First appeared on Ctrl.Alt.Shift on January 20 2011

Fairtrade London is upping the pressure on the 2012 Olympics organisers to make the event the fairest games yet…

As 2012 draws frighteningly closer the organisers of the Olympic Games in London are busy organising all the details of what is set to be an exciting event for world sport.

Aside from all the medal winning, security and transport concerns though the organisers need think about how they can make the games as ethical as possible and part of this is using Fairtrade products.Over the coming weeks catering contracts will be awarded for the 2012 Olympics and Fairtrade London want to remind the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and the sponsors (McDonalds, Cadburys and Coca-Cola) of their Fairtrade commitments and highlight the areas where caterers could do more.
There had previously been commitments made to make all tea, coffee, sugar, bananas and chocolate snacks at the games Fairtrade and Fairtrade London want to make sure there is no backtracking on these promises.

The last Olympic games were held in Beijing, China in 2008 and saw over 11, 000 athletes from over 200 national teams compete to be the best in the world at their sport. There were 43 records broken including the unforgettable sight of Jamaica’s Usain Bolt who looked like he was having a chilled out jog in the park as he went down through the finish line.

London is hoping to top Beijing’s event making the Olympics not only more exciting but also fairer and with more concern for the all the people that make it happen.
Take action by signing the open letter telling Olympic organisers and catering companies to “Source Fairtrade: make every Olympic catering purchase a winning one”.

More information at the Fairtrade London website.