Vietnam countdowns 100 days till 2012 London Olympics
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Báo Tuổi Trẻ English
- 14 month(s) ago
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With only 100 days to go until the opening of the 2012 London Olympic Games, a “Living Clock” countdown was on Thursday launched in Vietnam.
The number 100 -- which was illustrated by Nguyen Song Anh, 8 years old, the winner of the British Council's Young Learners Art Competition with the Big Bang picture Photo: British Council Vietnam
Between now and the Olympics starting on July 27, British Council staff will unveil a new number, illustrated by Vietnamese school kids in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, every day in varying locations across Vietnam - culminating with number 1 in Hanoi.
“Excitement is building and with 100 days to go we wanted to mark the occasion and help build a sense of anticipation,” explained Alison Ball, British Council HCMC Director.
“Students at our teaching centers have done an incredible job in decorating our numbers.
“Each day will see a new number and another picture and it’ll be unveiled by one of our staff, partners or students in the course of their work.”
It means that by the time we get to one we’ll have a unique set of pictures and a slideshow of images representing how we work with Vietnam, he added.
“Meanwhile, for competing athletes from Vietnam it’s a countdown of the final 100 days till the realization of their Olympic dreams.”
British Consul General Douglas Barnes added that organizers and Olympians alike have been living the Olympics over the past four years.
This is the final stages of their own preparations and today we are standing shoulder to shoulder with them, said Barnes.
“In 100 days the London 2012 experience will begin. We are heartened to see not just support for Vietnamese athletes but also for the London 2012 Olympics as a whole,” he said.
Barnes will unveil the number with representatives from Vietnamese athletics who will attend the games, together with international and Vietnamese staff from the British Council, Consulate General, and British Business Group Vietnam.
Nguyen Song Anh, who was earlier this year named as the winner of an international British Council competition to find images for its Olympic Calendar, illustrated the number 100.
The eight-year-old hit the headlines when, despite accidentally labeling London’s Big Ben as “Big Bang”, he won the competition charming the judges who thought the title worked well as a way of describing the event’s expected impact.
The unveiling of the 100 doest not just herald the start of the countdown, but also sets the scene for a summer of Olympic activities with British Council Ho Chi Minh students set to enjoy special Olympic and Paralympics themed lessons, activities and events as part of their upcoming summer program.
Each picture will be posted online every day at the British Council Vietnam London 2012 page. (http://www.britishcouncil.org/vietnam-london-2012) as well as on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/britishcouncilvietnamenglish where page members can join in adding their support, “likes” and comments.