Surge for 2012 Tickets; IOC Member Distinction; Figure Skating Money Loser

Rush for 2012 Olympics Tickets as Deadline Looms

London 2012 organizers expect a last-minute scramble for Olympic tickets ahead of the midnight deadline to apply for some of the 6.6 million tickets available for the games.

"The pattern of applications began with a big spike on the first day [March 15] followed by a steady stream. In the last few days it has started to ramp up and is headed towards a big spike at the end of the day," a London 2012 spokesman told Around the Rings.

He said early indications were that orders were fairly well-spread interest across all 650 sessions, 26 sports and over the 17 days of competition.

Applicants are limited to a maximum of 20 events each and prices range from £20 ($33) to £2,012 ($3,314).

Among the sessions expected to be oversubscribed are the opening and closing ceremonies, men's 100m, and the cycling and swimming finals.

So far today the ticketing system is coping with the onslaught of applications.

LOCOG will sift through the applications over the next few days to check for duplicates and invalid entries made via the official ticketing website.

A random ballot will allocate tickets for oversubscribed events. The LOCOG spokesman said the ballots will take place between May 10 and June 10. Successful applicants will be notified by email by June 24 at the latest.

Applications for Paralympic Games tickets open in September. Tickets for test events and the London 2012 Festival go on sale in the coming months.

IOC Member Claims Gold

Angela Ruggiero won gold in the women’s ice hockey world championships Monday, and with the honor comes a further distinction—she’s the only sitting IOC member who is a current world champion athlete.

The U.S. defeated Canada in overtime Monday.

The next member who could claim world championship gold would be Saku Koivu, also an ice hockey player. The men’s championships begin in Slovakia later this month, and while he was not listed on Finland’s provisional roster, his professional team was eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs and he serves as Finland’s captain.

Finland is currently ranked fourth in the world.

Whilemost of the IOC Athletes Commission members are retired, othersare still active competitors in their sports.

Moscow to Lose Money from Event

Moscow is set to lose $6 million from hosting the 2011 figure skating world championships.

According to media reports, authorities have spent $7.45 million staging the event on short notice. However, projections say revenues generated will total $1.5 million.

Originally scheduled for Tokyo, the International Skating Union moved the championships to Moscow following the March 11 earthquake in Japan. Organizers have had little time to organize and promote the championships in Russia, possibly leading to the loss of money.

Speaking to Russian daily Kommersant, Russian sports reporter Dmitry Navosh said "Over the last 20 years you could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of sporting events which took place in Russia and paid off for us. Part of the problem is the reliance on public finance, which absolutely denies promoters any incentive to make money."

Romney Cites Olympic Experience

Hitting the campaign trail for U.S. President, Mitt Romney, former 2002 Olympics organizing committee chief, cited his Olympic experience as a plus for his candidacy.

Speaking on the Fox News Chanel, Romney was asked to compare his successful business career with fellow tycoon and presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Romney contrasted himself with Trump saying he is "proud of the fact that I was able to take the reins of the Olympics and get them back on track." Corruption scandals had rocked the Games and Romney is credited with ensuring their successful delivery.

The former governor of Massachusetts must win the Republican primary before taking on incumbent Barack Obama in the general election next year.

Olympic Terrorism

The Olympics are not mentioned in the latest batch of classified documents released by whistleblower website Wikileaks.

On Monday, The New York Times unveiled a new round of documents pertaining to terrorism suspects detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

In the new documents, details about the detainees and why they were arrested is published. However, an initial search conducted by Around the Rings finds no mention of the Olympics in the arrest documents.

Media Watch

The Guardian writes about different countries taking over London landmarks for their hospitality centers during the 2012 Olympics.

Now former Indian Olympic chief Suresh Kalmadi’s career is profiled in Indian media.

Written by Ed Hula III.