Criticism for BMW's 2012 Fleet; Illegal Betting Warning; Olympian, Darth Vader Double, 89

BMW’s Olympic Fleet Receives Criticism

British politicians are critiquing the decision to cart around officials in 4,000 BMWs during the London Olympics.

The Daily Mail reports that while the Games have been hailed as environmentally friendly, BMW will ship-in 4,000 vehicles for dignitaries and officials.

"Most of the athletes will be staying in the Olympic Village and won’t need to travel to events, so the BMWs are really for the politicians and dignitaries," said Jenny Jones, a member of the London Assembly for the Green Party.

"Four thousand vehicles seems lunatic when we have such a good public transport system. I can understand a few officials need secure transport but 4,000? Shipping new cars in from Germany is also extremely bad news for the environment.

"I am sure there are many local car dealers which could have supplied vehicles."

Caroline Pidgeon, chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, also criticized the decision, saying only electric vehicles should be used.

"As we were promised that the 2012 Games would be the greenest Olympics ever to take place, only electric vehicles should have been considered.

"Electric vehicles are not only quieter, but far less harmful to people’s lungs.

"The 2012 Games should have been a big boost to the growth of electric vehicles in the UK, but instead we have vehicles which merely add to London’s serious air pollution."

IOC Member Warns of "Evil" Corruption in Olympics

Senior IOC member Kevan Gosper made a dire warning of the threat gambling poses to the Olympics.

"It is evil in nature and the process can be corrupting to the individual, risking their sporting careers and threatening the proper outcome of fair competition," he told The Australian on Monday.

"Illegal betting is potentially a worse assault to the standards and quality of sport than doping because of the volume of money involved.

"It is not a new phenomenon but it is now becoming a serious concern.

"Law-enforcement authorities are far more concerned about illegal gambling issues than the drug issue," he added.

Olympic Fencer Bob Anderson, 89

Olympian and Darth Vader’s fencing stunt double Bob Anderson died on Jan. 1. He was 89.

Anderson competed for Great Britain at the Olympics in 1952 and the World Championships in 1950 and 1953.

He also trained many people to fence including the celebrities Johnny Depp, Viggo Mortensen, Anthony Hopkins, Charlie Sheen and Catherine Zeta Jones.

For the original "Star Wars" trilogy, Anderson doubled as Darth Vader for the lightsaber fighting scenes.

Anderson is survived by his wife Pearl and three children.

Big Performance by Qatari Women

Qatari women had one of their best performances to date at the Arab Games, winning 32 out of the country's 110 total medals.

Female athletes or teams won 12 gold medals during Doha 2011. Qatar's two best athletes of the Games, Bahiya Al Hamad and Shaden Wahdan, were both females.

"It is my hope that the Arab Games will provide inspiration to the next generation of Qatari athletes to embark on a journey to one day become Olympic champions in front of their home fans in the years ahead," Qatar Olympic Committee president Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said in a statement.

"Furthermore, a higher involvement of women in sport means more female role models whom our children can look up to. This can only be good for the future of Qatar."

Competition for the Arab Games ended on Dec. 23 with the hosts finishing fourth in the total medal tally behind Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.

Cabbies Mull Torch Relay Protest

London torchbearers may be greeted by protests when the Olympic flame arrives in nearby Guildford.

British media report that cabbies in the Surrey county seat are demanding a 2.7 percent fare hike and plan to peacefully demonstrate when the torch passes through town just ahead of the Games.

"We are not out to cause trouble," David Williams-Wynn, chairman of the Guildford Hackney Association and a 37-year taxi-driving veteran, was quoted by Get Surrey.

"We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring pressure to bear on local councils that are not listening to our complaints."

A meeting of the Surrey County Council on Wednesday is expected to touch on whether the GHA tariff used to source the proposed increase is justified.

Cabbies are basing their demands upon increasing costs in fuel, car repairs and licensing fees.

NOC Briefs ...

...India’s Olympic chief predicts a stronger performance from India at the London Olympics. "We are hopeful that our medal tally at London will be better than the 2008 Beijing Olympiad where we had bagged three medals," Indian Olympic Association president V.K Malhotra said, according to Indian media. He added there will be "no lack of funds" for athlete preparation for the Games. "I hope this time the sportspersons will bring more good news for the countrymen."

... The Oman Olympic Committee will hold its first elections by Oct. 31. Following a meeting of the OOC, sports minister and OOC chairAli bin Masoud al Sunaidy called the decision "an ambitious and daring step forward." He added: "We had promised to have an elected OOC and though it took some time, we received the blessings of the Cabinet and the Council of Ministers. A Royal Decree was issued in this regard and we are now ready to deliver it. It is the start of a new chapter in Oman’s Olympic Movement." The OOC was formed in 1982.

Media Watch

The Financial Times examines the work of the much-heralded "pacification" done by Rio de Janeiro police in the city’s slums. While officials tout a string of now-peaceful favelas, the Times quotes one resident of Rochinha, a recently pacified favela, as saying it's now "less safe" to live there.

The paper also profiles BOPE, the police force in charge of pacifying Rio’s slums.

Red tape and graft continue to stall sales of Olympic venues from Athens 2004, according to the Times. The paper provides an update on the Greek government’s efforts to offload the venues with the help of repaying some of its sovereign debt.

Roger Blitz makes an Olympic prediction for the paper. British athletes will not win more gold medals at the London Games than they did in Beijing. However, Team GB will win more medals overall.

In a column for The New York Times, Alan Cowell suggests British society is ambivalent about the Games. He writes: "for every muscle-toned, would-be champion, London offers a counterview, a curmudgeon voice to confound the organizers’ attempts to create a myth of undiluted enthusiasm and public support."

Paul Nilsen counts down 11 of 2011’s top women’s hoops teams, players, coaches and moments in his latest "Women’s Basketball Worldwide" column on FIBA.com.

Written by Ed Hula III,Ann Cantrell and Matthew Grayson.

20 Years at #1: