London Latest - Pistorius to Wow Crowds on International Paralympic Day; Revenues on Target

(ATR) South Africa's 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius is one of the star attractions at International Paralympic Day in London's Trafalgar Square today where all 20 Paralympic sport demonstrations are taking place. Paralympic tickets go on sale Friday.

Displays of wheelchair basketball, rowing, wheelchair rugby and powerlifting are among the sports on show to members of the public, who get the chance to watch and meet international and Team GB athletes.

BT ambassador Pistorius, who became the first amputee athlete to race in a World Athletic Championships in Daegu where he reached the semis, will take to a track by London's National Gallery at lunchtime, running with some school children.

Tanni Grey-Thompson, one of our Britain's more successful Paralympic athletes with a total of 16 Paralympic medals, including 11 golds, will also be on hand to talk with members of the public.

Sochi 2014's Paralympic ambassador Olessya Vladykina, who is preparing to take part in next year's Games, is attending events in London as a member of the Russian delegation.

International Paralympic Day is an initiative by the International Paralympic Committee and has been held every two years since 2003.

At 7pm local time, International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven will officially invite athletes around the world to come and compete at the London 2012 Paralympic Games next summer.

Joining Craven for Paralympic activities throughout the day in Trafalgar Square will be British Prime Minister David Cameron, Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of the British Paralympic Association, London 2012 chair Sebastian Coe, London mayor Boris Johnson, British sports minister Hugh Robertson and culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.

"My experience is that the more exposure Paralympic sport gets, the greater the understanding and higher level of interest and demand [for tickets] and engagement with it," Coe told reporters in a conference call.

Around 1.5 million of the 2 million Paralympic tickets will be available in a sales window opening Friday and ending Sept. 26. Half of them are priced £10 or less and 75 percent cost £20 or less.

Coe says London 2012 organizers have met their commitmentto make the tickets affordable and believes they will sell out.

Five of London 2012’s sponsors are official supporters of International Paralympic Day. BT, Cadbury, Deloitte, Sainsbury’s and Samsung have provided funding for key parts of the celebrations.

London 2012 Revenues On Target

LOCOG's annual report reveals that Olympic organizers are on target to reach their £2 billion ($3.2bn) operating budget to stage the 2012 Games.

Westfield's sponsorship, announced yesterday, meant LOCOG achieved its £700m ($1.1bn) domestic sponsorship target. In the period March 31, 2011, the company signed deals for licensed merchandise sales which will generate a minimum guaranteed amount of £44m, with total income expected to be in the region of £86m.

The report, released Wednesday, shows that LOCOG had also secured £266 million of hospitality ticketing income and group ticket sales. This excludes income from public ticket sales for the Olympics, which came in after the end of the financial year.

"Despite the current economic climate, the company is ahead of schedule in generating its revenue target of £2 billion," the report says.

In his chief executive's review, Paul Deighton reveals that a total of 1,162 staff worked for LOCOG as of March 31 and the company is recruiting employees at a rate of 100 people per month in the build-up to the Games.

"Now the challenge for us is to deliver spectacular Games within a balanced budget," he adds. "In accordance with our robust financial processes, we have completed the fifth version of our lifetime budget and are seeking to make savings wherever we can in both workforce and non-workforce costs.

"We are bringing the same creativity to managing our cost base that we have shown in terms of raising revenue."

Deighton received a salary of £479,873 ($764,977), the same as in 2010. He received a bonus of £220,125 but gave it to charity, as in 2010.

Coe's salary for the year also recflected no change from 2010 (£357,000). He received no bonus.

"After eight years of bidding and planning, we have almost reached the summit of our Games preparations. We continue to deliver against our objectives as demand for involvement in all things London 2012 goes from strength to strength and together with our partners we are testing all aspects of the Games," Coe said.

Reported by Mark Bisson