''The neoliberal Games: who are the real winners from London 2012?''

From RedPepper

''Welcoming business has meant that the 4,700 medals being given out at the event have been struck from gold, silver and bronze donated by Rio Tinto, mined chiefly from its Bingham Canyon mine in Utah, USA. According to the London Mining Network, Rio Tinto’s mining operation has generated air pollution causing between 300 and 600 deaths in Utah each year.

London 2012’s main ‘sustainability partner’ will be BP, responsible for the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. This saw some 200 million gallons of crude oil released into the Gulf of Mexico, poisoning fishing stocks, endangering birds and other wildlife, and putting tens of thousands of fishermen out of work. BP is also one of the companies involved in extracting tar sands in Canada, a process that destroys forest, wastes untold volumes of fresh water, causes illness in mining areas, and is already responsible for around 10 per cent of all of that country’s carbon emissions, with production set to increase continuously over the next decade.

The companies sponsoring the Games include chocolate firm Cadbury’s. And right in the heart of the athletes’ village, the London organisers have authorised building the world’s largest McDonald’s. Another company hoping to be associated with the health and vigour of the athletes is Coca-Cola, the sponsors of the Olympic torch relay.''

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