A new electric train has been unveiled at Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi transporting passengers to the sports facilities during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and the Paralympics.

According to the state-owned Russian Railways (RZD), the company introduced the five-car train “Lastochka”, or dubbed “Swallow” by the RZD Wednesday, from Germany’s Siemens AG as a response to the possible passenger traffic jam during the event.

The train, which has a carrying capacity of 800 passengers and a maximum speed of 160 kmph, is equipped with a Russian-designed safety control system KLUB-U, reported Xinhua.

The RZD has ordered a total of 54 Lastochka trains from the Germans, and the first batch of 38 trains is being supplied to Russia.

So far, the train is still under testing. Some of the Lastochka trains will also be used in Kazan next year for the World Student Games.

For the 2014 games, four railway stations are also being built by the RZD. All the constructions are expected to be completed in 2012.

In early May, prime minister Vladimir Putin said that the preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi are “right on course as scheduled”.

Calls to replace president of the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU), Hrigory Surkis, have been dropped by officials of the governing body who confirmed the news to UEFA on Wednesday 2 January.

The confirmation comes after UEFA had given Ukraine until this Friday to resolve the situation after receiving documents showing that some state and regional authorities were allegedly putting pressure on FFU officials. Soccer’s European governing body had stated that Ukraine could be suspended from international football, and its co-hosting rights with Poland for Euro 2012 could be withdrawn, if immediate actions are not taken to curtail political interference in the running of the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU).

Serhiy Storozhenko, a senior FFU official who had led the rebellion against Surkis, told Reuters: “A decision has been made to withdraw the demands”. A letter signed by 11 members of the FFU’s executive committee stated: “We are withdrawing the written demands…for the holding of an emergency congress and we will not demand a replacement of the management of the FFU before the end of Euro 2012 and before the end of the term of the FFU’s president.”

President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich told the Polish media: “I assure you that the state authorities are not mounting political pressure on the FFU. In the past year, we have caught up on delays in preparations for the Championship and I do not want Ukraine to be deprived of the right to organise Euro 2012.”

He added: “We can resolve the conflict in the FFU by postponing discussions on its internal problems until next year.”

The Federation of International Lacrosse announced that the English Lacrosse Association has been successful in its bid to host the tenth Women’s Lacrosse World Cup in 2017.

This will be the third time England has hosted the FIL Women’s Lacrosse World Cup, ampoule previously welcoming the tournament in 1982 (Nottingham) and 2001 (High Wycombe).

The last World Cup took place in 2009, medical hosted by Prague, buy Czech Republic. 16 nations competed for the World title, including new entries, Austria, Denmark, Haudenosaunee, Ireland, South Korea and the Netherlands. The United States of America are the reigning World Champions, having defeated Australia 8-7 in the gold medal match.

The 2013 FIL Women’s Lacrosse World Cup takes place in Oshawa, Canada. Team England will be looking to build on their 4th place finish in 2009.

The 2017 FIL Women’s Lacrosse World Cup will take place at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford, which has previously hosted the Lacrosse Home Internationals last April as well as the Women’s Rugby Cup in 2010, with 30 nations expected to compete.

Sue Redfern, Chair of English Lacrosse Board, said: “We are honoured and delighted to be the 2017 Women’s World Cup hosts. English Lacrosse has worked hard to grow the sport domestically and our international squads have represented us excellently abroad.

“In addition, we know that hosting a World Cup will help lacrosse’s continued growth but will also make a valuable economic contribution, if Manchester 2010?s success is anything to go by, we can look forward to generating over £5 million for the country.”

Visa has caused a lot of controversy today by demanding 27 existing cash dispensers were switched off and replaced with eight exclusive ATMs as part of it’s sponsorship agreement with the Olympics.

 

Visa credit and debit cards will also be the only method of payment accepted on chip-and-pin devices used by the 11million ticketholders.

 

By the opening ceremony, all ATMs will have been turned off at the ExCel Centre, Earl’s Court, the O2 Arena (renamed the North Greenwich Arena during the Games because rival BT is a sponsor), Wembley Arena, Wembley Stadium, Wimbledon, Old Trafford, St James’s Park and the City of Coventry Stadium.

 

Only the Olympic Park – whose ten restaurants and 1,800 food and drink kiosks will all be subject to the restrictions – and the Excel Centre will get replacement Visa machines.

 

A spokesman for Visa Europe said the company’s plans were ‘not new’. She added: ‘Ninety-eight per cent of British cardholders will be able to purchase tickets and merchandise, use cards on-site to make purchases and withdraw money at on-site ATMs.’

 

However, Ron Delnevo, director of the UK Payments Council, said the move was ‘plainly unacceptable’.

He added: ‘It seems that the ideals of the Olympics now take a back seat whenever they get in the way of needs of commercial sponsors.’

 

Discuss VISA’s Olympic sponsorship strategy here

Tokyo 2020 today unveiled the names of nine international technical experts who have been working with the Japanese team on the Olympic and Paralympic bid.. 

Masato Mizuno, bid CEO, said, “We are delighted to have first-class international support on the Tokyo team and simply passionate about building the best possible plan to stage a well-organised Games for the world’s athletes. 

“Building on the lessons learned in our previous bid, we are focused on delivering a clear, compelling Candidature File showing how the world’s most forward-thinking city will stage Games of excellence and excitement, all for the benefit of sport.” 

Australian Simon Balderstone, head of Ways and Means Consultancy, will be lending advice in the areas of communications, sport and the environment. Balderstone was a General Manager of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Organising Committee, and also served as an advisor to the 2004 and 2008 Games IOC Coordination Commissions. He also  has been an International Olympic Committee (IOC) advisor and member of the IOC Evaluation Commissions for the 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 Olympic Games. 

Diane Bernstein, of Diane Bernstein Design (DBD),will bring her expertise in the areas of Olympic Games concept and venue design expertise, advising on sports venues, Olympic Village and the Main Media Centre. Her experience includes both design and operational projects for the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games and she formerly worked with the previous Paris 2012 and Tokyo 2016 bid campaigns. 

Etienne Thobois, Edouard Donnelly and Franck Ladouce from the Parisian company Keneo, have experience organizing and managing big international sporting events. With experience from the Paris 2012 Olympic Games and French UEFA Euro 2016 bids they will bring expertise in the areas of Sports, Finance, Marketing, Technology, Media operations, Paralympics, Medical, Legal and customs and immigration. Thobois is a badminton Olympian and former IOC advisor and served as a member of the IOC 2016 evaluation commission.

CEO Neil Fergus and senior managers David Gray and Bob Costello of Intelligent Risks (IR) will focus on security and operational areas with their experience from working on numerous Olympic Games, including the highly successful Sydney 2000 Olympics. Intelligent Risks will oversee the security guarantees for Tokyo 2020 to host a safe, well-organised Olympic Games.

Fergus served as a Senior Adviser to the Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games as well as an Adviser for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Bid. Also Gray worked indepth with the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games and Costello worked closely with the Athens 2004 Games, the Beijing 2008 Games and the Tokyo 2016 Games Bid. 

The head of transport for the Athens 2004 Organising Committee, Panos Protopsaltis, was also behind the Rio 2016 transport plan. He also worked with the Paris 2012 and Annecy 2018 bids and is a former IOC expert as well. As well as being a former IOC expert he holds the IOC Olympic Order and also worked with for Torino 2006, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Organising Committees. 

He’ll be advising Tokyo 2020 as an international transport consultant targeting the extensive urban railway and road system to facilitate access. 

Tokyo 2012 announced at the end of May the new team of international experts which included Seven46 founded by Nick Varley is developing key messages and presentations, Weber Shandwick’s Svetlana Picou is assisting with strategic communications and PR. 

The team includes former Secretary General of the International Olympic Committee and Director of the Olympic Museum Françoise Zweifel, JAPPO founder and President Diamil Faye will be focusing on Africa, and Young-Sook Lee brings knowledge from working with the Korean Olympic Committee and the PyeongChang 2018 bid. 

Tokyo is competing with Istanbul and Madrid to host the 2020 summer Games. The final decision will be voted on September 7th in Buenos Aires at the IOC session.

The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has revealed the food options to be available at the Olympics and the hefty prices to go with it.

Sports fans will pay £2.10 for a toasted teacake, medical £2.30 for a 500ml bottle of Coca-Cola and £4.20 for a 330ml bottle of Heineken at the London 2012 Games.

The price of cod and chips will start from £8 while anyone who wants a tipple will have to pay £4.80 for an 18.7cl serving of London 2012 red wine.

Spectators who fancy a curry will find a lamb rogan josh served with pilaf or saffron rice available for £8.50.

London 2012 organisers, who are gearing up to serve 14 million meals across 40 locations during the Games, revealed a sample menu of what spectators can expect to eat.

LOCOG chief executive Paul Deighton said: “We have gone to great lengths to find top quality, tasty food that celebrates the best of Britain. We believe that our prices are more than comparable to those found at other major sporting events, which

because of their temporary nature are often more expensive than the high street.”

Some of the food on offer include: porridge and maple syrup, made with UK oats and milk – £2.20; carrot and cucumber sticks with red pesto hummus – £2.50; six jerk Red Tractor-assured chicken wings – £3.50; Red Leicester British cheese with British apple chutney and farm-assured lettuce on Oxfordshire bread – £3.80; jacket potato with Dingley Dell bacon and Freedom Foods chicken in a herb mayonnaise, served with rocket and watercress salad – £5.80.

Also on the menu are: pole and line-caught tuna and sweet potato British salad – £5.90; grilled Red Tractor chicken burrito – £6.50; penne pasta Red Tractor chicken and mushroom white sauce – £6.50; thin-crust stone-baked 10in pizza with spicy pepperoni, spicy beef, basil and oregano – £7.50; Singapore noodle, stir-fried egg noodle, chicken, prawns, char sui pork, chilli and shredded peppers in a hoi sin dressing – £8.50; lamb rogan josh served with pilaf or saffron rice – £8.50.

Drinks include: bottled water – £1.60; Fairtrade tea from £2; Fairtrade coffee from £2.60; 500ml bottle of Coca Cola – £2.30; 330ml bottle of Heineken – £4.20; London 2012 red wine 18.7cl – £4.80

In total, 1.2 million meals will be served to athletes, comprising 1,300 different dishes. Spectators will be able to pick from more than 800 food concessions featuring more than 150 dishes. A family of four should be able to buy food and drinks for under £40, according to London 2012.

Strong efforts have also been made to ensure that all food has been sourced to high environmental, ethical and animal welfare standards, they added.