Last Days for Torch Relay, Security Controversy

Spiral Route for Flame through London

The Olympic Flame will spiral its way nearly 250 miles through London streets with 963 torchbearers in the final week to the Games.

London Olympic organizers unveiled some of the details of the last week at a press conference on Monday.

Officials predicted tens of thousands of Londoners to pour onto the city’s streets to watch the relay.

Mark Evers, Olympic chief at Transport for London said early estimates show the July 26 events at Hyde Park and along the River Thames to be the most popular—and congested days.

Currently, boxer Lennox Lewis is the most well known international figure to carry the Flame through London, but other major figures await confirmation.

LOCOG spokesperson Jackie-Brock Doyle said organizers will announce the famous torchbearers names the day before they run with the Flame.

Blame Game Over Security Staff Shortfall

As politicians and media race to see who gets the blame for the failure of security contractor G4S to secure the number of staff needed to guard the Olympics, an international expert says the Games should still be safe.

"I think they will have enough people to make the Games safe," Helmut Spahn of the Qatar based International Centre for Sport Security tells Around the Rings. Spahn headed security for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

After revelations earlier this month that G4S would not be able to recruit the final 3,500 staff needed for the Games, the British government stepped in to authorize the deployment of military forces and police officers to fill the gap.

"The only problem I see is the image that will be conveyed by the use of troops," says Spahn. "If we see a lot of police, a lot of military the impression for the public, the spectators is different than it would be with private contractors," he says.

The controversy has generated newspaper headlines that include the words "crisis", "shambolic" and "debacle". Members of parliament are pressing for inquiries and the shares of G4S, one of the world’s largest private security firms have slumped since the issues with Olympic staff emerged. The firm may have to pay upwards of $70 million in penalties.

Home Secretary Theresa May, who oversees national security as part of her portfolio, says Games security hasn’t been compromised by the snafu and is defending the government response to the situation.

Transport Issues Arise for Olympic Arrivals

Reports of a four-hour journey from Heathrow Airport to the Olympic Village for U.S. athletes has marred the first day of arrivals at the village near the Olympic Park in east London.

"Athletes are sleepy, hungry and need to pee. Could we get to the Olympic Village please", tweeted sprinter Kerron Clement, 400m champion, from a bus delayed because the driver was lost.

Transport officials say traffic on the west London highways from Heathrow were no worse than normal for a Monday morning and that Olympic lanes are working.

Teams from 50 NOCs are due to arrive Monday.

Westminster Abbey Olympic Service

The church where British monarchs have been crowned hosted a celebration on July 15, "Discovering the Olympic Spirit" praying for Olympic success.

"We assemble today to give thanks to almighty God for the Olmypic movement and look forward with trust and hope to the forthcoming London Olympic and Paralympic Games," John Hall, Dean of Westminster said at the open of the 45-minute service.

Craig Reedie, IOC member from Great Britain, read from Isaiah, which included the line "they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary".

Andy Hunt, CEO of the British Olympic Association offered a prayer in thanks to the vision and commitment of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement.

Where Are We BBC?

BBC News could not figure out where a press conference was taking place in the center of London Monday for the torch relay. Seeing Mayor Boris Johnson at the podium, BBC producers figured the presser was at City Hall, which is what the title on the TV screen read.

Someone realized that was not the case, changing the title to "Olympic Media Centre", which was also wrong.

Johnson and colleagues were speaking at the London Media Centre, the facility set up by the city to host journalists covering the Games who do not have official Olympic accreditations.

Uninformed BBC reporters also insist on calling the Olympic Village the "athletes village", by the way.

Boris Touts London Preps

An emphatic Boris Johnson was singing London’s praises at the torch relay press conference, contrasting the British capital with other major cities.

London is a city with "twice as many bookshops as New York, and about the quarter of the murder rate, by the way" he pointed out.

He claimed London has more Michelin-starred restaurants than Paris.

And then the weather: "It rains more in Rome, than it does in London—that’s the key statistic. It is officially not raining in London 94 percent of the time."

He also said when Londoners see the Olympic Flame in the city, it will erase "any remaining vestiges of Olympo-skepticism."

Written and reported in London by Ed Hula and Ed Hula III

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