Basic HTML Version
touchline
6
QUICK NEWS TO KEEP YOU IN THE FAST LANE
IC NE S T KE Y IN T E F ST L E
The London Handball Cup, held on 23
– 27 November 2011 as part of the London
Prepares series has been deemed a
success by organisers, athletes and
spectators.
Six women’s teams battled it out in the new
Handball Arena in the Olympic Park with
Austria defeating Poland 23-22 in a closely
fought final.
Angola, who were unlucky not to claim a
final place after losing 26-25 to Poland in
the semi-final, took the bronze medal with a
29-24 win over China.
Despite a 22-20 win over Angola in
the group stages, Great Britain failed
to make the semi-finals after losing
to Austria in their final group match.
Over 10,000 tickets for the event were
given out by London 2012 organisers to
local schools, colleges and residents.
Peter Sichelschmidt, member of the
International
Handball
Federation
Competition and Organising Commission
said of the event: ‘We are delighted with
the event. It has been well organised with
a fantastic atmosphere. There have been
no major issues, just a few small things, but
that is why we have a test event.’
The Handball Arena was the third Olympic
Park venue to be completed in May 2011
and will have up to a 6,500 capacity at
Games time.
London to host 2017 World
Athletics Championships
London has beaten Doha to the 2017 world
athletics championships, leading Lord Coe
and the bid team to claim their victory would
have far-reaching benefits for the sport and
the Olympics legacy.
Following a vote of the 26 members of
the International Association of Athletics
Federations Council, London beat theQatari
capital to the prize by a majority of 16-10.
But it was a late promise to match Doha’s
pledge to cover the entire $7.2m (£4.5m)
prize fund, so that the IAAF could invest the
money in development projects elsewhere,
that helped seal the deal among a handful
of key wavering Council members.
Coe, the London 2012 chairman said, “We
have the Games in 2012, we have the world
athletics championships in 2017 and we
have world championships at virtually every
level in every sport over the next decade.
It’s an extraordinary clean sweep for British
sport.”
London’s campaign had focused on the
fact that its bid had the overwhelming
support of athletes, could guarantee full
stadia for every session and offered a
better commercial return to sponsors and
broadcasters.
For UK Athletics, it will boost hopes that
next year’s Olympics can be the start of a
golden period for the sport with increased
commercial appeal and profile.
It will cost $84m to stage the championships,
thoughmost of that will be recovered in ticket
and sponsorship revenues. Any shortfall
has been underwritten by the government.
The ninth edition of The Tour of Britain,
the UK’s biggest professional cycle race,
will run from Sunday 9th to Sunday 16th
September.
The Tour of Britain 2012 will continue to be
held across eight days, once again visiting
England, Scotland and Wales in one edition,
providing a chance for British spectators to
see Olympic medalists in action less than a
month after the London Olympic Games.
The full route and competing teams will
be revealed in the Spring at the National
Launch. Re-launched in 2004 after a five
year absence, The Tour of Britain is also
the country’s largest free-to-watch sporting
event.
Athletes hail handball Olympic test event
Dates Announced for 2012 Tour of Britain
The IAAF has confirmed that the false-start
rule will remain in place for the London
2012 Olympic Games – after world record
holder Usain Bolt was disqualified for a
false start in the 100m final of the World
Athletics Championships.
The rule immediately gives a red card
to anyone who false starts out of the
blocks, and many, including Jamaican
officials, have called for the governing
body to reconsider the rule to avoid having
a star like Bolt disqualified in similar
circumstances in London. Bolt however,
said his disqualification had been a lesson
and has not called for a change in the
rules.
Until ten years ago every athlete had
the right to one false start before risking
disqualification, often leading to several
aborted starts before a race actually took
place. Under the second version of the
rule, athletes had the right to make one
false start before the whole field was given
a warning with any subsequent false starts
leading to disqualification.
However, that brought the risk of what IAAF
director of communications Nick Davies
described as ‘a bit of gamesmanship’, with
athletes looking to remove any advantage
fast starters have by deliberately false
starting to put the field under pressure
– which lead to a further change to the
current rules in 2010.
False start rule to stay for 2012 Games