Olympic Newsdesk - World Press Briefing in London; China Wins Laureus Team Award

The World Press Briefing in London. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)London Hosts World Press

The first of what will be three World Press Briefings for London 2012 wrapped up Friday. Held at the Bloomsbury Holiday Inn, about 100 representatives of media from Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas took part in the two-day briefing.

The hotel, located in the heart of the Bloomsbury district, gave the media visitors a glimpse of the neighborhood where most of the accommodation planned for the media will be located.

The briefings covered a range of issues such as housing, transport, technology, press operations and venues. It was led by media operations chief Jayne Pearce and relevant staff.

Chinese Olympic Team Honored

China’s Olympic team, which led the medal count at the 2008 Summer Olympics, won the 2009 Laureus Sports Award for the top team of the year at a ceremony in Beijing Friday. Members of the Chinese Olympic team pose with Laureus Academy chairman Edwin Moses (Getty Images)

China notched 51 gold medals, 21 silvers and 28 bronzes, the first time it has topped the medal count since returning to the Olympics in 1984.

The Chinese team beat off competition for the award from Manchester United, Spain’s national football team, the British Olympic cycling team, the Jamaican Olympic sprint team and the NBA’s Boston Celtics.

This year, each Laureus award is being presented individually instead of at a lavish gala ceremony due to the effects of the global economic downturn.

Sweden Selects World Hockey Venues

The Swedish Ice Hockey Association has selected Stockholm as its venue for both the 2012 and 2013 IIHF world championships, which it is co-hosting with Finland.

The Globen Arena in Stockholm will serve as the main venue in 2013; it’s the secondary site in 2012. Helsinki’s Hartwall Arena will be the main site for the competition in the Olympic year and the secondary location for the 2013 championships.

The Swedish organizers also hope to play at least one outdoor game at the Stockholmsarenan, a 30,000-seat football Omaha will once again host the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in 2012 (Getty Images)stadium currently under construction and scheduled to open in 2012. Germany will host its opening game of the 2010 worlds at a 70,000 outdoor stadium in Gelsenkirchen.

Briefs…

…The three-man taxi squad that was introduced for teams in the Olympic hockey tournament at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin will be scrapped for the 2010 Vancouver Games, a Team Canada source tells ESPN. The taxi system was used to replace players on the regular roster in case of injury. Now, teams will be limited to just their 23-man rosters.

…USA Swimming has once again selected Omaha, Neb. as the site for the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in 2012. Omaha was the site for the 2008 trials, with a temporary pool set up inside the 17,000-seat Qwest Center.

…Olympic cyclist Zinaida Stagurskava of Belarus was killed after being hit by a car while training in the country. She was 38. Stagurskava competed in the 1992, 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympics.

Written by Ed Hula and Greg Oshust

ATR London 2012 World Press Briefing Bloomsbury Holiday Inn China 2008 Summer Olympics 2009 Laureus Sport Award Beijing Stockholm Sweden IIHF world championships Finland Globen Arena Helsinki Hartwall Arena Stockholmsarenan 2006 Winter Games in Turin 2010 Vancouver Games ESPN Team Canada USA Swimming Omaha Qwest Center Zinaida Stagurskava Belarus

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