British Cycling has a new President after Bob Howden, recipe the Acting Chair of British Cycling and a member for 43 years, abortion was appointed the position at the sports governing body.

Howden, doctor who has served as British Cycling’s Acting Chair since former President Brian Cookson took up his post as President of the world cycling body – the UCI – in September, has been a Board member for the past 13 years. He has also been the Chair of the Yorkshire region since its inception in 2001.

Commenting on his appointment, British Cycling’s President, Bob Howden, said: “I am delighted to have been elected as British Cycling’s President with a mandate to push on with ensuring that British Cycling is achieving its objectives. We will remain true to what has become our tradition: to succeed on the world stage and to inspire people to enjoy riding their bikes more often, be it for sport, recreation or transport.

“Brian Cookson is a tough act to follow – especially when you look at the amazing roll call of successes that British Cycling has enjoyed under his leadership. We are certainly riding high and it’s now my job to ensure that we build on this. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.”

British Cycling’s Chief Executive, Ian Drake, added: “Bob Howden has a long history of working for the sport at all levels – from working as a volunteer and a Commissaire, to leading a Regional Board and sitting on various Commissions – he truly knows cycling inside out. There is no better person to build on the foundations Brian Cookson has laid for cycling in Great Britain.”

Howden has previously served as Chair of the Regional Commission, the Commissaire and Referees Commission, and the Anti-Doping Commission, as well as being a member of the Audit and Assurance Commission.

Howden raced for 24 years and was a former Junior Division Road Champion, representing West Yorkshire at senior level. He also has significant experience as a race organiser. Howden was founder and Chair of the Yorkshire Festival of Cycling and organised the National Men’s and Women’s Elite Road Race Championships in 2005, 2008 and 2012. Howden also organised the annual Ryedale Grand Prix Premier Calendar Road Race between 2005 and 2012 and is a National Level Road Commissaire.

Last night’s London 2012 Opening Ceremony saw an animated display of images from Crystal stretching across the entire expanse of audience seating from the arena itself to the edge of the Olympic stadium. Bringing Danny Boyle’s vision of audience inclusiveness to life, sale the spectators became part of the action.

Viewers were also wowed by a range of images including a computer generated image the birth of the internet, anabolics which started on the field of play and shot outwards into the audience and beyond. The giant video screen was made up of small paddle-shaped Pixel Tablets designed by Tait Technologies, each attached to a seat in the stadium and bearing 9 full colour pixels arranged in a square. Together, the 70,500 Pixel Tablets created a ‘human powered’ screen of unprecedented size, on which Crystal’s spectacular digital animations were displayed.

Designed to support and extend the live action of the ceremonies, this is the first time the Pixel Tablets have been used to create such a vast, immersive display at a live event. “The audience literally became part of the action. No longer limited by large flat screens, we were presented with the challenge of creating animations to bring the stage and the spectators together,” said Will Case, creative director at Crystal. “We delivered. The live audience and those watching at home were drawn into the action. We are witnessing the death of the traditional video screen – this will transform the way event content is presented in future, becoming a more immersive experience.”

The project was delivered in just 14 weeks with a team of 50 designers from Crystal London with support from Crystal Group. The first tests were performed in the Olympic Stadium on 10^th July and final test run at the dress rehearsals this week. More than 70 minutes of animations were all custom designed for the concave, bowl shape of the 360? screen, with requests for additional content landing in Crystal’s creative team’s inboxes up to the last minute.

Crystal CG is the Official Digital Imaging Services Supplier for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Venyu have announced that the Dallas Cowboys have implemented a new cloud-based, IT disaster recovery solution for reliable backup of all business data as well as crucial game and training video footage.

The NFL team selected RestartIT as an effortless and accurate approach to data backup and recovery that uses industry-leading deduplication and cloud storage technology to store its digital files, and quickly retrieve them if the primary storage servers are offline due to manmade or natural disasters.

After making a significant technology investment over several years at Cowboys Stadium to give the fans a modern, interactive media experience, the Dallas Cowboys IT team decided it was time to also upgrade its methods of protecting and storing data and files. “We grew increasingly frustrated by the numerous hours of maintenance required by our archaic data tape backup system, which simply didn’t offer the modern features and reliability to support our new virtualized data center,” said Bill Haggard, Director – Enterprise Infrastructure, Dallas Cowboys.

To alleviate the problem, the IT staff decided that an overall data protection and backup strategy was needed to protect the organization’s IT capital as well as backup hundreds of hours of voice, data and video footage for the team management and players. Rather than spending additional time and resources on building an in-house solution, the Cowboys turned to Venyu for assistance.

“Losing data can be a major setback, and if there are no other copies available — you’re in serious trouble,” continued Dallas Cowboys’ Bill Haggard. “Venyu’s RestartIT transformed the way my IT team approaches data protection. We now have a cloud-based backup plan that rises to the level of our existing technology investments.”

Venyu’s RestartIT is built on Recovery Time Objective (RTO) metrics, or the measurement of time between an outage and the moment that data is available again. In addition, the solution combines DR-Grade, online backup with the VMware-virtualized recovery platform to provide seamless system recovery when organizations need it most.

Scott Thompson, Venyu CEO, said: “We’re proud to be the Dallas Cowboys’ disaster recovery and data backup partner, helping their IT team with the documentation and business continuity they need to build a modern, highly reliable data protection plan.”

FIFA President Sepp Blatter wrote a remarkable letter to Gazzetta dello Sport last Friday, medic May 13, ailment claiming that FIFA would suffer “irreversible damage” if he was not re-elected on June 1.

The Swiss revealed that he expects to win the presidential battle with Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam “with a clear majority of two-thirds of the votes”.

The 75-year-old opened his letter, prostate writing: “In the case of Fifa’s presidential elections we are not really talking about candidate A versus candidate B, but about whether in future there will be candidates at all. The election of 1 June could cause a tectonic movement with irreversible damage.

“The issue of whether this world footballing organisation, developed with success over the years, will continue to exist after this date or, whether it will instead be sucked into a black hole.

“South America, North America, Europe, Oceania and a considerable part of Africa and Asia will continue to support my ideas. However it is still worth considering what the alternative would be: no one.”

Blatter added: “The principle that every carpenter goes by is valid for us too: the roof will do its job only as long as the foundations are doing theirs. If the ground slides, the whole building will fall down. And this is what 11 June is about: all or nothing!”

After the English Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) proposed a move to reinstall standing terraces at top-flight soccer matches, the Premier League has announced it will oppose the concept, following the launch of an online petition.

The petition will call for the return of standing areas, have been banned since 1989’s Hillsborough disaster, in the Premier League and the Championship.

Premier League spokesperson Dan Johnson said: “Our view is that the benefits of all-seater stadia far outweigh the return of standing areas.”

The standing area issue has been revisited a number of times since 1994, when all-seater stadiums became compulsory.

Former UK sports minister Kate Hoey tried to back a scheme to reintroduce standing areas in stadiums in 2001 after all-seater stadiums were made compulsory in 1994. 

According to media reports, the FSF held a meeting with representatives from the police, government and football authorities earlier this week. 

FSF chairman Malcom Clarke said: “Fans do believe they have lost something in the move to all-seating. We will be doing further research to respond to the concerns of those who are not yet convinced.”

Sports minister Hugh Roberston explained that he intended to examine the evidence for safe standing, but echoed others concerns that any change to the law would be unlikely. 

A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sports added: “Football grounds are safer and more comfortable than they were 20 years ago.

“All-seater stadia are the best means to ensure the safety and security of fans and have been a contributing factor to the increased diversity of those attending matches in recent years”.

The Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) have lost their Chef de Mission for the the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games.

Kate McLoughlin was set to be Australia’s first female Chef de Mission to an Olympics or Paralympics when she was appointed in March, but announced she was stepping down on Friday due to family commitments.

McLoughlin says her expected second child and a family illness made it impractical to continue.

“I’m very proud to have been named as Chef de Mission of the Australian team, but my personal circumstances have changed since my appointment at the start of the year, which is why I have notified my APC colleagues and the Australian team of my intention to stand down,” she said in a statement.

McLoughlin says the decision is best for her family and team ahead of the Games.

APC chief executive Jason Hellwig said the organisation understood and respected the difficult decision.

“She will leave the role with the team in a very strong position, and when the new Chef de Mission takes on the duty, they will do so knowing that everything is in very good shape,” he said.

McLoughlin’s replacement is expected to be named next week.

The 2014 Winter Paralympic Games will be held in Sochi, Russia in March.

Speaking at the inaugural Road to 2020 Forum on Thursday, allergy Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) and Madrid 2020 Bid President Alejandro Blanco said that Barcelona 1992 was the benchmark that the Spanish capital’s Olympic and Paralympic Bid has to follow if it is to earn the right to stage the Games.

“The Madrid of 2020 aims to be the Barcelona of 1992, viagra sale ” commented the Bid leader at the event, entitled “From Barcelona 92 to Madrid 20”, the first of seven Road to 2020 forums organised by Spanish sports daily Marca and the COE in collaboration with the Madrid 2020 Bid and the Madrid Business Confederation.

Describing the Games held in the Catalan capital a little over 20 years ago as “unforgettable” and “a benchmark”, Blanco said: “We have the utmost admiration for Barcelona and we want to pick up where they left off. The Barcelona Games were both a crowning moment and a turning point, and we continue to follow in the city’s wake. We remember them as if they were still going on today.”

The COE President went on to say that in organising a “unique” Olympics, Barcelona became “the city of wonders”: “They were the first transitional Games and marked the end of one era and the beginning of the next. In terms of sport they represented the start of the 21st century.” 

For her part, the Mayor of Madrid Ana Botella said the prospect of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics being staged in Madrid was generating “widespread excitement” at a time of need for the country. She added that the priority now was to convince the members of the IOC to choose Madrid’s project when they assemble in Buenos Aires on 7 September.

Also speaking at the event, the Mayor of Barcelona Xavier Trias declared his “unconditional” support for the Madrid Bid and said that the staging of the Games would be a “tremendous driving force for growth” for the Spanish capital.

He also said he was in favour of football clubs such as FC Barcelona wearing the Madrid 2020 logo on their shirts should the Bid be successful, while Blanco revealed that the Barça president is firmly behind Madrid 2020: “I have spoken to Sandro Rosell and there can be no doubt about the support of FC Barcelona.”

“Together we cannot be beaten. Civil society is leading the way,” added Trias, identifying himself completely with the Bid before pointing to the indelible mark the Olympics can make: “The Barcelona Games changed the history of our city and exceeded all sporting and social expectations. They were like a blessing that fell on Barcelona.”

London’s Olympic opening ceremony drew in an audience of 26.9 million viewers in the UK, becoming one of the top 20 most-watched programmes in history.

Danny Boyles’s acclaimed Olympics opening ceremony was watched by a peak of nearly 27 million viewers on BBC1. 

The ceremony, which lasted more than three hours and featured stars such as Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Kenneth Branagh and about 7,500 volunteers, averaged 22.4 million viewers, an 82.5% share of the audience, from 9pm on BBC1 on Friday. 

At its peak at 9.50pm, a huge 26.9 million viewers were watching. 

The average audience of 22.4 million was the highest for any TV programme since England’s defeat by Argentina in the 1998 World Cup on ITV, watched by 23.8 million people. 

It was the biggest audience on BBC1 since a Christmas edition of Only Fools and Horses in 1996, watched by 24.35 million. 

BBC1 controller Danny Cohen said: “BBC1 is all about bringing the nation together for its biggest moments and I’m thrilled by the huge audiences who tuned in to watch last night’s historic events. Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony was an absolute triumph! 

“I am very proud of the two BBC Drama films that formed part of the ceremony. The audience response to the film featuring the Queen and James Bond was one of my highlights.” 

The ceremony’s peak audience of 26.9 million topped the previous sporting highs of 2012, including England’s defeat by Italy in Euro 2012 (23.2 million) and the Wimbledon final, in which Andy Murray lost to Roger Federer, which peaked with 17.1 million. 

It also puts it in the upper echelons of the most-watched TV programmes of all time.

It beat the 21.6 million who tuned in to Dallas to find out who shot JR in 1980, and the 21.3 million who watched the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show in 1977.

But it was no match for the 30.15 million who watched Den divorce Angie in the EastEnders Christmas special in 1986, the UK’s biggest ever non-news or sport programme, or the most-watched TV programme in the UK of all time, England’s 1966 football World Cup win, watched by 32.3 million people.

The three-and-a-half hour ceremony was rehearsed more than 200 times, with each of the 7,500 volunteers spending on average 150 hours practising during the build-up.

The event used 12,956 props and boasted a million-watt PA system using more than 500 speakers.

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