London Latest - Winding Down, Deighton on Rio Gate, Cameron to Brazil

LOCOG Board Meets

London 2012 tells Around the Rings its Games-time staff of 7,000 is down to around 600, most of whom will leave by year’s end.

This transition – including the "winding up" of various internal boards, committees and functions – was among the top items of discussion during Thursday’s meeting of the LOCOG Board.

Also addressed were the dissolution of assets, the dismantling of more than 100 venues and their associated overlay, the handover of Olympic Park to the London Legacy Development Corporation at the end of October, and lessons learned for Rio 2016.

Chair Sebastian Coe, CEO Paul Deighton and select staff are expected to attend the weeklong debrief between the cities scheduled for mid-November in Brazil.

Deighton Smooths Rio Gate Ripples

London 2012 CEO Paul Deighton, said to have fumed when he learned that Rio 2016 observers had downloaded documents without authorization, issues a statement meant to calm the controversy.

"The unauthorised copy of files from the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) did not result in any major security breach or the compromise of any personal data. The case involved only a very small number of people and it was dealt with efficiently and effectively by the senior management at the Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games," says the statement from Deighton, released by Rio 2016.

When the file copying was discovered, ten employees of Rio 2016 were fired. At least one of those ex-workers has told the media he was simply following the directions of her supervisor.

Deighton makes clear that the incident will not damage the future cooperation between London and Rio.

"This episode in no way reflects the actions or behaviour of the vast majority of the Rio 2016 Team who we have become firm friends with. All documents were quickly returned and there has been no impact on the close relationshipwe have always enjoyed with Rio 2016 Team, the Mayor and the Governor of Rio, and the Government of Brazil.

"We will continue to share any information our Rio 2016 colleagues and wider stakeholders would like us to in the same way other OCOGs and Governments have generously given their time and expertise to us. We believe Rio will host a great Games in 2016 and are delighted to help in any small way we can. We continue to have workshops, visits, telephone calls and knowledge transfer sessions with all departments and we are looking forward to the IOC Debrief session in Rio in November.

"But it does not stop there. We are at the disposal of Rio 2016 Teamand their partners and want to share our structures, our experiences, our plans and our lessons with our counterparts in Rio. There is much that we can share and we have nothing but respect, friendship and cooperation with the Rio 2016 Team.

"After all we share the belief that the Olympic movement and sport can make a difference to the lives of people, young and old, wherever they might live in the world. It is our belief in this that unifies us in wanting to make each Games better than the last, ensuring the values of the Olympic and Paralympic movement."

Cameron in Rio, Vero Wins Contract

British Prime Minister David Cameron wraps up a two-day trade mission to Brazil with a stop today in Rio de Janeiro. He will be accompanied by Olympic Delivery Authority chairman John Armitt.

Thursday Cameron announced that that British firm Vero Communications along with its Brazilian partners MLA True Communications and Approach, will provide services to AECOM, the global architectural firm responsible for the design of the Olympic and legacy master plans for both the London and Rio Olympic parks.

VERO will work with AECOM to define and roll out its communications strategy in Brazil.

Written and reported by Ed Hula.