Olympic Bonuses for Bus Drivers?
Bus drivers are the latest London transport workers to demand additional payments during the Olympics.
British trade union Unite unveiled plans Thursday to begin balloting up to 21,000 members beginning next week in hopes that the threat of strike will help them secure $800 bonuses for the Games.
"Bus workers will be going above and beyond the call of duty to make the Olympics a success," Unite official Peter Kavanagh said in a statement.
"If bus workers take strike action in the run-up to and during the Olympics it will be because [Mayor] Boris Johnson and the bus companies failed in their duty to London."
Kavanagh also referenced recent bonuses promised to workers on London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railways, Network Rail and Virgin.
"[Bus drivers] are the only London transport workers not getting an Olympic payment for their extra work," he said.
Mexican Footballer Out of Olympics
Javier Hernandez will miss the London Olympics, his club manager said on Thursday.
A statement on Manchester United’s website said "Chicharito" will instead get his first summer off in three years.
"His form last season was fantastic," United head coach Alex Ferguson said. "He’s found the second year more difficult, but a lot of that is down to not having a summer break for three years and playing every summer for his country.
"Next year he will be fine as we have agreed with the Mexican Football Association that he is going to get the requisite rest that he needs to perform in the Premier League."
Hernandez has so far racked up 23 goals for Manchester United this season and was cleared to play in Mexico’s two 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June.
FIG Bans Judges from London
Two gymnastics judges are barred from the London Olympics after being found guilty of negligence in the line of duty, according to the International Gymnastics Federation.
FIG would not say what the infractions were, but noted they resulted from an "in-depth analysis of judging" at the artistic gymnastics world championships in Tokyo last September.
The judges were not identified other than being female.
Olympic Council of Ireland Names Torchbearers
The Olympic Council of Ireland released the names of the first 34 of 41 total torchbearers in Ireland.
A statement on the OCI website said the remainder wouldbe announced "shortly."
Click here to read the list.
Austrian Olympic Selections
Team Austria should number "at least 70" at the Games, according to Austrian Olympic Committee president Karl Stoss.
The squad now sits at 37 after Wednesday’s nomination of 13 athletes by the NOC.
Harald Ambros and Victoria Max-Theurer will compete in equestrian events at London 2012; Nadine Brandl and Livia Lang in synchronized swimming; Hilde Drexler, Sabrina Filzmoser and Ludwig Paischer in judo; Robert Gardos, Quiangbing Li and Amelie Solja in table tennis; Michael Lahnsteiner in wrestling; American Hrustanovic in wrestling and Roland Schlosser in fencing.
A third and final round of selections is scheduled for July 6, three days shy of LOCOG’s cutoff.
Olympic First for Kenya
All-Africa Games champion Julius Yego is Kenya’s first-ever javelin Olympian.
Yego threw 79.95 meters last month to break his own national record and has been accepted by the IAAF under its B qualifying standard, according to a Reuters report.
Written by Ed Hula III.
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