Olympic Newsdesk -- Pele Joins London Stadium Debate; Latest on Lance

Pele Backs Tottenham Bid for Olympic Stadium

Pele is the latest voice to weigh in on the bidding war for legacy use of London’s Olympic Stadium.

The Brazilian football icon praises the plans of Tottenham Hotspur in a letter sent Friday to Olympic Park Legacy Company CEO Andrew Altman and made available to Around the Rings.

Just as Olympics expert and newly hired bid leader Mike Lee did Sunday, Pele continues the north London club’s line of attack by questioning the wisdom of a stadium shared by football and athletics.

"I really don’t understand wanting to play with a track around the pitch," he wrote.

"The players won’t like it and it probably won’t last."

Tottenham plans to knock down the 80,000-capacity venue, build a new purpose-built 60,000-seat football stadium on its site and revitalize the Crystal Palace athletics stadium in south London to fulfill the Olympic pledge made by London bid leadership in 2005.

Meanwhile, rival club West Ham seeks to retain the stadium structure and athletics track but reduce its capacity by 20,000, a move that has London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe, IAAF president Lamine Diack, UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner, European Athletics president Hansjorg Wirz and sprint legend Frank Fredericks all backing the east London bid.

Like Lee, Pele too argues football and athletics cannot coexist within the same stadium, but not for the reasons Tottenham’s been touting this week. Instead, he says, players will suffer if a track stands between them and their supporters.

"As a player you need to feel the passion and the intensity of the fans. The best stadiums connect the fans to the pitch and if you lose that you lose something that really matters – and eventually you lose the fans," Pele wrote Friday.

"I was lucky to play football all over the world and there is a big difference when a track separates you from the fans and them from you. You want connection with the fans, their excitement is your excitement."

The Olympic Park Legacy Company is expected to choose a preferred bidder on Jan. 28.

Quake-Struck Christchurch Ready for IPC Champs

Paralympic athletes are in top form well ahead of London 2012.

More than 1,000 runners, jumpers and throwers from over 70 countries are in Christchurch, New Zealand this week and next for the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships.

"This is the last major gathering of international athletes before the London Games," IPC Vice President Greg Hartung said during Friday’s opening ceremony.

"We can expect to see some stunning performances over the next nine days as athletes set the bar for what we can expect in 2012."

Hartung also thanked organizers and Kiwi volunteers for their determination to hold the championships as planned despite a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in September and several aftershocks that struck since.

According to the Christchurch City Council, the track and warm-up areas of Queen Elizabeth II Stadium suffered localized damage but none that will affect the 10-day competition.

Events begin Saturday and run through Jan. 30.

Vodka Toast Welcomes Russian Visitors

Alexander Zhukov and the other leaders of the Russian Olympic Committee were welcomed by the U.S. Olympic Committee with a vodka toast.

The toast came at the start of an official dinner with the ROC and leaders of the USOC, including president Larry Probst, Scott Blackmun, CEO, Lisa Baird Chief Marketing Officer, and Patrick Sandusky Chief Communications Officer.

Zhukov, president of the Russian Olympic Committee, leads a delegation visiting the USOC at its headquarters in Colorado Springs Colo.

Also taking part in the visit is the Canadian Olympic Committee.

On Friday, the ROC will hear presentations from the USOC and re-sign its bi-lateral agreement.

The USOC says the visit is done to help bolster relations between the USOC and the ROC and COC.

The group will head to Salt Lake City tomorrow to meet with the United States Ski and Snowboard Association. The visit concludes on Sunday.

Armstrong Investigation Takes Twist

New doping accusations against Lance Armstrong are the focus of a feature story in this week’s Sports Illustrated.

Among the revelations are documents linking the seven-time Tour de France winner to controversial Italian doctor Michele Ferrari as recently as 2009, test results showing an abnormally high testosterone-epitestosterone ratio and testimony from a former teammate who describes Armstrong’s participation in a pre-race doping ritual.

The article also raises the question of whether U.S. Olympic Committee officials were aware of issues involving Armstrong in the 1990s.

SI’s story comes 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 always denied using performance-enhancing drugs of any kind.

Shakespeare Goes Polyglot for 2012 Games

Shakespeare will have a part in the London Olympics.

Reuters reported Friday that each of the famed bard’s 38 plays will be staged at the historic Globe Theater during the run-up to the Games.

The twist? Each show will be performed by a different theater company in a different language.

"It has long been recognized that Shakespeare, as well as a great playwright, has become an international language," the Globe's artistic director Dominic Droomgoole was quoted by British media.

"Taming of the Shrew" will be in Urdu, "The Tempest" in Arabic, "Troilus and Cressida" in Maori, "King Lear" in Aboriginal languages and "Love's Labor's Lost" in sign language.

Shakespeare’s remaining 34 plays have yet to be paired with languages.

The shows begin April 23.

Trial for Sprinters

Disgraced Greek sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou had their day in court, after four years of postponements.

The two are on trial for lying about a motorcycle accident that caused them to miss drug tests before the Athens Olympics. They are also accused of encouraging medical professionals to issue phony documents to back up their claim.

Last week they were supposed to appear in court but did not show up. Their lawyers represented them on Thursday in court.

The trial is scheduled to resume on Tuesday.

Thanou was silver medalist in the 100m in Sydney, and her then training partner Kenteris, was the men’s 200m champion.

Christos Tzekos, coach of both athletes, is also on trial for allegedly supplying a banned substance.

WADA Approves Almaty Lab

The World Anti Doping Agency announced that the laboratory in Almaty, Kazakhstan is the latest to receive WADA accreditiation.

"We are pleased to welcome the Alamaty laboratory to the network of WADA accredited laboratories," said WADA President John Fahey. "This laboratory will play an important role by fulfilling the needs for anti-doping analysis capacities in a region that was not previously serviced."

Following Thursday’s announcement there are now 35 accredited WADA laboratories.

Labs in Buenos Aires, Doha, and Mexico City were accepted as candidates to enter the accreditation process.

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Written by Matthew Grayson.