Sochi Olympic facilities must be tested by athletes by 2012-2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the governmental bodies involved in preparations for the 2014 Olympic Games that there is very little time left for building relevant infrastructure.

"I would like to warn you from any illusions that we have plenty of time. Considering those large-scale tasks which are to be resolved, we are short of time," Putin said at a first session of the presidential Council for Physical Education, Sports and Preparations for the Olympics, in Moscow on Tuesday.

"By 2013 or better yet by 2012, all facilities must be not just ready but also be tested by athletes at large international competitions," Putin said.

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BA tipped to be official 2012 Olympics airline | Evening Standard

BA tipped to be official 2012 Olympics airline | Evening Standard: "British Airways is tipped to become the official airline of the London Olympics in a multi-million pound deal. While no agreement has yet been reached, the national carrier is thought to be on the verge of becoming a 'tier one' sponsor with an announcement due as early as next month. The Standard understands that two other contenders for the airline category, Virgin and Emirates, are no longer in the running , although yet another airline could still trump BA. Budget airlines are thought unlikely to become official backers of the Games as they do not have sufficient marketing money. The London Games organising committee, Locog, are eager to sign up an airline before the end of the year as they need to arrange more than 1,000 flights for Team GB athletes and officials to next summer's Beijing Olympics. These would be provided free as part of the deal. Planes from the official 2012 airline will also be used to fly inspectors from the International Olympic Committee into London for their regular visits over the next five years. The target cash value of any airline deal is not known, although the three existing 2012 partners - Lloyds TSB, EDF Energy and Adidas - have paid between £50m and £80m for the association. In return, the official airl"

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Coe vows to crush 2012 drugs cheats

Lord Sebastian Coe, the London 2012 Olympics chief, said hammering drugs cheats was crucial to the Games' success.

The 1980 and 1984 Olympic 1,500 metres champion insisted the London Games would have the toughest possible testing measures to catch out dope cheats.

The issue is "absolutely essential" to the success or failure of the world's biggest sporting event, Coe told AFP at the party conference of Britain's main opposition Conservatives in Blackpool, north-west England.

"We have to be a zero tolerance Games," said the 51-year-old chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

"It's everything I've stood for for the last 30 years. I was the first person to speak at an International Olympics Committee (IOC) congress as an athlete about the problems of drugs in sport.

"We take it very, very seriously. It is absolutely at the centre of everything we believe.

"Sport is about free, open and fair competition. We want these Games to be for everyone and they cannot be for everyone, particularly as competitors, if you have a small group that decide to cheat."

The Conservative member of parliament's upper House of Lords said the testing procedures were likely to be the toughest ever faced by athletes.

"Every Games is tough, but of course we want to make sure that we are absolutely abreast with every detective mechanism that we've got available to us," he said.

"We've got all the testing procedures that the IOC will bring, all our international federations and of course we're now building our medical team at the local organising committee.

"That will be the full panoply of everything that is at an Olympic Games, with the advantage of being able to use even greater and more modern technology over the next five years."

Coe will also have the benefit of hindsight after next year's Olympics in Beijing. He is confident the measures in place for the 2008 Games are up to scratch for catching out those attempting to cheat on the world's biggest stage.

"In every assessment, Beijing is turning out to be a spectacular Games," he said.

"The IOC of course is responsible for the testing at a Games and the IOC takes every Games very, very seriously, winter and summer."

Jonathan Edwards, Britain's triple jump world record holder, said he expected dope cheat athletes would be caught out in Beijing due to the rigorous testing system now in place.

"I think it will crop up because we take it seriously," he told AFP.

"Due to the amount of out-of-competition testing that goes on, and in-competition testing as well through the Games -- I imagine the top three will be tested, probably one other randomly out of the top eight -- it is very, very difficult to cheat.

"There will be those who will by definition be one step ahead of the system but I think they will be by far the minority, simply because the level of subterfuge and financial clout needed makes it possible for only very few athletes."

The former Olympic, world and European champion, widely regarded as the finest triple jumper ever, said he never came across drugs in athletics and reckoned it was far from widespread.

However, he added that athletes were often exposed to being doped by their coaches due to their reliance on them off the track.

"I do think athletes are very vulnerable," said the retired 41-year-old, now the athletes' representative on the London 2012 organising board.

"They're desperate to achieve their dreams. We trust other people to do all the other little bits and pieces for us, so we can focus solely on getting ourselves in the best shape.

"I can envisage a scenario whereby an athlete is given a supplement by their coach, the coach says, 'take that, it's OK, don't worry.'

"The athlete trusts that person's judgement and the advice they are giving to them, the athlete takes the supplement -- and it's actually illegal.

"That is not impossible. In the end, the athlete does have to take responsibility, but you do need to look beyond that to the coaches and potentially systems that try to cheat."

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Adidas joins as London 2012 sponsor, becoming third sponsor

Sportswear manufacturer Adidas became the third sponsor of the London Olympics on Thursday in a deal worth more than 100 million pounds (C$203 million).

Adidas becomes the official sportswear partner for the 2012 Games and will also provide clothing for the 70,000 volunteers, as well officials and those running the torch relay.

The deal also covers sponsorship for clothing and equipment used by British athletes for the 2008 Beijing Games, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and London.

"No other host city has made such progress in its domestic sponsorship five years out from the games," London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said.

Adidas flew in world champions Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix for Thursday's launch, and the pair ran on a mock racing track on the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames to highlight the deal.

The sponsorship announcement also featured five - time Olympic goal medallist Nadia Comaneci. England soccer star David Beckham also made an appearance via a hologram - speaking about his joy at competing in front of crowds in his native London.

Adidas joins British bank Lloyds TSB, which has signed up as a banking and insurance partner, and EDF Energy, which has the utilities sponsorship. London hopes to name a fourth sponsor by Christmas.

"Our objective, and I think we'll probably get there, is to have all our tier one sponsors in place by Beijing, which would be the first time a host city has done that," Coe said.

The other categories are telecoms, automotive, airline, oil and gas and a clothing and homeware manufacturer.

The top - tier sponsors will help raise two billion pounds (C$4 billion) for the London Olympic organizing committee.

"It's a really important commercial message as well," Coe said. "It's not just the importance of coming to the table with serious help, in terms of helping us deliver our financial commitments. These are partners coming to the table that can bring other levels of expertise.

A separate budget for venues, infrastructure and regeneration projects totals 9.3 billion pounds (C$18.8 billion).

Adidas chief executive officer Herbert Hainer said the sponsorship was the biggest single investment that the German company had made in the British market. He said he wanted Adidas to be the leading ports brand in Britain and the largest sportswear maker in Europe.

Adidas would also deliver the highest merchandizing revenues to LOCOG from any single sponsor, Adidas Europe managing director Gil Steyeart said.

Adidas also has a sportswear partnership for the Beijing Olympics.

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