No Radcliffe for Team GB; Avoid London Bridge, Says TfL

Avoid London Bridge, Says TfL

Transport for London (TfL) has advised travelers on the Underground to avoid using London Bridge station altogether from Monday onwards.

On the operator’s website "Get Ahead of the Games", they warn that the station is expected to be extremely busy most days throughout the Games from 7:30 a.m. to noon and 3:30 to 8 p.m.

The station already suffers from congestion because it's one of the city’s major interchange points and is in the heart of London’s business district. It's also an important Games station with links to Greenwich Park for the equestrian events that continue this week.

Services heading out of London will be inaccessible for some passengers between 6 and 10 p.m. with TFL advising passengers to use other stations for their journey.

London Bridge was a target problem area for organizers after the station almost came to a standstill during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations earlier in the year. Crowd management controls will be in place throughout the Games to hopefully prevent a repeat.

TfL also confirms that the Olympic Road Network (ORN) is now in full operation and runs between 6 a.m. and 12 a.m.

Although competition has been running for two days now, this will be the first test for London’s public transport to manage Games traffic as well as working hour traffic in the city.

Media Watch

The weekend newspapers in Britain were hailing the excitement of the first day of sport in the capital.

It seems that Seb Coe’s prediction that the nation would enter into the Olympic spirit fully when the competition starts has held some truth. ‘DAY ONE… AND BRITAIN’S GOT OLYMPIC FEVER’ says the Mail on Sunday, while The Independent simply says ‘Awe-inspiring’.

Other papers were still focused on Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony with the Sunday Mirror headline reading ‘TV GOLD’ as reports show that 27 million people in Britain watched it live on Friday evening.

The Sunday Times focused on the biggest shock of the first day of competition, which was Michael Phelp’s defeat in the men’s 400m individual medley - three places behind compatriot Ryan Lochte, who took the gold. The headline said ‘A Superstar is Born’.

No Radcliffe for Team GB

Team GB has been forced to make a change to their athletics team after marathon runner Paula Radcliffe pulled out through injury.

Radcliffe, the marathon world record holder, has been suffering from a foot injury and after an assessment on Sunday the British Olympic Association announced that she is to be withdrawn from the team.

The BOA will now work with the IOC and International Association of Athletics Federations to secure approval for a replacement under the Late Athlete Replacement policy.

Athletics team leader Charles van Commenee said: "This is obviously a disappointing day for Paula and our sport but it was important to her that if she made the start line it would be in the best possible shape. It wasn't meant to be and she has taken the right decision to withdraw at this stage."

Social Media Watch

A lot was said before the Games about London 2012 being the first social media Olympics.

For example, four years ago at Beijing 2008, Twitter had around 4 million users – now at London 2012, new reports show a huge increase to 50 million users.

LOCOG is keeping right on top of their social media accounts with current figures showing more than 1 million Facebook fans, over 1 million Twitter followers and around 670,000 followers on Google+.

The London 2012 social media team is also using the hash-tag #supportyourteam to try and gauge different nations' Twitter output during the Games. USA is currently in the lead with around 96,000 tweets – second place is hosts Great Britain far behind with almost 4,000 tweets.

There is even a dedicated site to the social media trends, where users see how they can use the different platforms to connect with Olympic fans all over the world.

Monday's Medal Events

Diving – Men’s Synchro 10m Platform – Aquatics Center

Fencing – Women’s Individual Epee – ExCeL

Artistic Gymnastics – Men’s Team – North Greenwich Arena

Judo – Women’s -57kg, Men’s -73kg – ExCeL

Shooting – Men’s 10m Air Rifle – Royal Artillery Barracks

Swimming – Men’s 200m Free, Women’s 100m Back, Men’s 100m Back, Women’s 100m Breast – Aquatics Center

Weightlifting – Women’s 58kg, Men’s 62kg – ExCeL

Reported by Christian Radnedge

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