Missing Cameroonians; BOA Chiefs Hail Athletes, Africa Village Shuttered

(ATR) The IOC says it's monitoring a police investigation into the disappearance of seven Cameroonian athletes thought to be seeking asylum in the U.K.

Five boxers, a swimmer and a footballer were reported missing by Cameroonian team officials on Tuesday.

"Clearly we are watching the situation," IOC director of communications Mark Adams told a press briefing Wednesday.

"The team has obviously raised a concern and the police are obviously informed. But at this stage I don't think it's necessary for the IOC to worry about whether they will or will not outstay their welcome."

LOCOG spokeswoman Jackie Brock-Doyle said the Cameroon NOC had alerted 2012 organizers about the missing athletes, which are the subject of a Met Police investigation.

With the athletes’ visas only running out in November, she said Games organizers and the police were in a "difficult situation" because the seven had not yet breached their rights to be in the U.K.

BOA Chiefs Hail Athletes, Praise LOCOG

Colin Moynihan, head of the British Olympic Association, today said he was delighted with the stunning performances of GB’s athletes and the organization of the Games.

Britain took their gold medal tally to 22 by Tuesday night following cyclist Chris Hoy’s win in the keirin that made him Great Britain's most successful Olympian with six golds to his name.

It put him one above rowing great Steve Redgrave, as the home nation celebrated its best gold medal haul in 104 years. GB won 19 in Beijing and have also matched the 48 medal target.

Moynihan praised the "brilliance of Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton and the whole of that team" as well as coaches and support staff.

"We are not done yet," added BOA chief executive Andy Hunt.

"The success that we have had has been not only about the extraordinary athletes, extraordinary coaches but about an incredible collaboration across 50 sports organizations working together in a way they have never worked before across every area of performance and support."

Moynihan was asked how he rated the organization of the Games.

"Exceptionally high" was his verdict, acclaiming the iconic venues and well-run, professional support of London 2012 CEO Paul Deighton and his team.

Moynihan said the military troops drafted in to strengthen venue security just a week ahead of the Games had been a " great asset" and reserved special praise for the volunteers.

"Every hour of every day between now and the closing ceremony requires calm focused attention to delivery," he added.

"And that’s not just about the athletes and BOA, it’s about the organizing committee. But they have done a magnificent job.

Above all, the volunteers have shone through. Volunteers make Games, that’s one of the reasons Sydney was so successful."

Hunt claimed the organization of London 2012 had raised the bar for Rio 2016 and beyond.

"If you are an organizing committee coming up in 2016 or 2020, I think LOCOG has set down a template which is going to be challenging for other nations [to match]."

The BOA confirmed that the official Team GB celebration was slated for Sept. 10, the day after the Paralympics wrap up.

This will include a parade of some 800 athletes who have taken part in the Olympics and Paralympics and will end at Buckingham Palace.

IOC on Winning the Doping Fight

With only three athletes kicked out of the Games so far and another provisionally suspended pending further tests, the IOC today faced questions whether drug cheats were perhaps finding new ways of beating anti-doping controls.

IOC comms chief Adams said that 3,949 urine and blood samples had been processed since the Olympic Village opened on July 15.

He emphasized that athletes were subject to a "pretty rigorous regime of testing". The top five athletes in any final faced compulsory tests with two more tested at random. Urine and blood samples are kept for eight years.

"People can’t escape this. 24 hours a day the athletes around the year have to be prepared to be tested," he said of the out-of-competition testing run by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

"Will we ever win the war? We won’t ever win the war. But we are winning the battle. I think athletes understand that if they get caught, we will send them home and they will lose any medal they’ve got."

The Athens 2004 Olympics had 26 doping cases, and the IOC is currently probing suspected positives that may lead to retroactive sanctions. Beijing retesting caught five athletes for use of CERA.

"It’s one of these…damned if we do and damned if we don't," Adams said. "If we catch a lot of people doping, everyone says these Games are useless because everyone’s doped and if we don’t, everyone says people are escaping.

"We think we are doing a great job of testing and, where we are able to, of catching people," he added. "We are right up with the latest technology. If we are not and there is something we don’t know, we keep the samples for eight years so anyone who is doping here may think they have got away with it but we will catch them."

Paralympics Tickets Update

Of the 2.5 million Paralympics tickets available, more than two million have been sold. LOCOG said today that 500,000 were snapped up during the Olympics.

The Paralympics begin Aug. 29 and end Sept. 9.

Africa Village Closes

Late bills and unpaid staff led to today's shutdown of Africa Village, Around the Ringsis told.

The dedicated hospitality venue in Kensington Gardens was a first for the continent,with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa heading the project.

After coming up short in Beijing, a total of 53 NOCs were represented at the Village until the doors shut Wednesday, according to communications director Laurent Bagnis.

Whether plans to repeat the exercise at Rio 2016 live on remains to be seen.

Reported by Mark Bisson

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.