Duke's Coach K To Direct Team USA At 2010 Olympic Basketball Play In London

Las Vegas, NV (AHN) - After helping restore pride and respect to the national team, coach Mike Krzyzewski has decided to return as Team USA's coach, believing there's more work to be accomplished.

A Hall of Fame coach from Duke, who steered the national team to several successful campaigns, including the Olympic gold in the Beijing Games, announced a second-straight three-year tour of duty Tuesday.

In a news conference Tuesday at Las Vegas, Krzyzewski was formally introduced as Team USA's coach for the 2012 London Olympics.

Krzyzewski, 62, who guided the Blue Devils to three NCAA Championships, will also be calling the shots for the national squad at the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey.

His previous coaching staff will remain intact.

Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim and the New York Knicks' Mike D'Antoni will be back on the bench assisting Krzyzewski.

As coach of the national squad, Krzyzewski has compiled an impressive 36-1 record from 2006 to 2008.

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Critics wary of London Olympics ads plan

LONDON, July 21 (UPI) -- A law giving police the power to remove unauthorized ads from private property near Olympic venues can be used to stifle dissent, critics said Tuesday.

Government officials say the powers, buried in a law passed in 2006, only apply to advertising that could lead to "over-commercialization" of the 2012 Summer Games, The Guardian reported. The law requires a warrant before action can be taken but allows police officers and the Olympics security force to take action.

Chris Allison, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said officers would not be going after protest posters or political signs, The Daily Mail said. But critics said the law gives them too much power and was reminiscent of the Chinese effort to clamp down on open protest during last summer's the Beijing Games.

'Powers of entry should be for fighting crime, not policing poster displays," said Anita Coles of the civil liberties group Liberty. "Didn't we learn last time that the Olympics should not be about stifling free expression? The cops need to focus on public safety at such a large event; not big business disputes about who owns the spirit of the games."

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LINFORD'S NIECE CROWNED MISS ENGLAND

Rachel Christie, 20, plans to clinch two titles after being crowned Miss England.

She is being trained by Olympic 100-metres champ Linford, 49, and is tipped for success in the heptathlon at the 2012 London Olympics.

But first she wants to capture the Miss World crown in South Africa in December after becoming the first black Miss England.

Yesterday she said: “I still can’t believe I’m sitting here with a crown and a sash on.”

Rachel, who has already won medals at major UK race meets, including the AAA and South of England championships, said she entered the contest hoping to find modelling work to fund her sports career.

She added: “I’m just an athlete at the minute, which means I’m unemployed and broke. Modelling could fit round training in a way other jobs couldn’t.

“I wanted to show the younger generation you can do something positive with your life.

“Whoever you are, you can be who you want and whatever you want to be if you just put your mind to it and have ambition and determination.”

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China's Guo Jingjing hopes to compete in London Olympics

ROME, July 21 (Xinhua) -- China's diving legend Guo Jingjing said on Tuesday that she hopes to compete in her sixth Olympic Games in 2012 at London.

    The 27-year-old, who has won four Olympic gold medalist and nine world titles, said, "I want to compete in London. I will continue to work hard and improve."

    Guo was satisfied with her performance in winning her fifth consecutive springboard title at the world championships on Tuesday.

    "I think I did better today than last year's Olympic Games," Guo said. "I feel I will be able to dive better. I still have the potential. My best days are still ahead of me," she said.

    With nine world titles and four Olympic gold medals, Guo has set a world record and become an all-time great in diving history. But the "record" is not the drive force.

    "I have never thought of setting a world record. I still enjoy diving. I enjoy the moment when I stand on the springboard and dive."

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Bolt aims for improvement in London event

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The fastest man on the planet, Usain Bolt, admitted he is still fine-tuning his on-track performance ahead of next month's world athletics championships in Berlin in an exclusive with CNN.

Usain Bolt will be seeking to win his first world titles at the championships in Berlin.

The triple Olympic champion said he is making up for lost time this season, having been injured in a car crash in late April.

The 22-year-old needed minor surgery, but quickly bounced back to win the 100 meters and 200m at the Jamaican national championships and qualify for the August 15-23 showpiece in Germany.

His 100m time of 9.86 seconds was the fastest in the world this year until world champion Tyson Gay smashed it with 9.77 at a Golden League meeting in Rome earlier in July. Watch Bolt's interview with CNN. »

Bolt will not be going head-to-head with the American in the 100m at the London Grand Prix on Friday, but they will do battle in the relay.

"For me, it will be about getting everything together. I've had some bad starts during the season and I think I really need to work on that, so that's my main aim for London," Bolt told CNN on Tuesday.

"We've actually had some setbacks this year, so we didn't get to work as much as we wanted on the starts The first 30 [meters] have been the main problem for me, and I'm working on that. Once I get that together I should be good, so I'm working on that very hard."

Bolt, who set the world 100m record of 9.69 in winning the gold medal in Beijing last year, said that the car accident had set back his schedule for 2009.

It didn't affect me mentally in any way, but physically it set me back in training -- 200 training mainly -- practically for maybe a month," he said.

In London, Bolt will be running against compatriot and former world record-holder Asafa Powell in the 100m, and with him in the relay.

"We're cool guys, we're friends," Bolt said. "So it's not really hard, because when you're on the track and lined up against each other then we're enemies, but off the track we're good friends. It's easy, we see each other and we laugh."

A fiercely-motivated individual in his own events, Bolt said the 4x100m relay was "all about the team."

"I'll run any leg. I've never started the 4x100 but I've always wanted to," said Bolt, who won silver in the 200m and 4x100 relay at the last world championships in Osaka in 2007.

"Anywhere is OK for me as I can run the corner and the straight. It's always about the team. It's not about individuals saying 'I'm strongest.'"

Bolt said he would prefer to face his biggest rivals such as Gay and Powell more than he has been able to so far.

"It's always good to compete against the person who's your main rival before the championships so you can determine what you need to do," he said. "If he's beating you, you know what you need to do to get better. If you're beating him, you know what you need to do to stay on top."

He insisted that he doesn't set target times in training, but focuses on honing his technique.

"It's always about technique in every event for me. I'm always staying focused. In training it's about getting everything right, getting it correct and going out there and executing it."

With London to host the next Olympics in 2012, Bolt is well aware of what he will be bringing to the spectacle as he prepares to defend his titles.

"My personality's great and people look forward to seeing what I'll be doing every major championship," he said. "I've always been the best because I'm always working hard and staying focused. I have a championship to defend and I'm just looking forward to it, going out there and doing my best when it comes."

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Young US softball players hold out hope for 2016

OKLAHOMA CITY — For years, the likes of Jennie Finch, Cat Osterman and Lisa Fernandez have been carving out a niche for U.S. softball and giving young women a chance to reach the Olympics.

With softball dropped from the 2012 Games in London, the players who grew up admiring the pioneers feel the heartache the worst.

"It's devastating because that's definitely been a dream, but I think that we're just fighting to get it back into the Olympics for the younger girls that can play," Jenae Leles said during the Americans' run to the World Cup of Softball title here over the past week.

Leles won Women's College World Series titles at Arizona in 2006 and 2007 and was on track to play for the U.S. in 2012. She made the U.S. national team this year but now faces at least a seven-year wait for her chance at the Olympics, if it ever comes.

The International Olympic Committee caused an uproar in U.S. softball by excluding the sport from the London Games. Next month, the IOC executive committee is expected to recommend two sports to be added into the 2016 Olympics.

The full IOC then decides in August which sports among softball, rugby, baseball, golf, roller sports, squash and karate will get in.

For Leles and nine other rookies on the U.S. squad, along with countless other women, that decision is key to whether they will fulfill their Olympic dreams.

"If it comes back for us in 2016, I'm going to be there as long as they give me the uniform," said U.S. outfielder Kaitlin Cochran, who won the NCAA title with Arizona State in 2008. "It doesn't matter. I'm going to find a way to get there."

The pursuit of the Olympics is a sacrifice for softball players, since it's difficult to earn a living playing a sport that does have two professional leagues in the U.S.

Alissa Haber, who finished her junior year at Stanford before making the U.S. team this year, finds herself facing a tough decision.

"The more and more I play, the more and more I think about it. I thought when softball was taken out of the Olympics I wasn't going to be around for 2016," Haber said. "But just being out here playing and seeing all these older players that still continued playing even though they don't have college teams to play for -- they still play for the pro leagues, so I know there are opportunities out there for me."

And if softball doesn't get into the Olympics in 2016?

"I'd take on the world in other avenues," Haber said.

At this point, there's not much the players can do but cross their fingers and hope the IOC rules in their favor. The International Softball Federation has put together a "Back Softball" campaign and, along with the other six sports, made its pitch to committee members last month.

Former U.S. pitcher Michele Smith joined Danielle Stewart of Australia and Saskia Kosterink of the Netherlands in asking the crowd here to support the cause. Stewart -- a current player -- even passed out fliers to fans.

"We just need to get the word out there. That's the biggest thing we can do right now," U.S. third baseman Andrea Duran said.

The U.S. national team has already turned toward the future, following the retirement of seven players who'd played in at least the last two Olympics. The question is what that future holds.

"When I was so young and wanted to play softball, I wanted to play for this team. This was my dream and 2012, I always thought was going to be my year," Cochran said. "But, hey, things change and hopefully 2016 will be it now."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Hornby wins London Olympics toys contract

Hornby, the models and collectables group, has secured itself a gold medal in the run-up to Christmas by winning the race to develop a range of toys around the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The company will produce Corgi versions of London taxis and buses, Hornby trains linked to the 2012 transport network, an Airfix kit of the Olympic Stadium, and Scalextric versions of the velodrome.

The models will be available by the end of the year and Frank Martin, Hornby chief executive, said it was a "great honour" for the company.

Hornby share price, chart, fundamentals

The contract is the first to be awarded by Locog, the organising committee for the Olympics, in what is expected to be a lucrative souvenir market for the event. The deal runs for the three years until the 2012 Olympics and beyond. The financial terms were not disclosed.

Mr Martin said: "This is a great honour for Hornby and an important development for the group.

"This licence represents a major opportunity for Hornby to grow our sales and to extend the appeal of our products with new consumers.

"We look forward to launching the London 2012 ranges, which we are confident will be very popular, both with 1collectors in the UK and with overseas visitors."

The first products, the bus and taxis, will be on sale by Christmas with the velodrome, stadium and trains scheduled for launch in 2011.

The contract is a boost for Hornby, which was forced to scrap its dividend last month after a stall in sales. Hornby shares rose 6, or 6pc, to 107p in early trading after the announcement.

Paul Deighton, chief executive of Locog, said: "We are proud to be working with a truly iconic British company, which can offer us a great range of products across its brands that will celebrate the Games in 2012 and live on for generations after as collector's items."

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