In London, Jamie McGinnes noted PRESIDENT OBAMA called U.K. Prime Minister DAVID CAMERON last night “to offer his congratulations for a ‘brilliant’ London Olympics.” Cameron “offered the UK’s congratulations on the US team’s ‘astounding’ medals table-topping performance and said Britain had ‘thoroughly enjoyed’ hosting its athletes” (THESUNDAYTIMES.co.uk, 8/12). Meanwhile, the GUARDIAN’s Alexandra Topping notes politicians have “lined up to declare the London 2012 Olympics a rousing success.” Cameron said Britain had "delivered;" London Mayor BORIS JOHNSON declared London had demonstrated it was the "capital of the world;" while former U.K. Prime Minister TONY BLAIR called it a "spectacular success" (GUARDIAN, 8/13).
ECONOMIC CRISIS TAKING ITS TOLL: The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Orwall, Enrich, Sonne & Kowsmann reported the economic crisis “hitting Europe’s most troubled nations hasn’t spared their Olympic performance.” Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain were “likely to leave London with fewer medals than in 2008 and face dimmer prospects as funding cuts bite hard on the road to 2016.” The road “will get more difficult.” As governments “cut sports budgets, they are expected to compete in fewer sports and focus funding on elite athletes in the sports that remain.” Private money will “get harder to raise as economies sour further” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/11).
WRITING ABOUT THE RINGS: In N.Y., Mary Pilon profiled Around The Rings publishers ED and SHEILA HULA and wrote for over 20 years, the Hulas have “carved out a niche as full-time chroniclers of the business side of the Games, in the process becoming an influential power couple in the relatively small but moneyed world of the Olympics.” Their coverage is “must-read material for Olympic officials, marketers, consultants, politicians and anyone else involved with the Games or the pursuit of a future bid.” Ed Hula said, “The IOC members say they hear stuff about the IOC on our site before they hear it from the IOC. That’s the way I like it.” The Hulas said that their site “gets more than 200,000 unique visitors a month,” and traffic “spiked in July 2011 when the IOC voted for the host city for the 2018 Winter Games” (N.Y. TIMES, 8/12).
OLYMPIC AWARD: The IOC awarded NBA Commissioner DAVID STERN the Olympic Order, noting he was the key figure in working towards the participation of professional basketball players in the Olympics, including those of the NBA (NBA).
