In London, Andrew Woodcock notes security, transport and the "threat of strikes were on the agenda for a top-level pre-Olympics meeting of the Government's Cobra contingencies committee," chaired by U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron this morning. Senior ministers, Olympics organizers and security chiefs are "expected to attend the meetings in the Cabinet Office on most mornings of the Games period to keep a close eye on potential problems and ensure a swift response to anything which might disrupt the event" (London INDEPENDENT, 7/24).
BUILT TO LAST? The GUARDIAN's Vanessa Thorpe noted the six "shortlisted candidates for the most coveted British award for architecture" were announced Sunday and the 2012 Olympic Stadium, "pilloried by some for being too plain and functional, is in the running." The Stirling prize is "handed out each year by Riba, the Royal Institute of British Architects" (GUARDIAN, 7/22). Meanwhile, the WALL STREET JOURNAL's Bruce Orwall noted Olympic Stadium "was designed with a different future in mind: disassembly." LOCOG officials "asked sports-architecture firm Populous to design a stadium that could be downsized and remade for a different future use." Populous Senior Principal Rod Sheard said, "We had to embrace the temporary. Not be afraid of the temporary. It wasn't a limitation on what we could do, but an opportunity" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/23).
TEEING OFF: USA TODAY's Traci Watson notes golf "doesn't become part of the Olympics until the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro," but PGA Tour golfers yesterday "hit golf balls from a floating barge in the River Thames to a tiny, floating green as part of an Adidas UK promotion" (USA TODAY, 7/24).
