London Latest - Coe Holds No Fears for Olympics; Police Crackdown on Cyber Crime

(ATR) Despite lingering security and transport concerns, London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe says he has no big fears for the Olympics.

"I don't really have any fears. What we have within our control is under our control," he told BBC radio.

"There are things that will come out of left field. The strength of your organization is the ability to deal with that."

Coe said his London 2012 organizing committee had planned in meticulous detail - over a 72-hour testing period - to deal with various worst-case scenarios that may crop up during the Olympics. He added that testing was about "not just the field of play, but 130 venues that have to work, not all competition venues".

With 213 days until the opening ceremony, the LOCOG chief again sought to dampen concerns about the lack of a concrete legacy plan for the 80,000-seat Olympic stadium.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company last week reopened the tender process to take over the stadium after the 2012 Games, with football and rugby clubs invited to team up for a ground-share proposal. The athletics track will form a core part of the venue's legacy program.

The double Olympic champion insisted that the proposed multipurpose post-Games legacy plan for the venue would be a boon for the country's elite athletes and local community.

"What we now have is a home for national track and field which we've never had and the first major legacy of that is having won the right to stage the 2017 World Athletics Championships," he told BBC Radio 4's Today program on Monday.

He added: "My early hopes for that stadium going back 20 years were a Stade de France-type model but I do actually think given what we now have... with track and field we'll have it for 20-odd days a year which will be for community use and obviously elite level competition.

"And with other tenants in there and possibly a football club I think this is something that can work and will work and has community use at the heart."

Asked about his great hopes for the Olympics, Coe said that with 205 nations participating and thousands of competitors and visitors, "I want Britain to be shown at its very best and I want people to feel proud about what we have delivered."

Olympic Cyber Crime Concerns

Hundreds of websites selling Olympic-related products have been identified by the UK's leading cyber crime unit.

Around 2,000 websites, some using the Olympic rings, have already been shut down but many others are being monitored for fraudulent activity as the clock counts down to next summer's Games. Selling tickets on the black market is one area of focus for the police.

"We think there is some evidence to suggest they are waiting to commit fraud," Janet Williams, head of the cyber crime unit at the Metropolitan Police, was quoted by Britain's Guardian newspaper.

"These websites have been set up and are in a holding position, and we will monitor them to see if they are used for criminal purposes."

Williams added: "The issues we are planning around include a [possible] attack on the transport system … but we have to be flexible. During the planning for the general election, we looked at all the potential things that could happen, and went through a range of contingencies. But nobody thought about a volcano erupting in Iceland."

Official London 2012 Stamps

Royal Mail is releasing the official stamps for London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic logos next week.

It is the first time a commercial logo has been included next to the Queen's head on a "definitive" stamp, which are the most commonly used.

Two versions of the stamp books will be sold: one listing the key dates in the countdown to the summer Games, the other offers a quote from LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe.

The stamps go on sale in U.K. retailers and post offices from Jan. 5.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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