- Title: UK: OLYMPICS: British athletes say no pay please - we're British
- Date: 1st August 2012
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (AUGUST 1, 2012) (REUTERS) WIDE VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE WITH TEAM GB ATHLETES AND ATHLETICS HEAD COACH CHARLES VAN COMMENEE /PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) TEAM GB ATHLETICS CAPTAIN DAI GREENE SAYING: "As athletes growing up we never took part in our sports for financial gain. I certainly would have stuck with football if that were the case. I don't think any of us think for one second that we deserve the right to paid to be here. We've all worked our socks off just because we want to be here. The gold medal is our payment really and to get the kit, to be part of Team GB, is really special. I think that is more than enough payment for us to be honest." PHOTOGRAPHERS AND REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) JESSICA ENNIS, WORLD AND EUROPEAN GOLD MEDALIST, SAYS: "Yeah I think obviously it is really great that we have won our first gold medal and everyone has been looking forward to that moment and now we have got it. Hopefully it will keep inspiring the rest of the team to keep pushing on and hopefully we can win a few more gold medals which I think we can definitely do." TV CAMERA OPERATOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) ATHLETICS HEAD COACH CHARLES VAN COMMENEE SAYS: "Eight medals including one gold medal. It's been consistent in that for the last four years, it was always our aim, and if we are able to achieve that it would mean we would double the number of medals from four years ago." VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAI GREENE SAYING: "As far as I am concerned athletics track and field is the focal point of the Olympic Games and I can't imagine it not being full for when we start competing on Friday. There certainly won't be any spare seats, for evening sessions in particular, and I think all of us are looking forward to going out in such a magnificent stadium in front of hopefully loads and loads of Brits and I am sure we will get a great crowd and a great cheer when we step out." CAMERA OPERATOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) JESSICA ENNIS SAYING: "Going in today and seeing it all ready and just walking through all the areas that I will competing in is something I normally do before a major championships, just to get a little bit familiar with the route that I will be walking out onto the track and the combined events room and it looks great, really great and I am now looking forward to getting out there and competing for real now." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LONG JUMPER GREG RUTHERFORD SAYING: "For me I feel no need to go through it and see it all that much. I am just going to get in there and get on with the job." REPORTERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ATHLETICS HEAD COACH CHARLES VAN COMMENEE, SPEAKING ABOUT TRIPLE JUMPER PHILLIPS IDOWU, SAYING: "He had to hand in medical information. The BOA decided not to take it to the next stage which would be a fitness test. At that stage I as team leader from Athletics would be involved, acting here according to the different paragraphs in the team members' agreement, that has not happened, and therefore Phillips Idowu is fit to compete and probably in great shape. That's the kind of athlete he is and probably a medal contender." ATHLETES LEAVE
- Embargoed: 16th August 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA7D5N5R3LHU0HH35U75HJL2VZA
- Story Text: GB athletes do not want to be paid for competing in Olympics.
Great Britain's athletics team captain on Wednesday (August 1) said his squad did not want to be paid for competing in the Olympics.
Hurdler Dai Greene told reporters that if he had wanted to earn large amounts of money he would have remained in his first sport - soccer.
His words came after a campaign, begun by U.S. athletes, for the International Olympic Committee to remove its rule 40 restriction which prevents athletes promoting their personal sponsors' products during the time of the Olympics.
"As athletes growing up we never took part in our sports for financial gain. I certainly would have stuck with football if that were the case," said Greene.
"I don't think any of us think for one second that we deserve the right to paid to be here. We've all worked our socks off just because we want to be here. The gold medal is our payment really and to get the kit, to be part of Team GB, is really special. I think that is more than enough payment for us to be honest."
Recently it was revealed that Team GB athletes are paid nothing for winning a gold medal while the U.S. team pays a bonus of 25,000 U.S.dollars and Italy is reported to pay 182,000 U.S. dollars.
Just before the news conference Heather Stanning and Helen Glover had delivered Great Britain's first gold medal in the coxless pairs rowing.
"Obviously it is really great that we have won our first gold medal," said World and European heptathlon gold medallist Jessica Ennis.
"Everyone has been looking forward to that moment and now we have got it. Hopefully it will keep inspiring the rest of the team to keep pushing on and hopefully we can win a few more gold medals which I think we can definitely do."
Athletics coach Charles Van Commenee said the team's prediction of a medal count had not changed.
"Eight medals including one gold medal," he said. "It's been consistent in that for the last four years, it was always our aim, and if we are able to achieve that it would mean we would double the number of medals from four years ago."
Dai Greene was asked if empty seats in the Olympic Stadium would be a problem or would affect the athletes' performances.
Greene said he did not think there would be empty seats during the athletics.
"As far as I am concerned athletics track and field is the focal point of the Olympic Games and I can't imagine it not being full for when we start competing on Friday," the team captain said. "There certainly won't be any spare seats, for evening sessions in particular."
While Jessica Ennis told reporters that she had visited the Olympic Stadium that day, to familiarise herself with the facilities, long jumper Greg Rutherford said he would not be doing so, as he did not feel it was important.
"For me I feel no need to go through it and see it all that much," he said. "I am just going to get in there and get on with the job."
Finally GB's athletics chief, Charles Van Commenee, briefed the media on his relations with Phillips Idowu, the European champion and former world champion triple jumper.
Idowu took charge of his own training amid rumours that he was injured. He then reduced his communications with Team GB athletics. He did not attend the team's training programme in Portugal before the Games.
Van Commenee said that Idowu was now only communicating through the British Olympics Association (BOA) and the coach had no idea when or if Idowu would arrive in the athletes' village.
"He had to hand in medical information. The BOA decided not to take it to the next stage which would be a fitness test," said Van Commenee.
"That has not happened, and therefore Phillips Idowu is fit to compete and probably in great shape. That's the kind of athlete he is and probably a medal contender." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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