By Andrew Warshaw at the Main Press Centre on the Olympic Park in London
Source: www.insidethegames.biz
In the first broadcasting controversy of London 2012, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) pledged today that the problems which beset yesterday's men's cycle road race were "teething troubles" which would not be repeated.
The BBC and other broadcasters registered concerns with the IOC about a lack of key timing data that left millions of viewers baffled and unable to follow the race properly.
The IOC's broadcasting arm, Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), provides TV pictures to networks around the world.
But for large periods of time yesterday there was no information about the gaps between the various teams with OBS unable to supply crucial information to commentators.
With around one million people lining the roads for the race networks became jammed by too much tweeting, preventing organisers from receiving crucial timing and positional updates.
As a result, said IOC spokesman Mark Adams, crucial GPS data could not be received.
He said that OBS was now attempting to disperse its communications onto other networks so that information could be received.
"From my understanding one network was oversubscribed and OBS are trying to spread the load to other providers," said Adams.
"We don't want to stop people engaging in social media and sending updates, but perhaps they might consider only sending urgent updates.
"Of course, if you want to send something, we are not going to say 'Don't, you can't do it', and we would certainly never prevent people.
"It's just [a case of] if it's not an urgent, urgent one, please take it easy."
Adams said talks had taken place late last night and early this morning in attempt to solve the issue.
"We are taking action on a number of things," he said.
"It's a network issue, teething troubles, and it is that which we are working on."
St. Kitts & Nevis sprinter Tameka Williams has been sent home from the London Olympics by her team for a potential drug violation.
India have complained to London 2012 over an apparent security lapse during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics last night when an unidentified woman walked alongside flag-bearer Sushil Kumar during the athletes' parade.
"We were initially told that she would accompany the contingent till the track but she went on to take the entire lap.
Is it the tension which precedes the entry to our Olympic challenge, or are you mesmerised by the spectacular dressings of that great city called London where the Bridge, The Palace, the river Thames, and the bustling old-fashioned taxis which mix with buses, trains, subway and overhead, all fitting snugly into space that often appear insufficient on a normal day. And while the athletes from almost every country (204) in the world have presented an enthusiastic, scintillating and colourful entry into the Olympic stadium, the fans of every sporting discipline will be present to ensure that Olympic history in brought to life four years after Beijing 2008. In open bars, around the parks of central London, Hyde Park, St James Park, the so called soap box Parliament at Hyde Park Corner, human voices using various languages, each representing a nation with obvious dialect, come together to create an atmosphere reminiscent of a carnival without bacchanal, surrounded by an unassuming, but alert police presence. With the brilliant start which saw a brazilian dominace on the football field, where flair and creativity mesmerised the Cameroun Women and the following day, the pain of the Egyptian politics was not spared by the men’s version of football’s ingenuity when the enthusiastic Egyptians chased around a plush field for forty-five minutes in search of a ball that seemed harder for them to find than a needle in a haystack.
Olympic 100-metre champion Usain Bolt will lose his crown to compatriot Yohan Blake unless he quickly fixes technical problems with his race, former world record holder Maurice Greene told Reuters yesterday.
London's Olympic organisers launched an investigation into empty seats on the first day of the Games yesterday.