Royal couple Kate Middleton and Prince William along with Prince Harry are to be official ambassadors for the London 2012 Olympics.

William, Kate and Harry said they were “honoured” to become ambassadors for Team GB and ParalympicsGB, and will play an active role encouraging the public to support the sportsmen and women.

It is likely the trio will visit the teams over the coming months before the Olympics begin next July and the Paralympics a month later, and also have some involvement in the global competitions.

They began their ambassadorial role with a message of support for the Team GB Ambition Programme, announced today, which offers aspiring athletes and coaches a first-hand understanding of the Olympic environment during the Games.

William said: “Catherine, Harry and I are honoured to be ambassadors for Team GB and ParalympicsGB.

“London hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will inspire so many people – particularly the young – to be the best they can be.

“We are hugely looking forward to this incredible sporting competition, but are also looking beyond next summer’s Games to the springboard it will provide for future success and excellence.

“The athletes and coaches taking part in the Team GB Ambition Programme are part of that future success – potential medal-winners and sources of inspiration to come.

“We hope they enjoy the experience of London 2012 to the full, and learn from it how to become successful British Olympians of the future.”

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Italy’s financial and political crisis, Rome will continue its bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

The bid committee said in a statement, “Rome’s bid is going forward and there is no chance that will be put up for discussion. While aware of the particular moment Italy is going through, the board has confirmed the importance of continuing the Rome 2020 project with determination”.

Following a meeting between bid Chairman and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President Mario Pescante, Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, and others, the committee said hosting the Olympics would bring economic and development benefits “for Rome and the entire country”.

On Tuesday Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he would step aside for the good of the country once Parliament passes economic reforms, adding that he wouldn’t run again for office.

Rome 2020 officials reportedly said they are still working on a parliamentary motion supporting the bid, and have already confirmed that the government will help compile a bid file that must be submitted to the IOC by February 15.

Officials now say if Rome is awarded the Games, the Olympic budget would be about five billion euros, down from projections of nine billion euros earlier this year.

Rome’s bid is centred around mostly existing venues that were used for the 1960 Games, including the expansive Foro Italico complex that hosts the 80,000-seat Stadio Olimpico, a newly built 10,5000-seat tennis stadium, and outdoor pools used for the 2009 swimming world championships.

Pescante has said he is hoping Rome’s bid can be “a blueprint for a return to fiscal responsibility and real sustainability in the Olympic bidding process”.

Madrid, Tokyo, Istanbul, Doha, Qatar and Baku are all fighting with RomeRome for the 2020 Games.

The IOC Executive Board is to meet in May to decide whether to keep all six candidates or reduce the list. The IOC will select a host city in September 2013.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and former London Mayor Ken Livingston have waded into the argument over the prospect of India boycotting the London Olympic Games over Dow Chemical’s sponsorship.

The IOC was responding to a planned vote by the Indian Olympic Association next month on whether to boycott the 2012 games because of Dow’s links to the 1984 Bhopal disaster, which killed at least 8,000 people.

London organisers have come under intensive lobbying from activists and politicians in the UK and India, who say Dow’s sponsorship and its legal battles with the Indian government and families affected by the disaster threaten the reputation of the Olympics.

The company won a ­tender in August to supply a £7m decorative “wrap” for London’s Olympic stadium. This sparked opposition from groups such as Amnesty International, because Dow owns Union Carbide, whose Indian subsidiary was responsible for the Bhopal gas leak.

Livingstone, who will stand again next year to be London mayor against Boris Johnson, believes continuing the Dow sponsorship will undermine the  London 2012 games.

Livingstone said Dow had a “moral responsibility” to deal with residual contamination in the area. He said: “Dealing with industrial contamination was the first necessary task to transform the Olympic Park from a derelict polluted wasteland into the largest urban park in Europe. It would undermine London 2012 to take money from a sponsor that refused to clean up its own subsidiary’s mess.”

He said the issue could “go as far as creating a potential crisis of legitimacy for the Games” and claimed that given that the venues had come in under budget questioned whether there was a need to “accept £7m from Dow Chemical so that they can rehabilitate themselves and destroy London’s reputation in the process”.

The former mayor said: “Our objective should be an Olympics that is good for London, not a them-and-us Games. The soul of the London Games is worth much more than 0.08% of its budget. It would be far better to do this than to allow Dow Chemicals to exploit an opportunity that has been paid for by people in London and across the whole country.”

Livingstone called on organisers to “admit they had made a mistake” and, if they could not find replacement sponsors, to fund the wrap from unspent contingency funds.

Tessa Jowell, shadow Olympics minister for the opposition Labour party, said: “It’s better that we have an unwrapped stadium, rather than a stadium wrapped in the continuing controversy of Dow Chemical’s sponsorship.”

The IOC said it would “oppose a boycott, as ultimately the only people hurt by actions like these would be the athletes themselves”.

The London Organising Committee (Locog) has tried to play down the issue. Lord Coe, chairman, told the House of Commons culture, media and sport committee last week: “We have looked at this, and we are satisfied that Dow were not the owners or the operators or were involved with that plant at the time of the disaster.”Dow won a competitive tender and met Locog’s environmental, social and ethical values “by a distance”.

On Friday, Locog said: “We have had absolutely no indication from [India’s national Olympic body] that there are any plans or discussions to boycott London 2012.”

But Barry Gardiner, a London MP leading the UK-based campaign against Dow’s wrap sponsorship, said: “I can’t understand the level of inaction from Locog on this.” He said the committee could “still end the partnership [with Dow] and ensure the damage is minimised”.

On Thursday Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh province, wrote to the Indian government urging a boycott. “The funds intended for sponsoring the Olympics would be far better spent in alleviating the misery suffered by the people of Bhopal,” he said.

Dow Chemical has said: “Although Dow never owned nor operated the plant and the legal claims surrounding the incident were resolved in 1989, long before Dow acquired Union Carbide, we – along with the rest of industry – have learnt from this tragic event, and have helped to drive global industry performance improvements to ensure that such incidents never happen again.”

The European Athletics Council has chosen Amsterdam as the host city of the 2016 European Athletics Championships. The 2016 Championships will be the 23rd edition of the event. The Amsterdam bid was fronted by the Royal Dutch Athletics Federation, prostate city of Amsterdam and the Dutch Olympic Committee.

 

European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz said: “We are very pleased to confirm that Amsterdam will be the hosts of the European Athletics Championships in 2016. We are sure that we can look forward to a fantastic event.”

The historic decision was made at the 131st European Athletics Council meeting in Helsinki. Amsterdam won the hosting of the championships ahead of Istanbul and Split.

Helsinki, usa cialis Finland will host The 2012 European Athletics Championships are from June 27 to July 1. The 2014 championships will be held in Zurich, Switzerland.