NOCs, Embassies Around the World Mark London Milestone

BP

is proud to support Around the Rings

coverage of London 2012

No Medal Projections from USOC

The U.S. Olympic Committee isn’t engaging in any medal predictions with a year to go until the London Games.

"Even though there are big challenges from China, Russia, Great Britain, Australia and a lot of the smaller nations picking us off in disciplines, we’re still in a really good place from the standpoint of our willingness and our effort to compete," USOC chief of sport performance Alan Ashley told reporters in a conference call ahead of Wednesday’s milestone.

"That gives me a lot of hope, but I do find it nerve-wracking sometimes to look at the numbers behind some of these other big nations."

When asked specifically for Team USA’s anticipated medal haul, Ashley said he hasn’t really added anything up and, without ruling out the possibility, said he had no plans to talk about medal ranges before the Games.

Ashley also later denied reports that winning 30 medals in athletics was in fact a goal of the USOC.

"I definitely believe it’s possible. It’s a very ambitious goal," he said, adding that next month’s world championships in Daegu should serve as a more realistic barometer to expectations for London.

The conference call with Ashley was but one event the USOC organized around the one-year-to-go milestone. The bulk of festivities actually occurred Tuesday night in New York City, where more than dozen Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls appeared at the launch of the Team USA: Britain Bound campaign.

A roster of seven athletes – reigning Olympic champions Jeremy Campbell, Henry Cejudo and Nastia Liukin among them – will tour the host country later this year as part of the collaboration with VisitBritain.

Liukin then joined fellow gymnasts Jonathan Horton and Alicia Sacramone at the NBC Experience Store to sign autographs Wednesday morning. Horton and Scaramone also appeared on the TODAY Show alongside several other Olympians and Paralympians.

Brazil Eyes Biggest Team Ever for 2012

With one year to go until the London Olympics, Brazil has already qualified exactly 50 athletes – and counting, NOC officials hope.

"We are still fighting for space, for example, in basketball, volleyball and handball," Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) sports superintendent Marcus Vinicius Freire said in a statement posted to Team Brazil’s website.

"At each Olympic Games, Brazil has increased its participation in the number of athletes and also the number of sports. Let's hope that this trend is repeated in London."

A total of 277 athletes competed across 32 disciplines for Team Brazil in Beijing. Freire suggested the upcoming Pan American Games could go a long way towards bolstering the current squad of 50 athletes ahead of 2012. About 100 spots in London will be up for grabs in Guadalajara come October, he said.

Bogner to Clothe German Olympians in London

Team Germany will march into the opening ceremony of the London Olympics wearing clothes designed by one-time Munich 2018 CEO Willy Bogner.

"We are pleased with Bogner to have a partner at our side, where the Olympic context of his commitment to German Olympic teams in the Winter Games is very familiar," German NOC president Thomas Bach said Wednesday in a statement coinciding with the one-year-to-go mark to the Games.

Bogner, 69, stepped down in September as CEO of the failed Munich bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics after publicly revealing his fight against an undisclosed intestinal illness. He is known as a filmmaker, Olympian in alpine skiing and the head of the sports fashion wear company German athletes will now don in the London ceremonies.

12 in 2012, Dreams South African Olympic Chief

South African NOC chief Gideon Sam wants 12 medals from the 2012 Summer Olympics, his country’s sixth since rejoining the sporting world following the end of apartheid.

"I took over as president of SASCOC three years ago already and it’s really hard to believe that there’s only a year to go before the Games get underway," he said in a statement from Capetown, where he’s attending a waterfront function with a live link-up to London’s one-year-to-go festivities.

"I have previously gone on record as saying it’s my dream to come back from London with 12 medals in 2012. That remains a very definite dream, even though in the fickle, constantly changing world of sport one never knows."

Foreign Office in on Year-to-Go Fun

British embassies the world over refuse to be left out of the fun surrounding Wednesday’s one-year-to-go milestone.

"The Foreign Office is playing a crucial part in telling the rest of the world what a great place the UK is to visit, do business and learn in the lead up to the Olympics and Paralympics," British foreign secretary William Hague said in a statement.

"Events at our global network of posts are helping spread messages about the Games and I am pleased that we are doing so much to promote the Olympics."

At the British embassy in Tokyo, for example, Japanese NOC officials and Olympic hopefuls joined Foreign Office staff in firing a starting pistol for the year-to-go countdown and then enjoying a UK summer party complete with English wine and Pimms.

Meanwhile, top Pakistani tennis players competed in a mixed doubles match against the British High Commission’s team, socially disadvantaged children squared off at a beach volleyball event hosted by the British Embassy in Prague and Olympic sprint legend Frank Fredericks attended a VIP reception put on by the British High Commission in his native Namibia.

For a complete rundown of one-year-to-go celebrations by British embassies around the world, check out this running diary of Twitter activity compiled by the Foreign Office.

NOC Leaders in London

Chinese Olympic Committee president Liu Peng is among a handful of NOC chiefs in London for Wednesday’s one-year-to-go festivities. Brazilian Olympic Committee president Carlos Nuzman is also in attendance.

2012 Medal Projections

Team USA leads the latest edition of the Olympic Medal Tracker maintained by USA Today and statistics provider Infrostrada Sports. A total of 85 medals – 37 gold, 18 silver and 30 bronze – are now projected for American athletes. Given that the algorithm is based on recent competition results rather than anticipated performances in London, the figures are likely to shift after the ongoing aquatics world championships in Shanghai.

Written by Matthew Grayson.