Twitter has agreed to help foil Olympic ambush marketing attempts by brands, viagra as part of ongoing talks with Locog.

The Games organiser has long been concerned that digital platforms could be used by non-sponsors to piggy-back the event, dubbed the “social-media Olympics.”

Industry sources claim it is was “working with Locog to ensure that the same rules that apply everywhere else will apply to Twitter”.

It is understood that non-sponsors will not be allowed to buy promoted Twitter ads based on Games-related tags such as #London2012.

Last year, Marketing revealed that Locog was trying to control the Olympics virtual space by forging an agreement with Four

Yesterday, May 24, FIFA Executive Committee member and CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer reported to FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke, possible violations of the FIFA Code of Ethics allegedly committed by officials.

In particular, the report referred to a special meeting of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), apparently organised jointly by FIFA Vice-President Jack A. Warner and FIFA Executive Committee member Mohamed bin Hammam, which took place on 10 and 11 May. This meeting was linked to the upcoming FIFA presidential election.

In view of the facts alleged in this report, which include bribery allegations, FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke requested the FIFA Ethics Committee to open ethics proceedings. Subsequently, the FIFA Ethics Committee today, May 25, opened a procedure against both Warner, two CFU officials and Bin Hammam, whose presidency challenge is now well behind that of Sepp Blatter.

Meanwhile, the president of world soccer’s governing body FIFA has turned down a chance to appear before British MPs to explain his plans for reforming the body.

MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport committee recently made public, fresh corruption allegations involving six of FIFA’s Executive Committee and had invited the Swiss to attend one of its sessions but has been told this is not possible.

FIFA claimed that it is instead focusing on its own investigation into claims, contained in a Sunday Times submission to the committee, that two Executive Committee members were paid $1.5m to vote for Qatar 2022 and that a further four sought sweeteners to back England 2018.

A FIFA spokesman said that there was therefore “no need” for Blatter to attend the Committee.

The decision of Blatter was somewhat expected as it was a tall order to get the Swiss to visit London and appear before a Committee whose inquiry is supposed to be about the governance of the sport in the UK rather than globally.

Blatter recently accused the British media of sour grapes over England’s failure to secure the 2018 World Cup and just last week, the FA announced its abstention from the presidential vote next month.

Blatter, however, insists reforming FIFA is his top priority, a pledge he repeated in a round-table discussion last week and having already gained Executive Committee backing from five of soccer’s six continents, it seems Blatter will be re-elected come June 1.

English Premier League soccer club West Ham United have begun officially inviting bids to carry out design and construction works to transform the Olympic Stadium, cialis post 2012, having been awarded the rights to the stadium by the UK Government and London Mayor.

The news comes despite the current uncertainty over the move caused by Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur asking for a judicial review into the decision, with League One side Leyton Orient also opposed to the decision.

Firms from across Europe are being invited to come up with plans to turn the Stadium into a multi-use venue with a 60,000 capacity for football matches, 74,000 for athletics meets and 90,000 for concerts.

West Ham and the London Borough of Newham have together set up Legacy Stadium Partnership LLP as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the project, expected to cost £100m (US$166m).

Work will include extending or replacing the roof so that it covers most of the seating, installing hospitality facilities and corporate boxes and office/retail accommodation. 

The successful bidder will be expected to be responsible for all aspects of design, take it through planning and supervise delivery of works on site for completion by May 2014 allowing for a series of test events before the start of the 2014/15 season.

West Ham hope to make a further announcement at the end June about the project.

Sir Robert McAlpine is a clear early favourite to take the job after successfully completing the original London 2012 Olympic stadium ahead of budget, though firms have been given until May 12 to pre-qualify.

NBC, criticised for their delay in Olympic coverage, has seen mediocre overnight Olympics television ratings.

The Nielsen company said Tuesday that overnight ratings from the America’s largest cities for Monday’s prime-time broadcast were off 5 percent from the corresponding night in Beijing four years ago. For the first three nights of Olympics coverage, NBC’s London ratings were running well ahead of Beijing.

Four years ago on the same night, NBC was able to run many events live, including a gold medal race by Michael Phelps. NBC’s prime-time this year was all tape-delayed material, with a disappointing showing by the U.S. men’s gymnastics team.

Nielsen expects to report a fuller estimate of how many people watched Monday’s broadcast later on Tuesday.

The International Canoe Federation (ICF) has signed a three year partnership agreement with MSL Software S.L. to develop and manage the ICF’s new Integrated Sport Information System (ISIS). 

ISIS which was launched last week provides the ICF with an Extranet that can be accessed by its stakeholders, link also serves as a platform that provides the ICF with new database management tools. 

ICF’s National Federations and event organisers will now be able to take advantage of the multiple services the platform offers such as: calendar, online entries, pre-accreditations data gathering and accreditations printing, biographies, direct messaging, file-sharing, etc. it will also provide the ICF with a brand new voting system. 

ICF Secretary General, Simon Toulson, hailed the relationship with MSL as a strategic partnership that will be of great value to the ICF and its stakeholders. 

“The partnership with MSL – industry leaders in providing integrated solutions for organising sport events and operations, was signed following an in-depth analysis, of the needs of our event organisers and the needs of the ICF and its National Federations,” said Toulson. 

As well as providing event management resources to National Federations and event organizers, the ICF will also be able to monitor key areas of the event organization process such as accreditations, athlete entries, event results etc. While ICF’s National Federations will be able to use this new system, the ICF encourages each Federation to take advantage of the various services offered by the company. 

“Our agreement with Atos (the Worldwide IT Partner for the Olympic Games) has positioned us as the global IT leaders in providing integrated solutions to major events. This signifies a great difference for sports event management and sports spectators worldwide,” said Eulogio Ruiz, CEO of MSL Group. 

MSL becomes an official ICF partner in the field of technology. Recognition of this partnership will be evidenced on all systems and outputs generated by the company, and the ICF will recognize it as an official partner and will offer MSL benefits exclusive to being an ICF Partner.

by Ismail Uddin

The Ghanaian Olympic Committee (GOC) are confident that the threat hanging over Ghana’s participation at London 2012 could be lifted later this year after making a series of changes demanded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The GOC were suspended by the IOC’s ruling Executive Board in January following what, they claimed, was Government interference after a disputed election, complaining in particular that Government officials in Ghana were appointing the Presidents of national sports federations.

Things came to a head in June 2009 when former triple jumper Francis Dodoo was elected as the GOC’s new President, a result disputed by Benson Tongo Baba, who had held the post for 12 years.

Baba complained to the IOC claiming there been interference from some “external forces” which contravened the ideals of the Olympic Charter and the constitution of the GOC.

Among the IOC’s demands was the implementation of a new Sports Bill by the end of last year, a deadline that Ghana missed, leading to their suspension which meant the GOC stopped receiving IOC funding, its officials banned from attending any Olympic events and Ghana’s athletes barred from competing in the Games.

Ghana’s Sports Minister Clement Kofi Humado has now agreed to introduce the Sports Amendment Act which means that the national sports federations will have the right to elect their own administrators. 

Kofi Humado is now hopeful of getting the Bill through Ghana’s Parliament in Accra before the IOC’s Executive Board is due to meet in Durban on July 4 so the country’s bid for reinstatement can be considered.

An IOC spokesman stated: “Following the suspension of the NOC of Ghana in January, the Government of Ghana has taken appropriate steps to revise the sports legislation in question, so that it would now be compatible with the basic principles of the Olympic Charter which govern the Olympic Movement.

“The EB has recognised these efforts and positive developments and might therefore be in a position to consider lifting the suspension of the NOC at its next meeting in early July 2011 in Durban.”

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, cialis the government official in charge of Olympic construction facility development in Sochi, advice  has claimed that all construction work ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics will be completed by the end of 2012.

Kozak revealed that 131 Games venues were already finished, while 182 others were still under construction, stating at a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: “We are completely sure that we are capable of finishing the sports facilities next year.

“All the Games sports facilities in the mountain cluster will be completed by the end of 2011, while the Black Sea shore cluster venues will be ready in the summer of 2012 at the latest,” Kozak added. “According to the expert estimations we have finished around 70% of the preparation works for the Olympics.”

Kozak added that the Games organising committee is planning to stage 19 national and international competitions in nine disciplines at Sochi Olympic venues in 2012 to test out the facilities: “We are planning a tough testing of Olympic venues, including a leg of the alpine ski World Cup in 2012,” he said.

The IOC will allow Saudi Arabia athlete Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani to compete in the Olympics in a headscarf after a compromise was reached that respects “cultural sensitivities” in the Muslim kingdom.

Judo officials had previously said they would not let Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani compete in a headscarf because it was against the principles of the sport and raised safety concerns.

But an agreement was reached after several days of IOC-brokered talks between the international judo federation and the Saudi Olympic Committee that clears the way for her to compete Friday in the women’s heavyweight division.

“They have a solution that works for both parties, all parties involved,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said. “The athlete will compete.”

Saudi Arabia, which had never sent women athletes to the Olympics before, brought its two first female Olympians to London on condition they adhere to the kingdom’s conservative Islamic traditions, including wearing a headscarf.

Shahrkhani’s participation was thrown into doubt last week when judo officials said a headscarf could be dangerous because the sport includes chokeholds and aggressive grabbing techniques.

Without giving precise details of the headscarf agreement, Adams said it is in line with rules of judo in Asia and is “safety compliant but allows for cultural sensitivity.'”

“In Asia, judo is a common practice so they asked for something that would be compliant with that, and the judo federations have reached a compromise that both are happy with,” he said.

Asian judo federations have previously allowed Muslim women to wear the headscarf, known as a hijab, during major competitions. Headscarves are allowed in taekwondo, but taekwondo fighters also wear a headguard, which covers the headscarf.

Shahrkhani may be the first judoka to fight at the Olympics who does not hold a black belt in judo, a Japanese martial art.

She did not qualify for her Olympic spot like the majority of other judoka. The IOC extended a special invitation for her to compete as part of negotiations to bring Saudi women to the Olympics for the first time.

The other Saudi female athlete scheduled to compete in London is 19-year-old Sarah Attar, a California-based 800-meter runner.