The government has promised the Olympics will come in under budget – at a cost of less than £9bn to taxpayers – but will spend extra money within that on crowd control measures in light of a bigger-than-expected turnout for the jubilee celebrations and the torch relay.
The sports and Olympics minister, Hugh Robertson, admitted that organisers had underestimated by around a third the amount that would be required to pay for signage, stewarding and crowd control measures such as crush barriers and temporary bridges that will ease congestion in Greenwich and Hyde Park.
It is expected that larger than expected crowds could throng the capital in the three days before the opening ceremony as the torch enters central London and will turn out in huge numbers for the marathon and the cycling road race, which finish on the Mall.
"There is a certain amount of this that you assess as the thing develops and these costs emerge. As a government, you're caught here. The first responsibility of a government is the safety and security of its people," he said.
"We have to do everything we can reasonably do to ensure the safety and security of the very many people, judging by the jubilee, who will attend. There is an element of managing success here."
An extra £19m will be added to the budget for crowd-control measures and managing central London, taking it to £76m. Overall, there was an increase of £29m in the money released to Locog over the most recent quarter, including £8m for putting in concessions and toilets around the Olympic venues.
That will take the total that the London organising committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) has received from the public funding package to £736m, including a security budget to cover guards within Olympic venues that almost doubled to £553m.
Robertson said that the crowds who lined the river during the jubliee river pageant despite the inclement weather, estimated at around 1.2 million, and the popularity of the torch relay showed that numbers attending might be even higher than expected.
"We knew this would be the moment when people suddenly got this. But we have been pleasantly surprised by the sheer scale of it. If you consider that the torch is coming down the Thames [on July 27] the capacity for lots and lots of people to come and see it is increased," he said.
The additional investment was an insurance policy to ensure that London could cope with the influx, he said.
"London is going to be the place this summer, if the rain holds off, to come and have a party. It is very difficult to estimate how many people will take the car, the train or the ferry and come here for a party with a rucksack on their back."
Transport for London is planning on the basis that there will be 1 million extra people in the capital, although that could be offset by a decline in non-Olympic tourists.
Critics have claimed that Locog, which has a privately raised budget of £2bn to stage the Games but has now received £736m in public money on top of that, should be subject to greater scrutiny. But the government argues that all the public money that has flowed to the organising committee is either for pre-agreed elements of the budget such as security or is for new tasks that it has taken over from the Olympic Delivery Authority.
With the project 98% complete, there is £476m of contingency funding remaining, and Robertson said he could now be confident that it would come in under £9bn.
The National Audit Office had warned there was a real risk that the budget would be bust, but the Department for Culture and Media and Sport and the Government Olympic Executive have continued to insist that they would come in below £9.3bn.
The original bid estimated the cost of the Games at £2.4bn but didn't include VAT or security costs.
The Labour government, chastened by the experience of the Millennium Dome and Wembley, built in a huge contingency fund of £2.7bn when the current funding package of £9.3bn was set in March 2007. The huge increase was justified on the back of the regeneration of east London and other claimed legacy benefits.
Robertson said that the large contingency was a wise move because it allowed the project to weather the economic downturn, bearing the cost of building the Olympic Village and the International Broadcast Centre from public funds before selling them back to the private sector.
Much of the credit for coming in on time and on budget will go to the Olympic Delivery Authority, which came in more than £500m below its baseline budget through savings made during the construction process. Delivering the venues on time, despite the ongoing debate about the future of the £428m stadium, meant that it avoided the prospect of escalating costs as contractors rushed to finish venues.
Robertson said the publicly funded budget had delivered value for money: "I have been a cheerleader for this process right from the beginning. There was a recognition right from the word go the original figure would have to change dramatically. Everybody's eyes were opened to the possibility that this gave us once we had won the bid."
Attention is now likely to turn to the use of a surplus of more than £400m. Despite lobbying from some sports organisations, Robertson said there was no chance that it would remain within sport and would instead flow back to the Treasury.
But campaigners said that would "verge on money laundering", because lottery money that was partly used to fund the Games was diverted from other causes.
"It will be an utter outrage – and verging on money laundering – if lottery revenues raided by the government to fund the Olympics go back to the Treasury," said Jay Kennedy, the head of policy at the Directory of Social Change.
"This money was taken away from supporting vulnerable people and communities across this country at a time when they needed it most. Government needs to keep its promises and do the right thing – any underspend must be used to refund the Lottery as soon as possible."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
London tourist's illegally parked car blown-up by police - BBC News
A London tourist had his car blown up by anti-terrorist officers after it broke down - and he was also given a parking ticket.
Nima Hosseini Razi, 32, said his Ford Mondeo had broken down in early hours of Wednesday close to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
He said he had left a note on the car to say: "This car is broke. Please do not fine me," before going sightseeing.
But when he returned hours later, "the boot was blown off".
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We can confirm there was a suspect vehicle at Storey's Gate at 10.20am on Wednesday and a controlled explosion took place... the incident was subsequently deemed as non-suspicious."
Westminster Conservative Councillor Daniel Astaire said: "On this occasion the driver was parked in a very dangerous place, on yellow lines, so police instructed our parking attendant to issue the driver with a ticket."
'Extremely arrogant'Mr Razi, who is studying for an MBA at the University of Wales, said he had left a note on his car explaining: "Dear Sir or Madam, this car is broken. I am just waiting for the AA to arrive. Please do not fine! Thank you, yours sincerely."
He said he had gone off to visit some of London's sights, including Buckingham Palace, but when he returned to the car "the windows were smashed in pieces. I was completely shocked".
"Police wanted to remove the car. They covered the car with some of my stuff left in it.
"On the window, they had fined me."
He added: "The police's actions were extremely arrogant and unprofessional.
"They treated me like a terrorist. They were never interested in listening to my real story."
Scotland Yard has not responded to Mr Razi's comments.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
3 players withdraw from Wimbledon - FOXSports.com
LONDON (AP)
Andrea Petkovic of Germany has withdrawn from Wimbledon because of a persistent right ankle injury.
She missed the Australian Open because of a lower back injury, then hurt her ankle in her comeback tournament and missed the French Open.
Petkovic reached three Grand Slam quarterfinals last year at the Australian, French and US Opens, and the third round at Wimbledon. She was replaced by Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia.
Hungary's Agnes Szavay (back) and Estonia's Kaia Kanepi (foot) also withdrew, and were replaced by Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, and Heather Watson of Britain.
Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, who has hardly played in more than a year, was replaced by Vasek Pospisil of Canada, who will make his Wimbledon main draw debut.
Source: msn.foxsports.com
London’s Olympians at work - Financial Times
June 14, 2012 7:20 pm
Source: www.ft.com
Is that Christian Bale behind the wheel? Bizarre car pictured whizzing around London looks like it has just driven off the set of new Batman film - Daily Mail
- 60k KTM X-Bow - one of only 30 made - with Kuwaiti number plate was spotted in Knightsbridge
- The area has become the racing car playground of rich Middle Eastern motorists
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This bizarre looking sports car wouldn't look amiss on the set of the latest Batman movie.
But while Cate Blanchett and Christian Bale were filming scenes for Knight of Cups in Venice, California, a mystery man was driving this 'batmobile' around London.
Wearing a Black helmet and full leathers, the driver of this black KTM with a Kuwaiti licence plate seemed very keen to keep his identity a secret as he drove through Hyde Park to Knightsbridge in London earlier today.
Day rider: A mystery man dressed in black was pictured taking this odd looking car for a spin around London
Far from home: The KTM sports car, which generally have a price tage of well over 60,000, has a Kuwait licence plate
The KTM car appears to be an X-Bow model - one of only 30 made, which cost more than 60,000 each.
The completely roofless super car is stripped to the bare basics and aimed at driving purists. It can do 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds and can reach a top speed of 137mph.
Onlooker Justin Thomas, 28, from London, happened to be riding his bike home when he spotted the bizarre contraption and quickly took some snaps of the car as it whizzed past.
He said: 'I just spotted this ridiculous looking car and thought I have to get a photo of it otherwise people won't believe I saw it.
'It was like something out of Knight Rider or Batman. The car would have looked more at home on the set of an action movie rather than in the middle of central London.
Jubilee celebrations: This Lamborghini LP640, emblazoned with the Omani flag on the roof and side, had a picture of the Queen on the front in honour of the monarch's 60 years on the throne
Reckless: An Iraqi playboy has been slammed for driving this Ferrari 599 at up to 120mph around central London streets
'After taking the photo I gave the driver a thumbs up before he revved the engine and sped off.
'Despite having no roof, the driver must have been quite hot as he appeared to be dressed head to toe in black leather.'
Super cars are often spotted in Knightsbridge, the London playground for the rich and famous, and many have customised and decorated individually.
In the run-up to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, one driver even emblazoned a picture of the Royal family on their Lamborghini.
Meanwhile, many Knightsbridge residents have complained about super racing around London streets at top speeds.
It comes after an Iraqi millionaire was filmed recklessly driving his 200mph super car around London in footage posted on YouTube.
The millionaire show-off was seen speeding through Knightsbridge in his turquoise Ferrari 599 without any regard for the safety of pedestrians and other motorists.
Residents have forged a campaign group and aired their grievances to Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, claiming that police and council have failed to act over these super car racers.
Strangely familiar:The real Batmobile at the Batman Begins premiere in Leicester Square, London
On set: Cate Blanchett and Christian Bale filming scenes for the new Batman film in California
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
London Games to be first social media Olympics - phys.org
The London Games will be the most tweeted, liked and tagged in history, with fans offered a never before seen insider's view of what many are calling the social media Olympics, or the "socialympics."
Hash tags, (at) signs and "like" symbols will be as prevalent as national flags, Olympic pins and medal ceremonies. Some athletes may spend more time on Twitter and Facebook than the playing field.
Mobile phones have become smarter, laptops lighter and tablet devices a must-have for technology lovers — meaning social-savvy fans, whether watching on television or inside the Olympic stadium itself, will be almost constantly online.
Organizers expect more tweets, Facebook posts, videos and photos to be shared from London than any other sports event in history. The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver offered just a small glimpse of what's to come.
"Vancouver was just the first snowflake," said Alex Hout, the International Olympic Committee's head of social media. "This is going to be a big snowball."
Twitter is already braced for a surge of traffic. Launched in 2006, it has become a key outlet for sports fans to trade messages during live events.
Users sent 13,684 tweets per second during a Champions League match between Barcelona and Chelsea in April, a record volume of tweets for a sporting event — busier even than the 2012 Super Bowl. Chances are that will be one of the records broken in London.
"It could be the 100-meter final or something unexpected," said Lewis Wiltshire, Twitter U.K.'s head of sport.
At the last Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008, Twitter had about 6 million users and Facebook 100 million. Today, the figure is 140 million for Twitter and 900 million for Facebook.
"In Sydney (2000) there was hardly any fast Internet, in Athens (2004) there were hardly any smartphones, in Beijing hardly anyone had social networks," said Jackie-Brock Doyle, communications director of London organizing committee LOCOG. "That's all changed. Here, everyone has all that and will be consuming the games in a different way."
Later this month, at trials in Calgary for Canada's Olympic track and field team, athletes will even wear Twitter handles on their bibs — encouraging fans to send messages of support as they race.
Sponsors have also taken their Olympic campaigns online. Coca-Cola, Cadbury, Visa and BP are among those using Facebook to reach younger consumers. Samsung is even offering to paint the faces of Internet users with their national flag — virtually, of course.
"They key difference from four years ago is that now almost everyone has a smartphone, which means everyone can participate in real time," said Adam Vincenzini, an expert at Paratus Communications, a London-based PR and social media marketing agency. "You used to have to be sitting at your desk to access various social media platforms. Now you can have your phone or tablet on your lap while you watch, whether that's at the pub or the stadium."
The IOC, with 760,000 Twitter followers and 2.8 million on Facebook, will host live chats from inside the Olympic village with athletes, allowing the public to pose questions using social media accounts. It has already created an online portal, called the Athletes' Hub, which will collate posts from their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Under IOC rules, athletes and accredited personnel are free to post, blog and tweet "provided that it is not for commercial and/or advertising purposes" and does not ambush official Olympic sponsors and broadcasters. Social media posts should be written in a "first-person, diary-type format."
What about spectators using their phones and iPads to take photos and video?
"There is no problem with photo sharing," Hout said. "We encourage it. But monetizing is not allowed."
"People are allowed to film. They're allowed to do that on their phones," he said. "The thing that we ask is that content is not uploaded to public sites."
The reason is to protect the exclusivity of the broadcasters who shell out big money for the rights. NBC, for example, paid more than $1 billion for the U.S. rights to the London Games.
"We encourage the use of social media. We encourage athletes to engage and to connect," Hout said. "There are some rules to follow, there's no question about it. But we don't police the fans, we don't police the athletes. We don't do that. What we do is we engage."
LOCOG plans to announce new Olympic tie-ups with Twitter, Facebook and Google in coming days. Facebook is launching an Olympic initiative in London on Monday that will group teams, sports, athletes, broadcasters and others in one place.
However, LOCOG has drawn up strict rules for its employees and the 70,000 Olympic volunteers. They have been told not to share their location, any images of scenes in areas that are off limits to the public, or details about athletes, celebrities or dignitaries who they find themselves in contact with.
"We are not stopping people from using social sites," Brock-Doyle said. "We say there are lots of things about your job — procedures, places you'll be and do — that remain confidential. There are elements of your job you can't share with wider groups of people."
Athletes, too, will need to navigate the social media world carefully.
Australian swimmers Nick D'Arcy and Kenrick Monk have already been punished after posting photos of themselves on Facebook in which they cradled pump-action shotguns and a pistol in a U.S. gun shop.
The Australian Olympic Committee ordered them to remove the photos immediately. The swimmers have been banned from using social media for a month starting July 15 and will be sent home the day the Olympic swimming program finishes.
The British Olympic Association has offered advice to its own athletes, suggesting that "a few smiley faces and LOL's (online speak for laugh out loud) will make you seem more approachable and encourage more people to talk and ask you questions." What not to do: "Don't get into disputes with your audience."
British swimmer Rebecca Adlington, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a leading medal contender in London, has spoken out about abuse she has received about her physical appearance from some users on social media sites. She has already blocked the worst offenders from being able to contact her, but insists she won't stop using Twitter, where she trades dozens of messages a day with more than 50,000 followers.
"I'm insecure about the way I look and people's comments do hurt me," Adlington said in a message posted on Twitter.
While some athletes prefer to tune out from social media to concentrate on their competition, others embrace the opportunity to interact with their fans.
"Letting people know what I'm eating, how I'm sleeping, what the venues are like — people want to know what we're going through," U.S. gymnast Jonathan Horton said. "They want to know what it's like going through the experience and what we're up to."
All in 140 characters.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: phys.org
Wimbledon Trophies on 'Good Morning America', to Visit ESPN in First Visit to U.S. - TVbytheNumbers
via press release:
Wimbledon Trophies on Good Morning America, to Visit ESPN in First Visit to U.S.
Trophies to Appear with ESPN’s Chris Evert, John McEnroe on GMA on Friday; Visit to ESPN Monday
All New, All Live, All ESPN Wimbledon Starts June 25
The Wimbledon championship trophies – which have never before left London and rarely leave the famed grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club – will appear on ABC’s Good Morning America on Friday, June 15. ESPN analysts Chris Evert and John McEnroe – who each held a Wimbledon trophy aloft three times after winning titles – will be on hand in New York to discuss their memories of Wimbledon as well as prospects for the 2012 event. The Championships, Wimbledon, will begin exclusively across ESPN networks Monday, June 25, in the first year of a new 12-year agreement in which for the first time the tournament will be televised all live from first ball to the finals.
The Wimbledon segment is expected to appear during the 8:30 a.m. ET half hour of the two-hour show (7 – 9 a.m.). Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Josh Elliott, Lara Spencer and Sam Champion host GMA, which originates from its Central Park outdoor set on Fridays during the summer.
In addition, on Monday, June 18, the Wimbledon trophies will visit ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn., where they will feel at home: the center quad on the ESPN campus has been turned into a grass tennis court complete with a Wimbledon scoreboard. The trophies will appear with ESPN analysts Mary Joe Fernandez and Patrick McEnroe on a number of editions of SportsCenter throughout the day. Fernandez and McEnroe will also chat with fans on ESPN.com.
ESPN’s Evert, Fernandez and the McEnroes
Chris Evert, who joined ESPN at Wimbledon in 2011, won 18 major singles championships, including at least one each year for 13 consecutive years (1974-1986). She won seven French Open titles and six US Opens – both records – plus three Wimbledon championships and two at the Australian Open. She retired in 1989 with 157 singles titles overall, and a career win-loss record of 1,309-146 (.900), the best of any professional player in history.
Mary Joe Fernandez first came to the tennis world’s attention in 1985 – at age 14 years and eight days – as the youngest player to win a match in the main draw of the US Open. She went on to be ranked as high as No. 4 in the world, appear in three Major finals (Australian Open 1990 and 1992, French Open 1993) and won two Major titles in doubles (1991 Australian Open, French Open 1996). She also won a Gold Medal in doubles at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and earned a Bronze in singles in 1992. An ESPN analyst since she retired from competition in 2000, she has served as Captain of the United States’ Fed Cup team since 2009.
John McEnroe’s Hall of Fame career was launched by reaching the Wimbledon semifinals in 1977 as an 18-year old amateur and he later played one of the sports’ iconic matches on the famed Centre Court. His 77 singles titles include four US Open titles and three at Wimbledon. Although a loss, his five-set duel with Bjorn Borg in the 1980 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Final – highlighted by McEnroe surviving an 18-16 fourth set tiebreak – is one of the most memorable events in tennis history. He has worked at the US Open for ESPN since 2009 and will work his first Wimbledon for the company.
Patrick McEnroe has worked for ESPN since 1995 (before he retired as a player) and he now fills all three roles – studio host, analyst and play-by-play. From 2001-2010, he was the U.S. Davis Cup captain, and in 2007 the team won its first championship since 1995. He currently serves as General Manager, USTA Elite Player Development. A three-time singles All-American at Stanford – where the team won NCAA titles in 1986 and 1988 – McEnroe won the 1992 French Open doubles title and reached the 1991 Australian Open semifinals in singles. His singles career peaked in 1995, reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open and a career-high ranking of 28 in the world.
ESPN & Wimbledon
- · ESPN will televise The Championships, Wimbledon across its networks starting Monday, June 25, with day-long marathon telecasts through to the Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Finals, Saturday, July 7, and Sunday, July 8, respectively.
- · All the action on ESPN and ESPN2 is also available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.
- · On the “middle Sunday,” a scheduled day off as is Wimbledon tradition, ABC will broadcast a three-hour review of the first week at 3 p.m. ABC will also reair the finals on the day they take place, July 7 and 8, at 3 p.m.
- · ESPN3 will again offer its multi-screen offering of all televised courts, including a simulcast of ESPN/ESPN2 telecasts.
- · The new schedule is the result of a 12-year agreement between ESPN and the All England Lawn Tennis Club announced just after the conclusion of the 2011 Championships.
ESPN – All Four Slams, All In One Place
Tennis has been part of ESPN since its first week on the air and provided many memorable moments, but it has never been as important as today, with the US Open joining the lineup in 2009, giving ESPN all four Grand Slam events, something no other U.S. network has ever done, let alone in one year. ESPN has presented the Australian Open since 1984, the French Open since 2002 (plus 1986 – 1993), and Wimbledon since 2003, with exclusivity for live television with all other rights extended added in a 12-year agreement starting this year.
ESPN debuted September 7, 1979, and the first tennis telecast was exactly one week later, September 14, a Davis Cup tie, Argentina at U.S. from Memphis with Cliff Drysdale on the call and John McEnroe playing.
In addition, broadband network ESPN3, now in nearly 72 million homes, carries thousands of hours of tennis annually, including all four Grand Slam events, plus ATP 1000 and 500 tournaments and WTA Premier Events, and season-ending championships for both tours. Also, ESPN Classic shows great matches from the past and the sport receives extensive coverage on SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, Spanish-language ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. ESPN 3D aired its first tennis at Wimbledon in 2011.
Source: tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com
London 2012: How Zara Phillips reached the Olympics - again - BBC News
In the latest part of our weekly #olympicthursday series on leading British hopes, BBC Olympic sports reporter Ollie Williams profiles eventer Zara Phillips.
"It's not even a conversation that will take place. Zara's on the team, the team are staying in the village, end of story."
Zara Phillips is in line for her Olympic debut at long last, representing Great Britain from a room in the Olympic village - not representing the Royal Family from exclusive lodgings.
"Zara is absolutely a team player," continues Will Connell, performance director for British equestrian sport.
"She doesn't seek the limelight - it's never Zara stirring up the media frenzy, she lets her results do the talking. There's no denying who her mother and grandmother are but she is, first and foremost, an elite equestrian athlete."
Phillips, now 31, has spent a decade proving her talent. A former world champion, she has twice been in contention for the Olympic Games and twice missed out through injury to her horse, Toytown.
This week, she earned nomination to the British Olympic Association as one of five riders in the eventing team for London 2012.
Her third Olympic nomination in succession caps a resurgent 12 months. For a time, it had looked as though carrying the Olympic torch at Cheltenham racecourse was as close to the Games as she might get.
Phillips spent her twenties enjoying remarkable success with Toytown, winning eventing's world title in 2006 and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award later that year.
But after missing Beijing 2008, Toytown's age began to show. A horse can only go on at the top level for so long and Phillips, tears in her eyes, gave Toytown a public retirement at Gatcombe last year.
"In our sport you're very lucky to find a horse of a lifetime and I found mine relatively early," she told the Daily Telegraph in 2010. "[Toytown] has done everything for me and I owe him the world. Even talking about that horse makes me well up."
With Toytown out of the picture, Phillips had to prove she was no one-horse wonder by finding another challenger and getting them to the top level in time for Olympic selection.
She managed it, in the nick of time, with a horse named High Kingdom - taking him from the most basic of introductory events in Wiltshire five years ago to third place at last week's Bramham horse trials, her last chance to prove the pair had what it takes for the Olympic Games.
"She's been with High Kingdom a long time," says Connell. "She's always been diligent in working hard when it isn't necessarily going right with a horse - she perseveres. She plugged away with him and has done a fantastic job to bring him all the way up through the grades.
"Together, they finished 10th at Burghley last autumn and perhaps that's when he really burst onto the scene. Burghley was probably the result that, to the wider audience, said Zara has a horse that could go to London.
"This is an up-and-coming horse, a horse whose star is in the ascendancy, and [in terms of Olympic selection] that's probably what tipped it over the edge."
After Bramham, Phillips told BBC Sport: "Last year was a big year. He improved massively and came up with the goods [at Burghley]. He's still improving this year and he's a great, fun horse."
Phillips still faces the formality of having the British Olympic Association rubber-stamp her selection to Team GB but, once that happens, she can expect unique challenges as an Olympic team member.
Alongside all the usual pressures athletes place on themselves, the phenomenon of a British Royal competing at a London Olympic Games will inevitably draw intense scrutiny from the media at home and abroad.
"Zara attracts a massive amount of media attention and the challenge will come around that," says Connell.
"The media could impact on Zara's medal-winning chances. It really wouldn't be fair if every time Zara trained, there were a hundred cameramen, and when [German eventing star] Michael Jung's training, there aren't. But that's something Zara's had to cope with throughout her career.
"Part of what makes her successful is her ability to ignore all that. When she won the individual world title, she had to go into an arena with over 50,000 spectators and jump after the Germans had clinched team gold. The pressure and noise were incredible, but she's very cool under pressure. She has a proven championship record."
Asked if her Royal status was a help or hindrance, Phillips once told ITV: "It's a hindrance. People think it was all given to me on a plate and it definitely wasn't.
"But everyone in the sport is good to me. Everyone gets on with it."
Phillips' parents, both Olympic eventers themselves, must know how their daughter feels. The Princess Royal competed at Montreal 1976 and Captain Mark Phillips won team gold at Munich 1972 before returning to win team silver 16 years later in Seoul.
"They very much support me," said Phillips in the same interview. "They've never pushed me but when I started they very much backed me up.
"They're both very knowledgeable, unfortunately. They give me lots of advice - and criticism. But our sport is very different now to when they were competing, which I keep telling them."
There is now an anxious wait to see if Phillips can finally follow in the family footsteps. Will injury strike a third time?
"This is a great challenge we face in equestrian sport," explains Connell. "If a human athlete wakes up one morning and say they're feeling tight in a tendon or whatever, you can tweak the training programme.
"The horse doesn't know the most important competition of its life is coming up, and that introduces a different dynamic. It can't tell you the same things.
"But if they are to win medals in London, the horses have to be very fit and competition-aware. They can't just be put away in a stable now and pulled out at the Games. They will all compete again and that brings the inevitable risk of a slight injury."
As Phillips said ahead of Beijing 2008, before Toytown's second injury nightmare: "To go with all the other sports would be a great dream, but you still have to get there. One step at a time."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
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