Los Angeles, U.S.A. — Luminys Systems Corp. proudly supported the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Trials at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska with the company’s proprietary SoftSun lights. Luminys provides the world’s most powerful and controllable single source lights for sporting venues, concert arenas, and film and television production, as well as other commercial and industrial applications.

JustLighting of LasVegas, Nevada, renowned event lighting designers, once again teamed up with Luminys for the Olympic Swimming Team Trials.

“With the use of just four 50K SoftSuns, JustLighting was able to deliver incomparable depth of field and stunningly brilliant color renderings to the NBC Sports HD national broadcast,” said Steve Heller of Attitude Specialty Lighting who worked with JustLighting as the exclusive Luminys agent in the Southeast. “The NBC production team was very impressed with the quality of light provided by the 50K’s for their slow motion replays,” Heller added.

Luminys previously supplied SoftSuns for JustLighting’s lighting design of Dolphin Stadium for Super Bowl XLI, among other events.

JustLighting installed four SoftSun 50,000 Watt models within the CenturyLink Center facility for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Trials. Viewers saw the amazing difference in the resulting picture quality in broadcast and photography taken during the Olympic Swimming trials.

“The superior color quality of the SoftSun lights delivered an enhanced high definition experience captured on camera,” said David Pringle, Chief Technology Officer of Luminys. “Being able to showcase these talented athletes in a highly anticipated and photographed event leading up to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London was a great opportunity to demonstrate the performance that SoftSun delivers.”

Image Courtesy of  US Olympic Team

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Seven athletes from the Cameroon delegation at the 2012 London Olympics have left the Olympic village without official permission, confirmed the Ministry of Sport and Physical Education in the African country. Five boxers, a swimmer and a soccer player are the athletes who have disappeared from the concentration, presumably for economic reasons.

“What began as rumour has finally turned out to be true. Seven Cameroonian athletes who participated at the 2012 London Olympic Games have disappeared from the Olympic village,” wrote David Ojong, the manager of the Cameroon delegation, in a message for the Ministry of Sport and Physical Education in Cameroon.

He said the Cameroon delegation consisted originally of 59 people, but 28 already have returned home, 24 remain in London and seven are missing.

Ojong explained that Drusille Ngako, a reserve goalkeeper from the Olympic football woman team, was the first to disappear. Ngako did not finally make it for the group of selected 18 players to compete in the Olympic competition. While her teammates moved from Scotland to Coventry to continue the preparation, Ngako did not accompany the group and no one ever heard from her.

A few days later it was swimmer, Paul Ekane Edingue’s turn. Also, five boxers, Thomas Essomba, Christian Donfack Adjoufack, Abdon Mewoli, and Serge Blaise Mendouo Yepmou Ambomo, were absent from the village on Sunday.

Representatives of the International Olympic Committee said today that they knew nothing about it. “We are not aware of it,” said spokesman Mark Adams.

It is not the first time Cameroonian athletes have disappeared during international sports competitions. At past Francophonie and Commonwealth games as well as junior soccer competitions, several Cameroonians have quit their delegation without official consent.

Image Courtesy of   Denis Kuvaev / Shutterstock.com

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The U.S. women’s soccer team has done it again and fulfilled all the predictions: they beat Canada in the semifinals in the “Theater of Dreams” from Manchester and will fight for the gold medal in the final game against Japan.

The finalist was not decided until the last minute of extra time. During the 90 minutes, Canada went ahead on the scoreboard three different times, but the Americans managed to tie the game every time Canada scored.

The first Canadian advantage came with Christine Sinclair, who made the first goal of the night. In the second half, the Americans managed a draw thanks to Megan Rapinoe.

However, Sinclair again put his team ahead three minutes before Rapinoe drilled on goal again. In their particular duel to become the best player in the game, Sinclair scored a hat-trick, but when the game seemed already over, Abby Wambach tied it in the 80th minute with a penalty kick.

With the score at 3-3, the semi-final went to over time and it was not until the second part of the extension in the third minute of injury time, when Alex Morgan put the U.S. into the final, avoiding penalties with an agonizing goal.

Canadians have complained that the fourth goal came when the game should have been over. They have also showed their disagreement with the American’s third goal, which came after a penalty preceded by an indirect free kick that was indicated when Canadian goalkeeper, Erin McLeod, was called for time wasting, something that is rarely whistled.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed and upset. We felt that the referee took it away from us, so, yes, we are disappointed,” Canada captain Sinclair said. “We feel like we didn’t lose, we feel like it was taken from us. It’s a shame in a game like that, which is so important, that the ref decided the result before the game started.”

Canadian coach John Herdman also showed his anger: “It felt like it was America and the referee against us.”

On the other hand, American players refused to talk about the polemic, as they were celebrating going into the final. “I’m still in shock,” Morgan told NBC following the game. “I was saying the whole time, ‘I don’t care who scores as long as we freaking score, as long as we win. I just got my head on it in the end and I didn’t see it go on.”

“Even when they scored their third goal, there was something in me that knew that we had more, that we could give more,” Wambach said. “I don’t know what that means, quite honestly. I don’t know if it’s just confidence until the end, but this team has a belief in itself, even when the going gets rough.”

Now the final against Japan is on the horizon, and will take place on Thursday at London’s Wembley Stadium. Americans will have the chance to seek revenge against the Japanese, who defeated them in last year’s World Cup final. American Morgan has not forgotten about this game: “We wanted the rematch with Japan, and we got it.”

Image Courtesy of   fstockfoto / Shutterstock.com

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The US basketball team will play on Tuesday, July 31 against Tunisia in a game that is considered purely procedural. The NBA starts showed their authority and superiority against France (98-71) and now they will play against weak Tunisia that lost in the first game against Nigeria (60-56).

US is the favorite to win the gold and in this game they can ratify the image showed in the first Olympic games. Today’s game will be a good opportunity to correct some of the mistakes made against France, such as the series of triples that were missed at the beginning of the game (first six were failed). LeBron James was one the players that showed his nonconformist face and showed his wanting to improve: “It wasn’t perfect. We’ve still got room for improvement. We had too many turnovers, too many fouls and we had a couple of defensive rebounds we could have come up with.”

This game will also bring the opportunity to adapt to the meticulous referees. US players complained about how the ref whistled during the meeting with France. “There were calls being called that didn’t seem right,” said the NBA star Carmelo Anthony.

On the other side of the field will be Tunisia, which will aim to lose the less amount of points. They might make the surprise of the Olympics, but it will be tight, especially taking into account that from the 12 teams in the Olympic basketball tournament, they are the only country that that does not have at least one current NBA player.

Although winning it is important, the US also has the obligation to play like any team could ever do. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said that playing well creates good habits: “It’s about our performance,” he said. “We should beat Tunisia, but we want to play well against Tunisia. When you play games in your pool and you’re a significant favorite, you don’t want to just win, you want to maintain and build good habits. We don’t want to overlook anybody because then we overlook ourselves. And in short period of time you can fall into a bad habit that will have its impact on a game where you’re not a significant favorite.”

The US and Tunisia have only played each other once in their histories. It was in the 2010 World Championships in Turkey and the US won by a clear 92-57.

Kobe Bryant said that this US team could beat the Dream Team from 1992. Today’s game could be a great chance to play like angels and show that this team has nothing to envy from the team from ’92.

Image Courtesy of  Oleksiy Naumov / Shutterstock.com

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Olympics 2012 is once again making a scene on Twitter. On July 26, Toonari Post wrote about Greek athlete Voula Papachristou being sent home after she made a racist comment on the social network and this time the turn has come for the Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella.

The Swiss Federation has decided to expel the 23-year-old Palermo player from the Olympic Games after he posted a controversial tweet right after his team lost against South Korea. The player wrote a message saying that South Koreans “can go burn” and referred to them as a “bunch of mongoloids.”

The Chief of the Swiss Olympic Delegation, Gian Gilli, made a statement where he explained the Swiss decision to send Morganella home: “Michel Morganella gravely insulted and discriminated against the South Korean people and their football team with his highly offensive comments on Twitter. We condemn his comments, which are in fundamental violation of the IOC’s Olympic charter and Swiss Olympic’s own ethics charter. This is why, in consultation with the Swiss Football Association, we have withdrawn Morganella’s accreditation.”

Morganella did not take long to apologize and even closed his Twitter account. He made a statement where he expressed his remorse: “I wish to apologise to the people in South Korea and their team, but also to the Swiss delegation and Swiss football in general. I obviously accept the consequences for my actions.”

However, the apology was not accepted by the Swiss Delegation. Gian Gilli said that “despite the public apology for his behavior, he is strongly condemned by the Swiss Football Association.” The delegation chief explained that he had “no alternative” than to send him home. Morganella is the second athlete to go home prematurely on account of Olympics-related chatter on Twitter. Have other athletes learned from their mistakes or can we expect more cases of bad sportsmanship on the social network?

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Ryan Giggs made history on Sunday 28th by becoming the oldest player to score a goal in the soccer category of an Olympic tournament. The Manchester United player was 38 years and 243 days old when he scored the goal with a header that helped the UK team to approach the quarterfinals.

However, Ryan Giggs name is not on people’s mouth because of his last goal, but because of a controversial political overtone. A Welsh player for the UK team Ryan Giggs, alongside his fellows Bellamy and Allen did not sing the ‘God Save the Queen’ anthem when it sounded, as the other members of the team did.

The UK national soccer team has 5 Welsh players, while the rest are English. It is well know that citizens from Scotland and Wales do not feel themselves as Brits, so that is the reason why Giggs and the others did not show much passion when the anthem was played. “It is a personal thing,” said the Manchester United player when asked about why he did not sing it. “’It’s difficult but it’s not an issue for us. It might be for other people but, once the game starts, we’re all pulling in the same direction and I think that’s the main thing,” he said to downplay the situation.

However this has not been the spark that provoked all the fires. Polemic started when the officials came up with the idea of having an UK soccer team for the London Olympics, something that has not happened since 1972, when the UK played its last official game in soccer.

Next the UK game against Uruguay will take place in the Millennium Stadium at Cardiff (Wales), so controversy may grow, since the national anthem may not be so warmly received in the Welsh capital. However, and despite not singing the anthem, soccer star Giggs has asked the Welsh fans to respect the UK colors: “I hope the National Anthem won’t get booed and I hope the fans will get behind us.”

A draw on Wednesday will be enough for UK to qualify to the quarter-final. However it will not be easy for the blues, especially taking into account that no one knows how the Welsh people will react, and whether they will, or won’t, support the UK team. Ryan Giggs has made the first step to look for a tacit agreement with the supporters despite his political beliefs.

Image Courtesy of   Jaggat / Shutterstock.com

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Chicago, U.S.A. – United Airlines will launch its 2012 Team USA television advertising this evening, highlighting the airline’s role as the official airline of Team USA and marking the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The commercials – under the direction of veteran commercial director Joe Pytka – are narrated by Academy Award-winning screenwriter and actor Matt Damon, and feature a stirring new arrangement of United’s signature theme, “Rhapsody in Blue,” by the London Symphony Orchestra:

• “Tunnel,” a 60-second commercial highlighting United’s role in flying Team USA to the London 2012 Olympic Games. The spot launches during NBC’s broadcast of the Opening Ceremony and will run, along with a 30-second version, throughout the network’s 17-day coverage of the Games.
• “Getting Ready,” a 30-second commercial highlighting United employees’ pride and coordination in flying Team USA. The spot will also run throughout NBC’s coverage of the Games.

The commercials are part of a larger United 2012 Team USA advertising campaign, “Before They Move Us, We Move Them,” which highlights the airline’s history in flying Team USA Olympic and Paralympic athletes to training events, competitions, Olympic Trials and Olympic Games for 32 years. The campaign includes print and outdoor advertising, a “17 Days/17 Flights to London” promotion that United conducted in the spring, social media and airport signage in United’s eight continental U.S. hubs.

“Our effort reflects the enormous pride United has in flying Team USA,” said Mark Bergsrud, United’s senior vice president of marketing. “We are thrilled to support the 2012 Team USA Olympic and Paralympic athletes as they ‘go for gold’ in London.”

United’s agency-of-record, McGarryBowen, developed the campaign with the airline.

About United

United Airlines and United Express operate an average of 5,605 flights a day to 375 airports on six continents from our hubs in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. In 2011, United carried more traffic than any other airline in the world, and operated more than two million flights carrying 142 million passengers. United is upgrading its cabins with more flat-bed seats in first and business class and more extra-legroom economy-class seating than any other airline in North America.

United operates nearly 700 mainline aircraft and has orders for more than 270 new aircraft deliveries through 2022, including 50 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, 25 Airbus A350XWBs, and 100 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft.

United was rated the world’s most admired airline on FORTUNE magazine’s 2012 airline-industry list of the World’s Most Admired Companies. Readers of Global Traveler magazine have voted United’s MileagePlus program the best frequent flyer program for eight consecutive years. United is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 27 member airlines. More than 85,000 United employees reside in every U.S. state and in countries around the world. For more information, visit united.com or follow United on Twitter and Facebook. The common stock of United’s parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the NYSE under the symbol UAL.

Image Courtesy of   Aspen Photo / Shutterstock.com

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After the excitement over the opening ceremony have settled in, the organizers of the Olympic Games in London are waking up to the harsh reality of failed expectations: the many too many empty seats at the stadiums.

The problem is not just isolated to the less popular sports, but also big audience disciplines such as swimming, tennis, basket, and soccer are not competing in view of a full house. The initial rounds so far have rarely sold out.

The London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has initiated an investigation into why there are so many empty seats at the stadiums. Especially taking into account that there was a really high demand for tickets in the months leading up to the opening ceremony and many people could not get a hold of the ones they wanted. In fact, before the Games started, 8,8 millions tickets were sold, which beg the question — where are these tickets being used?

According to the investigations, the empty seats are those provided to media, government authorities and sponsors.

The organizing committee chairman, former athlete Sebastian Coe, has threatened to name the sponsors who have not filled their seats. The controversy has even made the British Sports Minister Hugh Robertson say that he is “very disappointing” to see the empty seats.

Coe has said that he will try to fill up the stadiums by offering the empty seats to the army personel that helps with security within the Olympic village, and to teachers and students in the area, as long as it means putting more tickets on sale. This last action worked on Sunday 29, where 3,000 tickets were sold through the Olympics website.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt called the situation ‘very disappointing’ and said that they might try selling the sponsor-reserved tickets: “I think it was accredited seats that belonged to sponsors, but if they’re not going to turn up, we want those tickets to be available for members of the public, because that creates the best atmosphere. We are looking at this very urgently at the moment.”

Jackie Brock-Doyle, director of communications for the London organizers, or LOCOG said that they are working on solutions: “We are trying everything we can to make sure that those accredited seats are filled where we can.”

Image Courtesy of   Maxisport / Shutterstock.com

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Britain’s men won a surprising bronze medal in the team gymnastics competition, and were unlucky to not claim the silver medal after an appeal from the Japanese team meant the home nation were downgraded from second spot.

The result was completely unexpected – Britain’s men have not even qualified for the final since 1924 and just making the final itself was seen as a big achievement.

They shocked competition favourites such as the USA, Russia and Germany and took the bronze in controversial fashion, perhaps marking a change in fortune for Team GB.

A strong all round performance from Louis Smith, Sam Oldham Kristian Thomas, Max Whitlock and Dan Purvis  saw them battling with Ukraine for third place as they went in to their final apparatus, the floor.

Whitlock, Purvis and Thomas landed every move of their floor routines to secure Britain the bronze.

But a surprising twist of events saw Japan, who looked comfortable in second place, make a succession of errors on the pommel horse.

Japan moved down from second place to fourth, leaving Britain and Ukraine in the medals, but they questioned the points awarded to their final gymnast on the horse and made an official inquiry.

Their successful appeal put them back into their deserved silver medal spot as China comfortably won the gold.

But it was Britain’s medal that was the biggest talk of the day and the home nation will look to gain from the result which could spur on the rest of the team after a start which many have perceived as slow.

Cyclist Lizzie Armitstead won Britain’s first medal, a silver, in the women’s road race on day two, after favourite Mark Cavendish missed out on the men’s equivalent on Saturday.

Rebecca Addlington added the second medal on Sunday with a bronze in the 400m freestyle, the event she won four years ago in Beijing.

But it had been anticipated these medals would be just two of many by this stage in the Games for Britain, who had high hopes as they chase a demanding target set by UK Sport.

With a few medal hopes not living up to expectations thus far, many believe Team GB have not risen to the challenge, but the pressure of a home Olympic Games cannot be overstated.

It felt like Cavendish had won the Olympic road race before the Tour de France was even completed, whilst Tom Daley was expected to bring back a medal – no questions asked - in the diving, an event which can be swung with one tiny error.

Daley came fourth in the 10m synchronized diving as he partnered Pete Waterfield on Monday, but still has a chance in the individual event.

Elsewhere the sailors seem to be struggling for form in an event the home team was looking to dominate and a few medal prospects, especially in the swimming, have not made the most of their opportunities.

The triumphs of the home nation are vital to the success of the Olympics and these Games have the potential to be one of the greatest the world has ever seen so the nation will be hoping that the unexpected success in the men’s team gymnastics result will be the much-needed boost for the rest of Team GB.

Image Courtesy of   Sergei Bachlakov / Shutterstock.com

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Washington, U.S.A. – Lisa Raymond, the 2012 mixed doubles Wimbledon champion, appears in her first public service announcement for ThanksUSA since being announced as the charity’s national spokesperson earlier this year.

“We are thrilled that Lisa is lending her celebrity to help ThanksUSA provide scholarships for the children and spouses of America’s troops,” said ThanksUSA Chairman and CEO Bob Okun. ”Her spectacular Wimbledon victory with partner Mike Bryan reflects the same dedication and spirit they both bring to thanking our military families with the gift of education.”

“I am honored to support our Armed Forces through the mission of ThanksUSA,” Ms. Raymond said. “The scholarships open up enormous opportunities for those who have sacrificed so much for our country, and my hope is that this PSA brings increased attention to ThanksUSA’s efforts.”

Ms. Raymond has joined Mr. Bryan and twin brother Bob in ThanksUSA’s “Tennis Thanks the Troops” campaign, a cornerstone in the charity’s efforts. The nationwide campaign was launched this spring, with the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) leading the effort with ThanksUSA and additional support from the United States Tennis Association Mid-Atlantic (MAS).

Through the “Tennis Thanks the Troops” campaign, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) No. 1 Doubles player and U.S. Open Doubles champion Ms. Raymond, along with the Men’s Doubles champions the Bryan twins, partner with U.S. tennis clubs, professionals, players and fans in helping provide need-based post-secondary school scholarships to military families.

“Our men and women in uniform and their families are incredibly inspiring,” said Mike and Bob Bryan.  “Their bravery and commitment uplift every one of us, and raising our racquets for them is our way of showing our gratitude. We hope all Americans will join the ThanksUSA team.”

The powerhouse mixed doubles pair of Lisa Raymond and Mike Bryan is now setting their sights on repeating their Wimbledon win at the summer Olympics where mixed doubles is returning as a medal sport for the first time since 1924.

“Taking the title at Wimbledon this year was the kind of moment that drives me,” said Ms. Raymond. “Mike and I bring out the best in each other on the court and I’m looking forward to our joining forces again and representing our country at the Olympics.”

Mike and Bob Bryan, bronze medalists in Beijing, will also be competing for gold in men’s doubles. They are top seeds in the men’s doubles, and Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond are seeded No. 1 in the women’s doubles.

“ThanksUSA is fortunate to have these world-class tennis players on our team,” said Okun. “Their commitment to our troops makes us all winners, and we’ll be cheering for them during the Olympics.”

For more information on ThanksUSA go to http://www.thanksusa.org/.

Image Courtesy of   lev radin / Shutterstock.com

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Richmond, U.S.A. – The British Royal Mint has announced a distribution deal with Stauer and GovMint to release their official Olympic London 2012 coin collection. Consumers will now be able to collect each of the unique gold and silver coins as a celebration of this year’s 30th Summer Olympiad.

The Royal Mint has been striking coins for over 1,000 years, and this year’s Summer Games provided their designers and engravers with an exceptional opportunity to create exclusive Olympic collectibles.

Many millions will watch the “unprecedented summer,” as the BBC calls it. Few will ever have a chance to secure one of these precious mementos of history. Britain’s Royal Mint is making these coveted Olympic Games “coins of the realm” available worldwide through their network of official distributors.

The limited-edition line includes the Handover Series, the Countdown Series and the Gold Higher Series. The Celebration Series, a six coin set, marks the historic return of the games to the United Kingdom with a collection of stunning coins honoring the nation’s greatest icons and landmarks. Proofs and sets are available highlighting Big Ben, Stonehenge and Winston Churchill. And for the first time in the history of Olympic Games coinage, the Royal Mint is releasing a commemorative set of 29 coins depicting every Olympic and Paralympic sport.

In addition, each coin features Queen Elizabeth II, who is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee this year. Designed for the passionate coin collector seeking rare gold proofs or the history buff looking for a unique reminder of this landmark event, the Royal Mint coins, offer Olympic memorabilia coins available at Stauer and GovMint starting at only $4.95 each.

For more information visit www.Stauer.com or www.govmint.com.

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New York, U.S.A. – AJC was surprised to learn last week that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) indeed chose to hold a moment of remembrance for terror victims — just not one dedicated to the memory of the 11 Israeli Olympians murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympics 40 years ago.

After rejecting repeated requests from the victims’ families and world leaders, including President Obama and the Australian, Canadian, German and Italian parliaments, for a minute of silence at the opening ceremony in London, there was a commemoration of the victims of the 2005 terror attacks in London.

“We mourn all those slain at the hands of terrorists, and were profoundly saddened by the barbaric bombings in London on July 7th seven years ago,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “We fully support the desire to remember these deadly assaults.”

“At the same time, the 1972 attack was on Olympics participants. It took place in the Olympic Village during the games themselves. The requested moment of silence was to honor not only the Israelis, but also the very sanctity of the Olympic movement.”

IOC President Jacque Rogge repeatedly turned down the requests for honoring the fallen Israelis, saying that such a moment of silence would not be appropriate and, misleadingly, had no precedent.

Indeed, there have been observances in past Olympics, including in 2002 to honor the victims of 9/11 and now of 7/7.

“The 40th anniversary of the Munich Olympics was the perfect opportunity for the IOC to publicly remember, for 60 seconds and in silence, the 11 Israelis,” said Harris. “Regrettably, the IOC has spoken loudly and consistently for four decades — the murder of 11 Israeli Olympians is best ignored, if not forgotten.”

Image Courtesy of  Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

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London, U.K. — Live coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony Friday night by Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium has broken records as the most-watched Summer Olympic Games broadcast on record in Canada. On average, 6.4 million Canadians watched the late-afternoon, 3.5- hour-plus ceremony from 4-7:30 p.m. ET, making it the second most-watched Opening Ceremony on record in Canada behind Vancouver 2010 (13.5 million).

The audience eclipsed the previous Summer Olympic record-holder, the Atlanta 1996 opening ceremony (4.3 million), by 49%, and delivered nearly four times the audience of Beijing 2008 opening ceremony (1.6 million) and more than four times the audience of Athens 2004 opening ceremony (1.4 million). Last Friday’s prime time encore broadcast of the opening ceremony attracted 3 million viewers from 7:45 – 11 p.m. ET, while earlier in the day 1.6 million Canadians watched the Consortium’s opening ceremony pre-show from 2-4 p.m. ET.

Airing live across Consortium networks in six languages (English, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil, Punjabi), an astonishing 16.6 million viewers, or nearly one in every two Canadians, tuned in to some part of the ceremony. Overall, 64% of Canadians watched some Olympic Games coverage on the Consortium’s channels on Friday. The television coverage peaked at 8.1 million viewers at 7:36 p.m. ET when the Olympic Cauldron was lit.

Meanwhile, nearly 1.5 million Canadians watched CTV national news with Lisa LaFlamme live from London, an increase of 36% compared to its summer average.

Directed by two-time Academy Award-winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), the Opening Ceremony took viewers on a whirlwind visual and musical ride through London’s rich history, from Shakespeare to the industrial revolution to present day. Appearances were made by Daniel Craig as the iconic character James Bond, alongside Queen Elizabeth II, soccer star David Beckham, beloved Harry Potter author J.K Rowling, Mr. Bean star Rowan Atkinson, and a stellar closing performance of “Hey Jude” by the legendary Paul McCartney.

Showing a possible change in trends of how people will consume London 2012, more than half the traffic (54%) to CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca was from a mobile device.

Image Courtesy of  London 2012

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Amidst political furor in Middle East North Africa, civil wars in South Asia and impending recession crisis, the 2012 Olympic is finally here. Tonight Billions across the world will be watching much anticipated opening ceremony of London’s 2012 Olympics games. However, for Muslim countries and its Olympians, the 2012 Olympics presented a unique challenge in the face of a religious month of fasting (called Ramadan in Arabic).

This will be second time in history that Ramadan has coincided with the world Olympics event. The last time two events clashed was during Moscow games in July 1980. On 19th July from sunrise till sunset, more than 1.5 billion Muslims of the world started observing the 30 days of fasting period. During the period of fasting, Muslims refrain from eating or drinking, and are encouraged to offer extra prayers and give to charity.

Due to long British summer day hours, the observance will last for 18 hours each day for British Muslims. Many of the 3000 Muslim Olympic athletes from 200 countries will be paying a duty to their legions of fans and will also be fasting during the legendary game competitions.

For decades the United Kingdom (UK) has waited for its turn to play host to International Olympic Games. The British nation is looking forward to the most anticipated event of the year, which will revive the local economy and bring in much needed revenues. The tourist spending will certainly benefit businesses across the county and will give recession-blighted London businesses much needed economic boost. From Harrods in Knightsbridge to small cafes in Greenwich, British flags and Olympic symbols are gracing the display windows.

London was awarded an honor of hosting Olympics in 2005. However, the realization that Olympics will be clashing with Ramadan had participating Muslim countries such as Turkey, Morocco and Egypt calling for the dates to be changed in order to accommodate its Muslim Olympians. In 2006, the Islamic Human Rights Commission in London argued that “It’s not only going to affect the participants it’s going to affect all the people who want to watch the Games.”

In order to unite everyone in the spirit of sportsmanship, the game organizers have tailored certain provisos to accommodate Muslim participants by providing round the clock halal meals at Olympic village dining halls. Mosques across London, such as Regent Park Mosque, East London Mosque, Packham Mosque and many others have made preparations for extra food to be made available for athletes and Muslim tourists.

Across the Muslim world, local religious bodies made special provisions regarding athletes who were participating in games. Prince Feisal Bin Al- Hussein of Jordan, a member of the International Olympic Committee, said that Muslim athletes should be excused from fasting during the London games. According to Islamic guidelines, Muslim men and women are exempted from fasting if they are travelling away from home. Malaysia, Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt’s religious councils have therefore placed their atheletes under the exempted category of travelers.

The decision of whether or not to fast has caused conflicting emotions among Muslim Olympians. Libyan swimmer Sofyan Fathi Aljaddi is among many Olympians who will be keeping his fast during the game period. In an interview with 7M sports, Aljaddi said, “Honestly, some people say that you are allowed to break your fast on the day of the race, but to be honest this is between you and your God. I say fasting for God is more important than any sport or anything in this world.”

Algerian runner Mohamed-Khaled Belabbas said, “I will fast like I always have. It will not be a novelty for me. ”

But British discus thrower Abdul Buhari, Moroccan swimmer Sara El-Bekri, Qatari sprinter Noor al-Malki, French Boxer Rachid Azzedine, judo competitor Hemeed Al Drie, British rower Mohammed Sbihi, and many others will be adjourning their fast till the end of competition. In 1980, Tanzanian Suleiman Nyambui won a silver medal in the 5,000 meters, while observing the fast.

Even though, the present month of Ramadan has come with its numerous challenges for Muslim Olympians, but with the abet edict of ruling religious authorities and effective cooperation from Olympics committee, the Olympians will be able to overcome these challenges and hopefully will win some medals to take back home.

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Wearing their national uniform has always been a source of pride for athletes. However, this will not be the case for the Spanish athletes during the London 2012 Olympics Games. The reason for this is the style of their uniforms, which has created a lot of polemic between the athletes. One look at the uniform and you will understand why there has been so much talk about the style.

The people of Spain seem ashamed about the uniform, specially those who will be in London, competing for Spain in the Olympics. A lot of athletes have made their feelings known, specially through Twitter, where they have posted tweets criticizing the uniform, which, by the way, is not even designed by a Spanish brand, but by the Italian and Russian company Bosco.

“At home trying on the Olympic clothes. Best I don’t comment, I will leave it up to you…” canoeist Saul Craviotto posted on his Twitter account while posing with full kit including baseball, cap and backpack.

Other athletes have also mocked the uniform. Tennis player Anabel Medina joked, “With this uniform we are going to look like the Singapore Airline stewardesses.”

Famous handball goalkeeper, Jose Javier Hombrados also did not miss the chance to joke about this: “No one of us is gonna get lost in the Olympic Village with these clothes,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Looking forward to seeing Feliciano Lopez wearing the official Olympic uniform. He’ll never have worn anything so ugly in his life,” former tennis world number one Carlos Moya also wrote on Twitter.

Jose Luis Saez, the Spanish Basket Federation president, made a statement to a local newspaper where he said that the decision to choose this uniform was “terrible.”

The Spanish Olympic Committee president, Alejandro Blanco, has replied to the animosity with anger, especially towards Jose Luis Saez: “In any case a directing should criticize the national team uniform. This is something that I have not seen anyone ever, I believe these statements to be from a leader should left over.”

Blanco has defended the decision to select this uniform by arguing that Spain will not pay anything for it, since Bosco trademark will produce it for free, and even pays for the sportsmen and women to wear it. Blanco said that “in other circumstances Spain would have to paid around € 1.7 millions, which would have been responsible in the actual financial situation.”

Image Courtesy of   Igor Marx / Shutterstock.com

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The night of July 27 will be a night to remember with the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics kicking off several weeks of incredible competitions. With the economic crisis and uncertainty, the Olympic games are a refreshing distraction for all people of the world.

Originally the tone in London leading up to the games was one of gloom and dislike, but now that the games are actually here they seem to be just as excited as the rest of the world. One London street sweeper, Augustine Adejoh said, “I’m not really into the Olympics and all that. But I’ve got to say, it’s good for London. People are quite thrilled about it.”

Not everything has been perfect in the lead up to this Olympics. London cab drivers have protested not being allowed into lanes reserved for Olympic athletes and coaches. Additionally, a security debacle by the company hired for the Olympics, G4, meant that not enough guards had been hired; now police and armed forces will be involved in the security measures. The Olympics will be the largest security operation in peacetime for England ever.

Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney commented on the security mix up saying, “It’s hard to know just how well it will turn out.” London Mayor Boris Johnson quickly responded via a speech to a crowd of 60,000 in Hyde Park stating, “There’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know if we are ready. We are ready… We’re going to win more gold, silver, and bronze medals than you’d need to bail out Greece.”

The Olympic torch made its way through London on July 26 passing Parliament and Buckingham Palace. So far the torch has traveled 8,000 miles in the last seventy days. The torch will sail down the Thames on its way to the stadium in East London on the royal barge called the Gloriana.

The Olympics have not been seen in London since 1948 when the entire country was devastated after the destruction wrought by World War II. That Olympics was called the “Austerity Olympics” because of the understandable financial trouble England had.

This Olympics has already cost the United Kingdom 9 billion pounds ($14 billion), triple the original estimate. Most of the officials are justifying the use of the money because much of it was used to renovate a run-down area of London.

The former polluted industrial park is now a beautiful stadium that will be the location for the Opening Ceremonies at 9 PM tonight. The Opening Ceremonies at the Olympics always include a performance arranged by the host nation that demonstrates the best aspects of the nation. The United Kingdom’s Opening Ceremonies will be called the ‘Isles of Wonder’ and have been designed by Danny Boyle, director of ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’

The ceremony will begin with the tolling of the largest harmonically tuned bell that was created at Whitechapel Foundry. The Queen will be met at the entrance to the stadium by the President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge. The parade of nations will then begin with the countries entering in alphabetical order according to the language of the host nation. The only exceptions will be that the Greek team will lead and the team from Great Britain will be last.

The Queen will then declare that the games have begun and the Olympic flag, anthem, and oath will occur. Finally the torch will enter and light the cauldron and the performance, the “Isles of Wonder,” will begin.

It is already known that the stadium will be set up to look like a rural English countryside with real farm animals for the opening sequence called “Green and Pleasant.” The rest of the ceremony will include references to William Shakespeare, pop culture like Mary Poppins, Paul McCartney and James Bond, and darker parts of English history like the industrial revolution.

Danny Boyle stated, “our ‘Isles of Wonder’ salutes and celebrates the exuberant creativity of the British genius in an Opening Ceremony that we hope will be as unpredictable and inventive as the British people.”

Tonight will be a night to remember.

Image Courtesy of  samsungtomorrow

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Israeli officials have announced they expect a terrorist attack during the 2012 Olympics. Tel Aviv expressed fears that Iran will target the Israeli athletes and visitors.

This year’s Summer Olympic Games will be held from July 27 to August 12 in London, where more than 10,000 participants from 204 countries will measure swords.

More than 500,000 tourists are expected to visit the British capital to become part of the magic of the Games. However, the question that hangs over some of them is whether they have to fear for their security during the Olympics, especially after the bomb attack against the International Airport of Burgas in Bulgaria on July 18 which was targeting Israeli citizens.

Recently, Israeli officials cautioned that the next target of the unknown terrorists in Europe may be the thirty-seven athletes from the Southwestern Asian republic and the thousands of Israeli visitors who will come to support them. “We are vigilant that Iran and its agents would attack elsewhere, but I can’t give specific details,” the Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Natanyahu, declared on CBS television.

In the meantime, the Foreign Israeli Minister, Avigdor Liberman, met ten of his European counterparts to ask for increase of the safety measures surrounding airports and places which are often visited by Israeli tourists. The inquiry was mainly directed to his British colleague, because Israel’s officials expect another terrorist attack during the Olympic Games in London.

The Islamic military organization Hezbollah, supported by Iran and Syria, is believed to stand behind the bloody outrage in Bulgaria earlier this month. Tehran has denies these rumors, calling them ridiculous and baseless.

Security forces around the world are tracing a group of Europeans who are said to be working together with Hezbollah and the Iranian Quds force after converting to Islam.

The organizers of the Olympics assured that serious measures had been taken and more than 170,000 troops, 125,000 policemen, and 7,000 private guardians will secure the event of the year. Tornado fighter jets of the Royal Air Force are roaming the sky above and around London in order to prevent possible aerial threats. Helicopters from the Royal Navy with heavily armed snipers will also be hovering above the British capital. Representatives claim that there is no reason for the participants or the tourists to worry about their safety.

Meanwhile, the head of the British MI5 intelligence agency, Jonathan Evans, explained that the 2012 Olympic Games are likely to become a target of enemy attacks. “There is no such thing as guaranteed security… The dog you haven’t seen may turn out to be the one that bites you,” he commented.

In 1972, during the Summer Games in Munich, Western Germany, the Israeli team was taken hostage and killed by the Palestinian group Black September. So far, we cannot predict if this year will be equally bloody.

Image Courtesy of  muzsy / Shutterstock.com

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The Olympic Games started on Wednesday 25 with women soccer games despite the inauguration will not take place until Friday 27. And it did not start off on the right foot. The organization confused the Korean national flag with the one from their South Korean neighbors during the pre-match ceremonies.

When the North Korean players came out the tunnel to play against Colombia and realized the mistake, they refused to jump onto the field. Tension arose and the Koreans players were adamant on not playing the game. They accused the organization of having made the mistake intentionally.

Finally, after a public apology was made and the flag changed, the Colombian players asked for 30 extra minutes to perform their exercises needed to warmup. Therefore the game started one hour later than it was scheduled, constituting the first bump of this year’s London Olympic Games.

The final score for the controversial match was 2-0 for North Korea, with two goals scored by Song Hui.

During the post game press conference, Gun Sin Ui North Korean coach showed his irritation about the flag issue and was skeptical about the committee apologies: “I will ask the Organizing Committee if this was premeditated. We consider this incident as something impossible to forget”.

Very serious throughout his appearance, he remembered that he could have boycotted the game, and also showed their rivalry with his Southern neighbors: “It was clear that we would not have played if the incident was not resolved. We do not want our players to go with other flags, especially the South Korea one.”

Not even the 2-0 victory seemed to calm down the North Korean coach: “Winning the game can not compensate for what happened. They are two different things,” said Gun Sin Ui.

The representative of the Organizing Committee Andy Mitchel apologized about what happened and promised that nothing similar will happen during the Olympics: “We have apologized to the team and to the Olympic Committee. It was a mistake and we have taken measures to prevent more similar cases.”

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Amid the self-proclaimed comparisons to the 1992 “Dream Team”, a side that boasted eleven future NBA Hall of Famers, notably the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson, one vital fact seems to be consistently overlooked; the 2012 United States Men’s National Basketball Team is yet to play a competitive game. With the Olympic Games kicking off this weekend in London, Team USA looks to validate the hype and bring a record fourteenth gold medal back to the States.

This Olympic tournament however is likely to pose much more of a challenge to Team USA than their 1992 Dream Team counterparts encountered. Since those Olympic Games in Barcelona  twenty years ago, the global aptitude for basketball has increased exponentially due to the likes of international superstars Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, and Manu Ginobili making their marks in the National Basketball Association, the world’s elite basketball league.

Despite the increases in both quantity and quality of competition, the American fans expect nothing less then a gold medal from Team USA. When you consider the United States teams hold an all-time record of 122 wins and 5 losses at the Olympic games, it is easy to see why expectations are so high for this talented group of athletes.

Team USA will be sporting some of the NBA’s most prolific talent in its efforts to repeat their 2008 gold medal run. All-time greats and sure fire future hall of famers Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, arguably the two greatest players in the world today, will be joined by rookie phenom Anthony Davis and nine other perennial All-Stars; Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Love, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, and Deron Williams. The United States talent isn’t limited to NBA championship rings and on court prowess; coach Mike Krzyzewski has won eight gold medals from the bench and boasts 927 career wins as a collegiate coach. With accolades like this, it is no wonder that Team USA is the odds on favorite to win gold in London.

Team USA begins their campaign on Sunday, July 29 against Group A rivals France. The Olympic tournament consists of twelve teams split into two groups of six, with the top four teams from each group advancing to the quarterfinals, where the remaining eight sides will compete to make to the semifinals and the opportunity to win a medal.

The two winning semifinal teams will then meet in the gold medal game on Sunday, August 11.  The number two rated team in the world behind the United States, Spain, lead by brothers Pau and Marc Gasol, anchors a bottom heavy Group B, potentially setting up a highly anticipated USA vs. Spain gold medal rematch from 2008. It’s worth noting that Team USA racked up a twenty-two point victory over the Spanish in their final exhibition tune-up on July 24.

Although the Olympics are a time for international harmony and patriotism, this 2012 campaign is all business for Team USA- it is gold medal or bust for these superstars. This team knows that if the court of public opinion is going to justify comparisons to the ’92 Dream Team, they are going to have to win, and win big. We’ve heard them talk the biggest game around, now it’s finally time for Team USA to back it up on the court in their effort to make history and bring the gold medal back across the Atlantic Ocean like their predecessors Jordan, Johnson and Bird did ten years ago.

Image Courtesy of    USA Basketball

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A triple jump Olympic athlete from Greece, Voula Papachristou, was withdrawn from the London Olympics on July 25 after she made an racist comment on her personal Twitter account that talked about African immigrants in Greece. She posted the tweet on July 22 and it said: “With so many Africans in Greece… the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!”

With this post, Papachristou was making a reference to a crisis in Greece caused by a virus from the Nile that has caused one death and at least five infections.

Papachristou’s tweet has caused so much controversy around, that the Greek Federation has not doubted about the reprisal made. The respond was not letting her defend the Greek colors during the Olympic Games.

Isidoros Kouvelos, who is in charge of the Greek delegation, showed his anger on Greek SKAI TV: “She showed no respect for a basic Olympic value and unfortunately she is out. She made a mistake and in life we pay for our mistakes.”

A decision that her coach, George Pomaski, has not understood, and assesses it as harsh, especially for someone that has apologized. “It’s too much, the penalty should not have been so strict,” he told Reuters.

The triple jump athlete showed her repentance on her personal Facebook page, but this has not helped her to achieve forgiveness and compete in London: “I am very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wanted to offend anyone, or to encroach human rights.”

“My dream is connected to the Olympic Games and I could not possibly participate if I did not respect their values. Therefore, I could never believe in discrimination between human beings and races. I would like to apologize to all my friends and fellow athletes, who I may have insulted or shamed, the National Team, as well as the people and companies who support my athletic career. Finally, I would like to apologize to my coach and my family,” she wrote.

The athlete’s comment has caused a lot of controversy on social media, specially in Twitter. Two groups have been made: those that support her and those that agree she should have been expelled from the Olympics.

With the social media being so present in everyone’s life, some coaches, such as Spain soccer national team coach, are advising their athletes to not use social media during competitions in order to avoid these type of problems.

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