London Olympics: 46 daysto go; Fears growing about UK border
Long line snaking back and forth to passport control can be maddening, and even the British — masters at manners when it comes to waiting in line — are beginning to lose their patience.
Fears growing about UK borderThe first taste of British life for most travellers landing at Heathrow Airport these days is the queue. That long line snaking back and forth to passport control can be maddening, and even the British — masters at manners when it comes to waiting in line — are beginning to lose their patience.
IAAF all for new starting blocksNewly-designed starting blocks to be used at the London Olympics will “enhance” the performance of athletes, according to the sport’s world governing body, the IAAF, and not slow them down as claimed by Usain Bolt. The blocks redesigned by Swiss timekeepers Omega for this season’s Diamond League and Olympics came in for criticism last week from none other than Jamaican sprint star Bolt, the world’s fastest man whose voice carries considerable weight.
Times Square hosts wrestlingNew York got a taste of the Olympic fever after Times Square staged a spectacular freestyle wrestling event to decide who would take the final place in the US team. Thousands of New Yorkers enjoyed the action from ringside or looked down from their office buildings, as competitors from across the country put on the show. It was 26-year-old Coleman Scott who took that final Olympic spot battling his way through six gruelling matches over the space of just seven hours, the Daily Mail reported. Scott, who has dreamed of wrestling for the US team for 20 years, fought through the pain barrier after popping a rib before his first match. He secured his spot by defeating the favourite Shawn Bunch 2-1 in a best of three challenge.
Oligarch visiting UK implicatedA Russian oligarch coming to attend the London Olympics is in the midst of an international row over one of his ships ‘exporting arms’ to the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad. According to The Telegraph, Vladimir Lisin, who owns a grouse shooting estate in Scotland, is one of Russia’s t senior most Olympic officials. The oligarch is offering a million dollars (£650,000) as reward to every Russian athlete who wins gold at the 2012 games. Lisin is implicated in a growing scandal over the shipment of Russian weapons to Syria.