be a cheerleader for the next three years.

But I think it is my duty as a journalist to investigate such issues as freedom of speech when experts raise it.

Maybe, as a former foreign corresponent, it is because I have worked in countries such as the former East Germany where it was severely restricted.

I am a great fan of the Olympics. I wouldn't have covered 11 of them if I wasn't. But my job is to make sure London and the UK organises them in a democratic and efficient way.
London confidential 10:19pm on 26 Jan 2009 grunny92

I sincerely hope you are able to do your research properly. It shouldn't be a problem talking to the sponsors but it may be harder to talk to individual companies involved in the construction without the permission of the Olympic Delivery Authority.
I would suggest you focus on the sponsors. The Olympics is an interesting subject for sponsors because they do not get the exposure which backers of the World Cup or Premier League receive with advertising in the stadia and on TV. The Olympics has no advertising in the stadia at all. So it's interesting why they do it?
If your school needs a little bit of advice on whom to contact I am happy to point you in the right direction. Good luck.
Should sport always sell to the highest bidder? 10:40pm on 19 Dec 2008 Kwickscull, I'm fascinated by your comments.

The other day a bloke came up to me in a pub in central London and said: "You're that guy who does the Olympics on BBC London, aren't you? You must really love the 2012 Olympics. You are so positive about them." There was a brief pause while he ordered a pint of lager. Then he added: " I hate the Olympics."

The one thing you learn as a reporter is that you can't satisfy everybody all of the time.

For the record, I regard the day London won the Games in Singapore as one of the most exciting days of my 22-year career in journalism.

But my job is not to be a cheerleader. It is to examine everything in detail -- from the budget to where London 2012 are going to play the badminton events.

And, by the way, I leave my political and personal views at the door when I enter a newsroom. I learned that the first day I began working for Reuters in Fleet Street in 1986.

If you watch BBC London regularly, you will see that I quiz Tessa Jowell equally as hard on the Olympics as I quiz Boris Johnson. They would both tell you that.

And, if you have a look at some of the blogs, you will also see that I highlight the positive aspects of the Games -- take a look at the piece on the improvement of the rivers around the Park.

Keep watching BBC London and you'll see.

best wishes
Jowell's comments come as no surprise 3:58pm on 21 Nov 2008 Re 7, you have to be careful before you accuse somebody of "sloppy journalism", my friend.

You are probably not aware of this but ministers, aides and other officials have to keep Cabinet confidentiality. That means that they are not supposed to discuss any debates which may have taken place in Cabinet with anybody else outside the Cabinet.

So it is far from "sloppy journalism" when a BBC reporter finds out what has happened around the Cabinet table. You have to dig hard to get that information.

And the last thing a good journalist then does is say from whom he got his information and when.

Many award-winning journalists I have worked with in newspapers and broadcasting in Britain and abroad can't say exactly where they have got their information from. The key point is that the reporters must be confident the information is accurate by talking to several independent sources.

They can't always identify those sources. That is life.

You may not like that but the one thing it isn't is "sloppy journalism".

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