Brazil has 4 NBA players on list

Brazil's men's basketball team will be led by NBA players Nene, Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter and Anderson Varejao when it returns to the Olympics for the first time in 16 years.

The four players were included on the list of 15 by coach Ruben Magnano on Thursday. Also included was point guard Larry Taylor, who recently earned Brazilian citizenship.

Only 12 players will make it to London. But Taylor and the NBA players likely will be on the team because Magnano's list included two players who are there only to gain experience in practice and one other who has a knee injury and is not expected to recover in time.

Brazil's men last competed in the Olympics in 1996, reaching the quarterfinals in Atlanta.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

London 2012 Olympics: David Beckham says suggestions he would play for Team GB to sell shirts is disrespectful

The 37-year-old LA Galaxy midfielder and former England captain was a key member of London’s winning bid to host the London 2012 Games and has always said he will fight for a place to compete at the Olympics. He is set to be one of the three over-age players allowed in the squad, but he argued he would be picked on merit not because of glamour, newspaper sales or because he is a bigger commercial hitter.

Arriving with the Princess Royal to light the first Olympic flame on UK soil at RNAS Culdrose, Beckham said: “Whenever I have been asked about shirt sales or filling stadiums it has always felt a bit disrespectful. Throughout my career I have been pretty successful, I’ve played for some pretty big teams, represented my country quite a few times, and played for managers without sentiment.

“When you play for Sir Alex Ferguson, Fabio Capello, Sven-Goran Eriksson or other managers that I have played under, they don’t pick players because they want to fill a stadium or particularly to sell shirts.

“I have always found it an honour that people have wanted to buy my shirt and an honour that fans turn up to watch the team I am playing in. But no, I don’t want to be picked for shirt sales or as a stadium-filler, I want to be picked for what I can bring to the team. That has been the case throughout my career and I don’t want that to change.” He said he could offer invaluable experience to a young Olympic side.

Beckham’s high-profile role in the torch relay has garnered some criticism because he was representing a corporation – Samsung – rather than his 115 international caps after he arrived with a host of dignitaries to celebrate the arrival of the torch for the first of its 70 days, 8000-mile journey around the country.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games chief executive Paul Deighton defended the involvement of Samsung, Coca-Cola and Lloyds TSB as partners of the torch relay, denying that it was over-commercialising the concept. “I think we have struck the right balance there,” he said, describing the torch relay as the “golden thread uniting the country”.

A Sea King helicopter, the type flown by the Duke of Cambridge Prince William will be centre stage of the relay when it arrives at Land’s End early this morning to kick-start running legs of the relay. But officials say Prince William won’t be anywhere near the torch, with the helicopter instead flown by 771 squadron lieutenant commander Martin Shepherd.

Lieutenant commander Rich Full has been selected to carry the flame from the helicopter for the first torchbearer, Olympic gold-medal winning sailor Ben Ainslie at 7am. He will pass the flame to 18-year-old surfer Tassie Swallow from St Ives who is keen for her sport to become part of the Olympic programme in the first of 8000 torch ‘kisses’ on UK soil before the flame arrives at the Olympic stadium on July 27 for the Games’ opening ceremony.

Shadow Olympics minister Tessa Jowell told The Daily Telegraph: “It feels like this is the celebration that we were denied because of the 7/7 bombings, we have been waiting seven years for this kind of moment.”

Members of the Met Police’s 70 strong torch relay team slept overnight on the naval base to guard the flame and the Ministry of Defence protection unit who guard dignitaries were also in attendance.

Naval officers had tested the runway length at Culdrose two months ago to ensure that the specially painted British Airways plane would have sufficient landing room on the base that is normally used for helicopters.

Many of the navy officers were also keen to meet Beckham, but that greeting was restricted to 500 specially-invited guests of the navy including 100 local schoolchildren.

Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Chris Allison, in charge of Olympic security, said everyone was excited that the torch relay was finally underway. He revealed that so far, no groups had approached the police to request assistance with planned protests.

But assistant commissioner Allison warned protesters that while freedom of expression was a democratic right in the country, it did not give people the right to interfere with the torch or torchbearers.

David Beckham on Friday night dismissed as “disrespectful” suggestions that his selection for the Great Britain football team would be purely for commercial reasons.

Hot property: David Beckham holds the Olympic torch during the ceremony in Cornwall marking its arrival from Greece Photo: AP

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

London Olympics: 70 days to go; Iran prez wants to attend Games

Greece hands over Oly torch
Greece formally hands over the Olympic torch to a London delegation led by Princess Anne and including David Beckham on Thursday at the Panathenaic stadium where the first modern Games were held in 1896. Seb Coe, chairman of the London organising committee LOCOG, spoke of a ‘’massive, massive moment’’ as the clock ticks down to the Games opening on July 27 while London Mayor Boris Johnson was typically ebullient.

10,500 army men to be deployed
Britain’s armed forces minister says approximately 10,500 army personnel will be deployed to help protect the London Olympics. Responding to a written parliamentary question about how many army members will be on duty, Nick Harvey said on Wednesday that under current plans, about 1,700 army reservists and 8,800 regular army personnel will be deployed during the games, which run from July 27 to August 12.

Bolt confirmed for Zurich meet
Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt has been confirmed for the Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League in August, officials said. Bolt is the biggest drawing card in world athletics and will be defending his Olympic sprint titles at the London Olympiad which starts in July. The Weltklasse Zurich meet runs off August 30, just weeks after the conclusion of the London Olympics August 12.

‘No pressure to include Beckham’
David Beckham will have to earn his place in Britain’s Olympic football squad on skill and merit like any other player and can expect no special favours, London 2012 organisers said on Thursday. Speaking before the 37-year-old former England captain teamed up with a London delegation for the formal handing over of the Olympic flame, LOCOG chairman Seb Coe said there would be no attempt to twist the arm of Team GB manager Stuart Pearce.

Dix to miss Manchester meet
Double world silver medallist Walter Dix will miss Sunday’s showdown against British sprinter Dwain Chambers in England because of a tight hamstring, he said on Wednesday. Dix, favoured to run the 100 and 200 metres for the United States at the London Games, had been scheduled to race Chambers over 150 metres in Manchester. The American also pulled out of Wednesday’s meeting in Daegu, South Korea, as a precautionary move.

Iran prez wants to attend Games
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he hopes to attend the Olympic Games in London but that the British authorities were reluctant to allow him. “I would like to be beside the Iranian athletes in London to support them, but (the British) have issues with my presence,” Ahmadinejad said, without offering further explanation. “The enemies do not want our athletes to win medals, but our young people shall be present at the Olympic Games and give new reasons to take pride in Islamic Iran.”

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Posted in: 2012 London Olympic,2012 London Olympic Games,2012 Olympic Games,2012 Olympics Campaign

British soccer player and London Olympic Games ambassador David Beckham lights Olympic torch

The flame for the London Olympics burned brightly on British soil on Friday after David Beckham stepped off a special flight from the Games birthplace of Greece to light a cauldron with a golden torch.

The British Airways ‘Firefly’ Flight 2012 from Athens landed on time at the Culdrose naval air station with Britain’s Princess Anne, Games chairman Seb Coe and the former England soccer captain among the delegation.

The flame will start a 70-day torch relay around Britain on Saturday, with triple Olympic gold medallist sailorBen Ainslie carrying it on the first leg from Land’s End on the south-west tip of England.

The Games start on July 27.

London mayor Boris Johnson, his mane of unruly blond hair trimmed for the occasion, declared the moment to be “a big accelerator of the heartbeat”.

“We’ve got 70 days to go,” he told reporters before heading back to London on the golden-liveried plane.

“For someone in my position this is the final furlong for us and that’s when the horses start to change places and so this is going to make the difference now between a good Games and a great Games.”

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg welcomed the Olympic torch on behalf of the British government on a clear evening in marked contrast to the torrential rain left behind in Athens.

“It is a fantastic moment for us, particularly at a time when there is so much anxiety and concern about the economy and other things, to be uplifted by this whole experience and to be able to showcase ourselves to the world as an open-hearted, generous, dynamic, positive country,” he told the BBC.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the country as a whole.”

British soccer player and London 2012 Olympic Games ambassador David Beckham reacts after lighting the Olympic torch with a cauldron after arriving at RNAS Culdrose base near Helston in Cornwall, south west England May 18, 2012.REUTERS/Toby Melville

CUSTARD COMET

The arrival of the flame, with Princess Anne carrying it in a special lantern down the steps from the plane, was covered live on Britain’s main BBC station with the plane circling overhead before landing to fit in with the schedules.

“It’s only when the torch comes into your possession that you realise,” the Princess said as she handed the lantern to one of the special security team who will guard it.

Beckham soon lit the Olympic torch and ignited a cauldron with the flame, which was then due to be transferred to Lands End for Saturday’s relay start.

Johnson said the manner of the flame’s arrival bodes well.

“The plane landed bang on time, in fact it was early,” he declared enthusiastically.

“We circled over Cornwall like a custard-coloured comet and that is a metaphor in my view for everything that has happened so far in the London Olympics. It’s been either on time or ahead of time and it’s under budget.”

On Thursday, the flame had been handed over at a damp ceremony in the Athens marble stadium that hosted the first modern Games in 1896.

The flame, lit from the sun’s rays at the home of the ancient Games in Olympia a week ago, was presented under grey and rainy skies to former Olympian Princess Anne by the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Spyros Capralos.

Coe, who will head off to Munich on Saturday to watch his beloved Chelsea play Bayern Munich in theChampions League final, was confident the torch relay would light the fire for anyone still ambivalent about the Games.

“It does have a big impact,” he said.

“I saw the test event the other day with a cardboard torch going from Leicester to Peterborough and they (the spectators) were three and four deep on the pavement, in the little villages.

“And every week I get letters from people who are talking about the things they are doing to mark the fact the torch is coming through. There’s an emotional connect with this that I’m not sure all torch relays have got.”

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Posted in: London Olympic 2012,London olympic ceremony,London Olympic Games,London Olympics,London Olympics 2012,London Olympics 2012 Tickets

London Olympics anti-terrorism tactics bring missile launchers to Blackheath

A dog walker on Blackheath, south-east London, comes across the Rapier missile defence system, which could play a role in providing air security during the Olympic Games. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

The language was so stiflingly reassuring, it sounded as if Londoners can sleep soundly in their beds knowing that they are being defended by the contents of a really well equipped sports locker.

"Think of this as just one club in a golf bag," Major David Joyce said, of the three stumpy green trailers parked in a large, muddy patch of Blackheath.

As well as a major joint exercise this week by the army, navy and air force to test preparations to defend the London Olympics against a terrorist attack, the services are mounting an attempt to persuade Londoners that seeing ground to air missile launchers on a roof or in the park is just another everyday occurrence, nothing to worry about at all. London will hardly notice they're there. They'll be no trouble, and they'll be gone in no time.

The first line of defence is a ring of observers around London, watching the skies through binoculars. If they detect a suspect aircraft, the next line of defence is to send up a helicopter to ask them nicely to go away. Again, surprisingly, literally. Air Vice Marshal Stuart Atha said the helicopter will be armed with a large board telling the intruder "in plain English" they are in unauthorised air space.

Major Joyce's golf bag choice includes Rapier. If its two radar units saw something appalling, he could then swap his mashie for a niblick, and fire a 42kg missile up to five miles, at twice the speed of sound. "If it misses its target it is designed to self destruct in mid-air," he said comfortingly, "don't ask me into how many pieces."

If things go beyond the capacity of the golf bag, Colonel Jon Campbell has another bit of kit: "We like to call it the goalkeeper." This the Starstreak missile, the one causing such consternation to Londoners who recently discovered their rooftops might become part of the GBAD (ground based air defence: the parts of the Olympics not secured by the golf bag will be protected by an impenetrable blanket of acronyms).

What would it sound like, and what would the fallout be, if a Starstreak was fired from the Bow Quarter flats? "I can't talk about that," the bombardier who would have to pull the trigger said firmly.

Blackheath isn't best pleased either. "Reminds me of the Duke of Wellington: "I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but by God, they frighten me," Michelle O Brien commented in the Blackheath Bugle site.

The government has not yet taken the decision to deploy either Rapier or Starstreak. "We are making prudent precautionary preparations for what might develop," Atha said. "There is no specific threat as we stand. Our hope is that anyone contemplating a malign attempt, when they see the capabilities we are developing, they would be deterred."

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Posted in: London Olympics 2012

Yahoo aims to be top website for London Olympics

Yahoo plans to double its Olympics presence this summer, aiming to be the top website for the fourth straight Games.

Yahoo is sending 25 people from around the world to cover the Summer Games in London - about "twice as big" as it had in the Winter Games - including US gold medal winners Shannon Miller and Dan O'Brien and many of its sports columnists and reporters. It also plans to cover the games in dozens of languages.

The move is an effort to outshine competitors. Despite not paying for exclusive rights to cover the games, Yahoo says it has been the No. 1 global destination for Olympics coverage for the past three games.

In February 2010, Yahoo Sports had 32 million unique visitors and 254 million page views for the Vancouver Games, it says. Second-place NBC, which paid for exclusive US broadcast rights to cover, had 19 million visitors and 251 million page views.

NBC, a unit of Comcast that has agreed to pay $4.4 billion for the US rights to carry the Games through 2020, lost $200 million on the Winter Olympics. By contrast, Yahoo's Olympics coverage is profitable, says Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo's head of global media.

"These games will be the biggest revenue driver we've ever had for an event by a long shot," he says.

The Summer Games will represent a test of Levinsohn's broadened role of overseeing Yahoo's global media efforts. Previously, he oversaw media for the Americas.

The event also represents Yahoo's bigger push into video. Levinsohn said the site will have five times the video coverage of the previous games. Proctor & Gamble is a key sponsor for various projects, including one that features the mothers of Olympians.

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Posted in: London Olympic 2012,London Olympics,London Olympics 2012

Ring of missiles to protect London Olympics

A ring of ground-to-air missile launchers that will be deployed around London to protect Olympic venues will be unable to locate aircraft in bad weather, experts said yesterday (Monday).

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that six sites, including two residential blocks of flats, were being tested as launch pads for missile systems capable of thwarting airborne attacks.

The Starstreak and Rapier systems, which have a range of around four miles, would be deployed as a "last resort" to shoot down any low-flying aircraft intending a 9/11 style suicide mission at one of the Olympic venues.

But experts have claimed the systems are useless in poor weather as they rely on the operator being able to see the target. Nick Brown, editor-in-chief of Jane's International Defence Review, said: "The missiles are laser-guided, steered onto their target by the soldier keeping his sight on an aircraft.

"So if the soldier can't see an aircraft, they can't hit it. As a result, the missiles can be badly affected by weather and would also not be able to engage targets 'masked' by buildings."

People living close to where the missiles are to be housed have also expressed concern about the dangers of using such weapons in built-up areas.

The systems will be tested in the coming days as part of a military exercise organised to check security preparations, although no test missiles will be fired.

Six sites have been identified as potential locations for the missile launchers, including two in east London; an apartment block overlooking the Olympic stadium in Bow and a 16-storey residential tower block in Walthamstow.

Gen Sir Nick Parker, who is in charge of all military aspects of Olympic security, said the aim was to provide an "effective layered plan that provides a proper deterrent".

Responding to the experts' claims, an MoD source said: "These are laser-guided missile systems and that is why we have chosen high vantage points for the launchers. But also it is important to remember that the missile systems are part of a much wider layered defence system including RAF radar facilities, Typhoon aircraft, Royal Navy Sea King helicopters and other helicopters with snipers, so it is not something we are too concerned about."

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Posted in: London Olympic 2012,London Olympics,London Olympics 2012