Nowadays, after winning Olympic gold and bronze at Beijing, his daily training regimes are far more pleasant. Early-morning walkers call out his name in encouragement. One local presented him with a bottle of Champagne and, in the stilted houses on Trowlock Island, a family organise their child’s breakfast to coincide with the paddler’s presence.

They have to be quick with their timing. Brabants is so fast, he covers 1,000 metres in under 3½ minutes – that’s 18km/h. His longer 20km training paddles are over in an 1hr 15 min. On Friday, Brabants took me for a snapshot of his training and some paddling tips near The Lensbury, just outside London.

As a keen sea kayaker, it was to be a point of serious bragging rights to head off to Dorset last night for a two-day ocean paddle and drop into the conversation: “Oh, I just warmed up for the trip with a training hit out with Tim Brabants.”But sea kayaking is far different to the lighter, sleeker K1s.

Brabants generously allowed me to try his boat, worth in excess of £3,000. I sat down gingerly, went to grab the paddle and instantly fell in. I tried again, desperately wanting to make five strokes to prove a point of expertise to myself, but no, the cold chill of the Thames was too inviting.

Clearly I hadn’t done the hour-long core work Brabants endures specifically to work on his balance. Standing on a swiss ball and catching a medicine ball is just one of the ‘fun’ exercises of his six gym sessions every week. Then there are the six to seven days a week on the water, and other sessions of swimming, running, biking, a paddling ergo machine, and one in the laboratory.

Brabants, 34, was still incredibly generous in his praise. Of course, I knew he was a terrific bloke, a smart doctor, devoted to his young family, but when he noted “your stroke is perfect, you are very relaxed in your shoulders and that is good”, he became my favourite Olympian.

Brabants explained how the stroke starts with the foot and knee pressure. Many of the children he works with - as part of a Freshfields sponsorship of the Haggerston School - think he has pedals in the kayak.
Certainly the poise of the kayakers at the start line of the Olympic race belies the small sweet spot of equilibrium that they have managed to patiently practice to become second nature. But for Brabants, the demon of the London 2012 Olympic race is not the balance of his boat, but the crosswinds of the Dorney Lake course. “Dorney is notorious for cross winds and it pulls the back of the boat around,” he said.

But for now Brabants, who has sidelined his medical practice, says he is solely focused on the K1 1000, rather than the distractions of trying to secure Olympic berths in other events. “I am feeling really positive, when I decided to come back into the sport it wasn’t to compete at the Olympics for a T-shirt, it was to get a medal. I have fully recovered from a shoulder operation of last year and I feel on track for next year. The aim is to win some medals at World Cups, the Europeans and then the Olympics,” he said.

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Instead, they are hoping the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) can clear the legal path that would allow them to compete at next summer’s London Games. The BOA agreed on Wednesday to a request from WADA to submit to the jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to test the legality of its 19-year-old eligibility bylaw that excludes athletes who have served bans for serious doping offences from competing for Team GB at the Olympic Games. Both Millar and Chambers are affected by the Olympic ban, having served two-year suspensions for taking performance-enhancing drugs.

But the likelihood of a contested hearing at CAS has receded after WADA confirmed that although it believes the BOA bylaw is illegal based on the precedent of a recent ruling in the case of American athlete LaShawn Merritt, it would not itself be a party to arbitration, leaving the BOA with no opponent in court. Chambers and Millar could fill that void by mounting an individual challenge to the BOA, though neither man appears to have the stomach for what would be a high-profile fight.

Millar last night ruled himself out of taking up the legal battle, insisting he had “neither the time or inclination to take on another fight”, while Chambers’ manager, Siza Agha, said the sprinter was “anxious to avoid court at all costs”.

That could leave the bylaw issue in a state of impasse, with the BOA showing no inclination to drop its lifetime ban unless forced to do so by legal challenge. However, the pressure to fall into line is building on the BOA, with WADA warning that unless it comes up with a proposal to resolve the issue before midnight on Saturday, it risks being declared officially “non-compliant” with the WADA code. Millar said he hoped the BOA would back down but added that there was no question of him taking personal legal action to get the bylaw overturned.

“My stance has always been that I have had more than enough fights on my hands after admitting to my doping. I had to serve the ban – rightly so, obviously – then try to get my life back together, get reintegrated back into the sport and maintain my level as a professional rider. It’s been all-consuming,” he said.
“I have never felt an individual on his own was the way forward on this issue. The general policy has got to be decided by all the world governing bodies talking together and deciding on one unified approach worldwide. This latest activity and conjecture is not a scenario I ever envisaged and I have not been laying awake thinking it might happen.

“If a court case did happen, or an arbitration hearing, it would be pretty straightforward in my opinion and quickly decided in WADA’s favour. “There is no logic in the BOA stance and they are right out on a limb with the rest of the world. As to when that hearing would come, who knows? It could be in a couple of months or it could come just a couple of weeks before next year’s Olympics.”

Agha, a practising barrister, said Chambers was also reluctant to take up the legal gauntlet by taking on the BOA at CAS, though he added that they would “wait for the dust to settle” after Sunday’s meeting of the WADA board.

“If he decides not to go for it, that’s a big decision for Dwain and I think it’s important to see what other people are doing first,” Agha said. “The ideal scenario for us is that someone else takes action, but if somebody doesn’t take it, we’ll have to review the whole position. “There are so many considerations involved in that decision. It is not just about, ‘Does he or does he not run in the Olympics?’ One of the questions will be, ‘Do you want to run in the Olympics and jeopardise other things?’

“There is a lot of aggravation involved. Dwain has a young family and he’s training really hard at the moment. He wants to do well at the World Indoors. In fact he wants to break the world [60 metres] record.
“He’s also carrying a lot of baggage and I think what’s happened to him in the past has taken its toll, with all the negativity surrounding him and having to put up with personal attacks time and time again. He’s a human being at the end of the day.”

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In a dramatic development to the debate over the BOA’s life-bans, chairman Lord Moynihan on Wednesday challenged WADA to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to decide whether lifetime bans can be upheld. The decision to challenge WADA, made unanimously by the BOA board, came after the anti-doping agency wrote to inform Moynihan that the British position was ‘non-compliant’ with its code.

The WADA position was contained in a letter from its legal counsel Michael Belloff QC, one of the most highly-regarded legal voices in sport, delivered days before WADA’s board meets on Sunday to consider which of the 204 Olympic associations are compliant with its code.

Moynihan insisted on Wednesday night that, in light of Belloff’s opinion, the BOA had no choice but to contest WADA’s position in court. Belloff wrote in his letter that CAS was “the appropriate forum” for the row to be settled. But the anti-doping agency appeared to back down from that position on Wednesday night, with director general David Howman telling The Telegraph that it would not agree to go to CAS.

If WADA does not agree to arbitration, it could leave the way clear for its board to declare the UK non-compliant, a highly embarrassing position just eight months before London hosts the Olympics.
In a sign of the tensions triggered by the row, Howman also accused Moynihan of launching “an emotional tirade” against WADA.

Should WADA agree to go to CAS it raises the prospect of Chambers, Millar and Carl Myerscough all being cleared to compete in London within three months. Senior anti-doping and Olympics sources said it was highly likely CAS would find for WADA because of the precedent set by American sprinter LaShawn Merritt.

Merritt successfully challenged the International Olympic Committee’s Rule 45, which banned anyone subject to a doping sanction of six months or more from competing in the next Games. The IOC claimed the rule was an eligibility issue but Merritt, who served a 21-month ban for using a banned penile-enhancement product, successfully countered that the IOC rule was an additional sanction to his existing ban and therefore not compliant with WADA. Under the WADA Code all signatories, which includes all national Olympic associations including the BOA, must adhere to the same set of punishments.

WADA believes that the BOA’s by-law should be thrown out on the same grounds. “We won’t be a party to the dispute in CAS, we have no conflict, if they don’t have another party [to dispute with] they will have to get an advisory opinion,” Howman said. “We have to put a compliance report on the table on Sunday and having read the CAS decision about the LaShawn Merritt case, our opinion on this is that the BOA rule is an extra sanction.

“This is an extremely simple issue. The CAS ruling on the IOC’s rule 45 in the Merritt case went the way it did, establishing that it was a sanction, not an eligibility issue,” he said. “When we read the CAS decision on the IOC rule it became reasonably obvious to those that have an ounce of sense that the rule was struck down because it is an extra sanction rather than an eligibility issue. The BOA rule clearly falls into the same category.”

Howman also angrily rejected Moynihan’s criticism of WADA as “toothless” and in need of fundamental reform in a speech on Tuesday, describing the BOA chairman’s comments as “an emotional tirade”.
“People can make strong comments but not if they are based on incorrect facts. There are so many errors in the emotional tirade that he delivered that I prefer to ignore it. But it got him a lot of attention so we have no choice but to consider how to respond. We will not respond emotionally though, we will respond so the public get the facts.”

Moynihan insisted that he would defend the case on the grounds that the BOA’s by-law is an eligibility issue. “I think there is every chance we would win. It’s a selection policy not a sanction.
“If we win it clearly draws a line in the sand. If we lose then the message is also clear to athletes. Therefore the three athletes that might be eligible are likely to compete.”

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said he supported the BOA. “I don’t have ambiguity about it. I support the BOA on this. An autonomous sporting organisation must have the right to defend the interests of its sport, and I think the BOA are absolutely right in defending the interests of those athletes who want to play by the rules. They may lose this but they are on the moral high ground.”

“The BOA, as an independent organisation, should have the right to be able to determine what is in the best interests of its sport. This is not something that is just an institutional whim. It has the support of the athletes.”

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How do you make people forget a red-glowing bird’s nest as an architectural centerpiece? Endless rows of multicolored lights streaking through a gleaming, decked-out Olympic Park? How do you follow a government-run Olympic Games in which no expenses were spared – especially when you don’t have expenses to spare? ¶ If you are Sebastian Coe, the famous former British miler who is now heading the committee in charge of next summer’s London Games, you don’t try to top the 2008 Games in Beijing. Instead, you attack the Olympic challenge like you did all of those gritty middle-distance contests in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

They required tactics as much as pure speed, and sometimes weren’t quite as fast as expected, or as pretty. ¶ “It’s been a very similar mind-set to that I had as an athlete,” said Coe, who set five world records and won two Olympic gold medals. “We were never afraid to do it differently. We were never afraid to challenge orthodoxy. That’s not the same as running headlong into risk . . . it’s just being prepared to see things slightly differently.” ¶ In just under 10 months, the world will be the judge of whether Coe, 55, succeeded in getting London to the finish line in good time, and with the appropriate aplomb.

Hit with the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression, Coe and fellow organizers have sought to emphasize London’s particular assets — historic, cultural and sports-crazed — to create an Olympic experience that won’t resemble the high-wattage spectacle that lit up Beijing, but which they hope will be smashing in its own way. Coe’s vision has been guided by the belief that the Games should function more as an inspirational starting point than a fabulous final chapter.“London in no way tried to replicate what Beijing could deliver with a high budget,” said Kevan Gosper, an International Olympic Committee member from Australia. Coe “realized his country had a huge history through sport, and he’s drawn on it expertly.”

Said Coe: “I think that’s helped us punch through what has been a horrible marketplace. Most people joined us because they shared our vision. . . . I wanted to do [the London Games] with the same forensic eye for detail [as in Beijing], but be different.”

Less money to spend

Beijing’s government spent an estimated $45 billion on the 2008 Summer Games; London organizers have relied on a $15 billion government investment for capital projects – each designed to benefit the city, particularly blighted parts, long into the future – while seeking an additional $3.2 billion from private sources ($1.1 billion from local sponsorships, about $900,000 from ticket sales and $1.2 from merchandise) to pay for the staging of the Games.

Despite the economic crisis that hit two years after London won the right to hold the Games in 2005, 92 percent of those monies have been raised, with the rest expected as the final allotments of tickets and merchandise go on sale in the coming months.

The sound economics mean next summer’s Games, though less flashy than Beijing’s, won’t re-claim the Austerity Games moniker given to the last Olympics in London in 1948, which took place just after World War II and relied mostly upon existing facilities.

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The torch relay will travel through the show’s Albert Square on July 23, passing well known viewers’ landmarks such as the market, the launderette and the Queen Vic as it makes its way through London to the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony four days later. This will not be a mirroring of the torch relay, it will be the actual torch relay.

The unusual promotion follows up a storyline where characters Fat Boy and Billy Mitchell discover they have been nominated as torchbearers. In tonight’s episode, viewers will discover that the Olympic Flame will be passing through the fictional borough of Walford and that one of the characters, Billy, will carry it.
Perry Fenwick, who plays Billy Mitchell, said: ‘When we first discussed the storyline, my initial thought was that I’ll now have to get fit!

“While this may be a fictional one-off for Billy Mitchell, it’s a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me and I am thrilled that Walford and Albert Square will be part of this amazing event.”The torch-bearing episode will be filmed in advance, but several minutes of the Olympic relay will be beamed live throughout the UK from the Elstree set on July 23.

Lord Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, said: ‘Today’s announcement is a great addition to the Olympic Torch relay route. “I’m sure the people of Walford will now start planning their celebrations to welcome the flame to Albert Square. Along with people right round the UK, the residents of Albert Square will be getting involved to make this their moment to shine.”

The 70-day relay will include 1,018 towns in the UK and involve 8,000 torch-bearers. The addition of the soap show is a first for the torch relay, which will visit a host of iconic landmarks across the country from May 18. The relay, which has been confined to the UK after protests in the global Beijing 2008 torch relay, will begin at Land’s End on May 19, taking in sights such as the Eden Project, Stonehenge, Mt Snowdon, Giant’s Causeway, the Forth Bridge, and even The Flying Scotsman, en-route from York to Thirsk.

Once it arrives in London, the torch’s travels will include the Tower of London, Greenwich, Hampton Court, and the Camden Roundhouse. Although it is a break with tradition, the inclusion of Albert Square gained immediate support from the International Olympic Committee. For what could be more British than EastEnders taking the torch relay into the country’s living rooms?

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The US has raised repeated concerns about security at the London Olympics and is preparing to send up to 1,000 of its agents, including 500 from the FBI, to provide protection for America's contestants and diplomats, the Guardian has learned.

American officials have expressed deep unease that the UK has had to restrict the scope of anti-terrorism "stop and search" powers, and have sought a breakdown of the number of British police and other security personnel that will be available next summer.

The prime minister and other senior members of the cabinet, including home secretary Theresa May and culture and sport secretary Jeremy Hunt, are taking turns to chair security meetings about the Olympics, which are often dominated by the latest questions from the US, sources said. But Washington's need for reassurance is exasperating British officials and anti-terrorism officials, who have privately raised concerns about the meddling, as well as the size of the US "footprint" in the UK during the games next year. "We are not equal partners in this," said one security official. "They are being very demanding."

The friction is adding to the pressures on the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog), which is responsible for preparing and staging the event. The Guardian has learned the committee is attempting to resolve a potential crisis over venue security, after conceding it had underestimated the number of security guards needed at the 32 sites across the country. Originally it had thought 10,000 guards would be enough, but after a review over the summer it now believes it will need up to 21,000.

Venue safety is not the responsibility of the police, so the firm G4S was awarded the contract to find and train the initial group. The company will this week begin an advertising campaign to meet that target. But the organising committee does not have the money to pay G4S to make up the shortfall, and does not believe the firm has enough time to do so, forcing ministers to turn to the Ministry of Defence for help.

The MoD has offered 3,000 soldiers, and another 2,000 in reserve – half the total required. The ministry is working within its own tight budget, and the late request for help has irritated some officials.

"What have they been doing for the last five years?" asked one. "There is less than a year to go and they've only just realised they need twice the number of security guards they first thought. Where is the money to pay for this coming from? It is an extra burden on the defence budget that we could well do without."

Another source said: "Everyone has now realised 10,000 was an underestimate. This is one of the biggest problems facing the Olympic authorities because there is an absolute dearth of vetted and qualified private security guards. Senior police had advised ministers and the committee that 10,000 was too few, but nobody wanted to listen because of the cost involved.

"The military will have to stand up some people. Otherwise G4S have got the Olympic committee over a barrel."The problem will do little to reassure Washington, which will be supplementing its FBI personnel with an equal number of diplomatic security officials, some of whom will be armed. Though the UK's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has lowered the threat of attack to "substantial" – the third level on the scale – western intelligence agencies remain wary.

They know it is possible that al-Qaida, or one of its affiliates, may attempt to disrupt the Olympics, with members of the US team being obvious targets. The Home Office and Scotland Yard believe the UK has a robust security strategy, but this has not stopped American officials voicing their concerns.

The police response to the London riots, the arrest of a security guard at the London Olympics site earlier this year, and the arrests made shortly before the visit of the Pope last year have provoked anxiety among US officials. The repeal of section 44 of the Terrorism Act, which allowed police to stop and search suspects with near impunity, also raised alarm. One well-placed Whitehall source said the entire Olympic security operation was being prepared "with the US in mind", adding: "The US will have no qualms in saying it is unsafe. If something happens and we say we did not have enough people, we are finished."

Another official said: "The Americans are risk-averse, with a capital A and underlined. They want to see everything. We are not equal partners in this. They want to be on top of everything – building protection, counter-terrorism strategy and VIP security – everything." Asked about the size of the US contingent heading to London next year, the official said: "They don't do things by halves."

In addition to the official American security entourage, the sponsors of the Games, including Coca-Cola, will have their own private security details, adding to the complexity of the policing operation.

The Ministry of Defence and the Home Office said no final decisions had been taken on the number of soldiers that might be needed to beef up security at some of the Olympic sites.An official said the need for an increase at the venues had become apparent when the Olympic committee began to role-play scenarios at some of the completed sites over the summer.

"The focus of the government and everyone involved is to deliver a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games that London, the UK and the world can enjoy," a government spokesman said. "Ministers and officials from across government are working closely with the police and Locog to ensure we have a robust safety and security strategy."

Officials said ministers, the Olympic committee and G4S were working together "to finalise the requirements for Olympic venue security". "As with all significant national events, we will make the best and most appropriate use of available resources," a statement said. "The Ministry of Defence have been fully involved in supporting Olympic security planning work."

G4S said it was confident of recruiting 10,000 security guards, and could recruit more, as long as the Olympic authorities gave the company enough time. "We need to know as soon as possible," said a spokesman. The US state department declined to comment. Locog said detailed security plans were being drawn up in collaboration with the government and security agencies.

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The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, the largest cab association in the capital with approximately one third of the city’s 25,000 taxi drivers on its books, has suggested the increase is necessary to prevent mass walkouts during the Games. Speaking to The Telegraph, the association’s general secretary Bob Oddy said that its members are “very concerned” by the enormous number of traffic restrictions the Games and the implementation of the Olympic Route Network will bring, and the consequential knock-on effect that will have on drivers’ income.

“Tubes and buses are going to be overloaded during the Games, the streets will be crowded and taxi drivers’ earnings will go down if they’re constantly stuck in gridlock. People are worried,” Mr Oddy said.
Taxi drivers are self-employed and an “overwhelming number” are considering taking holidays during the Games, according to Mr Oddy. The suggestion that cab fares should be increased follows TfL’s decision to award Tube drivers a bonus of up to £1,200 during the Olympics. It is TfL that would also have to approve the LTDA’s claim. The LTDA says its decision to request such a significant increase is “unprecedented” but believes a generous financial guarantee “may provide an incentive” to ensure taxi services are fully operational over the Games period.

The temporary fare increases would be applied by allowing taxi drivers to charge evening rates to daytime fares until the conclusion of the Paralympics. Reiterating that the increase is just a proposal, Mr Oddy said the association’s members “aren’t threatening to cause disruptions” if their demands aren’t met. He reminded Londoners that even if the higher fares are permitted, they can potentially be avoided.

Although it may not be widely known, the charge shown on taxi meters states the maximum fare the driver is allowed to charge rather than the amount he is obliged to collect. In response to the argument that the fares increase would affect Londoners travelling to areas where traffic disruptions are unlikely, Mr Oddy countered that passengers could, conceivably, request a discount on the price: “If the meter says £10, the driver could just take £8 from you.”

A decision on the proposals is unlikely to happen before the New Year. Speaking on behalf of TfL, its director of taxi and private hire John Mason said: "The consultation is ongoing and no decisions have been made. Ultimately it is for the TfL Board to approve any proposals for changes to taxi fares."
 

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Coached by Stuart Pearce, they will begin their Olympic campaign at Old Trafford on Thursday July 26, followed by fixtures at Wembley Stadium on Sunday July 29 and the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday Aug 1. Hope Powell's women's team will begin the tournament with back-to-back fixtures at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday, July 25 and Saturda,y July 28 before moving to Wembley Stadium for their final group game on Tuesday July 31.

As neither team will play group matches at Glasgow's Hampden Park Scotland supporters may miss out on the unique experience of seeing Team GB perform on Scottish soil. Locog has more than 1.5 million football tickets still to sell so the release of Team GB's fixtures is a timely one given that the official draw does not take place until April 24. The football tickets go back on sale from 11am on Nov 29 on a first come, first served basis from www.tickets.london2012.com, or, for the first time, via telephone on 0844 847 2012.

Locog director of sport Debbie Jevans admitted the organising body, which must raise £2 billion from the private sector to stage the Games, was relieved to be able to announce GB's fixtures prior to tickets going on sale.

"The prospect of Team GB taking part in the Games has captured the imagination of the public and we are pleased to be able to confirm their group stage fixtures ahead of tickets going back on sale," said Jevans.

"With teams like Spain and Brazil already qualified and fantastic venues across the country, the Olympic Football Tournaments promise to be a great family day out at the Olympic Games next summer."
Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics added: "I am really looking forward to watching Team GB men’s and women’s football teams compete in 2012, and there are no greater football venues anywhere than our host stadiums. There are still tickets left, so I encourage everyone to try and get one and support the team in 2012."

As the news broke users on Twitter were quick to point out that tickets for all Team GB fixtures were available to buy immediately via authorised French re-seller Eventeam. It is yet to be confirmed whether players from all nations will compete as Team GB, although recent photographs of Welshmen Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey modelling a GB supporters' strip suggests certain players are determined to play whatever the feelings of their respective football associations.

 

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But scores of countries have yet to take advantage of the scheme. Locog said more than 100 of the 196 national Olympic committees and 165 Paralympic committees had organised to prepare at the camps throughout the country, most of which are in the south-east and east, and south-west of the country, but also include a handful of camps in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The national Olympic committees are paid up to £25,000 each to prepare in the UK. But the scheme, which has cost the organisers more than £2.5 million so far, has still to attract some of the smallest and poorest nations, which may only have last-minute qualifiers through the International Olympic Committee's universality scheme.

This is where two competitors from countries are guaranteed an Olympic berth in either swimming or track and field regardless of qualifying standards. Many African countries had argued unsuccessfully to organisers that they should have the training grant to send borderline athletes to the UK in order to help them reach Games qualifying marks.

There are still nearly 100 countries that have yet to take up their £25,000 offer. Locog chairman Seb Coe insisted that the scheme was a training scheme to provide athletes with a base to prepare, train and acclimatise ahead of the Games and was not a scholarship.

He said UK training camp host towns and participating countries had begun to forge strong relations and develop community engagement programmes. Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics said: “We have always been determined to make the 2012 Games not just about London, but the whole of the UK. Offering 100 training camps across the country highlights the many world class sporting facilities that can be used by athletes from around the World. I am sure that all the athletes will be given a fantastic, warm welcome.”

Team GB will be based at Loughborough University, the same venue chosen by the Japanese.
The Zambians and Namibians have selected Glasgow while the Barbados boxers have had a long relationship with Crawley and West Sussex.

The Chinese gymnastic team plans to base itself at Lisburn, Northern Ireland. A conglomeration of 15 small Oceania countries including Palau, Samoa, Guam, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Fiji, are planning to use facilities in the north-west, and their swimmers could be training alongside Australian swim team stars like Ian Thorpe. This region will also host the USA men's and women's basketball teams.

The West Midlands hope to host two of the most high profile athletics teams in the world, USA and Jamaica, using their newly renovated Alexander Stadium and the Birmingham University campus.
Yorkshire has Memorandums of Understanding signed with 11 nations, constituting over 30 individual teams, including the Serbian NOC, the USA diving team in Sheffield, the Russian diving team in Leeds and the Vietnamese NOC in Bradford.

In London, St Mary’s University in Twickenham has a new £8.25m sports facility to offer athletes from South Africa and Ireland while Brunel University aims to host the Korean NOC, and several teams including Athletics Canada.

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A nude Paralympic cyclist, an abstract take on Big Ben and two birds kissing.
Olympic officials on Friday unveiled the posters for the London 2012 games, which highlight 12 different takes on how to celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic games.

Leading British artists including the controversial Tracey Emin and Turner Prize-winner Martin Creed designed the posters, joining a tradition that dates back to 1912 and has showcased the works of others such as Andy Warhol and David Hockney.

Emin, whose most famous works include a recreation of her disheveled bed _ complete with soiled clothing and empty vodka bottles _ and an appliqued tent entitled "Everyone I Have Ever Slept With," described her poster as a "love letter" to the Paralympic games and its athletes.

The image features two kissing birds sitting on a branch above the words "You inspire me with Your determination And I love you."

Fellow artist Fiona Banner also paid tribute to the Paralympic games with "Superhuman Nude." Her poster of a nude Paralympic cyclist is adorned with the words "piercing rod of muscle," "steel buttock" and "absurdly muscly."

Overlapping Olympics-colored rings that resemble marks left by drinking glasses grace Turner-Prize winner Rachel Whiteread's work, while Sarah Morris used grids in her abstract take on London's iconic landmark, Big Ben.

Members of the public will be able to buy posters of the 12 images for 7 pounds ($11.20) or as limited-edition prints.  A set of the images has been given to Queen Elizabeth II for the Royal Collection and they will be displayed at Prime Minister David Cameron's residence, 10 Downing Street, in 2012.

The posters also will be shown in a free exhibition at the Tate Britain museum as part of the London 2012 festival. The giant arts festival will take place in conjunction with the 2012 Olympics, which run July 27-August 12, 2012.

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