Ticket Trouble for LOCOG; Japan's 2012 Medal Target; China's YOG Squad

More Ticket Sale Problems for LOCOG

It's happened again –complications are surfacing with selling tickets to the London Olympics.

On Friday, LOCOG released tickets for resale that the original purchasers decided they did not want.

With demand for tickets "far exceeding supply", however, LOCOG said its site had to be updated and refreshed.

"Huge demand for tkts, far exceeding supply. People are only putting up e.g. pairs or fours of tkts to sell at once," the organizing committee tweeted.

"Lots of tkts sold already today, the system is working. But, there's been feedback of issues with selling tkts."

"We're updating & refreshing the system now – while this is happening customers won't be able to upload tkts for resale."

Following the initial ticket sale process with people entering a lottery for tickets, the website for ticket sales had technical problems.

Earlier in the week, LOCOG said tickets to synchronized swimming sessions had been oversold by thousands.

Japan Targets 15 Gold

Japanese Olympic Committee president Tsunekazu Takeda says a strong showing from the Japanese Olympic team in London is crucial for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid.

In his first speech of the year as JOC president, Takeda said Thursday his country is targeting 15 gold medals at the 2012 Games.

"We will aim for a minimum of 15 gold medals," he was quoted by the Kyodo News Agency. "It's crucial for us to do well in London so we can drive up public support for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bid."

Japan won nine gold medals in Beijing.

China Names 23-Strong YOG Squad

A total of 23 athletes will represent China at the first-ever Winter Youth Olympic Games kicking off next week in Innsbruck.

With an average age under 16, they are bookended by 17-year-old ice hockey player Sun Jiayue and 14-year-old short track speed skater Lv Xiucheng.

"Rather than winning medals, the Chinese delegation will focus more on promoting friendships and communications between us and others from all over the world," Xiao Tian, deputy director of the State Sports General Administration, was quoted Friday by Xinhua.

Yan Han, the 2011 junior runner-up at the ISU Grand Prix Finals; Li Zijun, a two-time junior runner-up at Grand Prix events as well as reigning 3,000m and team pursuit junior world champ Yang Fan are the most experienced of the 23, only 10 of which are veterans of the world stage.

That will change next Friday when they join more than 1,000 other athletes ages 14-18 from 65+ countries for competition across 15 winter sports disciplines in a total of 63 medal events, 14 of them featuring at an Olympics for the first time.

Doping Violation Costs Cyclist World Titles

French track cyclist Gregory Bauge is short two world titles courtesy of the International Cycling Union.

In a Friday statement, the UCI announced that all results achieved by the Beijing silver medalist – and any team for which he rode – between Dec. 23, 2010 and Dec. 22, 2011 are now nullified.

Unfortunately for him and for France, that includes gold medals in both individual sprint and team sprint won at the 2011 track cycling world championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.

The sanction stems from a backdated 12-month suspension handed down by the French cycling federation in November after Bauge missed a drug test and also violated rules on rider availability.

"They are not blaming him for doping, they are blaming him for having overlooked his administrative obligations," his lawyer Jim Michel-Gabriel was quoted by AFP.

"These are debatable, as one of them arose simply because he was ill."

It’s expected British cyclist Jason Kenny will be elevated to gold in the individual sprint and Germany to top position in the team sprint.

Bauge is still clear to complete in next month’s Olympic test event as well as the 2012 Games due to the suspension’s backdating.

Phelps and Girlfriend Break Up

Olympic champion Michael Phelps is a single man after splitting with former Miss California Nicole Johnson.

The New York Post reports that the couple broke up a few weeks ago after dating on and off for several years. While the publication said Phelps is telling friends he’s single, his representative has not confirmed the news.

Phelps is currently training for London 2012, which he has said will be his final Games.

Media Watch

Government officials in Rio are at risk of not meeting a promise to clean up pollution in the city's waterways by the 2016 Olympics. O Globo has the report.

Plans were announced to introduce a 50 pence that would explain football's offside rule for Olympic visitors who are unfamiliar with the rule. There's just one problem, The Guardian reports. The explanation is wrong.

A post on Golf Monthly's blog says the sport does not need to join the Olympics.

Business magazine Fast Company took an exclusive tour of Visa's Operation Center East, its largest U.S. data center where the credit card giant and longtime Olympic sponsor protects consumers' security and information.

Written by Ed Hula III.

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