91Èȱ¬

I got an email the other week offering us someone to appear on our programmes as a guest speaker about the Olympics.

According to the accompanying press release, London 2012 may be the last time the Olympics are shown on free-to-air television in the United Kingdom.

It's our hope and belief that won't be the case - but it could be, and some of the big decisions will be made in the coming months.

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Thursday night was music night for me this week. I was in the City of London to listen to the - an amazing collection of young people aged from nine to 16.

Close your eyes and the sound was of a well-drilled orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis. Open them and there was a small chap battling with a double bass that was about twice his size.

The Olympic connection was that this marked the start of the latest - which, in the official description, is about organisations and venues across the UK opening up and doing something different to celebrate art, culture and sport.

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In the week of the - your starter for 10: What does golf have in common with these other six sports - softball, , karate, roller sports, rugby sevens and ?

It's probably too easy a question in an Olympic blog, but the answer is - and the decision on which two make it is expected in a few weeks' time. Some of them have, of course, been Olympic sports before: , and golf rather more distantly and . But the fierceness of the competition - I get regular campaign updates from the - shows just how much Olympic status matters to the sports themselves.

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This is a blog that should last a bit more than three years.

The 91Èȱ¬'s London Olympics project is underway, and we know the Games of the 30th Olympiad will take place in the summer of 2012 from 27 July to 12 August.

Between now and then you can keep tabs on what we're up to, and I'll answer as many questions and comments as I can.

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Before my own blog was launched, I contributed to the 91Èȱ¬ Sport Editors' blog. Here are some of those entries:

Partnership and Focus
I want to concentrate today on two words: 'partnership' and 'focus'. Partnership is something you'll be hearing about a lot from the 91Èȱ¬, and I want to explain what it could mean around the Olympics and Sport; while focus is what I believe we increasingly need as broadcasters - and as a country and as a sports industry - to deliver the Olympics in the best possible way.

The morning after the morning before
So it's the morning after the morning before - when we saw two Britons finish in the F1 top 3 for the first time in donkey's years. We'll be hearing from the 91Èȱ¬ team later this week as they get ready for Malaysia and Race 2, but in the meantime I thought I'd pull together some reaction and some viewing statistics.

Boat Race returning to the 91Èȱ¬
As a child growing up in Yorkshire in the 1960s, the Boat Race was one of the sporting landmarks. We'd gather round the black-and-white TV set on a Saturday afternoon for the events that mark the rhythm of the year; and alongside the Boat Race in our family's priorities were the Grand National, Wimbledon, the FA Cup Final and the Rugby League Cup Final - before Sports Personality signalled that Christmas was just around the corner.

The biggest events, for the largest number of people
I'm enormously proud that we have retained so many of the crown jewels of sport for the 91Èȱ¬ - and our rights team have done a brilliant job in securing Wimbledon, the Six Nations, Match Of The Day, Test Match Special and the rest well into the next decade. This month we add Formula 1, and this autumn we introduce Football League and the Carling Cup.

Building The Olympic Dream
"Building The Olympic Dream" is a series being made by the 91Èȱ¬'s in-house factual department which follows the inside story of the London Games.

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