With less than 2 1/2 years until the opening ceremony, the Olympic Park is rapidly taking shape for the 2012 London Games.

A bus tour of the 500-acre site on Friday revealed steady and visible progress in turning a once-unused swath of east London into the centerpiece complex for the Olympics, as well as a new city neighborhood after the games.

The $13.8 billion project has taken on added urgency now that the Vancouver Winter Games are over, leaving London as the next Olympic host city.

One of the biggest construction sites in Europe, the area is covered by cranes, bulldozers and trucks, and crisscrossed by 30 permanent and temporary bridges. About 10,000 construction workers are on the site, with the figure to grow to 14,000 next year.

The most striking venue on display is the $788 million Olympic Stadium, whose main external structure is already in place and has been a fixture on the east London skyline for months.

Newly installed are the 14 light towers—each weighing 34 tons—which have been lifted into place above the field of play over the last three weeks, taking the stadium to its full height of 175 feet above ground level.

Olympic Delivery Authority chief executive David Higgins said the next step will be to install the roof in the next three months. He said the structure will cover about 40 percent of the seating areas of the stadium, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field competition.

“The roof is not to keep people dry,” Higgins said. “It’s to deflect the wind from the track.”

The stadium will have 80,000 seats during the Olympics, but is designed to be dismantled to a 25,000-capacity arena after the games, mainly for track and field. However, the post-games capacity and use of the stadium is now back under discussion, as soccer and other sports have expressed interest in moving in.

A separate London Olympics legacy company invited expressions of interest in the stadium this week, with the West Ham soccer team immediately declaring its hopes of relocating to the venue after the games. A final decision will be made by May 2011.

Despite the current size of the stadium, the design is relatively intimate, with even the highest-level seating areas providing good views of the field.

“The stadium is much tighter than Wembley or other stadiums,” Higgins said.

The stadium will be completed by Christmas, except for the track and infield grass, which will be installed around May 2011, Higgins said.

Still under wraps is the planned location of the Olympic cauldron, where the flame will be lit at the opening ceremony and kept burning throughout the games.

“We’ve got some interesting ideas and options,” London organizing committee chief executive Paul Deighton said. “I guarantee we will surprise and delight you on the night of the 27th of July.”

Another signature venue is the $500 million aquatics center, which had its 525-foot wave-shaped roof lowered into place in November. The 17,500-seat venue, which is scheduled to be completed in mid-2011, will host swimming, diving and water polo finals.

“Water is now in the diving pool,” Higgins said. “It hasn’t leaked. So far so good.”

Rising rapidly on the northeastern edge of the park is the Olympic village, which will house 17,000 athletes and officials in 2,800 apartment units during the games.

Also under construction are the 6,000-seat handball arena, 20,000-seat field hockey center, 12,000-seat arena for basketball preliminaries and handball final, and 6,000-seat velodrome. The international broadcast and press center, which will accommodate 20,000 media members, is well under way.

The Westfield shopping center, billed as the biggest urban mall in Europe, is being built just on the edge of the park’s main entrance near the Stratford railway station.

“This is the first time such a major center has been located next to the Olympic Village,” Deighton said. “This creates a bit of a problem. Do we let the athletes loose in there? Or do we give them a few more pool tables in the village? We’ve never had so much stuff next to an Olympic village.”

1. Olympic Park taking shape for 2012 London Games (PA SportsTicker)
2. London 2012 Basketball Arena takes shape on Olympic Park
3. Greenwich Park handed all-clear as equestrian venue for 2012 London Games

LONDON(AP)—The light towers are in place atop the Olympic Stadium. The diving pool is filled with water. The athletes’ village is expanding daily.

With less than 2 1/2 years until the opening ceremony, the Olympic Park is rapidly taking shape for the 2012 London Games.

A bus tour of the 500-acre site on Friday revealed steady and visible progress in turning a once-unused swath of east London into the centerpiece complex for the Olympics, as well as a new city neighborhood after the games.

The $13.8 billion project has taken on added urgency now that the Vancouver Winter Games are over, leaving London as the next Olympic host city.

One of the biggest construction sites in Europe, the area is covered by cranes, bulldozers and trucks, and crisscrossed by 30 permanent and temporary bridges. About 10,000 construction workers are on the site, with the figure to grow to 14,000 next year.

The most striking venue on display is the $788 million Olympic Stadium, whose main external structure is already in place and has been a fixture on the east London skyline for months.

Newly installed are the 14 light towers - each weighing 34 tons - which have been lifted into place above the field of play over the last three weeks, taking the stadium to its full height of 175 feet above ground level.

Olympic Delivery Authority chief executive David Higgins said the next step will be to install the roof in the next three months. He said the structure will cover about 40 percent of the seating areas of the stadium, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field competition.

“The roof is not to keep people dry,” Higgins said. “It’s to deflect the wind from the track.”

The stadium will have 80,000 seats during the Olympics, but is designed to be dismantled to a 25,000-capacity arena after the games, mainly for track and field. However, the post-games capacity and use of the stadium is now back under discussion, as soccer and other sports have expressed interest in moving in.

A separate London Olympics legacy company invited expressions of interest in the stadium this week, with the West Ham soccer team immediately declaring its hopes of relocating to the venue after the games. A final decision will be made by May 2011.

Despite the current size of the stadium, the design is relatively intimate, with even the highest-level seating areas providing good views of the field.

“The stadium is much tighter than Wembley or other stadiums,” Higgins said.

The stadium will be completed by Christmas, except for the track and infield grass, which will be installed around May 2011, Higgins said.

Still under wraps is the planned location of the Olympic cauldron, where the flame will be lit at the opening ceremony and kept burning throughout the games.

“We’ve got some interesting ideas and options,” London organizing committee chief executive Paul Deighton said. “I guarantee we will surprise and delight you on the night of the 27th of July.”

Another signature venue is the $500 million aquatics center, which had its 525-foot wave-shaped roof lowered into place in November. The 17,500-seat venue, which is scheduled to be completed in mid-2011, will host swimming, diving and water polo finals.

“Water is now in the diving pool,” Higgins said. “It hasn’t leaked. So far so good.”

Rising rapidly on the northeastern edge of the park is the Olympic village, which will house 17,000 athletes and officials in 2,800 apartment units during the games.

Also under construction are the 6,000-seat handball arena, 20,000-seat field hockey center, 12,000-seat arena for basketball preliminaries and handball final, and 6,000-seat velodrome. The international broadcast and press center, which will accommodate 20,000 media members, is well under way.

The Westfield shopping center, billed as the biggest urban mall in Europe, is being built just on the edge of the park’s main entrance near the Stratford railway station.

“This is the first time such a major center has been located next to the Olympic Village,” Deighton said. “This creates a bit of a problem. Do we let the athletes loose in there? Or do we give them a few more pool tables in the village? We’ve never had so much stuff next to an Olympic village.”

1. Park taking shape for 2012 London Games
2. London 2012 Basketball Arena takes shape on Olympic Park
3. Twisting tower to adorn London 2012 Olympic Park (PA SportsTicker)

The Olympic Stadium’s 14 lighting towers have been lifted into place 60m above the field of play. The flagship venue is now at its full height and is on track to be completed in summer 2011.

The lighting towers – each weighing 34 tonnes and designed with integrated walkways, access, power supplies, cabling and lighting – were installed over a three-week period.

They will illuminate the action on the filed of play and help capture high-definition footage. The towers are located high above the Stadium roof to ensure optimum lighting angles, which avoid dazzling spectators, photographers and competitors.

ODA Chairman John Armitt said: ‘We still have big challenges over the coming year but hitting this important milestone ensures we remain on track to complete construction a year before the London 2012 Games begin.’

The cable-net roof can now be covered with a fabric material, providing the correct conditions for athletes on the field of play and covering two-thirds of spectators.

1. New images show London 2012 Olympic Park progress
2. Officials seek interest in use of Olympic Stadium (PA SportsTicker)
3. London 2012 Olympic Stadium reaches full height

WHISTLER '€” Italy clinched gold Sunday as Francesca Porcellato beat the Ukraine's Olena Iurkovska across the finish line in the women's one-kilometre sprint.

Liudmila Vauchok, of Belarus, got bronze in the women's sitting event.

Canada's Colette Bourgonje was bounced from the competition after finishing 10th in the first qualification round.

In the standing category, the Ukraine's Olesandra Kononova beat Japan's Ota Shoko to take the gold, while Russia's Anna Burmistrova took bronze.

Canada's Jody Barber just missed qualifying for the race after being bumped out in the first round and coming in ninth. Mary Benson finished in 12th place.

Meanwhile, Canada's Robbi Weldon and guide Brian Berry finished in fifth place in the visually impaired category after making it to the semi-finals, while Courtney Knight, guided by Andrea Bundon, finished in seventh place.

Margarita Gorbounova and guide Robert D'Arras finished in ninth.

The event was won by Germany's Verena Bentele, who got her fifth gold followed by Russia's Mikhalina Lysova and Liubov Vasilyeva.

"I felt great, I had a really good race," Gorbounova said. "We just raced our best and had fun."

'€¢ '€¢ '€¢

Paralympic cross-country skiing was included as an event at the first Paralympic Winter Games in 1976, at Örnsköldsvik, with classical technique events only. Free technique was introduced in 1992 at Albertville.

In both biathlon and cross-country skiing, athletes are categorized as standing, sitting or visually impaired and compete against athletes with similar disabilities. Visually impaired skiers use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers but ski with a guide. Standing skiers are skiers with a locomotive disability and who are able to use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers. Sit-skiers usually have no use of their legs (paraplegic) and use a special made sit-ski (a specially built chair, called a sledge, attached to a pair of skis).

Paralympic cross-country skiers compete in men'€™s and women'€™s individual events over short, middle and long distances ranging from 2.5 kilometres to 20 kilometres. Each race has an interval start with skiers starting every 30 seconds.

In the relay event, each team member skis one leg. Teams are made up of skiers from different categories but with the total percentage for each team being equal. This means that no time calculation is required and the first team across the finish line wins.

(Vanoc website)

1. German women win cross-country sprint
2. France’s Jay wins biathlon sprint gold
3. Cross-Country Skiing (ladies’ sprint): Norway’s Bjoergen takes sprint gold

WHISTLER '€” Japan's Nitto Yohihiro grabbed the gold Sunday in the men's one-kilometre standing race, leaving the silver for Russia's Kirill Mikhaylov and the bronze for Ilkka Tuomisto, of Finland.

Canada's Mark Arendz just missed his chance to compete for gold after finishing in ninth place in the initial qualification round.

"I'm really happy," Arendz said. "It was tough that they only take the top eight." Arendz, 20, said he's learned a lot from competing in the Paralympics that he can "take away to my next Games."

Canada's Tyler Mosher finished in 21st place.

In the men's sitting category, the Russians dominated the event although four-time gold medallist Irek Zaripov was bumped from top spot by Sergey Shilov.

Vladmir Kiselev took the bronze.

Langley's Lou Gibson finished in 29th place while Sebastien Fortier, of Quebec, was 32nd in the race.

'€¢ '€¢ '€¢

Paralympic cross-country skiing was included as an event at the first Paralympic Winter Games in 1976, at Örnsköldsvik, with classical technique events only. Free technique was introduced in 1992 at Albertville.

In both biathlon and cross-country skiing, athletes are categorized as standing, sitting or visually impaired and compete against athletes with similar disabilities. Visually impaired skiers use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers but ski with a guide. Standing skiers are skiers with a locomotive disability and who are able to use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers. Sit-skiers usually have no use of their legs (paraplegic) and use a special made sit-ski (a specially built chair, called a sledge, attached to a pair of skis).

Paralympic cross-country skiers compete in men'€™s and women'€™s individual events over short, middle and long distances ranging from 2.5 kilometres to 20 kilometres. Each race has an interval start with skiers starting every 30 seconds.

In the relay event, each team member skis one leg. Teams are made up of skiers from different categories but with the total percentage for each team being equal. This means that no time calculation is required and the first team across the finish line wins.

(Vanoc website)

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2. Paralympic cross-country skiing: Russia’s Anna Burmistrova wins 15-km standing gold
3. Cross-country: Japan’s Nitta takes 10-km standing gold; Ukraine’s Kononova wins 5-km classic

 
The permanent structure features two footbridges linked by a central walkway, creating a ‘Z’ shape spanning either side of Carpenters Lock – a unique 1930s historic structure on the River Lea.

During the Games a temporary deck will be placed between the permanent sections of the bridge to increase its width and enable a greater number of people to use the bridge during the busy Games period. This deck will be surfaced with a recycled rubber material featuring the colours of the five Olympic Rings.

Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) Director of Infrastructure and Utilities Simon Wright said: ‘The Central Park bridge will help us lock-in legacy now by not only meeting Games-time needs but also leaving behind a striking structure in the heart of the Olympic Park for future generations to enjoy.

‘Lifting in the main structural elements of the Central Park bridge is an important milestone and follows the good progress we are making in building new roads and bridges to create new links across the Olympic Park.’

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THE NEIL WILSON COLUMN - An authoritative, exclusive new series only from Sports Features Communications

LONDON, Mar 10: Anja  Paerson’s 2010 Winter Olympics may be remembered more for her spectacular crash at the final jump of the women’s downhill that the bronze in the combined that was to be the sixth Olympic medal of her career.

The Swede should though be best  remembered for what may be the most perceptive athlete’s  remark of the entire Games in Vancouver and Whistler: “This Olympics has been definitely about the weather .”

VANOC spokesperson Renee Smith-Valade agreed: “The weather has pushed us to the very limit of our creativity.”

The Winter Olympics, according to International Olympic Committee rules, are all about sport on snow and ice. At these Games you had to go a long way to see the snow. It was either absent, or so enveloped in low cloud and fog that it was beyond the capacity of cameras to capture or skiers to compete on.

Everybody locally knew Cypress Mountain was too close to the sea to be guaranteed the white stuff. Everybody knew Whistler was subject to warm, wet winds off the coast that created fog. FIS had been forced to postpone enough World Cup races there to know it.

Next year the IOC has to make a choice for 2018. Just for its members’ information, so they cannot say in hindsight that they did not know, I have ascertained the following facts on the three candidate cities – on February 28, the final day of these Winter Olympics, the temperature in Munich was 13C, in Annecy 16C and Pyeong-chang 4C.

Shouldn’t take a genius to work out where best to site those Games.

Sochi's turn

Meanwhile, it might care to know that in Sochi, where the Winter Games go next, the temperature that day was a balmy 15C. So trouble ahead.

Why, I wonder, does the IOC not find a place for Winter Games where the weather is guaranteed to be wintery and stick with it? A permanent Winter Olympic site. No further need for the quadrennial spend on another bobsleigh run or speed-skating oval the world does not need.

Build them once and just keep them up to date. No need even to make it a cost to the locals. The IOC’s own TV and marketing budget would cover it.

Might I suggest a place not un-adjacent to IOC headquarters, a place with the necessary altitude,  historic background in winter sports, hotels and mountains. It is called St Moritz.

The only problem I can foresee is persuading the locals to give it house room. The Olympic Family might be a bit low rent for the local burghers.

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The lighting towers will light up the field of play and are needed for high definition (HD) footage. They are located above the Stadium roof to ensure the best lighting angles and to avoid dazzling spectators, photographers and competitors.

Olympic Delivery Authority Chairman John Armitt said: ‘The Olympic Stadium will be at the heart of the action in 2012 and its image will be beamed to billions of people across the world. The team has made impressive progress over the last year and we are on schedule to finish by the summer of 2011 to give a year for Test Events.

‘The lifting of the lighting towers is a significant engineering and construction challenge and has taken a huge amount of work and planning, complicated by the snow, wind and rain. Once all 14 towers have been lifted the venue will be another huge step closer to completion.’

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Raich was third after a first run in atrocious conditions, 0.54 seconds behind Italian leader Giuliano Razzoli, with several leading contenders skiing out in the darkening gloom and sleet.

Slovenian Mitja Valencic was in second place, 0.43 off Razzoli's time, with Croatian Ivica Kostelic chasing Raich in fourth.

The non-finishers included Bode Miller, whose bid for a record fourth medal in two weeks on the Whistler slopes ended when he straddled a gate, and U.S. team mate Ted Ligety.

The once-mighty Austrian men who swept the slalom podium four years ago in Turin have yet to win a medal in Alpine skiing here.

Failure to do so in the slalom would be their first blank since the sport was introduced to the Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in 1936.

While Raich stepped up to the mark from third place, his compatriots again fell short.

Manfred Pranger crashed out, landing hard on his back, while Marcel Hirscher was in ninth place with 1.13 to make up and Reinfried Herbst -- silver medalist in Turin -- back in 12th.

Razzoli, who won a World Cup slalom in Zagreb last month, timed it right.

"I really enjoyed it all, I've got to attack now and give my all," he said.

Valencic, who could be Slovenia's first gold medalist in Vancouver, was wary of the threat from Raich.

"I've just got to go full gas, all-out attack," he said. "These guys are too good to do anything else."

(additional reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Miles Evans)

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VANCOUVER - Joannie Rochette skated to the music from Samson and Delilah, a Herculean tale of triumph and tragedy, but the story was all hers, its most poignant final line mercifully carved into a piece of bronze.

It is but one of 17 Canadian medals and to suggest it dwarfs so many cast in silver and gold at these Games would seem to miss the incredible sporting spirit and human will Rochette showed to win it against the worst of odds. Because she wasn't thinking of herself when she won it, we all know that.

That medal is for her mother Therese, who arrived from Montreal Saturday and died Sunday in a Vancouver hospital, before she could see her daughter as a 2010 Olympian.

"I feel proud. The result didn't matter but I'm happy to be on the podium," said Rochette. "That was my goal coming here. It's been a lifetime project with my mom and we achieved that."

The woman who wore that medal Thursday night with and what it will tell the world about her for the rest of her life makes it seem more valuable than others won here, if not to Rochette, then the country. The silver medal she claimed at the world championships in 2009 - the kind that always comes complete with palpable pressure especially before a home Olympics - sits in a place of prominence in her home. This one occupies a special place in the hearts of all Canadians who have been thinking about her since Sunday.

She won it almost clinically, her face devoid of the emotion that was so easily read in Tuesday's short program. She wobbled early, dropped a double Axel late and was in competition mode throughout for a free skate score of 131.28 and a two-skate total of 202.64.

The crowd scattered plush toys on the ice and most stood to applaud her one more time. They were there all along. Her support group tightened up to include father Normand, boyfriend Guillaume Gfeller, coach Manon Perron and psychologist Wayne Halliwell, so Canadians gave her whatever comfort they could from afar. But let's face it, we all took something from Rochette's impossible strength and desire to compete too. There was inspiration, certainly. National pride. Borrowed courage in some cases. And when it came time for her to compete, there was relief and joy at the sight of her standing upright and in third place after an excruciating and emotional short program on Tuesday.

And the first thing she said was a thank you to Canadians for emails and text messages that helped get her through the toughest days? Wow. That's quite a kid her parents Therese and Normand raised in Ile Dupas, Que.

The 24-year-old took other Olympians and millions of Canadians on a journey so personal and filled with sorrow that even to watch it from a respectable distance in the rink or on TV occasionally seemed too intrusive. Well, after four minutes that stopped the Olympics on Thursday, we can all breathe again. Rochette included.

Sure, Korea's Yu-Na Kim has the gold medal, the first in ladies skating for her country, and that is worth celebrating. Her blend of poise and power, grace and guts might just rule the ladies division for another four years. Unless Japan's Mao Asada has more to say about it in the coming seasons than she did on Thursday, her jumping might muted by a strange mistake that jabbed her toe pick in the ice and threw off her timing so badly she popped a triple toe. She threw two triple Axels at Kim and the judges but there is something missing from her delivery and that left a 23-point chasm between her and Kim.

And behind them, three points back of Asada, was Rochette.

After skating "like a computer" through the short program - that was teammate Cynthia Phaneuf's assessment of Rochette's self-defence mechanism - the Rocket locked her emotions away for another four minutes and leapt through her long program. Only Rochette and three other competitors in the field of 24 laced their programs with seven triples, a number that was a source of pride for her all year because it proved how versatile a skater she had become. Sure, some girls do the triple-triple that Rochette eschews, but some only have five triples in the quiver.

In between the tricks she massaged the Code of Points scoring system for a fine haul of component scores rewarding skating skills, choreography, interpretation, footwork and transitions, performance and execution.

Thirty ladies skated the long, only 24 passed through to the final with one more chance to shape their Olympic experience the way it looked in the dream. They all have it. It's set to soundtracks in Finnish, Russian, English, Japanese and Korean, and its base value is the same all over, medal-worthy. Sadly, the grade of execution varies from dreams in the athletes village to reality on the Pacific Coliseum ice.

"That was the worst I've ever skated," said Tugba Karademir of Turkey, who missed her first three jumps. "Although coming to the Olympics is awesome, I had my sights set very high this time so I am very disappointed."

File Canada's Cynthia Phaneuf in the same category after she fell on a triple Lutz, doubled a planned triple Salchow, stumbled out of a double Axel and dropped a double off the end of a triple-double-double combination late in her Cleopatra program. The score was still her best on the international circuit this year, 99.46, but she started 14th and wound up 11th.

"I did amazing practices for two weeks, very consistent, and you know I just kind of fell apart for the long. Even if it's not that bad of a performance, I know it's not my best."

In skating, the best are often left for last. Rochette skated 23rd. Only Mirai Nagasu of the U.S. could take the medal away and she fell short. Rochette became the fifth Olympic medal winner for Canada in the ladies division. The four who came before her are Liz Manley (silver in 1988), Karen Magnussen (silver in 1972), Petra Burka (bronze in 1964) and Barbara Ann Scott (gold in 1948.

1. Joannie Rochette to carry the flag for Canada
2. Joannie Rochette places third after emotional short program