Australian pay television company, order Foxtel has announced that Ben Buckley will join Foxtel as executive director of sport and Foxtel Victoria from 3 June 2013.

Buckley replaces Peter Campbell who will leave the network to join the Australian Football League.

“Ben Buckley is one of Australia’s most experienced and highly regarded sports executives, ed ” said Foxtel CEO Richard Freudenstein. “His skills, pills passion and relationships will be hugely valuable to Foxtel at a time when the sports rights market is becoming increasingly complex.

“Ben also knows Victoria well, and has broad and deep connections there. He will be a natural leader for Foxtel’s business in the state. I am delighted he will be joining our team.

“We are sorry to see Pete Campbell leave Foxtel after almost 14 years. He has been a great executive and has many achievements to his credit, most notably his oversight of Foxtel’s award-winning London Olympics coverage. We wish Pete well and look forward to working with him in his new role at the AFL.”

Most recently, Buckley was CEO of Football Federation Australia. Prior to that he held senior commercial, strategy and marketing roles with the Australian Football League.

Sebastien Coe, chairman of London 2012, and Mayor of London Boris Johnson gave a huge surprise to commuters travelling through St Pancras International Train Station in the capital tonight, unveiling the first set of giant Olympic Rings measuring 20 metres wide, nine metres high and weighing approximately 2,300 kilograms. 

The giant aluminium Olympic Rings are suspended from the roof of the Barlow Train Shed at St Pancras International. It took a team of 25 people based in Hertfordshire over four weeks to construct and they were transported to St Pancras International by lorry in 39 separate parts where they were secretly assembled and installed over seven nights.

Coe stated: “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 Londoners and visitors alike, they will excite and inspire them about being in a Host City and demonstrate that we are ready to welcome the world in 2012.”

Coe and Johnson were joined at the special unveiling ceremony by London 2012 Olympic mascot Wenlock and children from Christ Church Primary School in the London Borough of Camden. 

Johnson added: “London is going to be at the centre of the world’s attention throughout 2012 and I want the whole city to harness every opportunity offered by the Games.

“Unveiling the first set of Olympic Rings at St Pancras International provides a fantastic glimpse into how the capital is gearing up for this unique event. 

“London is embracing its role of host city and I am determined to turn this enthusiasm into a lasting legacy for the city for generations to come.

“The rings will be a powerful symbol for millions of visitors using the iconic station that the capital is poised and ready to welcome the world’s greatest sporting stars and put on the best show on earth.”

Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) President Tsunekazu Takeda has formally requested that the city of Tokyo launches a bidding campaign to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

The Japanese capital, which lost out to Rio de Janeiro of Brazil in the race for the 2016 Games, had no potential rivals to become Japan’s bid city after Hiroshima abandoned its bid because of the potential cost.

Takeda claimed that the bid would help Japan recover from the earthquake and tsunami in March that killed more than 15,000 people.

He said: “It will serve national interests that the people of the nation unite as one to bid for the Olympics as a symbol of recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake.”

Takeda claimed that there are considerations to stage Olympic football matches in the North East region of the country, an area that was particularly damaged by the disaster, with JOC believing that any potential dangers from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant crisis will have been allayed by 2020.

Takeda said: “I believe it will be possible to have North East Japan stage Olympic soccer games in three to five prefectures nine years from now.”

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara has spoken positively of bidding for 2020, despite receiving criticism for spending an estimated US$175m on Tokyo’s failed 2016 bid, whereby the city was eliminated in the second round of voting at the International Olympic Committee Session in Copenhagen in October 2009.

Ishihara said: “Let’s walk arm in arm towards this goal.”

All candidate cities must officially declare their interest in bidding for 2020 before the September 1 deadline later this year.

JOC officials hope to make an announcement when Jacques Rogge, the President of the IOC,  visits Tokyo on July 15-16 to attend a series of events to mark the centenary of the JOC.

Double Olympic women’s wrestling gold medallist Saori Yoshida joined Takeda in urging Tokyo to launch a campaign.

She said: “The Olympics would be a chance to give courage and energy to the Japanese people.”

The Iran National Olympic Committee has written to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in a threat to boycott the London 2012 Olympics after claiming the Games’ logo is “racist”.

The nation’s Olympic Committee secretary general Bahram Afsharzadeh, sent the letter to the IOC claiming that the emblem resembles the word ‘Zion’ – a biblical term for Jerusalem.

The letter also urged other Muslim states to oppose the “racist logo”, but a statement from the IOC said: “The London 2012 logo represents the figure 2012, nothing else.”

Afsharzadeh, in his letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge, stated: “There is no doubt that negligence of the issue from your side may affect the presence of some countries in the games, especially Iran which abides by commitment to the values and principles.”

A statement from the London Organising Committee (LOCOG) said: “(The logo) was launched in 2007 following testing and consultation. We are surprised that this complaint has been made now.”