Dutch Olympic athletes are facing government fines because they delayed finishing their degrees. About 50 of the athletes competing at the London 2012 Games are still at university or college. For many of them, Olympic training commitments have interrupted their studies meaning they will be forced to pay thousands of euros in penalties. Dutch law states that each student must pay standard tuition…
…o cheat,” says John Hoberman. He believes the more money you offer, especially in poorer countries, the greater the chance an athlete will be tempted to dope. How much for a gold medal at London 2012 Olympics: • Singapore – $800,000 • Kazakhstan – $250,000 • Kyrgyzstan – $200,000 • Uzbekistan – $150,000 • Russia – $135,000 • Tajikistan – $63,000 • US ̵…
ic Games begin on 29 August 20012 and close on 9 September 2012. During the London 2012 Olympic Games top sportsmen and women from across the world will be competing in 26 sports which break down into 39 disciplines. There are 20 sports in the Paralympic schedule in the London 2012 Games. An Olympic Park has been created on 2.5sq km of land in east London from former industrial land that has been…
Olympic flame which will be used for the London 2012 torch relay has been lit during a ceremony in Olympia, Greece. The flame was kindled by a “high priestess” who captured the morning sun’s rays in a parabolic mirror. The ceremony came amid political and economic turmoil in Greece, the home of the Ancient Olympics, where a week-long leg of the relay will be held. The flame flie…
ast London. The village will house 16,000 athletes and officials at its peak. Those that travel by road will benefit from the first of the Games Lanes which at busy times will operate between Junction 3 and Junction 2 of the M4 motorway towards London. The motorway has just reopened following emergency repairs on a damaged flyover near Junction 2. The rest of the 30 miles of dedicated lanes in the…
…ociety will accept this,” the official said. It is not the first time a Saudi monarch has backed a controversial reform against domestic opposition. King Faisal, who introduced television in the 1960s and was eventually assassinated, insisted on introducing education for girls. Today, Saudi women graduates outnumber their male counterparts. …
…tity of who was to light the symbolic flame was shrouded in secrecy ahead of the ceremony. The group of seven, chosen by British Olympic champions, each lit a single tiny flame on the ground, igniting 205 petals, one for each competing nation or territory. Long stems then rose towards each other to form a cauldron, signifying unity. The flame made a dramatic arrival via the Thames on a speedboat c…
International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that Saudi Arabia will send two female athletes to compete in the London 2012 Games. Sarah Attar will compete in the 800 m and Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani in the judo competition. The Saudi authorities lifted a ban on women from the Gulf kingdom competing in the Games last month. The public participation of women in sport is still fie…
Ashley Gill-Webb has been charged with a public order offence after a bottle was thrown at the start of the men’s Olympic 100 metres final on Sunday night. Ashley Gill-Webb, 34, from South Milford, near Leeds, will appear in custody at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on Monday afternoon. A police spokesman said he was charged with intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress under…
…ichelle Obama jogged to a stage to the sound of a marching band that played the University of Florida flight song. She told the crowd: “I’m so excited. I am thrilled to be here on London for the 2012 Olympic games. I am proud to be leading the U.S. delegation to the opening ceremony.” Olympic gold-medal sprinter Carl Lewis signed autographs at the event while ex-NBA star Dikembe Mutombo offe…
he torch on British soil. After criss-crossing every region of the UK, the flame will be used to light the cauldron in Stratford’s Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on 27 July. At Thursday’s handover ceremony, crowds in the stadium stood beneath multi-colored umbrellas as the national anthems of the UK and Greece were sung by a British school choir and a Gree…
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, a senior Ukrainian Olympic official, has been suspended after a BBC investigation showed he was willing to unofficially sell 2012 tickets for cash. Volodymyr Gerashchenko, of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee (NOC), told a reporter posing as a UK tout he would have up to 100 tickets to sell. It is a criminal offence, punishable by fines of up to £20,000 ($32,000),…
Zara Phillips, Queen Elizabeth’s granddaughter, will not only look the part at the upcoming London Olympic Games, she will be living like her fellow competitors, too. Zara Phillips, Princess Anne’s daughter, is to be given no special treatment, it has emerged, staying in the Olympic village and sharing the same security and transport as other athletes. On Monday, Zara Phillips, 31, told of her ex…
The biggest McDonald’s restaurant on the planet has been built in London, right in the middle of the Olympic park. The vast two-storey restaurant will serve up to 1,200 customers an hour and sell $5 million of fast food during Olympic Games. At 3,000 sq ft the building, next to the Olympic Stadium, is bigger than the current largest McDonald’s, in Moscow. The Russian restaurant will regain its ti…
The Dutch Mountain project. The Netherlands has a reputation for being “flat” geographically speaking, but a journalist called for the Dutch to build their own mountain. The highest point on Dutch soil is technically a volcano on the island of Sava in what’s called the Caribbean Netherlands. But Thijs Zonneveld, a former professional cyclist turned sports writer, wants to change that and he cal…
ing last to huge cheers. The opening ceremony, co-directed by Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings, signalled the start of 11 days of competition by 4,200 athletes from 164 countries, including more than 300 athletes from the home nation. Queen Elizabeth II has declared the London 2012 Paralympics officially open, during a spectacular opening ceremony watched by some 80,000 spectators Wheelchair bas…
Barber Osgerby, the British creative team behind the London Olympic torch, has won the prestigious Design of the Year award 2012. The aluminum torch is perforated with 8,000 holes, each representing one of the torchbearers. The winner was chosen from 89 entries and was presented at an awards ceremony at London’s Design Museum, which organizes the annual event. Another Olympic design triumph…
…rs. Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge were the star attractions at last night's gala to mark the countdown to the London Olympic Games Once inside, Prince William gave a witty speech to the 3,000 guests in which he likened his physique to that of a pigeon. He quipped: ”Naturally, I was asked to compete for TeamGB in every sport, but sadly Lord Coe said there were London pigeons wi…
…athletes trying to compete on a level playing field. “There have been times where I would specifically give my leg or my toe a couple of really good electric shocks” says Brad Zdanivsky, a 36-year-old Canadian quadriplegic climber who has experimented with boosting in the gym. “That would make my blood pressure jump up and I could do more weights and cycle harder – it is ef…
…m’s training camp • On Tuesday, Heathrow is set for its busiest day for Olympics so far as it prepares to handle about 217,000 passengers, including some 1,200 athletes and coaches and more than 3,000 other Games-related arrivals • Motorists have faced long queues on routes where pre-Olympics modifications have been made to road layouts • And the Olympic torch is travelling from Kingston, in…
Princess Maxima’s entrance into the Dutch royal house was a sensation, and now she the queen consort of King Willem-Alexander, with the abdication of her mother-in-law Queen Beatrix on 30 April. While her family’s links to a fallen dictatorship were scrutinized by parliament, the Argentine charmed the nation. So how did this unconventional princess captivate a country so committed to…
A new scandal has broken after the news the US athletes at the forthcoming London Olympics will wear stylish uniforms designed in the US – but made in China. The news prompted a rare outbreak of bipartisan agreement, with Republican and Democratic leaders highly critical of the US Olympic Committee. “I think the Olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves,” Senate majority…
The official Olympic flag has arrived in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, the host city of 2016 Games. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes waved the flag after stepping off the plane with other officials and Brazilian athletes who competed in London. The flag was handed to Eduardo Paes on Sunday in London before the flame at the Olympic Stadium was extinguished. The move marks the official start of Rio&#…
The Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in four zones across the city, the Brazilian organizing committee has said. Plans for their eight-minute segment in the London 2012 closing ceremony on Sunday night have also been set out at London’s Olympic Park. They said pure Brazilian samba would demonstrate the country’s passion. Events will be at Copacabana Beach, the Olympi…
. Nicole Kidman refused to get involved in the divorce drama unfurling between Tom Cruise and Katy Holmes, even though there are echoes of her 2001 split with the now 50-year-old movie star. Not least 33-year-old Katie Holmes’ decision to file for sole custody of the couple’s daughter Suri, six, after Nicole Kidman lost primary residence of her two adopted children with Tom Cruise, Isabella…
Photo: George Michael airlifted to hospital following car crash on M1 motorwayGeorge Michael was involved in a crash in his Range Rover during rush hour on the M1 motorway near St Albans, Hertfordshire, UK, on Thursday. George Michael, 49, was…
Christoph Waltz: Man points gun at him and threatens to blow up studio with hand grenade during Cannes TV interviewChristoph Waltz was left shaken last night after a man pointed a hand-gun at him during a live French news programme TV show and threatened to blow up a studio with a hand…
Mariah Carey's American Idol finale performance branded worst lip-sync of all timeMariah Carey's performance on last night's American Idol finale was so good it had some wondering whether she hadn't lip-synched the entire thing. However, Mariah Carey, 43,…
Ireland Baldwin displays tan lines in backless topIreland Baldwin shared a picture with her Twitter followers on Friday showing a white bikini line running across her pink back. Ireland Baldwin, 17, accompanied the snap, in…
Beyoncé is pregnant with second child, multiple sources confirmAfter days of speculation, according to E! News, multiple sources have confirmed to them that Beyoncé is expecting her second child with Jay-Z. Suspicions were first…
Cannes Film Festival 2013: $1 million Chopard jewels stolen from Novotel hotel roomMore than $1 million (777,000 euros) worth of Chopard jewels have been stolen from Novotel hotel in Cannes, French police say. The jewels were to be loaned to stars…
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