London stung by U.S. attack on bank regulation record - The Guardian
London 2012: Paralympic cyclists test Brands Hatch track - BBC News
Athletes from around the world have taken part in a London 2012 Paralympic Games training day at Brands Hatch.
More than 150 cyclists from 27 nations tested the motor racing track, which will be used for the only Paralympic event in Kent.
The Swanley venue will host 32 Paralympic road cycling races and trials between 5 and 8 September.
Tandem pilot Craig MacLean, an Olympic silver medallist, and his visually impaired tandem-partner Anthony Kappes were two of the athletes who put the track through its paces on Tuesday.
Mr Maclean said: "When you see motor racing on telly you've no idea how big or small these hills are. It's a bit different when you are doing 25 miles an hour on a bike.
“Start Quote
End Quote Chris HespePeople feel they're part of something special, something unique, and they are part of creating history”
"I'm the sighted pilot, we're both pedalling so we're limited by each other. He's relying on me being fit and vice versa."
During the Paralympics, cyclists will complete laps of the 8km (5m) course, which encompasses the Brands Hatch circuit and surrounding roads.
The Games will also see the internationally renowned venue, which staged 12 Formula One Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986, return to its cycling heritage.
The farmland site was developed as a grass circuit in the 1920s, hosting its first cycle race in 1928.
'Challenging course'Chris Hespe, of Kent County Council (KCC), said: "With Brands Hatch being established as a cycling circuit in the 1920s, it's really going back to its roots."
He added: "We've spent a long time working and negotiating with Locog for this.
"With 165 riders here you can sense that a big event is coming."
Mr Hespe said: "This is something really special, it's something that will never happen again and the cyclists are saying that this is probably the most challenging road cycling course they've ever ridden on.
"This is the largest cycling element of the London 2012 Games. There are going to be 225 athletes competing for 32 medals.
"There's a buzz in Kent, people feel they're part of something special, something unique, and they are part of creating history."
The local authority, Sevenoaks District Council, has put up new border signs to advertise the fact that it is hosting a London 2012 event.
'Business fears'But the event has not been welcomed by everyone in the villages surrounding Brands Hatch.
The road closures that will be put in place during the Games have been criticised by business owners in West Kingsdown, who fear they will see a reduction in trade.
Parts of the A20, Scratchers Lane and Fawkham Road will be closed between 3 and 8 September.
Roger House from the Kent branch of the Federation of Small Businesses has previously said that although the event would bring many visitors, local firms would not make any money.
Julie Underhay, who runs a dental laboratory in West Kingsdown, also expects to have to close her business during the week, at a cost of thousands of pounds.
Sevenoaks District Council and KCC have held meetings with business owners to try to work out how they can operate while the road closures are in place.
Mr Hespe said: "Some businesses are concerned that there will be a reduction in trade but every effort is being made to mitigate against that.
"Having a global event on the doorstep and promoting the Sevenoaks and West Kingsdown area to a global audience should do those businesses good, long term."
Jill Davison, deputy leader of Sevenoaks District Council, added: "It puts us right on the map. There's going to be some disruption, but most of the residents are aware of it and we're giving them options on how to get around it."
London's take on Stonehenge for Summer Solstice - ITN
The iconic megaliths of Stonehenge have been recreated in central London ahead of the Summer Solstice on Wednesday evening.
Citihenge is a giant sculpture made from scrap cars and, unlike its neolithic name-sake, it is surrounded by urban landmarks rather than rural tranquility.
Each of the six, three-car henges is five metres wide and more than five metres high, and the whole thing weighs 36 tonnes.
It was designed by sculptor Tommy Gun over a three-month period.
He said: "It is made entirely from old car parts, which taps into my own childhood growing up on a farm where I used to love building and creating things with pieces of discarded machinery."
Citihenge will remain in London for two days before touring the UK, appearing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex from June 28 to July 1.
Vladimir Putin to attend London Olympics - Daily Telegraph
The visit would be Putin's first UK trip since he attended the G8 summit in Gleneagles in 2005.
Putin was invited on a state visit to Britain by Tony Blair in 2003, but relations between the two countries have soured since the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who died from poisoning by radioactive polonium. Many of Putin's foes have also received asylum in Great Britain.
Russia has refused to extradite Andrei Lugovoy, an ex-KGB bodyguard Britain wants to prosecute for Litvinenko's murder. The incident sent ties between the countries plunging to a post-Cold War low and led to tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.
A number of British politicians including former Europe minister Denis MacShane have said Putin should not be welcome at the Olympic Games because of human rights abuses in Russia.
Mr Cameron visited Moscow last year, ending a four-year period during which Putin has had no high-level contact with British officials. On Monday, Mr Cameron had to wait for Mr Putin who was late after an extended meeting with US President Barack Obama.
"The Prime Minister kindly agreed to wait and used the pause to work with documents," Mr Peskov said. He said the two leaders exchanged jokes about euro 2012.
London bombing survivor Martine Wiltshire selected for Paralympics - ITV
A survivor of the July 7 suicide bombings spoke of her joy today at being picked to compete at the London 2012 Paralympics.
Martine Wiltshire, who took up sitting volleyball after losing her legs in the 2005 terror attacks, described her ParalympicsGB selection as "amazing".
"It's a dream, and something that I never, ever thought I'd be doing, and a journey that I never thought I'd be on."
Video report by Lewis Vaughan Jones
"This has been a long journey but it does not stop here, as we now enter our final training phase.
Wiltshire was one of the last people to be pulled from the wreckage of the tube train at Aldgate. She spent 10 days in a coma, and lost both her legs.
She is among the 21 players who make up Britain's first ever men's and women's sitting volleyball teams to compete at a Paralympics.
In July 2005, Wiltshire had been celebrating London winning the right to host the 2012 Games the night before and was running late for work as a marketing manager when she got caught up in the bombings.
"The last thing I was reading on the tube that morning before the bomb went off was about the Olympics," she told ITV News reporter Lewis Vaughan Jones.
Wiltshire feels she is lucky to be alive because she was only 3ft away from one of the bombers and 52 people were killed that day.
Wiltshire tried a taster Paralympic day and fell in love with the team sport of sitting volleyball.
The sport is in its infancy in Britain, potentially putting them at a disadvantage in comparison to their rivals, but with London 2012 on the horizon the team has made a determined push to try and prove they are worth their home nation spot.
ParalympicsGB had only sent a standing volleyball team to compete at the Games before London 2012.
It has meant that an extra focus by the British Paralympic Association and Volleyball England governing bodies so the teams could meet their "credible performance" requirement before being rubber-stamped for a home nation slot.
London 2012: Liam Phillips wants Olympic medal despite crash - BBC News
BMX rider Liam Phillips believes he can still win an Olympic medal at London 2012 despite breaking his collarbone at last month's World Championships.
Phillips, 23, was officially named to Team GB last week despite major surgery after the crash three weeks ago.
"There are seven weeks until the first day of the competition, I should have quite a lot of time," said Phillips.
"I should be in fine form. I put myself in the bracket of five or six riders looking to go there and medal."
Phillips on his broken collarbone
"It's quite strange - it's not like any injury I've had in the past. I've had it plated and the collarbone feels normal. You go to pick up your bag of shopping and then remember your collarbone is still broken, so you have to be careful doing general day-to-day things. But it's allowed me to continue my training as planned, sleep well and doing everything that's expected this close to an Olympic Games."
Somerset's Phillips sustained the second collarbone break of his career on day two of the World Championships in Birmingham, having won time trial silver the previous night.
"For the first 15 minutes or so after I crashed, I was keeping my fingers crossed that it was just a broken collarbone - which does sound rather strange now," he told BBC Sport.
"But I understand that a collarbone can be healed. I had surgery and it was plated, which means I can get back to training almost immediately.
"I've been focusing on the London Olympics for a very long time. An injury 10 weeks out isn't ideal, but I've done so much work over the last few years that I'm not going to let an injury ruin it."
Phillips is currently ranked 48th in the world having spent most of 2011 inside the Manchester velodrome rather than on the BMX circuit.
He made the switch to track cycling in part because it eliminated many of the injury risks, but returned to BMX later that year.
"I do feel cursed [with injuries] but I race BMX bikes. I'm not going to look for any pity from anybody else," he said.
"Training with the track team was fantastic, spending seven months with some of the best riders in the world, but I missed the BMX.
"I overlooked the buzz I get from riding my bike each day and I soon learnt I was going to miss it more than I could ever have imagined."
Having made his comeback, Phillips looked to be in excellent shape at the World Championships inside Birmingham's National Indoor Arena at the end of May, but the crash wiped out his chances of a second medal - and of sampling the home atmosphere.
"That was the frustrating thing, it was a massive race in the UK and that's not something we get to experience very often," he said.
"It was surreal, it was fantastic to be there and have the crowd on your side. I'm looking forward to experiencing that again in London, seeing as I didn't get to experience too much at the World Championships."
0 Responses to "London stung by U.S. attack on bank regulation record - The Guardian"
Post a Comment