London Latest - Mother-Daughter Distinction; BT Looks to Sochi, Rio

(ATR) British Telecom tells Around the Rings it's looking to extend its Olympic service beyond London 2012 to Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016.

The official communications services partner of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games has had a tough task putting together 80,000 connections across 94 locations in what have been dubbed the ‘digital Games’.

But Howard Dickel, BT's delivery program director for London 2012, says that with a lot of good feedback from spectators so far about the network performance BT can go on to heavily consult future Olympic hosts.

"I was hosting over the weekend a delegation of just over a thousand people, split between Rio and Sochi - a mixture of telecoms people from the organizing committees and their telecoms partners" he said.

"These people spent two days with us, we took them around all the venues, shared all our experiences over the past four years with them and so I think if we did have a role in Rio or Sochi, it would be in an advisory capacity."

Dickel also added that BT have a dedicated team now to deal with major events and are looking at their global growth pattern to try and extend their network.

"If you think about where BT’s growth is coming from Latin America, Asian Pacific, Europe Middle East and Africa – most of the major sporting events over the next 10 to 15 years are in those countries."

At peak times during the Games, BT’s network will be carrying 60 gigabits of information – the equivalent of 3,000 photographs every second.

First Time Mother Presents Daughter with Medal

Princess Anne had the honor of becoming the first mother to present her daughter with an Olympic medal after Zara Phillips won silver with Team GB’s equestrian team on Tuesday.

It's also the first time that a member of the British royal family has won an Olympic medal. Princess Anne is the only other member of the family to compete in an Olympic Games at Montreal in 1976.

Team GB finished behind Germany in the eventing competition at Greenwich Park. Phillips said it was "amazing" to be given the medal by her mother, who was acting in her role as an IOC member.

London Transport Shaken Up

London Bridge station finally succumbed to the feared congestion that had been mentioned on many occasions by Transport for London.

Reports of overcrowding and long delays occurred on Tuesday evening after a signal failure at Canon Street rail station.

The Central line, which goes all the way to the Olympic Park, also suffered from delays because of a fire alert at Leyton station. The transport system has been coping better than people expected, however.

Although, spectators and officials were crammed onto a Javelin train coming out of Stratford International after cancellations and delays following a man reportedly threatening to throw himself on the track.

Wednesday's Medal Events

Canoe Slalom – Men’s Kayak – Lee Valley White Water Center

Road Cycling – Men’s and Women’s Individual Time Trials – Hampton Court Palace

Diving – Men’s Synchro 3m Springboard – Aquatics Center

Fencing – Men’s Individual Epee, Women’s Individual Sabre – ExCeL

Artistic Gymnastics – Men’s Individual All-Around – North Greenwich Arena

Judo – Women’s -70kg, Men’s -90kg – ExCeL

Rowing – Women’s Pair, Women’s Quadruple Sculls, Men’s Eight – Eton Dorney

Shooting – Women’s 25m Pistol – Royal Artillery Barracks

Swimming – Men’s 200m Breast, Women’s 200m Fly, Men’s 100m Free, Women’s 4x200m Free – Aquatics Center

Table Tennis – Women’s Singles – ExCeL

Weightlifting – Women’s 69kg, Men’s 77kg – ExCeL

Reported by Christian Radnedge

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