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),…
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…
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…
egain its title on September 9, however, when the London branch is bulldozed after the Paralympics closing ceremony. Yesterday McDonald’s gave the media a preview of its flagship store, which includes 20 till points and 1,500 seats. It is one of four branches in the park, including two open to the public, one for the athletes and officials in the Olympic Village and one at the press centre. Altoge…
…tral Line, which serves Stratford, was partly suspended • The British Olympic Association says it has asked triple jumper Phillips Idowu to supply details about his injury ahead of the Games after the 2008 Olympics silver medallist pulled out of the Great Britain athletics team’s training camp • On Tuesday, Heathrow is set for its busiest day for Olympics so far as it prepares to handle abou…
Jul 24 2012 | Posted in
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…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 ̵…
Aug 4 2012 | Posted in
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Aerial shoot: Olympic Park London Olympics 2012 This summer millions of people will visit London and the UK for the 2012 Olympic Games which promise to be an unforgettable experience. London is a vibrant and exciting city but this summer there will be lots more to enjoy including many free fun and interesting events being held because the Olympics is taking place in and around the city. Wo…
alleges, during a two-month investigation in which reporters posed as Middle Eastern ticket touts, it found corruption involving people representing 54 separate countries. More than one million London 2012 tickets were distributed abroad among all the nations taking part in the Games, but the IOC has strict rules to try to combat touts. National Olympic committees must ensure that their allocation…
Jun 17 2012 | Posted in
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London’s Olympic Stadium will welcome the athletics events later in the day, ensuring the Olympic Park’s busiest day since the Games opened a week ago. More than 200,000 people will be at the park, prompting warnings for those not attending the Games to avoid the area. The Central Line, which serves the Olympic Park in Stratford, is suspended from Liverpool Street to Leytonstone. It f…
Aug 3 2012 | Posted in
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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&#…
Aug 14 2012 | Posted in
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…8221; he said. The completed steel sculpture, known as ArcelorMittal Orbit, stands at the heart of the Olympic Park After the Olympics, the public won’t be able to access the Orbit until Easter 2014 – when the South Plaza is opened up. Ticket prices have not been announced for the full opening from 2014. Members of the media were given a sneak preview of the experience on Friday morni…
…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…
Jul 28 2012 | Posted in
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London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony has started with a performance charting a journey through a day in the life of the capital city. After 16 days of competition, the show, said to be a celebration of British people, music and culture, kicked off at 21:00 BST at the Olympic Stadium. More than 4,100 performers are taking part in A Symphony of British Music. The climax of the ceremony will see th…
Aug 12 2012 | Posted in
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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…
Jul 7 2012 | Posted in
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…sponse to the lunar insertion into the organization’s trademarked logo. The five interlocking rings represent the five parts of the world involved in the global games. The symbol was designed in 1912 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. …
Aug 5 2012 | Posted in
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A cyclist has been killed in a crash with what police are describing as an “Olympic bus” on the border of the Olympic Park in Hackney, eastern London. The man, believed to be aged 30, was injured just before 19:45 BST at the junction of Ruckholt Road and East Cross Road, Hackney. Police and an air ambulance attended but the man was pronounced dead at the scene about half an hour later…
Danny Boyle, artistic director of the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, has apologized to volunteers over “spoilers” appearing in the press. In an email sent to the 10,000 members of the public participating in the 27 July event, Danny Boyle asked them to “stay virtuous” and “protect the show”. “Many of you have been dismayed by the media scrutiny on…
Jul 4 2012 | Posted in
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…Williams, the fourth seed, beat the third-seeded Russian on the same Centre Court where she took home her fifth Wimbledon championship last month. Since losing to a 17-year-old Maria Sharapova at the 2004 Wimbledon final, 30-year-old Serena Williams has now beaten Sharapova eight consecutive times. Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have won all four Grand Slam titles during their careers but bo…
Aug 4 2012 | Posted in
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hree minutes for the first time since King George VI’s funeral. Lord’s cricket ground has turned away spectators trying to get in to watch archery amid confusion over ticketing. The London 2012 website advertised the event’s preliminary rounds as “unticketed”, which some members of the public interpreted as open to the public. But Olympic organizer LOCOG said it had n…
Jul 27 2012 | Posted in
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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…
2012 Olympics stadium has been officially opened by nine-year-old Niamh Clarke-Willis at a ceremony in east London. Niamh Clarke-Willis joined LOCOG head Lord Sebastian Coe to hit a button which launched balloons into the sky above the venue for this summer’s Games. Around 40,000 members of the public were at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford to witness the opening, which included a laser li…
An international research team has succeeded in taking an amazing image of a newly synthesized molecule called olympicene. The molecule – just over a billionth of a metre across – gets its name because its five linked rings resemble the Olympic symbol. It was first made by collaborators at the University of Warwick in the UK. They teamed up with IBM researchers, who in 2009 pioneered…
Nadzeya Ostapchuk, women’s shot put Olympic gold medalist, has been stripped of her title after failing a doping test, the International Olympic Committee has announced. Belarusian Nadzeya Ostapchuk, 31, threw 21.36 m with her third attempt to win in the Olympic Stadium last week. But Nadzeya Ostapchuk has now been disqualified after officials said metenolone was found in a urine sample she…
Aug 13 2012 | Posted in
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Chinese Olympic delegation has begun an investigation into allegations two badminton players “deliberately lost” their match, state media says. Doubles players Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli are among eight players charged by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) with “not using one’s best efforts to win”. Four players from South Korea and two from Indonesia have also been c…
Aug 1 2012 | Posted in
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…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. …
