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QUICK NEWS TO KEEP YOU IN THE FAST LANE
IC NE S T KE Y IN T E F ST L E
London 2012 cuts £27.3m from budget
London 2012 Olympic organisers have revealed that
they have met government targets by cutting £27.3m
from the event budget while keeping the project on
schedule. The UK’s coalition government ordered the
cuts as part of its measures to reduce the national
budget deficit.
It is thought that the efficiency with which the ODA has
made the cuts whilst keeping the project on track could
lead the way to further slimming of the 2012 budget.
The Olympic Delivery Authority has confirmed that the
overall cost of staging the Games is now £9.4bn.
Mini set for return to
Rally Championships
Mini is set to make a comeback on the
international rally circuit from 2011 –
marking a return of one the sports most
famous names.
Owners BMW confirmed that Mini will
compete at selected rounds of the FIA
World Rally Championship (WRC) and
the involvement is planned for several
years.
The car that Mini will use is the Country-
man WRC, which is being developed
by Prodrive, in close cooperation with
MINI, and is based on the production
model.
UK Sport and Sport England to merge
F1 teams ban ‘F-duct’ device
The F1 teams have decided to ban the controversial
‘F-duct’ aerodynamic device pioneered by McLaren
this year.
The device, which increases a car’s speed down
the straights, has since been adopted by Ferrari
and BMW Sauber but will no longer be allowed
in 2011.
It was controversial because some teams felt
it contravened the rule that bans movable
aerodynamic devices.
The system - which McLaren actually call a ‘J-
switch’ within the team - works by channelling air
through a hole in the monocoque in the cockpit
area through the car and on to the rear wing. This
increases the airflow on to the wing and makes it
‘stall’, ie stopping it creating downforce.
The system is only used on the straights, where
the reduction in downforce on the car reduces
drag and makes the car able to reach a higher
top speed. It is operated by the drivers, who are
able to open and close the hole at will.
Laser guns will replace traditional
air pistols in the modern pentathlon
at the 2012 London Olympics after
a successful trial at the inaugural
Youth Olympics held in Singapore.
The
technology
will reduce the cost
of the shooting
element of the five-
event sport by two
thirds, while the
improved safety
could mean new
venues are used.
Klaus Schormann,
President of world
governing
body
the UIPM, said:
“We will have
laser shooting for London. We can
now hold competitions in parks and
shopping malls.”
He added: “Based on this new
technology, all countries in the
Pentathlon switches to laser guns for London 2012 Games
world can compete in our sport.
Safety issues will no longer be a big
concern.”
The new technology, which first
appeared at June’s World Cup final
in Moscow after years of testing,
has also been backed by the sport’s
honorary president, Prince Albert of
Monaco. “It is a great improvement
to the sport,” he stated.
“They [the laser guns] will be
easier to carry around and to take
on aeroplanes. It’s the way of the
future.”
The switch to laser technology is the
second major alteration to the sport
since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Modern pentathlon has already
merged its two final events, running
and shooting, to create a combined
run-shoot finale.
The three other events that make
up the sport are swimming, fencing
and show jumping.
The 2012 Olympic hopes of the Great
Britain’s women’s volleyball team and
men’s beach team are in doubt following
the announcement that funding will cease
from 1 October.
Training programmes could be shelved,
jeopardising the team’s chances.
The Great Britain volleyball programme is
the largest of any team sport and consists
of indoor volleyball for both men and
women, beach volleyball for men and
women, and Paralympic volleyball for
men and women.
All six teams have automatic host-country
qualification for the London Games.
Volleyball was one of eight sports that
had its London 2012 funding slashed
because of a £50m budget shortfall.
British Volleyball, the game’s governing
body, saw its pre-Beijing 2008 budget
of £4.3m slashed to £2.2m for the years
up to the London Olympics. As a result it
has decided to concentrate its available
budget on the men’s indoor volleyball,
women’s beach volleyball and sitting
volleyball programmes.
GB Vol l eyba l l Funding ceases
The Government has announced
that it is to merge UK Sport
and Sport England, the two
bodies who distribute National
Lottery funding, in the latest
move to cut costs and increase
transparency.
Jeremy Hunt, culture secretary
said that the merger can ‘create
a more effective structure to
deliver sport success and a wider
legacy from the 2012 Games.’
UK Sport is the body that funds
Olympic athletes and aims to
develop promising talent whilst
Sport England funds grassroots
sports – providing facilities and
coaching.
The two bodies have been
provided with nearly £800m in
the run-up to the 2012 Games.
The merger is unlikely to take
place before the London 2012
Olympics.