A giant set of Olympic Rings has been unveiled on the entrance to Channel Tunnel in France to celebrate 20/12 Day.

The Rings have been placed at the entrance of the Tunnel in Coquelles near Calais in northern France, which will be one of the main gateways from Europe to the London 2012 Games.

The Rings will be seen by hundreds of thousands of fans who are travelling from Europe on Eurostar trains to St Pancras International and who will be able to take the Javelin® train to the Olympic Park during the Games. The Javelin service will take 25,000 visitors per hour and take just seven minutes.

The manufacturing and placement of the Rings has been privately financed by Eurotunnel, who have worked closely with the Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français (the French National Olympic Comittee).

The Rings, which measure 9.4m wide and 4.6m high, were built in Lille and transported in segments to the Channel Tunnel entrance near Calais. They were assembled and installed in situ over two nights by a team of five rock climbers. Each ring is fixed to the wall with ten anchor points to hold it in place against the aerodynamic effect generated by trains entering the tunnels at up to 160kmh.

The Rings were be revealed at a special event to mark 20/12 Day (20th December) where Jonathan Edwards was joined by athletes Kelly Sotherton and Lawrence Okoye to introduce a film of the making of the Rings to athletes and children from the London 2012 Children’s Promise Scheme in the Stadium Suite at John Lewis Stratford City.

The Olympic Rings are one of the world’s most recognisable symbols. The five Rings – coloured blue, yellow, black, green and red – express the activity of the Olympic Movement and represent the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games.

Seb Coe, LOCOG Chair, said: “The Olympic Rings are an iconic symbol, inspiring athletes and uniting people around the world. To athletes they represent the culmination of thousands of hours of training and reaching the highest level in sport. To visitors travelling from Europe they will excite and inspire them about the Olympic Games taking place in London, and demonstrate that we are ready to welcome the world in 2012.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “As the starting line for 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games fast approaches we want to say loud and clear to all our European neighbours that London is the only place to be next summer. Whether you’re heading to the Olympic Park to watch some amazing sport, soaking up the best cultural events the city has to offer or coming to revel in the atmosphere at our Live Sites there is something for everyone to enjoy.”

Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic bid leaders have unveiled a new logo in the form of a cherry blossom Wednesday.

The colorful, wreath-shaped logo of Japan’s most celebrated flower was created by a university art and design student to symbolize ‘revitalization’.

Bid committee CEO Masato Mizuno told Reuters: “Along with Mount Fuji, the cherry blossom is instantly recognizable as a symbol of Japan. We learned many lessons last time round and we must be ready this time.”

Tokyo, which hosted Asia’s first Olympics in 1964, lost out to Rio de Janeiro in the race for 2016.

Low public support was largely blamed and the cost of rebuilding after the devastating tsunami in northeast Japan had thrown preparations for a renewed tilt in a spin.

However, the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) decided in June that sufficient funds existed to launch a new bid despite the nuclear crisis still raging at the time.

“Japan is struggling (to rebuild) and I wanted to come up with something to give Japan energy and vitality,” designer Ai Shimamine told reporters after unveiling her logo.

“I hope it gives Japan a boost. The cherry blossom represents friendship and peace, has a softness and also holds a special place in the hearts of Japanese people.”

Tokyo’s logo features the Olympic colors of red, blue, yellow and green dotted with the traditional purple prominent in cultural events in Japan’s Edo period (1603-1867).

Madrid, which also lost out in the 2016 bidding war, and Rome are expected to give Tokyo a run for its money.

The winner will be chosen by the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires in September 2013.

With 200 days to go until the start of London 2012 Olympics, three more permanent venues at the Olympic Park have now secured their futures, according to organisers.

The Olympic Park Legacy Committee (OPLC) have confirmed post-Games operators for the £269m ($415m) aquatics centre, 7,000 seater multi-use arena and the Orbit – the 115 metre observational tower designed by Anish Kapoor.

Greenwich Leisure Limited will operate both the aquatics centre and multi-use arena, which will stage the handball and goalball competitions at this year’s Olympics and Paralympics.

Balfour Beatty WorkPlace will run the Orbit, which will be known as the ArcelorMittal Orbit after the Games, and manage the maintenance of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Legacy Company officials have been criticised for the manner they handled the future of the main stadium, which was originally awarded to a consortium of football club West Ham and Newham Council but was recently taken back into public ownership.

However, they claim its future plus that of the other permanent venue on the site – the main press and broadcast centre – will be sorted before the Games.

“These appointments are just another example of how London’s legacy plans are further ahead than any previous host Olympic City,” said OPLC chair Baroness Margaret Ford.

“By working closely with sporting bodies and our local communities now, we can ensure that these venues will have a full and compelling programme of activities for when they reopen after the Games.”

Also London 2012 organisers today have been officially been given reigns to the Olympic Park and have immediately changed the names of some of the venues and spectator areas to make it more games friendly.

Among the venues renamed is the Hockey Centre, which is also due to host the five-a-side and seven-a-side football during the Paralympics, which from now on will be known as the Riverbank Arena, reflecting the venue’s location next to the River Lea in the Olympic Park.

The Handball Arena, which is also due to host the fencing during the modern pentathlon and goalball during the Paralympics, will be now be known as the Copper Box, in recogntion of its boxed-shape and distnict copper cladding, which helps create a visual reference for spectators travelling to the venue. 

Also being given a new identity is the ArcelorMittal Orbit, which will now be called Orbit Circus to avoid falling foul of the International Olympic Committee’s strict rules on venues and landmarks being named after sponsors. 

Other changes announced include the Aquatics Centre Bridge, which forms a 250 metres “Gateway to the Games” from Westfield Shopping Centre, being renamed Stratford Walk and which will be joined by three other main spectator entrances – Greenway Walk in the south of the Olympic Park; Eton Manor Walk in the north; and Victoria Walk in the west.

The other significant change is that the main circulation route for spectators and central spine of the Olympic Park, running north-to-south through the middle of the site, will be known as London Way.

Meanwhile British Prime Minister David Cameron hosted a special meeting of his Cabinet at Olympic Park today to mark 200 day milestone.

“As we kick off 2012, the year of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee, this is the perfect time for the Cabinet to come together and ensure we are doing absolutely everything we can to make the most of this unique opportunity to showcase all the great things the UK has to offer to the rest of the world,” he said.

“As Ministers visit Olympic venues, businesses, schools and organisations associated with 2012 right across the UK, I want the message to go out loud and clear, from tourism to business, sport to investment, we are determined to maximise the benefits of 2012 for the whole country.

“As we mark 200 days to go, and six out of the eight Olympic venues having already secured their future, we are well on track to delivering a lasting legacy for the whole of Britain.”

United States are contemplating putting in a bid to stage the 2023 Rugby World Cup with a probable chance of Canada co-hosting, according to USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville.

Former England captain Melville said that the U.S. had been asked to bid to host rugby’s biggest prize for the first time.

“We were asked during the World Cup whether we would be prepared to bid for 2023. I know it seems like a very long way away for us all but we have to start those processes now so we are having a discussion about that,” Melville said.

“Also Canada are interested in some sort of joint bid… could we do it together as north America, because there would be opportunities in Toronto and Vancouver and obviously bringing the tournament to north America would be a tremendous boost for us all.”

The U.S. have appeared in six of the seven World Cups, including the recently concluded tournament in New Zealand where they beat old cold war rivals Russia but failed once again, to advance from the pool stage.

Russia have already said they will bid to host the 2023 tournament and Melville said that he believed the U.S. might be more successful in winning the right to stage the 2027 tournament.

“Discussions are taking place and I get the feel that if we bid for 2023 we might not get it but in 2027 we might, but I don’t think we will get ’27 if we don’t bid in ’23,” the former London Wasps and Gloucester coach said.

“I think we have to start putting the wheels in motion now to bid for the World Cup; that way we can certainly put ourselves on the map as serious contenders.

“I think people would be interested in partnering with us to do that and certainly there is a will in our rugby community and across the globe, people would be fascinated at having a World Cup in America.”

The World Cup will be hosted by England in 2015 and then Japan in 2019, the first time the tournament will be staged outside either Europe or the southern hemisphere powerhouses of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.

Melville said it represented an opportunity to drive interest in the sport in America where rugby struggles for attention behind American Football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey.

“It is something we should be looking at, you need to look strategically where we want rugby to be, would we be able to cope with it, have we got the infrastructure, have we got the stadia and the big question would be could we fill the stadiums.”

However, the inclusion of rugby sevens in the Olympics for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro has led to increased focus and funding for the sport in America.

USA rugby said that they would be able to offer 23 fulltime contracts to Sevens players from January after striking a deal with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) on Wednesday.

Air your views on this subject on our discussion Is 2023 a realistic target date for a World Cup in the United States?

BT Sport has announced today that it had signed a deal to boadcast the Portuguese Primeira Liga in the UK and Ireland. 

The pay-tv channel will show up to four exclusively live matches a week from the Portuguese Primeira Liga, taking the channels’ total to six European leagues.

BT Sport also shows exclusively live matches from Germany’s Bundesliga, France’s Ligue1, Italy’s Serie A and the Scottish Professional Football League.

The Portuguese rights include exclusively live home and away matches played by the league’s ‘Big Three’ teams, current league champions Benfica, Porto FC and Sporting Lisbon. The channels will also have the rights to show the eagerly-awaited ‘O Classico’ matches between Benfica and Porto. BT Sport has won the rights for the UK and Ireland.

Grant Best, Senior Channel Executive Producer, BT Sport, said: “BT Sport viewers will be able to enjoy the very best matches, including the great O Classico rivalry, and watch some of the stars of the World Cup, including Columbian striker Jackson Martinez, who was top scorer for Porto last season, and the inspirational Sporting Lisbon captain and goalkeeper Rui Patricio.”

Football Federation Australia have announced a new deal with the A-League referees giving them their first pay rise in five years.

However the match officials say their battle for better conditions is far from over, with talks to resume in November for contracts covering seasons beyond 2013/2014.

The FFA on Thursday announced it had settled on changes to the standard match officials agreement – covering at least 48 referees from the A-League, W-League and National Youth League – following lengthy discussions with the Professional Football Referees Association (PFRA).

The revised deal, which only covers the season beginning next month, includes an average 19 per cent increase in match fees across all competitions.

It also covers the reimbursement of out-of-pocket medical expenses for injuries suffered during training and matches and pre-season medical test.

“It’s a step in the positive direction. It’s a start, but it’s certainly not the end of discussions,’ said Tony Dempsey from the newly-formed PFRA.

“We’ve come to an agreement with them to have negotiations in November and December of this year around a collective bargaining agreement that sets out terms and conditions on a more wholistic basis for seasons following this season.”

Those conditions include future pay rises and the prospect of full-time match officials.

Dempsey said the new contracts would be signed ‘within days’, ruling out the need for any immediate strike action.

“If we can’t reach an agreement in November or December or sometime next year on future terms and conditions, we could be faced with a similar standoff to what we’ve just had for future seasons.

“But in the short-term, it’s been resolved.”

The 2013 IPC Athletic World Championships will be taking part in Lyon, herbal after the French city won the bid to host the nine day competition.

The Championships, sponsored by Handisport France in conjunction with the IPC, will be the first major international event following the 2012 Paralympic games and will commence on July 20. It will be first time the event has taken place in France, since Lille in 2002 and is expected to draw an estimated 2,000 athletes from 118 countries.

“We are delighted to bring one of the biggest para-sport events in the world to France, especially so soon after London 2012,” said President of the French National Paralympic Committee Gerard Masson.

“We are committed to delivering a superb World Championships in Lyon and are confident that we have the right conditions to secure that athletes can deliver the best possible performances.”

With the Champioships coming right of the back of London 2012, IPC Chief Executive Officer Xavier Gonzalez said that the event would “feature many new heroes, Paralympic champions and world record holders”

“The Local Organizing Committee has so far shown great enthusiasm for this Championships and the whole of the IPC Athletic team is looking forward to working with them in the years to come,” added Gonzalez.