LONDON VAUXHALL DEALERS: London 2012: Pictures of the start of the Olympic Torch relay

London 2012: Pictures of the start of the Olympic Torch relay - london24.com

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To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below. The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up. The Olympic Torch relay started shortly after 7am this morning, when the Flame arrived at ...

London calling! Chelsea bid to become first capital club to win Champions League - Daily Mail

By Dan Ripley

PUBLISHED: 04:35 EST, 19 May 2012 | UPDATED: 12:51 EST, 19 May 2012

For Chelsea, the Champions League final against Bayern Munich presents an opportunity for the club to win the competition for the first time in their history.

Only since 2003, when Roman Abramovich started bankrolling the club financially, has the dream really seemed possible for Blues fans, who in the last nine years have seen enough near misses.

But it’s not just Chelsea who could see their first crowning moment as Europe’s kings – it’s the city of London too.

German mission: Chelsea face Bayern in Munich on Saturday night

England’s capital has its fair share of top football teams - without failure it serves up plenty of London derbies in the Premier League each year.

But since the formation of the European Cup in 1955, only three London sides have played in Europe’s premier club competition with Tottenham and Arsenal also appearing.

Along with the Blues, they too have come close to sealing Europe’s biggest prize for the capital, but have also suffered heart-breaking failure.

Here, Sportsmail assesses how London’s trio have fared among Europe’s elite...

Chelsea

Times appeared: 10

Best result: Finalists (2008)

Worst result: Last 16 (2006 and 2010)

Heartache: Chelsea lost the 2008 final to Manchester United

Despite being league champions, Chelsea did not take part in the first ever European Cup tournament and didn’t make their maiden appearance until reaching the quarter-finals in 2000.

They have been a permanent fixture since 2003, reaching four-semi finals before this season, but it’s the 2008 final in Moscow that still hurts fans.

Having already missed out on the league title to Manchester United, Avram Grant’s side went to penalties against the Red Devils and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

John Terry could have won the trophy for Chelsea but hit the post with his spot-kick after slipping, before United recovered to triumph in the competition for a third time.

Arsenal

Times appeared: 16

Best result: Finalists (2006)

Worst result: Group stage (1999 and 2000)

Seeing red: Jens Lehmann (left) was sent off as Arsenal lost to Barcelona in the 2006 final

Before the Champions League era started in 1992, Arsenal only twice featured on the biggest stage, being eliminated in the 1972 quarter-finals and the second round 20 years later.

Since 1998 the Gunners have contested every single campaign but have only once visited the final despite getting out of the first group stage in each of the last 12 seasons.

The 2005/06 campaign is the closest Arsenal have been to becoming top dogs. Arsene Wenger’s side reached the Paris final after setting a record number of 10 consecutive clean sheets before losing 2-1 to Barcelona.

The Gunners also reached the semi-finals in 2009 but were thoroughly outclassed over two legs by Manchester United, losing 4-1 on aggregate.

Missing out: Arsenal were knocked out by AC Milan this year

Capital winners

Real Madrid (9) 1956-1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002.

Ajax Amsterdam (4) 1971-1973, 1995

Benfica (2) 1961, 1962.

Steaua Bucharest (1) 1986

Red Star Belgrade (1) 1991

Tottenham

Times appeared: 2

Best result: Semi-finalists (1962)

Worst result: Quarter-finalists (2011)

Spurs don’t have the staying power to make the Champions League a habit but have made a real fight in the only two times they have featured.

A controversial semi-final defeat against Benfica ended their hopes in 1962, with Bill Nicholson’s side crashing out 4-3 on aggregate after seeing three goals contentiously disallowed over the two legs.

Real hiding: Spurs lost to Madrid in last year's quarter-final

It wasn’t until 2010 that Spurs returned to the biggest stage where they starred in the tournament, topping a group that contained holders Inter Milan – even defeating the Italian giants along the way.

In the last 16 they shut-out AC Milan to progress 1-0 over two legs before crashing to a 5-0 aggregate defeat against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

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100 marks Steve Marks, can someone elaborate on why Chels missed out on 1955 inspite of having won the league and having an excellent team , one actually expects facts from reporters can't blame DM afterall they are anti-chelsea ....atleast they have got the stats right

- Suresh , Chennai & India (brown and proud), 19/5/2012 11:57

Chelsea never declined entry in 1955, the FA didn't let them enter because of the FA's then attitude of looking down at other European teams. You'd think that a highly paid reporter would actually get their facts right wouldn't you?

- Steve Marks, Putney, 19/5/2012 10:55

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London 2012 Olympics: Savannah Marshall becomes Britain's first women's world boxing champion - Daily Telegraph

Adams was made to pay for a sluggish start as Ren scored early to establish a two-point lead at the end of the first round. Although the Leeds boxer enjoyed increasing success with right hands, Ren extended her lead throughout.

Ireland lightweight Katie Taylor claimed her fourth consecutive world title with a 16-6 win over Tajikistan's Mavzuna Chorieva, who had put out England's Natasha Jonas in the semi-finals.

'London 2012 - The Official Videogame of the Olympic Games' preview - Digital Spy

Saturday, May 19, 2012

2012 London Olympics torch begins its 8,000-mile journey - nola.com

British sailing hero Ben Ainslie kicked off the torch relay for the 2012 London Olympics on Saturday with a stroll through teary, flag-waving crowds who cheered the arrival of the flame in Land's End, England. Hundreds held up mobile phones to snap photos as he jauntily walked past and banged on plastic tambourines handed out by sponsors, creating a roar that shook the hillsides of this picturesque spot — the westernmost point in England.

The sun rose and shone across the moors all day, lifting spirits at a place known for its fog. It was a good-natured start of an event, which lasts for 70 days and ends with the lighting of the cauldron to start the games on July 27.

There were some mishaps along the way.

The torch is carried by torchbearers along part of its journey around Britain, but it also travels in a bus during other parts of the route.

A man who got too close to the torch as it was being carried by a torch bearer was tackled by police officers and pushed out of the way. Metropolitan police who are providing the security for the torch said in a statement that the public should be careful not to get between the torch and police officers guarding it.

A group of disabled patients from a Cornish care home space had gathered along the route to watch the flame, at a spot given to them by the local council, but were disappointed when they realized that the torch would only pass them in a covered bus, not carried aloft by one of the torch bearers. Olympic organizers said the council had mixed up the route and should not have allocated the group a spot where the torch was being driven.

But elsewhere, the mood was jubilant.

Organizers of the London Olympics assume the rest of the world is excited about the Olympics.

But what they are really working on is the people who live here — the people who are paying $14.7 billion to host the event and are wondering whether this is money well spent. The organizers need the torch relay to inspire excitement in Britain ahead of the games. And for the first day anyway, it was working. People got up as early as 4 a.m. to watch the flame rise with the sun.

"It's iconic, isn't it?" said Beverly Wills, 47, who came with her husband and her son. "It's not going to happen again in our lifetime. It brings everyone together."

The flame arrived on British soil Friday night, a week after being captured by the sun's rays in ancient Olympia.

Soccer legend David Beckham and Princess Anne headlined the dignitaries who came to collect it, flying it on BA flight 2012 to the Royal Naval Air Station at Culdrose. The air rescue pilots then flew the flame over to Land's End in the morning. They took a spin over the crowd, and hundreds of hands reached into the air to wave and to cheer.

The crowd's goodwill was not just for the flame. This is an island after all, and the search and rescue team often does rescue people. "It was a great way to celebrate the search and rescue guys," said Paul Deighton, the organizing committee's chief executive. "That's what our torchbearers are to do: honor unsung heroes."

From here on out, it journeys around the country in an 8,000 mile jamboree featuring the same number of runners. It will make appearances at Stonehenge and in Scotland, in Durham and at Dover, in London and in Liverpool. Organizers are proud of saying that the flame will come within 10 miles of 95 percent of the British population.

They are hoping, together with tourism officials, to create a video calling card of all things pretty and British — a sort of running "come and visit us commercial."

This is part of the reason to host the Olympics in the first place — to bring tourism, attention and money into the country.

The people of Cornwall — and especially those who clogged Land's End on Saturday — think it is perfectly appropriate that the tour should begin with them. As the name suggests, this place likes to think of itself as the craggy edge of the world. A signpost beside Ainslie as he picked up the torch offers a helpful milestone and an arrow "New York, 3,147." The Isles of Scilly, by helpful contrast, are a mere 28 miles.

"We're glad that Cornwall is in this," said Callum Brown, 13, who sat with his class, Union flags at the ready, waiting for Ainslie's appearance. "It will be good for the wider UK."

Cornwall could use a little attention.

It is surrounded by miles of rugged beaches and cliffs, and is often portrayed as an escape hatch for hip celebrities. But the reality means that this naturally beautiful corner of England has struggled economically, especially in the off season.

One big draw to the area recently has been the Eden Project, a biodiversity program that features the world's largest greenhouse. Not surprisingly, the sanctuary devoted to all things green and sustainable was a key stop on day No. 1 of the torch tour. The torch bearer is to rise above the tree canopy in a balloon. The flame will be held in a miner's lamp — as explosions are not part of the plan.

Danica Kirka of The Associated Press wrote this report.

LONDON CALLING: Ed takes on world challenge - This is Wiltshire

LONDON CALLING: Ed takes on world challenge

12:30pm Saturday 19th May 2012 in Latest News

BRADFORD on Avon paddler Ed McKeever will hope to stamp his authority on the world stage this weekend as his build-up to this summer’s Olympics continues.

McKeever, who has already secured his place at the Games in London, joins the Great Britain sprint squad in Poznan, Poland.

While many of his teammates were attempting to secure their 2012 Games places in the second round European Olympic qualification event on Wednesday and yesterday, McKeever will take to the water over the weekend for the first of the World Cup Series, also being held on the Malta Lake.

McKeever, the 2010 world champion, again contests the K1 200m event, as one of only three British canoeists to secure their places at the Games so far.

Further World Cup events take place in Duisburg, Germany, next weekend and Moscow at the beginning of June.

Flame for London Games arrives in Britain - star.com.my

CULDROSE, England (Reuters) - The flame for the London Olympics burned brightly on British soil on Friday after David Beckham stepped off a special flight from the Games birthplace of Greece to light a cauldron with a golden torch.

The British Airways 'Firefly' Flight 2012 from Athens landed on time at the Culdrose naval air station with Britain's Princess Anne, Games chairman Seb Coe and the former England soccer captain among the delegation.

The flame will start a 70-day torch relay around Britain on Saturday, with triple Olympic gold medallist sailor Ben Ainslie carrying it on the first leg from Land's End on the south-west tip of England.

The Games start on July 27.

London mayor Boris Johnson, his mane of unruly blond hair trimmed for the occasion, declared the moment to be "a big accelerator of the heartbeat".

"We've got 70 days to go," he told reporters before heading back to London on the golden-liveried plane.

"For someone in my position this is the final furlong for us and that's when the horses start to change places and so this is going to make the difference now between a good Games and a great Games."

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg welcomed the Olympic torch on behalf of the British government on a clear evening in marked contrast to the torrential rain left behind in Athens.

"It is a fantastic moment for us, particularly at a time when there is so much anxiety and concern about the economy and other things, to be uplifted by this whole experience and to be able to showcase ourselves to the world as an open-hearted, generous, dynamic, positive country," he told the BBC.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for the country as a whole."

CUSTARD COMET

The arrival of the flame, with Princess Anne carrying it in a special lantern down the steps from the plane, was covered live on Britain's main BBC station with the plane circling overhead before landing to fit in with the schedules.

"It's only when the torch comes into your possession that you realise," the Princess said as she handed the lantern to one of the special security team who will guard it.

Beckham soon lit the Olympic torch and ignited a cauldron with the flame, which was then due to be transferred to Lands End for Saturday's relay start.

Johnson said the manner of the flame's arrival bodes well.

"The plane landed bang on time, in fact it was early," he declared enthusiastically.

"We circled over Cornwall like a custard-coloured comet and that is a metaphor in my view for everything that has happened so far in the London Olympics. It's been either on time or ahead of time and it's under budget."

On Thursday, the flame had been handed over at a damp ceremony in the Athens marble stadium that hosted the first modern Games in 1896.

The flame, lit from the sun's rays at the home of the ancient Games in Olympia a week ago, was presented under grey and rainy skies to former Olympian Princess Anne by the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Spyros Capralos.

Coe, who will head off to Munich on Saturday to watch his beloved Chelsea play Bayern Munich in the Champions League final, was confident the torch relay would light the fire for anyone still ambivalent about the Games.

"It does have a big impact," he said.

"I saw the test event the other day with a cardboard torch going from Leicester to Peterborough and they (the spectators) were three and four deep on the pavement, in the little villages.

"And every week I get letters from people who are talking about the things they are doing to mark the fact the torch is coming through. There's an emotional connect with this that I'm not sure all torch relays have got."

London 2012: Jason Smyth just outside Olympic standard - BBC News

Paralympic star Jason Smyth just missed out on achieving the 100m Olympic standard as he clocked a time of 10.24 seconds in Florida on Saturday.

The Northern Irishman's time was 0.06 seconds outside the Olympic A standard in the meeting at the National Training Centre in Clermont.

Smyth will chase the London standard again at meetings in the US over the next three weeks.

The 24-year-old trains alongside Tyson Gay at the Clermont venue.

The Derryman set his personal best of 10.22 at the same track a year ago and Saturday's run is his second fastest ever 100m.

Earlier, Smyth had clocked a wind-assisted 10.23 in the heats in Saturday's meeting.

"I'm delighted with that. It's a fantastic season opener for him," said Smyth's coach Stephen Maguire.

"He made a few mistakes in both races so there's more to come."

Smyth later said on Twitter:"Good day at the track. My quickest ever opener 10.24. Good things ahead."

The Londonderry man has been training alongside top athletes such as American star Gay at his regular Florida base since November.

Like South African star Oscar Pistorius, Smyth's main career ambition is to compete at both this year's Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

He competes in Orlando next week before racing again at the Clermont venue on 2 June.

The 24-year-old has also received an invitation to the Diamond League meeting in New York on 9 June.

Meanwhile, Ciara Mageean clocked 4:14 for the 1500m as she finished third at Saturday's British Milers Club meeting in Manchester behind British youngsters Laura Weightman and Jessica Judd.

London 2012 Olympic torch relay starts - YAHOO!