International Capsules: UK police smuggle fake bomb onto Olympic site
LONDON (AP) — U.K. police managed to smuggle a fake bomb into Olympic Park in a security test, overshadowing a special U.K. Cabinet meeting held at the park Monday marking 200 days until the Summer Games begin.
The Olympic Delivery Authority declined to comment directly on whether a fake bomb was involved in last year's failed test, but said "testing is standard practice" in all major security operations.
"Such tests have a key role in developing our capability to ensure that London 2012 is safe and secure and that we are best prepared to detect potential threats before and during the Games," the statement said Sunday. "Members of the public with tickets should be reassured that such exercises are being staged to ensure their safety, our number one priority."
Olympic security experts downplayed the significance of the test, arguing that such tests are routine and conducted by experts trained at exposing vulnerabilities.
Peter Fussey, author of "Securing and Sustaining the Olympic City," which looks at the London 2012 games, said the only thing that was unusual was that the public heard about it.
"You can't make something completely terrorist-proof," he said. "There's always going to be some risk."
Margaret Gilmore, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said with six months to go, a successful dummy device is not the problem one might think it to be. The whole point of such tests is to expose vulnerabilities, she said.
"The key thing is that they are putting this real ring of steel around the Olympic sites," she said.
The terror threat is the biggest security worry for the London Olympics, which take place July 27 through Aug. 12. Security has been an intricate part of the games since an attack at the 1972 Olympics in Munich killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. London itself has not been immune from terror attacks — four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters in 2005 when they targeted the city's transit network.
But creating enough security to satisfy the experts has proven to be costly — and more complicated than initially envisioned. Authorities vastly underestimated the number of people needed to search spectators and otherwise secure venues and other Olympic sites, like hotels and power stations.
Britain will have up to 13,500 troops deployed on land, at sea and in the skies to help protect the games — twice as many as had been envisioned. That's not counting the 10,000 security guards and about 12,000 police officers also working to secure the event.
But the threat goes beyond the event itself. Transit sites, shopping malls and other public gathering points, such as where people will watch the games on big-screen televisions, are also being scrutinized.
Britain's government has said it expects the terror threat level to be set at "severe" during the Olympics, meaning an attempted attack is considered highly likely.
The terror concerns, and more ticketing problems, surfaced as Britain's Cabinet gathered at the Olympic Park to mark the "200 days to go" milestone. As part of the festivities, the Olympic Delivery Authority formally handed over control of the park to games organizers.
"This is the perfect time for the Cabinet to come together and ensure we are doing absolutely everything we can to make the most of this unique opportunity to showcase all the great things the U.K. has to offer to the rest of the world," Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Meanwhile, organizers grappled with yet another ticketing problem: A limited ticket sale has been suspended indefinitely after computer problems kept causing trouble for buyers.
The tickets came from customers who decided to submit them for resale, but the online system did not work properly and sales remained suspended Monday, a spokeswoman for the organizing committee said.
The tickets are only being sold in Europe. Customers can still go to the site and get tickets for soccer and the Paralympics.
Organizers have struggled with ticket sales from the start. A complicated lottery system in which people blindly registered for tickets and handed over their credit card details before learning what tickets they obtained frustrated thousands who wished to see the spectacle.
Two-thirds of ticket seekers failed to obtain any in the first round of sales, with 22 million requests for 6.6 million available tickets.
Another round was blighted by computer problems and there is no indication when the resale efforts would be resumed.
Olympic authorities, meanwhile, also announced they had signed contracts specifying the post-Olympics use of six of eight of the permanent venues, including those used for swimming and handball as well as the ArcelorMittal Orbit observation tower.
Hearing into Britain's doping ban set for March
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Sport's highest court will hold a hearing in March to rule on the British Olympic Association's lifetime ban for doping cheats.
Britain, the only country that enforces a life ban, could be forced to drop the rule ahead of the London Olympics if it loses its case before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
CAS announced Monday that the hearing will be held on March 12, with a verdict expected to be issued in April.
The BOA filed an appeal to CAS last month, challenging a decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency to declare the British body "noncompliant" with the global anti-doping code.
WADA declared that the BOA's 20-year-old rule amounted to a second sanction. The British body maintains its bylaw is an eligibility issue.
The BOA's regulation came under scrutiny after CAS threw out the International Olympic Committee rule that bars athletes who have received drug bans of more than six months from competing in the next games. CAS said the rule amounted to double jeopardy and wasn't part of the WADA code.
The CAS ruling cleared the way for American 400-meter runner LaShawn Merritt — who completed a 21-month doping ban in July — to defend his Olympic title in London next year.
Among British athletes currently covered by the BOA ban are sprinter Dwain Chambers, who served a two-year ban in the BALCO scandal, and cyclist David Millar, who was suspended for two years after testing positive for EPO.
England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is also awaiting the outcome of the CAS hearing. He is currently ineligible for the British Olympic team after serving an eight-month ban for failing to show up for a routine doping test in 2004.
"Like every athlete, Rio Ferdinand has the right to appeal," the BOA said. "Until he has done so successfully, he is not eligible for selection for Team GB."
The BOA will be represented at the CAS hearing by three lawyers: Tom Cassels, David Pannick and Adam Lewis.
Lewis led the English Football Association's partially successful appeal last year against Wayne Rooney's three-match 2012 European Championship ban after he was sent off for kicking an opponent in a qualifying match against Montenegro. UEFA reduced the ban to two games, clearing Rooney to play in England's final group match.
Britain picks sailors for London Olympic team
LONDON (AP) — The British Olympic Association has picked sailors Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell as the latest team members for the London Games.
The 25-year-old sailors were selected ahead of double Olympic silver medalist Nick Rogers and two-time world champion pair Nic Asher and Elliot Willis to complete in the men's 470 class. Patience and Bithell only started sailing together in 2009.
Team GB sailing team leader Stephen Park says they "are a classic example of how getting the right complement of skill sets for helm and crew in the boat can really launch sailors' careers."
The pair won silver at last month's world championships. Their inclusion takes the number of athletes who have been selected by Britain to 21.
Gymnastics
Test event gives gymnasts one last chance at London
The British men are getting a do-over.
After a meltdown at the world gymnastics championships last fall cost them one of the coveted spots at this summer's London Olympics, the British men have a second chance to qualify this week at the test event at the O2 Arena.
This time, the British promise, they will not fall short.
"It's absolutely the goal," said Tim Jones, Olympic performance director for British Gymnastics. "We're not going to let one poor performance derail our plans for future."
The test event, which begins Tuesday with men's qualifying, runs through Jan. 18. The top four men's and women's teams get spots at the London Games, as do the top five individual rhythmic gymnasts, the top four rhythmic groups and the top five in both men's and women's trampoline.
Britain hasn't sent a full men's team to an Olympics since 1992. But expectations for the men's program have soared since Louis Smith won a bronze on pommel horse at the Beijing Games, Britain's first individual medal in 100 years.
Daniel Keatings gave the country its first all-around medal at a world championships with his silver in 2009, and Britain was a surprise second at the 2010 European championships. The British had their best result ever at the 2010 worlds, finishing seventh after being fourth in qualifying, while Smith and Daniel Purvis both took home individual medals, a silver on pommel horse for Smith and a bronze on floor for Purvis.
So as Britain headed off to the world championships in Tokyo last October, there seemed little doubt the men would finish in the top eight and lock up their spots in London. Some even touted them as a darkhorse for a team medal.
"There was a lot of expectations, but I don't really think that was reason why we did what we did in Japan," Smith said. "As a team, we felt quite individualistic. We didn't feel as strong a team as we could have been."
And in a matter of minutes, they fell apart.
Keatings fell off both high bar and pommel horse, where he was the 2010 European champion. Kristian Thomas stalled so badly on pommel horse he had to put his feet on the apparatus — a major no-no — and Ruslan Panteleymonov also had a splat off high bar. Things were so bad the British had to count four scores of 13.633 or lower in their last three events.
Compare that to the Americans, who counted only one score below 14.4 over all six events.
"We had so many mistakes," said Smith, whose only routine, on pommel horse, was spectacular. "If we'd have done the routines that we did in training so many times, that we did in controlled competitions and stuff, we would have came fourth in the qualifier. Which is frustrating to hear."
Instead, Britain wound up 10th, two spots shy of an invite to its own party. Despite being the host nation, Britain is only guaranteed one male gymnast at the London Olympics.
The British women have qualified a full team, grabbing the last spot in London available in Tokyo.
Had this been any other Olympics, Britain would already be in to the 12-team field. But the International Gymnastics Federation split qualifying for London, forcing the teams that finished ninth through 16th at worlds to compete at the test event to determine the final four Olympic spots. That meant that while the other teams were kicking back and enjoying the holidays, the British were hunkered down in the gym with only three days off for Christmas and another for New Year's.
"The reality is, what's done is done," Smith said. "We'd like to have qualified and had Christmas and New Year's to relax with. But as I've said before, what's one Christmas and New Year's for an Olympic Games? We've got a whole lifetime of Christmases and New Year's to come and this Olympics only comes around once."
Britain only needs to finish in the top four at the test event, and its squad includes all but one member of the world team. Sam Oldham is recovering from a stress fracture in his collarbone and has been replaced by up-and-comer Max Whitlock, who helped lead Britain to the title at the 2010 junior European championships and also won gold medals on pommel horse and floor exercise.
France, meanwhile, which was ninth at worlds, will be without 2010 world vault champion Thomas Bouhail and 2010 national champion Hamilton Sabot. Bouhail, the silver medalist on vault at the Beijing Olympics, broke his leg during training last month while Sabot was nursing an ankle injury at worlds.
Britain competes in the last qualifying session, so the team will have a good idea of what it will have to do to secure an Olympic berth before stepping on the floor. Spain, which was 11th in Tokyo, is in the same rotation.
"For all of us, the main goal is to right some wrongs from Tokyo. It was not a good day for us, not the performance that we expected or predicted," Jones said. "We go into the test event in confident shape, good shape. We want to show people what we are capable of."
-- Nancy Armour
Snowboarding
Tahoe snowboarders can ride Shaun White's halfpipe
TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) — Having an Olympic champion call your local ski resort home has its privileges. A 22-foot-high high, 500-foot-long halfpipe co-designed by snowboarder Shaun White was opened to the public last week at Northstar California, one of Vail Resorts Inc.'s properties formerly called Northstar-at-Tahoe.
The red-haired, two-time Olympic gold medal winner known as the "Flying Tomato" had the superpipe built at the Sierra resort for use in training for upcoming events. Snow Park Technologies based in Verdi, Nev., helped design the superpipe.
"It's not often that the public gets to ride the same competition-quality pipe that an athlete of Shaun's caliber trains in," said Mike Schipani, Northstar's terrain park manager.
"We're excited not only to offer one of the few 22-foot superpipes in the country but also to get it open this early in the season," he said.
White claimed gold at the Winter Olympics in 2006 and 2010. He signed a deal with Vail in August to represent all of the ski company's resorts in Colorado and California, and announced he was making Northstar his home mountain and primary training resort.
The halfpipe, located on the Cat's Face trail, is accessible via the Vista Express chairlift at the mountain near Truckee about 10 miles from Tahoe. Unlike most superpipes, it's constructed completely of snow.
Schipani said snowmaking and terrain park crews worked for more than 700 hours this season to design every detail, from the location and the pitch, to the consistency of the snow made specifically for the pipe and precision of the pipe cut.
Broomfield, Colo.-based Vail Resorts also owns Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado, and Heavenly at South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Track & Field
NYC Marathon will return to live TV in 2012
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York City Marathon will be shown on live national television for the first time in nearly 20 years as part of a new five-year partnership with ABC and ESPN.
Marathon officials and WABC-TV/ESPN announced the deal Monday.
Beginning this year, the marathon will be shown live on ESPN2 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Eastern and in New York on ABC from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. ABC will also broadcast nationally a two-hour highlight show. The deal reunites the marathon with ABC, which carried live national broadcasts of the race from 1981-93.
The 26.2-mile race annually draws the world's top professional runners in a field of more than 45,000 participants from all 50 states and more than 125 countries.
The New York City Marathon is Nov. 4.
