African nations should bid for the 2024 Olympics acording to Britain’s Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson.

Robertson told Reuters: “I am a firm believer that the Olympics should not just be restricted to western Europe, to the Americas, to the prosperous nations of the Far East. That’s one of the most exciting things about Rio (host city of the 2016 Games). And I would very much like to see the Olympics in future years go to the continent of Africa.

“I very much hope that African nations will bid (for) 2024. I think it is really good for the Olympics to be spread out around the world, that the Olympic values should travel as far as possible. I would absolutely like to see that happen on the continent of Africa.”

Facebook has launched the Explore London 2012 page, as a big Olympic hub for the summer games.

The Explore London 2012 page contains all of the other pages relating to the games in one handy place. This site can be personalised as an Olympics feed and only the content that you care about will appear in your news feed.

The pages consist of athletes, national teams, individual sports, broadcasters or even sponsors.

Joanna Shields, VP and Managing Director EMEA at Facebook, said: “The Olympic Games have always produced incredible stories. Some make headlines, but many never find an audience.

“These Olympics, every story has the potential to be heard. On Facebook, all athletes can have an audience, and every fan can track how their heroes are doing, support them, encourage them, and share their stories with the world.”

Mark Adams, Director of Communications at the IOC, added: “The Olympics has been connecting fans with memorable sporting events and moments for more than a century, first in the stadiums, then through television and now on social media. It makes sense to give fans the best experience we can and these will be the first truly ‘social’ Games.

“I’m sure that through Facebook and all of our other social media channels we will manage to bring a new dimension to the Games for a new audience.”

We’re glad that Facebook and the IOC have hooked up to create the Explore London 2012 page because it provides fans with a super easy way to get the content they care about the most delivered straight to their news feed instead of seeing a load of rubbish they couldn’t care less about

After it was announced last week that the British Olympic Association (BOA) were setting guidelines for Twitter use by athletes during the London 2012 Olympics, the Football Association have followed suit.

A statement was released by the body warning soccer players in England that improper comments will not be tolerated on Twitter or indeed other social networking sites. The decision comes off the back of last month’s fiasco involving the Liverpool player, Ryan Babel. The Dutch international posted a mocked-up image of World Cup final referee Howard Webb wearing a Manchester United shirt shortly after a game against the Premier League leaders when Webb awarded a controversial penalty to the Red Devils.

The statement released by the FA read: “The FA has issued clarification to participants relating to the use of social networking sites, including, but not limited to Twitter, Facebook and internet blogs. Participants should be aware that comments made on such sites may be considered public comment, and that further to FA Rule E3, any comments which are deemed improper, bring the game into disrepute, or are threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting may lead to disciplinary action.”

The statement added: “Comments which are personal in nature or could be construed as offensive, use foul language or contain direct or indirect threats aimed at other participants are likely to be considered improper.”

“Consequently, care should be exercised with regards to the contents of such postings. In addition, we would remind participants that social networking postings could also lead to civil proceedings being brought by affected parties.”

The Dutch Olympic Committee has chosen London’s Alexandra Palace to host the famous Heineken House for the duration of the London 2012 Games.

The landmark will be transformed into a giant beer hall acting as a hospitality centre for athletes, officials and VIP officials. Situated in north London the venue will also be open to the general public.

Holland have followed in the footsteps of France, Germany and Brazil who have all secured hospitality areas around London. France have an agreement with Old Billingsgate, Germany with the Museum of London Docklands and Brazil with Somerset House.

Managing Director of the Netherlands Olympic Committee, Gerald Dielessen said: “Heineken has been the organiser of Heineken Holland House since Barcelona 1992, for which we are enormously grateful.

“The national house has grown into an extremely popular Olympic hotspot – with the help of many others. 

“This success is certain to be repeated during London 2012, especially now that it is so close to home. 

“The city is expected to attract tens of thousands of Dutch visitors a day, both with and without tickets to the events.”

A-League’s Western Sydney Wanderers and Parramatta City Council have joined forces to form a new partnership that will build even stronger links between the Western Sydney Wanderers and the local community.

Wanderers and Council formalised this partnership through a four-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) that was signed on Saturday 7 December.

Western Sydney Wanderers Executive Chairman Lyall Gorman said that the partnership will not only enhance the standing of the Wanderers and the great city of Parramatta on the local scene but also take a strong message of the city’s growing economic, cultural and social significance across the national and international stage.

“This partnership is committed to growing Parramatta’s ongoing development as a competitive and innovative city, as well as its critical role in uplifting the economic, cultural, sporting and social infrastructure of the city of Sydney,” said Gorman.

“Since the people of Western Sydney decided that Parramatta should be the Wanderers home playing venue in the Hyundai A-League the city has seen an increase of more than $20 million into its local economy around match days and other Wanderers activities, a contribution which is only set to increase with our continued participation in the domestic league as well as internationally with the upcoming Asian Champions League bringing Japan, Korea and China into our backyard.

“We are proud to have the opportunity to partner with the Lord Mayor and his team to work together to add value to and uplift the city of Parramatta as part of our overarching commitment to be a community asset and make a true difference  across the wider Western Sydney region.”

Lord Mayor of Parramatta, Cr John Chedid, said the MOU will target initiatives that can help develop Parramatta as a competitive and innovative City and the Wanderers as a world class football club.

“By entering into a formal partnership, Council and the Wanderers can work together in activating the City as well as enhancing the social fabric and economic health of the local region,” Cr Chedid said.

“I’m very excited about the opportunities that will emerge from this partnership. The local community has taken great pride in the team, and this MOU provides even more options for the Wanderers to better connect with the people of Parramatta,” Cr Chedid said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov believes that Ukraine has a strong chance to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games after the country gained experience in hosting the Euro 2012 SoccerChampionship this summer.

According to Xinhua, Azarov said: “The success of Euro 2012 and the positive assessment of Carpathian mountains potential increase our chances in the bid for the 2022 Winter Games.”

But he added that the Olympics are a much bigger event than Euro 2012 and it will be more difficult to host them, noting that Ukraine still has 10 years to prepare.

Azarov said that he held talks with International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge and the presidents of several sports federations during the Opening Ceremony of the London Games, and that the officials expressed optimism about Ukraine’s sporting potential.

Xinhua reports that in the near future the Ukraine government aims to attract 1.4 billion U.S. dollars to promote Ukraine’s bid.

In 2014 the country intends to bid for the 2022 Games in the Carpathian Mountains of western Lvov region.

Spyros Capralos, Greek Olympic president, has ridiculed claims that he boasted he could obtain extra London 2012 tickets for sale on the black market.

The Sunday Times’ allegations of a ticket scandal involving 27 Olympic officials and agents included the claims that Capralos, the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC), has been caught on camera boasting he had “pulled strings” with London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe to allocate his country more top tickets to the Games that he could sell on for a profit.

On Monday the HOC insisted the allegations were “untrue and misleading” and all sales had been conducted by an agent.

A statement on their website read: “The whole process was totally transparent and in accordance with the laws of the Greek State. Therefore, there can be no issue on creating a ‘black market’ by the HOC which did not buy any tickets, whatsoever.

“The journalists of the Sunday Times, violating all principles of journalistic ethics, pretended to be representatives of a ticket selling company, and had even created a fake webpage. The whole discussion concerned the Winter Olympic Games Sochi 2014.

“The video recording was made with a hidden camera, in a misleading way too, while the publishing of the statements of the HOC president, Mr Spyros Capralos was fragmentary and a patchwork of answers, made in a way that served the authors of the article.

“Even in the published statements of the HOC president – which we would like to stress once more that they are a product of a patchwork – as every reader can notice, there is nothing reproachable. On the contrary, the way of operating and the allocation of the tickets of the Olympic Games is explained.”

The International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission are investigating all the claims.

On Sunday, Denis Oswald, a member of the IOC executive board and the London 2012 co-ordination commission chairman, insisted anyone found guilty of selling London 2012 tickets on the black market would be banned from any future role in sport.

He said: “These people should no longer belong to the Olympic movement.”

Elections took place over the weekend by the Gambia National Olympic Association, announcing Momodou Dibba as the organisation’s new president. Dibba beat competition from his only rival, Abdoulie Touray in a decision overshadowed by the arrest of acting president and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Beatrice Allen.

However, the decision to elect Dibba did not go smoothly and is set to be investigated by the IOC after several sports associations in Gambia boycotted the elections because they claim Touray was not being treated fairly.

This will not come as pleasing news and puts the nation’s future involvement in the Olympics in further doubt after the IOC warned in the build-up to the election that the Gambian Government were risking getting the country suspended from London 2012 if they are suspected of interfering.

The post was vacated last July when Lang Tombong Tamba, also chief of defence staff for Gambia’s armed forces, was sentenced to death for his alleged role in a 2009 coup to oust the Government.

Acting president, Allen was forced to step down after her arrest last month along with GNOC treasurer Ousman Wadda and accounts officer Muhammed Janneh on allegations of embezzlement. 

Dibba promised to give sport in Gambian schools a higher priority, stating: “My sport development agenda is to focus my attention on the sporting associations, in particular for athletes to develop and excel in their various sporting disciplines, to ensure that GNOC takes full responsibility to regularise the associations’ annual contributions to their respective international federations to enable them to have a platform in meetings, conferences and seminars in these international bodies.”