Sports Illustrated» Cheap Tickets For London Olympics Scrapped|Sports Illustrated

Cheap Tickets For London Olympics Scrapped

jaya — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:14:36 +0000

Plans for large numbers of cheap tickets to be sold for the London Olympics in 2012 are to be abandoned because the organisers are under pressure to raise funds.

The Local Organising Committee, Locog is seeking to bring in £441 million from the sale of 10 million Olympic and Paralympic tickets and insiders say the organising committee will backtrack on a promise made during the bid for the Games that all but two million tickets will be priced at £50 or less.

Another promise that 4.3 million tickets will be priced at £20 (R230) or less has also been rejected.

London officials will this week present a detailed ticket policy, including prices for most 2012 events, for approval to the International Olympic Committee.

Officials said that 75 per cent of the 10 million tickets would be made available to the public – including those in the European Union – through a ballot to be held next year. Other tickets will be available as part of hospitality and travel packages, or taken up by the international federations, Olympic committee members, media and sponsors.

The plan that will be presented to the IOC is for tickets in high demand, such as those for the opening and closing ceremonies, swimming, athletics, track cycling and gymnastics, to be relatively expensive but with some low-cost options available in seats with poor views. But events at the Paralympics, big venues such as football stadiums and preliminary athletics sessions are expected to fall into the “affordable” price range. The tickets will go on sale to the public early next year.

IOC president Jacques Rogge met Locog staff and British Olympic Association officials, and toured the Stratford site at the start of four days of scrutiny by the IOC’s co-ordination commission.

Rogge stressed to the Olympic Park Legacy Company how important it was to keep the athletics track after 2012, which was central to the London bid.

“We are keen on having an athletics track to remain and I’m confident that they will find the right solution,” Rogge said.

Courtesy of The Telegraph

Usain Bolt Switch To Other Events?

jaya — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:37:40 +0000

Usain Bolt

Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt may switch to other disciplines such as the long jump after the 2012 London Olympics.

Bolt said early today that he fears his fans will get bored with him if he wins the 100 and 200 metres at the 2012 Games, and he is eager to try new events.

“I’m not going to be one of those athletes who go on to do track and field until they’re 36,” Bolt said.

“If I win (in London), then I probably have to try something else because people are probably tired of seeing me.”

“I definitely want to try long jump before I retire,’” said Bolt, the reigning Olympic and world champion and world record-holder in the 100 and 200.

After a six-week injury layoff, Bolt returns to action in the Athletissima meet, part of the IAAF’s elite Diamond League series.

He will run the 100 instead of the 200 to avoid aggravating the Achilles’ tendon problem that has kept him out of competition since he won the 300m at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on May 27.

“The doctor said to me I should actually try to avoid running the curves,” Bolt said.

Bolt will face fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake and Antiguan sprinter Brendan Christian, but not his strongest rivals, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay.

Bolt said he was still “in decent shape” despite the injury layoff, but cautioned against expecting another record-breaking result.

“My aim is to finish the race injury-free,” he said.

Bolt said he expects to race Powell in Paris next week, but does not know when he will next get a chance to run against Gay, who returned from a hamstring injury in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday.

Courtesy of stuff.co.nz

HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you think Bolt should switch events?

Taekwondo To Join Commonwealth Games

jaya — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:45:44 +0000

The decision came just five days after the World Taekwondo Federation’s delegation held talks with Commonwealth Games Federation officials in London.

According to CGF guidelines, candidate cities can choose up to seven optional sports in addition to the 10 “core” sports in category one.

Hambantota in Sri Lanka and the Gold Coast in Australia are competing to win the right to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

“This is not only wonderful, but inspiring indeed. I did not expect the decision would come so soon,” said Anthony Ferguson, president of the Caribbean Taekwondo Federation, who was among the delegates.

“Better still that we went straight to category two. During our presentation, they [CGF officials] joked that we should probably go straight to category two rather than three (developing sport).

“That it in fact happened this way is a testament to the vision and work of the WTF and that of our leader [WTF President Chungwon Choue]. I have no doubt that in time, we would become category one.”

Category 1 (compulsory) sports: Athletics, Swimming, Badminton, Boxing, Field Hockey, Lawn Bowls, Netball, Squash, Rugby Sevens and Weightlifting.

Category 2 (optional) sports: Archery, Basketball, Cycling, Diving, Gymnastics, Judo, Shooting, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon and Wrestling.

Wimbledon Crackdown On Vuvuzelas

jaya — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:42:32 +0000

Tennis fans have been banned from bringing vuvuzelas to Wimbledon.

The plastic horns, popular with football fans at the football World Cup in South Africa, have been selling fast across Britain in the last week.

But the All England Club has insisted they would be banned, adding: “The message is not to bring them.

“We have a list of prohibited items, including rattles and klaxons and vuvuzelas will fall into that category so the message is not to bring them.”

There are fears the horns could spoil other summer showpieces like rowing’s Henley Royal Regatta and cricket’s Test series against Pakistan.

And a spokesman for Henley Royal Regatta added: “We would not permit whistles, horns, trumpets, pianos, vuvuzelas, drums or any other such instrument within the enclosures or the boat tent area.”

The England and Wales Cricket Board has said that each Test venue would be able to decide its policy on which items could be admitted.

A spokesman for Trent Bridge, the venue for the first Test between England and Pakistan starting on 29 July, commented: “We had a few at the ground last night for the Twenty20 match. They are not on our banned list and we don’t see them causing a problem.

“We might look at it again nearer to the Test match. They are slowly catching on but they are nowhere near as widespread as in South Africa.”

Retailers across the country have sold tens of thousands of England-branded horns, which could prove as popular with other fans as they have been with football fans.

The horns are ubiquitous in South Africa but have led to widespread criticism from both players and armchair fans, who say they are tuneless and block out singing or chanting.

But a Premier League spokesman said: “Nothing in our rules specifically prohibits musical instruments from being brought into grounds as such matters are dealt with at club level.

“It will be down to stadium managers, in consultation with supporter groups, to determine what is appropriate.”

In Scotland a politician has called for them to be banned from football grounds.

Margo MacDonald MSP, who is a Hibernian fan, stated: “As well as being really annoying, there is also a possible health and safety aspect, given the noise they make.”

But a spokesman for the Scottish Premier League added: “Our stance is that we don’t have any specific rules on musical instruments or vuvuzelas. It’s not something we plan to review. It’s up to each club whether they want to allow them into their grounds.”

Olympics

London Mayor Boris Johnson, who is in South Africa to learn lessons on hosting a major sporting event ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games, has questioned the vuvuzela’s appeal.

Johnson, who is part of England’s bid to stage the 2018 World Cup finals, told reporters: “It has many attractions. It’s a great way of expressing yourself in a loud, vehement, parping kind of way.

“I wonder whether collectively it doesn’t actually detract from the game.

“It just produces a slightly monotone whine doesn’t it? And I think maybe that’s not the effect we’re going to want to see in 2012.”

Courtesy of BBC Sport

Chinese Gymnast Falsified Age

jaya — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:02:00 +0000

Dong Fangxiao

China have been stripped of their women’s gymnastics team bronze medal from the Sydney 2000 Olympics after it was found that a member of the team falsified her age.

An International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) probe had found in February that Dong Fangxiao was younger than the minimum age requirement of 16 after registering different ages at Sydney and the Beijing Games eight years later.

“The medal and diplomas of Dong Fangxiao are withdrawn and reallocated accordingly,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told reporters after an IOC Executive Board meeting.

Dong’s husband, Li Te, who speaks better English than Dong, last year told the Waikato Times that that Dong was born in January 1986, making her underage at Sydney. But he said at the time she was cleared of any wrongdoing and the “investigation has already passed”.

Li said the pair moved to New Zealand to study and hoped to find work and settle here.

Dong hoped to coach a regional team and the national team at some stage, and was applying to do a sports science degree at Wintec, the Waikato Times reported.

Li said his wife had a lot to offer to the sport in this country.

“To be honest, at the moment she wants to do her best to improve New Zealand gymnastics.”

The United States, fourth-place finishers in Sydney, are now upgraded to third place and will be awarded the bronze medal.

“USA Gymnastics is grateful that the FIG and IOC took the time to thoroughly review and address this issue that was first raised at the Beijing Olympics,” Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, said.

“Every athlete dreams about winning an Olympic medal. In 2000, our athletes and coaches worked tirelessly leading up to the Olympics and this recognition will certainly have great meaning.”

Dong also finished sixth in the individual floor exercises and seventh in the individual vault.

The IOC ordered the Chinese Olympic Committee to return the medal and her diplomas so they can be re-awarded and told the committee it must ensure rules regarding age-limits are strictly kept.

Suspicions of age faking have dogged Chinese sport for years.

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the FIG was ordered by the IOC to investigate the age of China’s He Kexin, women’s team and uneven bars gold medallist and several team mates, who were all declared eligible.

As a result of that controversy, however, the FIG introduced a system where all gymnasts taking part in any major event must apply for a licence.

Dong registered a January 20, 1983 birth date in Sydney, but when accredited to act as an official in the vault at the 2008 Beijing Games, she declared her birth date as January 23, 1986.

That would have made her 14 and ineligible to compete in Sydney.

Dong will also have her results at the 1999 artistic gymnastics world championships in Tianjin cancelled, along with those obtained at the FIG World Cup Series from 1999 to 2000 and at the 2000 artistic gymnastics world cup final in Glasgow.