With the women's football competition kicking off Wednesday, two days ahead of what is being billed as a quintessentially British opening ceremony, most of the pieces are in place silver contacts wires. Even the weather has turned friendly.
As the temperature touched 30 Celsius (85.5 F) in the southeast on Tuesday - the hottest day of the year so far in Britain - the International Olympic Committee was lavishing praise on Sebastian Coe and his organizing team, saying it expects the games to be a major success, despite acknowledging continuing challenges with security and transportation.
"It is some kind of role in the opening ceremony which I am honored to be involved in because obviously I was involved in the start process with this seven years ago," Beckham, who was involved in London's winning pitch for the games in 2005, told The Associated Press. "And for Seb (Coe) to have kept me involved, I'm very proud of that.
Lucky for him, he wasn't relying on public transport. The aging underground and rail system is London's potential Achilles heel, with the system expected to cater for up to 15 million journeys per day during the Olympics.
On Monday night, two train links serving the Olympic Park - one subway line for central London and another for an overland train - temporarily went down as thousands of volunteers rehearsed for Friday's opening ceremony.
Peter Hendy, the city's transport chief, is warning people that "there will be some queues." That's a British event in its own right. And another influx of troops should help minimum pressure valve keep them in line.
Britain's government opted Tuesday to deploy 1,200 more troops to protect Olympic venues - a move that reflects a lack of confidence that private security contractor G4S can deliver all it promised for the games.
"On the eve of the largest peacetime event ever staged in this country, ministers are clear that we should leave nothing to chance," Olympics Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement. "The Government continues to have every confidence that we will deliver a safe and secure Games."
Thousands of British soldiers have been sent in on short notice to fill the gap in guards after G4S failed to deliver on its contract.
Positive sentiments are usually expressed begrudgingly between Anglo-Australian rivals. Not so on Tuesday, when the head of the Australian delegation to the Olympics said he expected London to host the "best ever" Olympics. That mantle hasn't been bestowed since the days of Juan Antonio Samaranch, who declared the 2000 Games in Sydney - his last Olympics as head of the IOC - as the best ever.
The British women's football team will get competition under way in a group match against New Zealand in Cardiff. The U.S. women open against France at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, MapleStory Mesos before North Korea against Colombia. World champion Japan opens against Canada in Coventry.
Brazil team doctors said exams Tuesday showed the injury will keep Rafael on the sidelines for up to three weeks. Neto, a 23-year-old reserve goalkeeper for Fiorentina, will be Brazil's starter during the Olympic tournament, with 19-year-old AC Milan goalkeeper Gabriel, who was on coach Mano Menezes' standby list, drafted into the squad.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Bet on London Olympics
What are the odds of a UFO sighting during the London Olympics opening ceremony? Or of the final torch bearer tripping as they ascend to light the flame? Or would you prefer a more traditional wager on the battle for Brazed rivets gold between Russia and Spain in synchronized swimming duos?
London betting houses will offer odds on almost anything, including all 26 sports at the games, from the 100-meter dash to fencing, from diving to soccer. The industry expects to handle a record 100 million pounds ($155 million) in wagers during the July 27-Aug.12 competition — even some pretty outlandish parlays.
Ladbrokes, another British bookmaker, will offer 11,000 different wagers during the games, according to spokeswoman Jessica Bridge. Those bets include that the Olympics will be over budget, that a British athlete will be photographed eating a McDonald's Big Mac, or that the athletes village in Olympic Park will run out of condoms.
Other longshots get slightly better odds, like 250-to-1 that every team in the 4x400-meter relay final drops the baton, or 33-to-1 that flamboyant London Mayor Boris Johnson accidentally lights compressor valves his hair on fire with the Olympic torch.
And this being famously soggy London, of course they are taking bets on the weather, paying even-money that rain will mar the opening night. If that's not enough to make an Olympic fan cry, Ladbrokes will pay $50 on a $1 bet that it will rain every day, and 10-to-1 that a strike by transit workers will halt train service on the London Underground.
There have been fears that the massive gambling volume could lead to corruption, which would forever mar London's legacy. The IOC has barred athletes from betting on the games — and sports, police and gambling industry officials plan to meet daily to ensure that no illegal bets are placed.
Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, has said previously that illegal betting can fuel the scourge of match-fixing.
Crilly said the betting industry is heavily regulated and immediately reports suspicious runescape accounts activity to Britain's Gambling Commission.
The most heavily wagered event during the London games is expected to be the 100-meter dash, where Jamaican Usain Bolt, the reigning Olympic champion, is still the odds-on favorite despite a rough run-up to the games that saw him bested in trials by countryman Yohan Blake. Soccer will also be an extremely popular wager, as will the women's heptathlon, where star British athlete Jessica Ennis is expected to compete for gold.
A major challenge for the gambling houses is setting the odds for the more obscure sports. Who is to say Dutch rider Adelinde Cornelissen should be a 15-to-8 shot in dressage, an equestrian discipline? Or if Sweden's Anders Gustafsson should be set as a 9-to-1 shot in the 1,000-meter men's single kayak race?
Punters can also bet on which country will win the overall medals table (the U.S. is favored, with China a close second), or how many golds the host nation will take home.
Bridge says Ladbrokes has already taken a 10,000 pound ($15,500) bet on Bolt to win the 100-meter promotional luggage dash and expects much larger wagers ahead of the big race.
"We anticipate our high roller customers will fancy him to do the business,' she said. "If they were to want 50,000 pounds ($77,500) or more on Bolt, then we will happily lay it."
London betting houses will offer odds on almost anything, including all 26 sports at the games, from the 100-meter dash to fencing, from diving to soccer. The industry expects to handle a record 100 million pounds ($155 million) in wagers during the July 27-Aug.12 competition — even some pretty outlandish parlays.
Ladbrokes, another British bookmaker, will offer 11,000 different wagers during the games, according to spokeswoman Jessica Bridge. Those bets include that the Olympics will be over budget, that a British athlete will be photographed eating a McDonald's Big Mac, or that the athletes village in Olympic Park will run out of condoms.
Other longshots get slightly better odds, like 250-to-1 that every team in the 4x400-meter relay final drops the baton, or 33-to-1 that flamboyant London Mayor Boris Johnson accidentally lights compressor valves his hair on fire with the Olympic torch.
And this being famously soggy London, of course they are taking bets on the weather, paying even-money that rain will mar the opening night. If that's not enough to make an Olympic fan cry, Ladbrokes will pay $50 on a $1 bet that it will rain every day, and 10-to-1 that a strike by transit workers will halt train service on the London Underground.
There have been fears that the massive gambling volume could lead to corruption, which would forever mar London's legacy. The IOC has barred athletes from betting on the games — and sports, police and gambling industry officials plan to meet daily to ensure that no illegal bets are placed.
Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, has said previously that illegal betting can fuel the scourge of match-fixing.
Crilly said the betting industry is heavily regulated and immediately reports suspicious runescape accounts activity to Britain's Gambling Commission.
The most heavily wagered event during the London games is expected to be the 100-meter dash, where Jamaican Usain Bolt, the reigning Olympic champion, is still the odds-on favorite despite a rough run-up to the games that saw him bested in trials by countryman Yohan Blake. Soccer will also be an extremely popular wager, as will the women's heptathlon, where star British athlete Jessica Ennis is expected to compete for gold.
A major challenge for the gambling houses is setting the odds for the more obscure sports. Who is to say Dutch rider Adelinde Cornelissen should be a 15-to-8 shot in dressage, an equestrian discipline? Or if Sweden's Anders Gustafsson should be set as a 9-to-1 shot in the 1,000-meter men's single kayak race?
Punters can also bet on which country will win the overall medals table (the U.S. is favored, with China a close second), or how many golds the host nation will take home.
Bridge says Ladbrokes has already taken a 10,000 pound ($15,500) bet on Bolt to win the 100-meter promotional luggage dash and expects much larger wagers ahead of the big race.
"We anticipate our high roller customers will fancy him to do the business,' she said. "If they were to want 50,000 pounds ($77,500) or more on Bolt, then we will happily lay it."
The fastest men in the world
Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, the fastest men in the world, storm over the line together in the 100-metres final of the London Olympics - a photo finish.
Analysts say infiltrating the scoring and timing systems minimum pressure valve at one of the 35 competition venues around Britain, especially the Olympic stadium in east London, is a target for hackers looking to spread political messages, known as 'hacktivists', and criminal gangs looking to cash in on the Games.
At the 2008 Beijing Games, around 12 million potential cyber attacks - varying in type and potency - were successfully defended each day but over the last four years the scams and cyber campaigns perpetrated by hackers have grown in scale and complexity.
Paris-based Atos, the lead technology company for the Olympics since 2002, expects up to 14 million possible attacks every day during the London games.
Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer of eEye Digital (Milan: DIB.MI - news) Security and a former hacker who was raided by the FBI when he was 17, said the Olympics was a prime target.
Hacktivists mount attacks to highlight political or social causes, and analysts say they are seen as more likely to target the Games than state-backed hackers.
"Hacktivist groups like LulzSec and Anonymous will want to go after the Olympics to make a point because it would give them an immediate worldwide audience for their social and promotional luggage political messages," said a cyber security consultant for the Games who did not want to be named.
Atos, which expects to handle about two million pieces of key data throughout the event - a third more than at Beijing - has carried out more than 200,000 hours of testing, including simulating cyber attacks from so-called 'ethical hackers' invited to join the tests.
The company, which is responsible for some 11,500 computers and servers across Britain, will monitor possible cyber threats second by second from its Olympic Technology Operations Centre in east London's Canary Wharf business district.
"It would be quite complicated to get into this network without being detected," said Atos' executive vice president Patrick Adiba. "I can never be 100 percent, but it is close to 100 percent."
If the main Olympic systems prove to be impregnable hackers could instead target transport infrastructure, financial operations or its top corporate sponsors.
Visa, for example, is the Olympics' only approved credit supplier and has a monopoly on all d3 gold of the cash dispensing machines around the Olympic sites.
Flame, which is capable of espionage and sabotaging computer systems, was likely used to attack Iran in April, while Shady RAT - a virus that persistently attacks computers and individual users - targeted the International Olympic Committee and four Olympic bodies in recent years.
Earlier this year MI5 chief Jonathan Evans said cyber attacks against the British government and businesses had reached "astonishing levels" and that the London Games would be an "attractive target" for cyber criminals.
Britain's minister responsible for cyber terrorism, Francis Maude, warned in May that the Olympics would "not be immune to cyber-attacks", given the hundreds of hotels, training centres and related facilities being used by athletes, brazed rivets,coaches, Games officials and dignitaries during the Games.
Analysts say infiltrating the scoring and timing systems minimum pressure valve at one of the 35 competition venues around Britain, especially the Olympic stadium in east London, is a target for hackers looking to spread political messages, known as 'hacktivists', and criminal gangs looking to cash in on the Games.
At the 2008 Beijing Games, around 12 million potential cyber attacks - varying in type and potency - were successfully defended each day but over the last four years the scams and cyber campaigns perpetrated by hackers have grown in scale and complexity.
Paris-based Atos, the lead technology company for the Olympics since 2002, expects up to 14 million possible attacks every day during the London games.
Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer of eEye Digital (Milan: DIB.MI - news) Security and a former hacker who was raided by the FBI when he was 17, said the Olympics was a prime target.
Hacktivists mount attacks to highlight political or social causes, and analysts say they are seen as more likely to target the Games than state-backed hackers.
"Hacktivist groups like LulzSec and Anonymous will want to go after the Olympics to make a point because it would give them an immediate worldwide audience for their social and promotional luggage political messages," said a cyber security consultant for the Games who did not want to be named.
Atos, which expects to handle about two million pieces of key data throughout the event - a third more than at Beijing - has carried out more than 200,000 hours of testing, including simulating cyber attacks from so-called 'ethical hackers' invited to join the tests.
The company, which is responsible for some 11,500 computers and servers across Britain, will monitor possible cyber threats second by second from its Olympic Technology Operations Centre in east London's Canary Wharf business district.
"It would be quite complicated to get into this network without being detected," said Atos' executive vice president Patrick Adiba. "I can never be 100 percent, but it is close to 100 percent."
If the main Olympic systems prove to be impregnable hackers could instead target transport infrastructure, financial operations or its top corporate sponsors.
Visa, for example, is the Olympics' only approved credit supplier and has a monopoly on all d3 gold of the cash dispensing machines around the Olympic sites.
Flame, which is capable of espionage and sabotaging computer systems, was likely used to attack Iran in April, while Shady RAT - a virus that persistently attacks computers and individual users - targeted the International Olympic Committee and four Olympic bodies in recent years.
Earlier this year MI5 chief Jonathan Evans said cyber attacks against the British government and businesses had reached "astonishing levels" and that the London Games would be an "attractive target" for cyber criminals.
Britain's minister responsible for cyber terrorism, Francis Maude, warned in May that the Olympics would "not be immune to cyber-attacks", given the hundreds of hotels, training centres and related facilities being used by athletes, brazed rivets,coaches, Games officials and dignitaries during the Games.
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