The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) today announced that lines from the poem ‘Ulysses’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson will be engraved on to a wall in the Olympic Village to not only inspire athletes competing in 2012, but also future generations of residents and school children.
The last line of Tennyson’s poem Ulysses, "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" were nominated by the public and chosen by a panel which included Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and author Sebastian Faulks.
Tennyson’s words will be seen daily by the athletes and officials living and working in the Village during the summer of 2012. After the Games, the Village will be converted into new housing with a school, healthcare facilities and parklands and the inscribed wall will be a part of the lasting legacy for residents and the wider community.
Sarah Weir, Head of Arts and Cultural Strategy at the ODA, said: "The panel of judges deliberated the public’s nominations until we whittled it down to the final line from Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson. These are words we felt could be an inspiration for the athletes preparing for their Olympic and Paralympic moments in 2012 and equally for the future residents, generations of pupils at the school and all the thousands of visitors to the Olympic Park after the Games."
Sebastian Coe, LOCOG Chair, said: "Competing at an Olympic and Paralympic Games is the pinnacle of an athlete’s career. We are committed to providing an environment that helps them deliver the performance of a lifetime for London 2012. These poems will not only contribute to the inspiring environment we are creating for the athletes, but also for the generations of families who will live in the Park after the Games."
The project is part of ‘Winning Words’ – an initiative conceived by William Sieghart, founder of National Poetry Day, to incorporate poetry into the 2012 Games. Other commissions include a new poem called "Spark Catchers" by Lemn Sissay which will be etched into a wooden structure in the north of the Olympic Park. Inspired by the history of the site, Sissay has written about the history of the Bryant and May match factory which still exists on the edge of the Park in Bow. Further poems are expected to be chosen for other Olympic Park locations over the coming year.
William Sieghart, who conceived Winning Words and founded National Poetry Day, said: "It has been exciting to see the response to the Winning Words poetry call-to-arms with inspiring nominations including both traditional and contemporary poets. Tennyson is a powerful choice for the Olympic Village and we look forward to announcing more locations of poetry within the Olympic Park. A huge thank you to the panel for their deliberation and to the ODA and LOCOG for recognising the power of poetry to motivate and rouse people."
For more information, contact: www.london2012.com.
As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.
These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.
Your complete source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only.
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
