London Update -- Decision Day Looms on Shooting Venue; Swimming 'Ryder Cup'

A final decision on the London Olympic shooting venue will be made at 2012’s headquarters Thursday.

Woolwich Barracks – the former home of the historic Royal Artillery regiment – remains the organizers’ choice. But London’s Olympic Board will consider alternative venues at Barking in Essex and the national shooting center at Bisley, Surrey, where shooting events for the 1908 and 1948 Games were staged.

Last fall, the Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell ordered a comprehensive review of London’s temporary venues to ensure best value. Auditors KPMG submitted their report before Christmas which endorsed most venue decisions.

Doubts remain about the facilities planned for Woolwich, which is the preferred venue of the IOC and the international shooting federation.

Shooting groups in Britain have lobbied hard for Bisley, which was part of London’s original bid, because it offers greater legacy value for the sport and that it would also be at least $20 million cheaper than spending $65 million on Woolwich.

Using Bisley, 50 miles southwest of the city, would undermine the London organizers’ and IOC’s desire to stage a compact Games. The Olympic Delivery Authority has also identified a brownfield site in Barking, with potential to host a purpose-built shooting venue post-2012.

“The Board asked for further work to be done on Woolwich as the venue for Olympic and Paralympic shooting following the KPMG report to make sure it was still the best and most cost effective option,” a LOCOG spokeswoman said.

The London Olympic Board consists of Jowell plus LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe, London Mayor Boris Johnson and Colin Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association.

Thursday’s meeting is just a week before the IOC’s end-of-March deadline for finalizing 2012 venues.

Swimming Plans Contest Between Europe and U.S.

British Swimming’s plan to boost the sport’s profile before the 2012 Olympics includes a “Ryder Cup” competition between the U.S. and Europe, the first match to be staged in Manchester this year.

The idea is based on a “Duel in the Pool” event between the U.S. and Australia in 2000. The Americans have already agreed to take part.

British Swimming performance director Dennis Pursley said the competition could attract new fans to the sport. “It brings big attention to the sport and it's another opportunity for the athletes to prove themselves,” Pursley said.

The news came as British Swimming announced a $23 million sponsorship deal with British Gas over six years, through London 2012 and to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Meanwhile Rebecca Adlington, one of the biggest stars in British sport after her two gold medals in the pool in Beijing last year, has spoken out against plans to remove her world record event, the 800-meters freestyle, from future Olympic programs and replace it with 1,500 meters for gender equity.

Adlington, who is competing in the British championships in Sheffield, wants the IOC's competitions committee to consider her view: “I’d say to them you should keep the 800 meters because it's now a traditional, historic Olympic event and a great race.

“People are astonished they're considering taking it out of the program. It’d be like taking the 5,000m out of the Olympic track program, which they'd never do in a million years. It's shocking really,” she said.

Basketball Tournament Confirmed for O2 Arena

British Basketball today confirmed a story first reported by ATR that it is to stage an international tournament at the O2 Arena later this year.

Part of the British team’s build-up to EuroBasket 2009, “Game On” will feature Israel, Turkey and Slovenia and be staged at the 2012 Olympic venue from Aug. 14 to 16. It is the intention that the event will be staged annually. The O2 Arena already stages an invitation match between NBA teams each year.

“We feel we need to play as many games at the O2 as possible in the run up to 2012,” said Britain’s head coach Chris Finch.

Parry and Rodda to be Honored in Media Buildings

Sources at LOCOG confirm that key areas in the London 2012 media facility will be named after two giants of international sports journalism: Steve Parry and John Rodda.

Both men served for lengthy periods on the IOC’s press commission. Parry, the former sports editor at Reuters, died on the eve of the Beijing Games. Rodda, for 36 years the athletics and sports politics correspondent of The Guardian newspaper, died earlier this month.

The idea of naming areas was floated by colleagues at the Sports Journalists’ Association, and a LOCOG official said this week: “It would be an honor to name an area of the Main Press Centre after John Rodda... We also aim to name a room or bar after the late Steve Parry.”

The $498 million venues will be converted to a business center after the Olympics.

Construction work is expected to commence within weeks.

London Continues Search for Youthful Talent

LOCOG today announced a search for 10 school or college graduates between 16 and 18 to join the organization. The “Get Ahead” program will see the new recruits join the LOCOG workforce in August.

“Working to help stage the London 2012 Games will undoubtedly give the successful young people an unrivaled start to their careers. We want the 2012 Games to inspire the youth of the world, so it is absolutely right that we employ young people to help us achieve this,” said LOCOG chief executive Paul Deighton.

Last week, LOCOG also launched a design competition for 16 to 21-year-olds in full or part-time education to create a design to fill the London 2012 Olympic logo. The new logo will become the official London 2012 education logo.

Briefs...

... Sue Campbell, appointed to the House of Lords last year in recognition of her work in sport administration, has been confirmed by the government as chair of UK Sport for another four years. Campbell has held the position since 2003. U.K. Sport distributes $140 million of public and Lottery money to elite sport each year.

... Eager to boost his city’s flagging economy, London Mayor Boris Johnson is offering companies from overseas one year’s free rent if they relocate to the Olympic host city. The falling value of sterling means that London is now cheaper to live in than New York for the first time since 2002, according to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

... A House of Lords committee has said that the European Union and NATO should contribute to the security costs for the 2012 Olympics, which it described as a “prime target for terrorists.” London has a $1 billion budget for Olympic security, with 10,000 extra police to be drafted into the city each day, the biggest peacetime security operation in British history.

Written by Steven Downes.