Football tickets still available

London 2012 sold 141,000 Olympic football tournament tickets last week but more than 1.4 million remain unsold, organisers have announced.

Last Updated: 08/05/12 at 17:59 Post Comment

So far, only 11,000 tickets have been sold for the very first event of London 2012, Great Britain women v New Zealand in Cardiff on July 25, two days before the opening ceremony of the Games.

There have been some successes however with 62,000 seats sold for Team GB men v Senegal at Manchester's Old Trafford stadium, and 73,000 tickets sold for Great Britain men at Wembley v United Arab Emirates.

A total of 61,000 tickets have been sold for Team GB women in total, plus more than 90,000 sold for matches at Coventry's stadium.

http://www.football365.com/news/21554/7740715/Football-tickets-still-available

So far, only 11,000 tickets have been sold for the very first event of London 2012, Great Britain women v New Zealand in Cardiff on July 25, two days before the opening ceremony of the Games.

I want to see the tug of war come back as an Olympic sport

I don't love the olympics, I love fans during the Olympics. Everyone becomes an expert on sports that they know nothing about. You've got full-grown men watching the Diving roaring "THAT'S NOT A 9.7!! HE SPLASHED!!! Bloody Russian judge..."

if you dont understand it, doesnt mean everyone else doesnt too. just means you need to educate yourself.

Monk and D'Arcy keep their spots. Bloody right they should

Monk and D'Arcy keep their spots. Bloody right they should

+1 It's a bloody disgrace that they have to come home early though. Would they of done the same to Tricket or Thorpe? No way in hell.

This. It's a fucking joke that they're being punished in anyway, and the fact that there was even a question of them being sent home is beyond a joke.

I don't love the olympics, I love fans during the Olympics. Everyone becomes an expert on sports that they know nothing about. You've got full-grown men watching the Diving roaring "THAT'S NOT A 9.7!! HE SPLASHED!!! Bloody Russian judge..."

This. It's a fucking joke that they're being punished in anyway, and the fact that there was even a question of them being sent home is beyond a joke.

Couldn't be less interested in the Olympics. Even the football this time around I'm a bit meh about.

Watching channel 9 and it's blowing up in swimming Australia's face. In 2007 they took the swimming team to a gun range so that they would be mentally ready for the Olympics.

Can I ask why Darcy and monk even got into trouble in the first place? Besides there being nothing illegal about holding a gun and taking a picture of it, which would satisfy most on here, there's also nothing us 'moral crusaders' can jump on either. It's a complete non-event.

Quite perplexing :?

I would like to see pole dancing as an Olympic sport

This soo much. Are you showing it at the local pub?

Olympic team boss set for shock and oar

Samantha Lane
June 17, 2012

GUN-WIELDING swimmers, a weightlifter accused of extortion, a disgruntled steeplechaser and a boxer crying foul in a drug sting. The Olympics are a month away and the Australian team's new commander in chief, Nick Green, is already contending with the spectacularly unpredictable.

For two decades the steady hands of John Coates guided the national team, and by extension the nation, through the tumult and triumph of six Games. After recent events, Green, an erstwhile Oarsome Foursome member, could not be blamed for gripping the wheel with white-knuckles while navigating through the dramas.

Educated at Xavier College and raised in Camberwell, the 44-year-old wasn't handed the chef de mission job for his expertise in firearms, bribery or performance-enhancing substances. Green was picked because Coates said the Australian Olympic Committee needed a generational change. With that, the chef's baton was passed from one former rower to another.

The moment Green stamped his authority as team boss was four years in the making. But when it arrived last week, after swimmers Nick D'Arcy and Kenrick Monk posted images of themselves online posing with guns, it reverberated nationwide.

Green knew that his decision to send the two home from London early for their behaviour would sting. He did not make it lightly.

While mowing the grass on his 4½-hectare getaway property in country Victoria, Green chewed over his options for a day. . Then, having seemingly resolved the matter on Saturday, the man who ultimately approved D'Arcy's return to the Olympic team in the first place, says he spent the following two days reflecting deeply on his stance.

''It has been the toughest decision to date,'' Green says of the penalty that received mixed responses from the swimming fraternity, with Eamon Sullivan and Brenton Rickard among the vocal detractors.

''I don't think it will be the toughest by the time we get out of London, though. I have some empathy from the two athletes' point of view, but from the Olympic team's point of view it was a decision we had to make, and we believe it's the right call.''

Green says he's been able to stand back and be an ''observer'' of the maelstrom around weightlifter Daniel Koum and steeplechase athlete Genevieve LaCaze because they had not been officially selected for the Olympic team.

''It's ultimately the decision of the national sporting federations of weightlifting and athletics to handle the qualification of their athletes and then nominate them to us,'' he says. ''My ownership comes once they're officially members of the team.''

Since Coates announced the 2008 Games would be his last leading the team, the only recurring question mark over Green has been how he - a mild-mannered Mr Nice Guy - will cope in London when controversies blow up. By his own admission Green lacks the authority Coates oozes.

''That's what you get when you've been to six Olympic Games in this role. There's a rhythm to it and you get to understand the rhythm,'' he says.

''But it's one of the things I'm looking forward to the most to be honest - just coping. The buck stops with me.

''Honesty is the only way I'll get through these daily press conferences … I take some guidance from all the people who have done [the chef de mission role] along the way to make sure we make the right decisions. That's the way I will lead this team, and the way I will manage the team.''

Green's key lieutenants in London will be the AOC's secretary general and team chief operating officer, Craig Phillips, and deputy chef de missions Kitty Chiller, a 2000 Olympian in modern pentathlon, and three-time Olympic swimmer Chris Fydler.

Green will take leave from his full-time job with the Victorian Major Events Company when he heads to London. Until then he will continue juggling the two mobile phones, two iPads and two computers that help him separate his roles.

On the afternoon Green welcomes The Sunday Age to the events corporation headquarters, it's 45 days to go until London's opening ceremony.

''Shit!'' the chef exclaims, in mock panic at the mention of the countdown, before revealing he's actually feeling quietly confident.

''If I take the athlete's hat, with 45 days you're still thinking that there's a long way to go before I have to compete,'' Green says.

''But one of things I've been feeling as an administrator is that we're ready.

''I'm never going to be able to predict what's going to happen during the Games, but that's why I love the Olympics; things happen that you just don't expect.''

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/olympics-2012/olympic-team-boss-set-for-shock-and-oar-20120616-20h4t.html

London ticket scams rife as police struggle to cope

Jacquelin Magnay
June 23, 2012

THE London 2012 Olympic website has a page of internet addresses it says are ''unauthorised and claiming to offer London 2012 tickets''. It is a warning in bold and in red. Across town at the Metropolitan Police headquarters at Scotland Yard, a team of more than 35 police, all experts in e-crime, have been working for more than 18 months to stem a burgeoning proliferation of illegal ticket scams all centred on the Games.

It is the ultimate global crime and a fraudsters' honeypot because the Olympics attracts the world's attention, it can command a hefty premium for tickets and there is marketplace confusion about legitimate ticket sources.

Four years ago at the Beijing Olympics, thousands of people around the world were scammed out of millions of dollars because of professional-looking Beijing ticket websites such as beijingtickets2008.com and beijingticketing.com, which consumers, sadly, discovered were fake.

Brisbane property developer Rob Jones lost $46,000, a US internet entrepreneur David Boctor lost $11,500 and only became aware his tickets to the opening ceremony, swimming and diving were a fraud when his credit card was used for unauthorised airline tickets.

Boctor said at the time: ''If I failed to recognise this internet scam, very few other individuals with less of an e-commerce background would have had a chance, so I can empathise with others in the same position.''

In Britain, the parents of local swimmer Rebecca Adlington were also fleeced.

Such was the brazenness of the fraudsters, their online presence continued throughout the Olympics as authorities struggled to enforce appropriate legal restrictions. The International Olympic Committee took out restraining orders in the US to try to shut the sites down.

In the end, Kay Adlington lost £1305 for tickets that never arrived, and went through a devastating time thinking they wouldn't be able to see their daughter race until a sponsor came forward.

The masterminds of one fake Beijing Olympic ticket company, Xclusive Leisure and Hospitality, were British touts Terence Shepherd, 52, and Alan Scott, 56, who are serving eight and seven years respectively in London's Wandsworth prison. They sold $8 million worth of Olympic tickets that were never delivered.

The confusion about Olympic tickets was highlighted this week when a handful of authorised ticket resellers - the ones with legitimate tickets - were alleged to have offered the tickets for sale at inflated prices and outside their jurisdiction, prompting an investigation by the IOC.

Each national Olympic committee is allowed to appoint a ticket agent, which is permitted to sell Olympic tickets within the country.

Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Tancred said the AOC had consistently told its sports and consumers to buy tickets only from its authorised Australian ticketing agent, Cosports. Cosports has not been implicated in the IOC investigation.

For nearly two years, Scotland Yard has been working with Interpol to monitor, frustrate and actively disrupt the activities of people they suspect are involved in e-fraud and ticket touting. They undertook covert surveillance at leading music festivals, Premier League football games and at the Wimbledon tennis.

The extent of the problem is staggering. Almost a 1000 people were put on a watchlist of suspected London 2012 Olympic ticket fraudsters to whom the police have kindly sent letters warning them of their scrutiny.

Nearly 200 people have been arrested, and police warn further arrests are likely in coming weeks as interest in the Olympic Games intensifies. More than 50 websites set up around the world are being investigated with the co-operation of Interpol.

This week, global customers of 2012-londonsummergames.org and 2012-londonsummergames.com that emanated from Portugal have been asked to contact police.

Potential victims shouldn't feel shamed. Even the police have been caught up in an internet love-for-money fraud linked to the Olympic Games. Several British fraudsters conned hundreds of thousands of pounds from American women they met on dating websites claiming they needed money to supply buses for an Olympic transport contract with the Metropolitan Police.

Naturally, the police were not amused.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/olympics-2012/london-ticket-scams-rife-as-police-struggle-to-cope-20120622-20tse.html#ixzz1ycjf4nB3

Weightlifting whistleblower sacked

June 28, 2012 - 3:17PM

The whistleblower who blew the lid on the Daniel Koum weightlifting scandal has been axed as Australia's Olympic coach less than a month out from the London Games.

Mike Keelan, who until yesterday thought he would be on the plane to London to mentor Olympic lifters Damon Kelly and Seen Lee, was told by the Australian Olympic Committe late last night that his services were no longer required.

Keelan was the first to speak publicly after brisbanetimes.com.au revealed allegations that Koum had threatened to sabotage Australia's Olympic chances unless he was paid $5000.

Olympic team chef de mission Nick Green wrote a letter to Keelan confirming the decision, which will see the personal coaches of both Australian athletes, Miles Wydall and Anthony Dove, now given a ticket to the Games instead.

Wydall will coach Brisbane superheavyweight Kelly, as well as take over as the team's section manager, a role Keelan had been told was his by the AOC as far back as the start of last year.

The move is a hammer blow to Keelan, a veteran official and coach who was the first to go public with allegations that Koum had asked for $5000 during an event in Samoa or said he would refuse to lift.

Australia needed Koum to compete in order to secure Australian men's representation at the Games.

Keelan and a group of coaches and officials say they made the difficult decision to pay the money rather than see the Olympic dream of another athlete evaporate.

The AWF board has already cleared Keelan of any wrongdoing, while their barrister is preparing documents outlining the official allegations. Koum has denied any wrongdoing and his lawyers say they are yet to receive any correspendance from the AWF over the matter.

Keelan had been planning the Olympic campaign for almost 18 months and stood beside Kelly and Lee at Chandler earlier this month after the Olympic party had seemingly been finalised.

But an AOC spokesman said an additional accreditation caused a re-think of staffing on the team, which now allowed both athletes to be able to take their regular coaches.

"The AOC has revised the staffing allocations and accreditations for the weightlifting section. It will make available an additional accreditation to enable both athletes to have their personal coaches accredited for competition days," the spokesman said.

"The personal coach for Damon Kelly and the personal coach for Seen Lee will be accredited. As personal coaches have the most impact on athletes' performances, it is the practice for the AOC to prioritise personal coaching over administritive personnel."

Keelan was stunned by the move.

"You don't get any warning on things like this," he said. "You think everything's going smoothly. Obviously I'm very upset and angry about it."

Keelan said while the AOC had absolute discretion about allocations, he had already written to them in a bid to have them change their minds.

"I'm surprised about their suggestion and to be honest, I think it's inferior to what was in place prior to my regrettable stand-down (referring to the Koum incident)," he said.

"I'm not appealing but I'm giving them some feedback and pointing out some of the possible flaws in what they're doing to me which I think could have a detrimental effect on the athletes."

Kelly, a close friend of Keelan, was disappointed and shocked by the AOC's move.

"Just the way they've done it, it feels like he's been shafted," he said. "I'm pretty shocked really that it can happen and this close to the Games."

- with AAP


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/olympics/news-london-2012/weightlifting-whistleblower-sacked-20120628-2140x.html#ixzz1z5Pa99am

So who should be our flag bearer for the opening ceremony

John Coats who heads up the AOC thinks it should be Cadel due to his TDF being inspiring and shouldn't just be used to reward longevity.

I agree with the sport, but I think it should be Stuey O'Grady

There is Leisel Jones, Natalie Cook, Anna Mearse, shooters Russell Mark and Michael Diamond so there is a good list

Tough choice