Personal best, everyone's progress WORLDWIDE Information Technology (IT) partner of the Olympic Games, Atos, has launched its marketing platform ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games: "Personal Bests to Everyone's Progress." The campaign was announced in June, following the successful completion of the final technical rehearsal of the games' IT system. This marked the culmination of more than 200,000 hours of meticulous testing by Atos Business Technologists. The London 2012 Olympic Games also entails the largest sports IT contract of all time. Olympic legacy THE MAYOR of Atlanta, Kasim Reed, has hailed the 1996 Olympic Games for providing the city with a number of significant legacies residents still benefiting from more than 15 years after the event ended. Reed highlighted the economic benefits of hosting the games, which helped brand Atlanta according to local city groups. Polls conducted before and after 1996 also revealed that positive perceptions of the city amongst corporate decision makers nearly doubled as a result of hosting the games. Reed underlined how the city still enjoy the Centennial Olympic Park, which saw a previously rundown 21-acre industrial district transformed into a dazzling gathering spot for entertainment and socialising, leading to further tourist development in the area. Torch relay hits Oxford FORMULA One driver Lewis Hamilton started Day 52 of the Olympic torch relay, entailing 112 miles in travel from Luton to Oxford. The former world champion was the first of 133 torchbearers when he set off in St George's Square in Luton. Olympic badminton silver medallist Gail Emms later carried the flame through her hometown of Milton Keynes. Torchbearers also, carried the flame through the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, Stoke Mandeville. Youth Olympic rowing gold medallist Georgia Howard-Merrill also carried the flame in Milton Keynes. Oxford-based Howard-Merrill won the medal at the first Youth Olympic Games in the women's pairs in Singapore in 2010. Later in the morning Jessica Stalley, from Bedford, took the flame into Bletchley Park -- the site of Britain's main decryption centre during World War II and now home to the National Codes Centre and the National Museum of Computing. Sixteen-year-old Rebekah Wagnell carried the torch in Aylesbury. Also in Aylesbury, Gemma Collis, 17, carried the torch at Stoke Mandeville Stadium. Stoke Mandeville Hospital was the site where pioneering neurologist Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann staged the forerunner of the Paralympic Games in 1948 -- the International Wheelchair Games. After leaving Luton, the flame's full itinerary included passing through Dunstable, Milton Keynes, Bletchley, Buckingham, Winslow, Whitchurch, Aylesbury, Stoke Mandeville, Waddesdon, Bicester, Kirtlington, Woodstock, Kidlington and ending in Oxford. The finale of the event will be held in South Park on Monday where rockers Young Guns and dance act Twist & Pulse will perform. There will also be a performance of Tree of Light, which is part of the London 2012 Festival, featuring 850 participants -- including singers, dancers and power-generating cyclists -- from school and community groups across Oxfordshire. The cauldron will be lit by the final torchbearer of the day, former teacher Malcolm Fretter. He has been paraplegic since 1971 but volunteers at White Horse Primary School. He is also secretary of the Oxfordshire Schools' Football Association. A total of 8,000 people will carry the flame during its 8,000 mile, 70-day journey to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London on 27 July.
