Air Canada will continue helping Canadian Olympic athletes through a four-year extension of its partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee, beyond London 2012. The renewed sponsorship agreement extends the current agreement to '16, continuing to deliver essential support for Canadian Olympic athletes heading to Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 (COC).
DEMONSTRATIONS POSSIBLE: In London, Oakeshott & McGarvey reported the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has "received intelligence that Argentina may try to exploit the event to attract global attention to its campaign" for sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. Militant left-wing groups in Argentina are also claiming that "hooligans plan to travel to London to demonstrate at one of the Games venues with a national flag emblazoned with an image of the Falklands." A senior FCO source said: “We are concerned that Argentina will use the Olympics as an opportunity for protests about the Falklands and have been looking into what we can do. They seem determined to push their case at every opportunity” (SUNDAY TIMES, 6/24).
VISA DENIED: Also in London, Tom Peck noted Syrian Olympic Committee head General Mowaffak Joumaa has been "refused a visa" to enter the U.K. for the London Olympic Games. Joumaa is in the Syrian Army, which has been deployed to "crush rebellions in the country." Officials from the U.K. Home Office, Foreign Office and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport "made the decision at a scheduled meeting." It is now expected to be ratified by the IOC (London INDEPENDENT, 6/23).
