London 2012 Olympic news: Italian company Mondo becomes London 2012 sponsor

This is the news from USA Today regarding the sponsorship of the Olympic Games:

LONDON (AP) — Italian track manufacturer Mondo has become an official sponsor of the 2012 London Olympics.


The company was unveiled Friday as a tier-three supplier by London organizers, becoming the 31st domestic sponsor of the games.


Mondo will supply the track and warmup track for the Olympic Stadium, as well as equipment such as hurdles and high jump bars. It will also supply the surface or flooring for up to 10 Olympic and Paralympic sports.


Mondo will provide some of the materials on a rental basis, promising to reassign them for future use after the 2012 games.


Mondo has supplied the past nine Olympic Games, starting in Montreal in 1976.

News Source: USA Today

Comment:

For the past 9 Olympic Games, it's Mondo who got the major sponsorship. It began in 1976, or about 34 years ago. So does this meant to say that in the past 34 years no one of its competitors has surpassed and challenge MONDO? Im not really familiar with this company, but Im pretty sure that this is a really big company.

Another side of my thought also says that this company only exist to do business with Olympic Games and International Game events around the world, so they always make sure to get the sponsorship of these events or else they will never have a good business at all.

Read more>>>

News Update: London 2012 Olympics on budget despite costs rise

Anticipated costs for the 2012 Olympic build and infrastructure have risen but the project remains on time and budget, a report has said.

Figures reveal that expected final costs have gone up by £5m, a report by the Olympic Delivery Authority said.

The increase was blamed on transport and infrastructure for the Olympic Village and Stratford City.

The government said it would not use the contingency fund and described the projected budget as stable.

Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson said: "My suspicion is that this will now become less a contingency for construction and more a contingency fund for the wider project."

Currently, there is £1.2bn of the contingency left with 65% of the venues and infrastructure for the London 2012 Games already completed.

Changing scope


Mr Robertson said the scope of the project "was changing in front of our eyes" and added that further challenges awaited.

He added: "The most damaging thing for the project would be to surrender contingency now and then have to go back to Treasury in 18 months and say 'we need some more money'."

Cuts to the Olympic budget are not without risk, says Tessa Jowell

ODA chief executive David Higgins said the organisation could make the £27m of savings called for by the Government as part of the £88m of cuts announced this week to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

ODA chair John Armitt said: "This report shows that the project continues to be on time and within budget.

"The ODA has worked hard to make considerable savings since the start of the project with £600 million saved to date to keep us on track."

Meanwhile former Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has revealed that the mayor of Sao Paulo has registered an interest in buying London's temporary basketball arena in time for the next Olympics in 2016.

She said: "London's basketball arena may have a second life in Sao Paulo."

______________________
News source: BBC News

Read more>>>

London 2012 Olympics: IOC hit four countries with ticket punishment after breaching rules

Four countries will have a reduced ticket allocation for the London 2012 Olympic Games after breaching International Olympic Committee rules in selling tickets for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

IOC director Gilbert Felli said the four countries, which he declined to name, would be punished for the way in which the sales of their Vancouver allocation were handled.

Each National Olympic Committee receives a quota of tickets that they can sell to the public in their home territory, but some NOCs in the past have passed the tickets on to touts for profit.

Felli said London Olympic Games organisers could learn the best lesson from Vancouver in adopting some of the ticketing processes that were introduced to counter the website fraud and empty stadiums that engulfed the previous Games in 2008 in Beijing.

They include reselling of tickets when people leave stadiums, the re-buying of unused tickets and the organising committee running a ticket resale scheme to avoid ticket touting.

"In the issues of ticketing there are about 10 to 15 lessons. It was a success in Vancouver so we will make sure London applies them," Felli said. However the Vancouver Olympics were affected by the fraudulent use of credit cards to purchase Games tickets.

Several Britons are also being pursued in the courts in regards to the Beijing online ticketing fraud which affected Games spectators around the world.

Meanwhile, Felli announced there would be a neutral safety expert appointed by the IOC to oversee the safety of the luge and bobsleigh track at the Sochi Winter Olympics.

It comes after the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics in February.

__________________________________
NEWS SOURCE: TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

Read more>>>

Asian entries for 2012 Olympics qualifiers, does not include the Philippines

Here's the news from Tehran Times which talk about Asian entries for 2012 Olympics, read the news below or go to the source website Tehran Times:

Thirty-four teams will fight it out for three spots in the men's competition while 16 teams will be vying to earn two berths in the women's competition.

Participating teams in the men's competition are Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, DPR Korea, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, UAE, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Yemen. Jordan are the notable absentees.

In the women's section, the confirmed teams are Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Japan, DPR Korea, Korea Republic, Myanmar, Palestine, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Detailed information including the competition format on the qualifiers will be provided to all participating Member Associations in due time.

News Source: Tehran Times

So where's the Philippines, don't they have any team to send to the Olympics? Are they too busy for the National Elections? Or the outgoing President have exhausted all the funds of PAGCOR that is intended for sports development.

We hope that the Philippines could also send their team to the London 2012 Olympics, there are a lot of potential athletes in the Philippines and its time they will be given their chances to shine.

Read more>>>