London Latest - 2012 Roadmap for Team GB; Olympic Rings for Big Ben?

Rings for Big Ben?

It’s a mystery whether the five rings will make a cameo when Big Ben strikes 12 to ring in the Olympic year.

A spokeswoman with Westminster City Council tells Around the Rings she has no knowledge of any planning application for the Olympic rings to be projected onto the iconic clock tower.

She did, however, ask if thematter could wait until Tuesday.

Whether her request leaves open the possibility of some last-minute magic by LOCOG or is simply due to a short-staffed office for the holidays remains unclear.

Also uncertain is whether a mere projection would even require planning documents to begin with.

The special New Year’s promotion had been rumored in the buildup to 2012 following permanent installations last week at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel in France and earlier this year inside St. Pancras Station.

Either way, LOCOG doesn’t seem to be making a big deal out of Jan. 1, instead focusing attention on the 200-days-to-go milestone arriving Jan. 9.

Team GB Head: More Work To Be Done

Team Great Britain’s chef de mission says there is "considerable work" ahead to ensure the country’s success at the London Olympics.

In a year-end address of sorts posted to the British Olympic Association’s website, Andy Hunt said the main objective for next year’s Games is to see Team GB win more medals in more sports than in the past century.

Data on world championships and other sporting events in 2011 puts the team in sixth position with 59 medals in 13 sports over the past year, according to the BOA CEO.

"While these results underscore what an outstanding year 2011 has been for British athletes and give reason for optimism for 2012, there is still considerable work to be done," he added.

Hunt then outlined four ways to move forward, including protecting podium places earned in 2011.

"We must ‘protect’ as many of those 50-plus podium finishes as possible, which is an extraordinary challenge given the fact that some nations (principally China) typically don’t send their top competitors to major international events in the years preceding an Olympic Games," he wrote.

Success at the London Olympics will also depend on securing more gold medals and converting fourth, fifth and sixth place rankings into podium places, he said.

Hunt added that it will also be important to support sports in which Great Britain qualified due to its host nation status.

Theatre Woes for Games-Time?

The London Olympics could shut down theaters this summer, says composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

He told BBC radio Friday that very few people would attend musicals in London during the Games and that most of the theaters would have to close as a result.

Webber founded the production company Really Useful Group and has composed the music for several popular shows including "Phantom of the Opera" and "Evita".

Media Watch

Nick Zaccardi of Sports Illustrated says China will take over the overall Olympic medals tally in his predictions for London 2012.

Written by Ann Cantrell.

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