Olympic Legacy Concerns; First 2012 Volunteers; Truce Program

(ATR) Britain's former sports minister Richard Caborn says the campaign to boost sports participation as a legacy of the 2012 Games is "failing completely".

Sport England is responsible for delivering on London's bid legacy pledges made to the IOC in 2005 to increase the number of people playing more sport by one million by the time of the Olympics

But its latest figures show only a modest increase from 6.815 million to 6.924 million towards the target of getting 7.815m people playing sport three or more times a week by 2012-13. In 21 sports, there has been a decrease in people participating once a week since 2007-08; only nine saw an increase.

"The Olympics will be a spectacular success but we are not capitalizing on that," said Caborn, who was sports minister during London's successful bid

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"We are in danger of failing completely on the long-term sporting legacy of the Games," he was quoted by the BBC. "There needs to be a major change of direction in the strategy on this if the disastrous decline experienced by many of the sports is to be reversed."

Sport England's chairman Richard Lewis hit back, admitting: "The number of people playing sport is increasing, but the pace of change needs to increase significantly over the next 12 months and beyond.

"That is why the secretary of state for culture, media, sport and the Olympics has written to all sports governing bodies with the clear message that they must deliver participation growth or put their public funding at risk."

Lewis said sports such as cycling and netball were already demonstrating "what can be achieved through innovative approaches that focus on what people want from grassroots sport".

He added: "Our commitment to harnessing the power of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to boost grassroots sport goes beyond sports governing bodies, who receive about half of the money we invest.

"Through the Places People Play legacy program, we are investing £135 million [$211m] of lottery funding to transform sports facilities, create more opportunities to play sport and inspire more people to get involved in making sport happen at the local level.

"This money is going directly to local sports groups, with thousands of clubs and hundreds of thousands of people set to benefit. We are also investing in the School Games, which is giving young people across the country more opportunities to take part in competitive sport."

First 2012 VolunteersSelected

LOCOG notified 10,000 applicants that they were selected to volunteer at next year's Games.

London 2012 needs up to 70,000volunteers for the Olympics and Paralympics and will continue its recruitment drive for volunteers through April.

Sebastian Coe, LOCOG chair, said "the best possible team" would comprise LOCOG’s volunteer corps.

Around 250,000 people applied to the Games Maker program last year and a team of specially trained team has conducted interviews since February in nine selection centers around the U.K.

"Combined with the forces of my London Ambassadors, part of our ever growing Team London volunteer army, we will be in great shape to give people coming to the capitalin 2012 a truly unforgettable experience" said London mayor Boris Johnson.

Olympic Truce Program Launches

London 2012’s 'Get Set Olympic Truce' program launched Wednesday to coincide with the U.N.'s International Day of Peace.

Andy Turner, bronze medalist in the 110m hurdles at athletics world championships joined students at London’s Swanlea school, who developed design ideas for a new London 2012 Olympic Truce pin badge, to discuss how they could promote the ideals of the Olympic Truce.

A "Peace One Day" concert in London closed the celebrations in the evening.

The Olympic Truce is the agreement that all wars will end during the staging of the Olympics.

"With the inspiring 'Get Set Olympic Truce’ program, young people will discover that sport transcends all differences; that sport combines friendship, solidarity, fair play and universality; and that practicing sport is a human right" IOC president Jacques Rogge said in a statement.

Olympic Ball Fundraiser

British entertainer Stephen Fry will co-host the British Olympic Ball at Kensington Olympia on Oct. 7.

The British Olympic Association event, billed as a crucial fundraiser for Team GB ahead of the London Olympics, is also being hosted by British comedienne Miranda Hart.

A host of Britain’s greatest Olympians and leading names from the worlds of sport and entertainment are scheduled to attend. Welsh pop legend Tom Jones has already been unveiled as the headline act.

Tickets are priced $772 plus tax, according to the official event website www.britisholympicball.com.

Reported by Mark Bisson