Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt says he is ready to "wow" the London 2012 Olympics and put on a "great show" for the city.
The triple Olympic gold medallist looked in confident mood as he modelled his nation's new Olympic kit on the catwalk during a photocall at Village Underground in London on Friday. Bolt also danced alongside the new kit's designer, Cedella Marley.
Having returned to form to win the 100m in 9.76 seconds in Rome on Thursday and record his quickest time since smashing the world record in Berlin in 2009, the 25-year-old has set his sights on achieving more glory in London this summer.
"I'm really looking forward to competing here. I haven't competed in London in a while so I'm really looking forward to the Games.
"I know all the Jamaicans living here (in the UK) are really looking forward to it also.
"I'm just competing to put on a great show as always and I've explained that at the end of the day I just want to wow people after these Olympics (in London) so I'm looking forward to it."
Source: www.itv.com
London 2012: Heathrow Airport has built a new terminal for athletes arriving for the Olympic Games - Daily Telegraph
Nick Cole, head of Olympic and Paralympic planning at Heathrow, said: "I am delighted to take over the Games Terminal, which will help us meet the challenge of record numbers of passengers and bags that we are expecting on the days after the closing ceremony."
The new Olympics Terminal has been officially handed over to Heathrow Airport's operators, BAA.
The temporary structure, put up in a staff car park, will cater for athletes and officials involved with London 2012 and be used for the three days after the closing ceremony on 12 August before being decommissioned.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: GB triple jumper Phillips Idowu finishes disappointing third in Eugene - Daily Telegraph
Wilson Kiprop claimed the men's 10,000m, an event which was given over to the Kenyan Olympic trials, in a world-best time of 27 minutes 1.98 seconds.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Kent State tops Kentucky in 21-inning NCAA tournament marathon, 7-6 - Cleveland Plain Dealer
GARY, Ind. — Lefty Michael Clark got a strikeout with two on and two outs in the 21st inning to give Kent State a hard-earned 7-6 victory Friday night in the opening game of the NCAA regional baseball tournament in Gary, Ind.
It was the second-longest game in NCAA Tournament history, trailing only Texas' 3-2 win over Boston College in 25 innings in 2009.
"I'm glad we didn't get it," KSU coach Scott Stricklin said of the 25-inning record. "It's certainly better to be on the winning side of that one."
Twice Kentucky used its potential final at-bat to extend the game at U.S. Steel Yard, scoring in the ninth and 18th innings to tie the Golden Flashes. But Kent scratched out a run in the top of the 21st, and Clark, despite letting runners get to second and third with two outs, got the strikeout he needed.
"I only remember the last hitter," Clark said of the 3 innings he pitched. He got two straight strikes on Kentucky's Thomas McCarthy, but did not waste the next one. "I went high and hard" and whiffed him on a checked swing.
That led to an eruption from a crowd that grew from 756 after nine innings to more than 5,000 by the end. Most seemingly waiting to see two Indiana schools, Purdue and Valparaiso, play the second game of the regional. The winner of that game will play Kent tonight at 7.
Clark isn't worried about the Golden Flashes being emotionally spent.
"If anything, I think this will help us. We're running on adrenaline."
Kent's winning rally in the top of the 21st began with a bunt single from senior Joe Koch. The ball just got past the outstretched hand of Kentucky pitcher A.J. Reed, who started the game as the DH for the first 10 innings. Reed then played two innings at first and pitched the final nine.
A sacrifice moved Koch to second, and with two outs, freshman Alex Miklos hit a triple to center that scored Koch. Derek Toadvine then became Kent's 26th strikeout victim of the game, but the good deed was already done. Twice before Kent was three outs away from victory, leading 5-4 in the ninth and 6-5 in the 18th, but could not close the win out.
"But I said it out loud in the dugout, 'Third time is the charm,' " Stricklin said.
The Flashes had a sweet opportunity to blow the game open in the second inning. They loaded the bases with none out behind a pair of singles and a hit batter. Kent picked up a run when the Kentucky shortstop booted a potential double-play ball, keeping the bases loaded with no outs.
But the next three batters were retired on two strikeouts and a soft liner.
The Wildcats scored twice in the third behind two singles and a hit batter to take a 2-1 lead. The hit batter was the third in the game, the second for Kent ace David Starn. That led to a warning for both teams.
Kent posted three runs in the fourth on a bunt single from Toadvine, a balk from Kentucky starter Alex Phillips, and a double from George Roberts, who went 5-for-10. But for the second time in four innings, KSU hitters could not deliver with the bases loaded. It was a pattern that lasted all game as KSU stranded 20 runners.
With Kent leading, 5-4, in the bottom of the ninth, relief pitcher Brian Clark gave up a first-pitch single and the runner was sacrificed to second. A Kentucky single up the middle followed to tie it, 5-5.
The two teams would then go scoreless until the 18th. But there was plenty of drama.
The Flashes got a huge break to start the bottom of the 12th as Kentucky's Michael Williams hit a rocket off the left-field wall for an apparent double. But he missed first base, and Kent threw the relay to first to beat him back to the bag. One pitch later, Toadvine made a diving catch for the second out of the inning, saving another potential double. Then an infield out ended the inning.
In the bottom of the 15th, the Wildcats loaded the bases, but were retired on a pop-up on a pitch that looked like ball four.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: ealexander@plaind.com, 216-999-4253
Source: www.cleveland.com
London gets ready to party for the queen - Detroit Free Press
LONDON (USA TODAY) — This is a city ready to party, with all the pomp, patriotism and eccentricity it can muster. And boy, can it muster.
Queen Elizabeth II's four-day Diamond Jubilee celebration gets underway Saturday, and London could hardly be more prepared. Or cleaner.
Spiffed up and shiny, festooned with Union-Jack bunting everywhere, including around park trees, with the queen's smiling visage plastered on every teacup and flat surface in sight, this city knows it will not see a moment like this come again soon.
It's been 115 years since the United Kingdom celebrated the only other monarch, Queen Victoria, to reach 60 years in reign; it won't happen again in the lifetime of anyone alive today.
So a million or more Brits are likely to crowd the streets and the riverbanks of London this weekend to shout, "Well done, Ma'am!" to the 86-year-old great-granny who's spent six decades on their throne, currency and stamps, and in their hearts.
"I have a lot of respect for the queen. I appreciate her dignity, the way she holds things together," says Ruth Pritchard, 62, visiting from Wales where she lives on the same island where Prince William and his wife, Catherine, duchess of Cambridge, live. "(The queen) is a very spiritual person, too, and she's a good role model."
She was wandering in St. James's Park opposite Buckingham Palace on Friday, observing the crowds and watching a marching band of military bagpipers, red-coated soldiers in bearskin hats and mounted troops march down The Mall. Her daughter, Eirian Pritchard, 30, says even young people are paying more attention to the royals, thanks to Will and Kate. "I like a love story," she says. "And Kate seems quite nice."
American tourists Maria and Mike Granatosky of Orlando watched the passing parade of sightseers and the construction workers building the stage for Monday's star-studded concert. They were heading out of London on their long-planned vacation and to "avoid the crowds," but they were still impressed with the buzz around the jubilee. "She's not our queen, but it's important to people here," Maria says. "But it's nice to see all this (preparation) beforehand."
Apart from the genuine desire to celebrate Her Majesty, the Diamond Jubilee is official London's chance to practice for the next big thing to hit town, the 2012 Summer Olympics, opening in July. Crowd and traffic control, not to mention security issues, will be even more challenging during the games, which last longer and are likely to draw more international visitors than the more homegrown jubilee celebration.
Homegrown does not mean humdrum not from the British, justly famous for their ceremonial flourishes. People here are not only proud of the queen, they're proud of their national talent for expressing their pride.
The next few days will see public events that encompass history and modernity, the future of the monarchy and the celebration of all things British. There will be horse racing and river sailing, a star-packed concert, a church service and gilded coach procession, bell-ringing, beacon-lighting and an air force flight over the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Right beside the queen throughout will be her family, with all eyes especially on her grandson and second-in-line to the throne, Prince William, and Catherine, the new royal stars. The jubilee celebrates the queen and all she's done for the country for the past six decades, but she and everyone else here know that Will and Kate are the future.
The Thames River Pageant on Sunday afternoon is the signature theatrical event of the weekend, a bow to history and to the river that has played so central a role in the life of the nation and the monarchy. A million people are likely to line the riverbanks, and millions more will watch at home, as the queen sails down the Thames accompanied by a flotilla of 1,000 ships of all shapes and sizes.
She and close family, including Will and Kate, will be on The Spirit of Chartwell, a luxury river cruiser redecorated in antique style and equipped with tiny robotic cameras operated by the BBC. It's the first time so many senior royals will travel together in one boat. Other members of her family will be on other boats in the flotilla.
Just ahead of them will be Gloriana (as in the first Queen Elizabeth), a 94-foot barge hand-carved and decorated to resemble the sort of barges royals used to travel the river hundreds of years ago. Manned by 18 rowers, including Olympians, it's the first such barge built in more than a century.
"The River Thames used to be the place where royal pageantry took place, and it's not happened for hundreds of years," says pageant master Adrian Evans, a river advocate who came up with the idea and spent two years organizing it. Now the pageant has "really caught the popular mood. It's a one-off event, very unlikely to be done again, and people will say, 'I just have to be there.' "
As is usually the case with the British, there are wacky aspects to the jubilee, with a variety of eccentric ways to honor the queen: Marmite, the yeast-based spread the British unaccountably love, has temporarily renamed itself Ma'amite.
There's bunting draped across Sloane Square and flags at the subway entrances, which would be normal for any national celebration. A giant crown-shaped floral sculpture in St James's Park? Not so much. It tops 12 feet, weighs 5 tons and took five weeks to make in Cornwall using 13,500 individual plants, according to media reports here.
There's a newly updated wax figure of the queen at Madame Tussauds, which is standard fare for any celebrity these days. The tiny Lego figure of the queen with a diamond-encrusted crown set in a miniature model of Buckingham Palace is more unusual. It's at the Legoland theme park a few miles from Windsor Castle. Even more unusual is the sand sculpture of the seated queen by artist Nicola Wood at the seventh annual sand sculpture festival in Weston-Super-Mare, a town about 140 miles west of London.
Even Heathrow Airport got into the jubilee spirit, painting a giant Union Jack with a silhouette of the queen on one of the runways so passengers can see it as they fly in.
Once famously derided (by Napoleon, no less) as a nation of shopkeepers, Britain's retailers are once again in the full roar of souvenir selling mode, just as they were for last year's royal wedding. According to a survey by consumer savings site Moneysupermarket.com, jubilee shoppers could spent nearly twice as much as last year up to $1.3 billion during the jubilee weekend.
Some of that will be souvenirs lots of souvenirs. From the jubilee tea towels sold on the streets to the shop windows cluttered with queen-emblazoned ceramic plates and canvas totes, to the elegant china and other baubles sold by the Royal Collection (royalcollectionshop.co.uk, which helps fund the upkeep of the royal palaces and art collections), queen kitsch is flying out doors and across the Internet.
Diamond Jubilee key chains and teaspoons, cookies and chocolates, hats and jewelery, bells and whistles are for sale for a few pounds (or dollars from the likes of Amazon.com). For pricier fare, the Diamond Jubilee Limited Edition Loving Cup from the Royal Collection is sold out (at about $280), but the Tea Caddy is still available at the same price, and the sky-blue Velvet Cushion is only about $150.
Hotels are selling Diamond Jubilee packages, restaurants and hotels are offering special Diamond Jubilee luxury tea service, pubs are selling Diamond Jubilee beer. Skyscrapers, such as the building Altitude 360 on the river, are selling spectacular sky-high viewing spaces, complete with picnic hampers of Champagne and crumpets, to watch the river pageant Sunday (only $800 per person). A giant portrait of the queen, made of 3,120 little cakes, will be on display (and later consumed) at a festival at the riverside Battersea Park, where thousands are likely to watch when the pageant sails by.
And for true luxury shopping, there's the all important Diamond Jubilee shoes. British designer ArunaSeth, whose shoes have clad the tootsies of Kate Middleton's younger sister, paparazzi queen Pippa Middleton, has created a line of limited edition Swarovski crystal-covered wedges in royal blue with Union-Jack trim. They're at Harrods. Only $4,800.
"I wanted to design something that celebrates being really proud to be British," she says. "And what better way than a flag? But they're really comfortable, with Italian nappa leather padding. The queen could wear them."
The queen, a woman famous for her sensible shoes? Maybe not.
Copyright 2012 USA TODAY
Source: www.freep.com
London Underground Wi-Fi roll-out begins - Techradar.com
Wi-Fi connectivity will be available at London Underground stations within a couple of weeks, with Virgin Media offering free access throughout the summer.
The service, first announced in March will initially come to 80 locations, including iconic stations like Oxford Circus, Leicester Square and Kings Cross.
A further 40 stops will be upgaded before the end of the year.
The Wi-Fi will work within the station buildings and on the platforms, with users able to send and receive emails, browse the internet and even stream live television.
The connectivity will not extend to the tunnels, but users will be reconnected when they land at the next station.
No free rides after the Olympics
Virgin Media says it will provide free access for all the summer, to help Olympics attendees.
However, once the London 2012 palaver is done and dusted, the company will begin charging for access.
Virgin Mobile and Virgin Media broadband customers will be able to access the service as part of their agreeements.
After the summer is over, free users will be able to connect to a TFL service page, but nothing else.
Via: Guardian
Source: www.techradar.com
Kent State wins 21-inning marathon - FOXSports.com
GARY, Ind. (AP)
For as long as Friday night's 21-inning marathon between Kent State and Kentucky lasted at the NCAA Gary Regional, the game still fell four innings short of the Texas-Boston College affair in 2009.
Alex Miklos hit a go-ahead RBI triple in the 21st inning as the Golden Flashes outlasted Kentucky 7-6 in the second-longest game in NCAA tournament history.
''That might not have been the longest game in college baseball history, but it was certainly the best baseball game in college baseball history,'' Kent State coach Scott Stricklin said. ''There were so many twists and turns. The game was just unbelievable.''
The Golden Flashes (42-17) held the lead in the ninth and 18th innings, but the Wildcats (43-17) answered both times to extend it. Kentucky had numerous chances to end the game in extra innings, including having the bases loaded with one out in the 20th, but Kent State relief pitcher Michael Clark was able to get J.T. Riddle to bounce into an inning-ending double play.
''I got the one play that could get us out of that inning,'' Clark said. ''We would throw a punch and then they would throw a punch. It was a great game to be a part of.''
Each team used four pitchers that threw at least 60 pitches in the game. Kentucky reliever A.J. Reed started the game as the designated hitter and pitched the final nine innings of the game for the Wildcats. Clark threw the final three and two-thirds innings for Kent State and got the win while recording four strikeouts.
''This type of game is going to help us down the line,'' Clark said. ''We're riding on adrenaline right now, but once we get a meal, if anything is still open, we'll start to get focused on tomorrow's game.''
The Golden Flashes were two outs away from the victory in the ninth inning when Kentucky first baseman Luke Maile tied the game 5-5 with an RBI single that scored Austin Cousino. The teams played eight innings of scoreless baseball before Joe Koch gave Kent State a 6-5 lead with an RBI single. Kentucky catcher Michael Williams answered with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the 18th and the teams continued playing.
''It was a great game for the fans, two tremendous efforts out of the bullpen,'' Kentucky coach Gary Henderson said. ''Both sides pitched extremely well after the fourth inning. Forty-runners left on base, it was a very unique game.''
Miklos was an unlikely hero for the Golden Flashes as the freshman left fielder entered with the least amount of hits (35) in the starting lineup and with just a .271 batting average. Miklos came to the plate in the 21st inning having gone 1 for 7 and striking out three times. He hit a shot to the center-field wall that drove in Koch with the go-ahead run.
''I was just looking for something to work with,'' Miklos said. ''I'd say it's definitely the biggest hit of my career.''
Source: msn.foxsports.com
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