Olympic Newsdesk -- Aquatics Construction Warning; Lance Retires; Taurasi Cleared

Warning Over London Aquatics Construction, Contingency Budget

Britain's spending watchdog warns that construction deadlines for the aquatics center and two parts of the Olympic Village project are "becoming tight" for handover to LOCOG in July and next January.

The National Audit Office (NAO) also raised concerns about the final cost of the Games to taxpayers because of the diminishing contingency budget.

Completion of the Zaha Hadid-designed aquatics venue has slipped from April to June due to complications with the design and fabrication of the steel for the wave-shaped roof.

Construction of two of the 11 residential blocks in the Olympic Village where around 17,000 athletes and officials will be accommodated during the Games are also more than three months behind schedule.

But the NAO said five of the 24 main projects being undertaken by the Olympic Delivery Authority have now been completed ready for handover.

The 80,000-seat main stadium is on track to be finished in March, in advance of the laying of the track and handover to LOCOG by June, the NAO report said.

"Good progress is being made in the preparations for the 2012 London Games. All construction and infrastructure projects are forecast to be completed on time, albeit in two cases with little room to spare before the deadline for handover to LOCOG, and operational planning has improved," Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said in the report published Wednesday.

"However, the final cost of the Games to the taxpayer is inherently uncertain and as the Games near there will be less flexibility to make savings in response to any unforeseen financial pressures."

In its fifth progress report on 2012 preparations, the NAO warns that there is now less contingency available to manage risk within the overall $15 billion budget allocated to build venues and infrastructure for the Games.

Of the original $4.3 billion contingency in the public sector funding package, only $1.6 billion remains.

"As there can be no guarantee that the remaining contingency will be sufficient to cover further unknown risks to the Games, the Government Olympic Executive should have plans for how it will meet any requirement for extra funding which cannot be met from within the remaining contingency," Morse said.

End of Long Road for Lance

Seven-time Tour de France winner and occasional Olympian Lance Armstrong is retiring for a second time.

"I can't say I have any regrets," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

"It's been an excellent ride. I really thought I was going to win another Tour."

Armstrong, 39, left professional cycling in 2005 but returned four years later to finish third in the 2009 Tour and 23rd last year.

He competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, finishing 14th in the Barcelona road race and 12th in Atlanta before capturing his only medal in Sydney: a bronze in individual time trial.

Armstrong’s self-proclaimed "Retirement 2.0" comes on the heels of new doping accusations revealed last month by Sports Illustrated and in the midst of a federal grand jury inquiry in Los Angeles.

Jeff Novitzky, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration agent who led the case against Marion Jones, is investigating whether Armstrong doped while a member of the U.S. Postal Service team from 1999 to 2004.

Despite recent allegations from disgraced former teammate Floyd Landis, Armstrong has alwaysdenied using performance-enhancing drugs of any kind.

He told The AP he is retiring to spend more time with his five kids and with his Livestrong Foundation, through which he has raised almost $400 million for cancer research.

Turkish Lab Retracts Taurasi’s Test Results

A Turkish lab is retracting the results of a failed drug test that put U.S. basketball star Diana Taurasi in doubt for London 2012.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the Turkish basketball federation lifted its doping ban after the lab "evaluated" Taurasi's statements in her defense and then retracted its findings.

The federation provisionally suspended Taurasi in December after her A sample showed traces of modafinil - a drug most often used by shift workers to enhance vigilance and combat sleep disorders – and Fenerbahce of Istanbul cut her after the B sample tested likewise last month.

"Our player was right. We will pursue this. We have documents,'' Fenerbahce president Aziz Yildirim said in a statement posted to his club's website.

Taurasi, 28, led Team USA to gold at the past two Summer Olympics as well as the 2010 FIBA world championship. She plays for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and moonlighted in FIBA’s EuroLeague until the drug dust-up.

The former University of Connecticut standout maintained her innocence throughout the past two months. The Turkish federation has yet to say whether the lab made a mistake in its testing.

Rock-It Cargo Launches ITU Series Sponsorship

Freight service provider Rock-It Cargo will sponsor the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series.

Rock-It Cargo joins Dextro Energy, Suunto, Skins, Specialized and the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation as sponsors of the series.

"Similar to the needs of a triathlon athlete, a sport logistics provider also requires persistence, focus, a good strategy and a strong will to achieve their targets," Rock-It Cargo Germany’s managing director Andreas Mattick said in a statement.

"That’s why we’re extremely pleased to support the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series."

The series will begin in Sydney April 9 and end in Beijing in September.

Turkey, Australia Bid for FIBA Women’s Championship

Australia and Turkey are the two bidders for the 2014 FIBA Women’s World Championship. The deadline to apply was Feb. 15.

"We are extremely pleased to have two solid bids on our table for the Women’s World Championship", said FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann in a statement, adding "both countries offer great conditions for women’s basketball".

The FIBA Central Board meets Feb 13 in Lyon, France to make a decision. There may also be discussion about moving the date of the tournament to winter to help boost exposure.

Media Watch

The New York Times reports that London is finding its Olympic pledge to get Englanders off the couch and into the gym more difficult than anticipated.

Written by Mark Bisson, Matthew Grayson and Isia Reaves Wilcox.