Christchurch City Council wishes luck to region’s Olympians

Canterbury Olympians and Paralympians, officials, and support crew and family members will gather in Christchurch on Friday for a mayoral reception.

Mayor Garry Moore and the Christchurch Olympic City Committee have invited the region’s sportspeople and officials who will represent New Zealand at the 28th Olympic Games and 12th Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Council sports coordinator Chris Wallace says the Mayor and Olympic Committee will give a commemorative medal to each member travelling to the games as a symbol of the city’s support.

“About 90 people have confirmed so far, including guests from Sport Canterbury and former Olympians,” Mr Wallace says. “Some of the competitors are already training overseas or are otherwise unavailable so we have a few parents or other family members coming along to accept the medals.”

• The function is to be held in the Mayor’s Lounge on the first floor of the Civic Offices on Tuam St, from 4.30-6pm on Friday, 16 July. Reporters, photographers and camera operators are welcome to attend.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>