Australian swimmers Nick D'Arcy and Kenrick Monk will leave London immediately after their events at the Olympic Games are over.
Monk earlier this week posted a photo on Facebook of the duo posing with high-powered weapons in a US gun shop, with the pair later apologising for their actions.
Along with being sent home after their swimming events are completed, Monk and D'Arcy have been banned from using social media from July 16 to August 15, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said on Saturday.
In a letter sent to both athletes, Chef de Mission Nick Green said: "Given this incident and our previous discussions concerning your conduct, I now have concerns regarding your lack of judgment.
"As a member of the 2012 Australian Olympic Team, and as I have reminded you on previous occasions, it is an honour and a privilege to be a member of an Australian Olympic Team.
"Australian Olympians are required to meet very high standards of conduct and we cannot risk the reputation of the team through non-compliance with the Team Membership Agreement."
If they are not required for the final session of the swimming program, the AOC plan for D'Arcy and Monk to leave London's Olympic Village on August 4.
Green insisted the decision to take the pair to the Games, which start on July 27, had nothing to do with whether they would be successful.
"This has nothing to do with medals," he said.
"It is all about upholding team values, in particular the high standards of behaviour set by those Olympians who came before you."
Swimming Australia, who ordered for the photos to be removed, are conducting their own investigation.
Source: www.sportal.com.au
Fans fury at Olympics ticket sales goes on - as organisers slammed for selling some for £2,012 EACH - Daily Mail
- Tickets still on sale for prestige events as fans are put off by sky-high prices
- Games organisers still have 550,000 tickets to shift
- Even Olympic hero Daley Thompson has been unable to get tickets
By Damien Gayle
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Furious sports fans hit out at the London Olympics ticket sales process once again yesterday, as event bosses were slammed for trying to flog some for as much as 2,012.
Thousands were trying for their last chance to gain entrance to some of the most popular Olympic events as the latest tranche of tickets went on sale at 11am yesterday morning.
But almost as soon as the tickets went on sale, hundreds were already taking to Twitter to broadcast their frustration at the online buying process.
Wishful thinking? This artist's impression shows how the 2012 Games should look in full swing, but LOCOG was facing the prospect that some stadiums may not be full as the public tires of the ticket buying process
And the London Olympic organising committee (LOCOG) is also coming under pressure to explain its failure to shift 'prestige' tickets, on sale for prices ranging between 295 to 1,800.
The tickets that went on sale yesterday, 'AA' tickets for the opening ceremony cost 2,012, and the cheapest available for that event were 995. Many were still unsold by 5pm.
So far, 7million of the total 8.8million Olympic tickets have been shifted, and about half of the 2.45million Paralympic tickets, in a process that began last year.
Left out: Former decathlete Daley Thompson has been unable to get any tickets for the games at all
LOCOG still has about 550,000 tickets to sell with just weeks to go to the start of the Games on July 27.
A large chunk of them are so-called contingency tickets which had been held back while logistics such as TV camera positions were resolved.
The committee has a further 1.25million soccer tickets to shift - about half the original number.
Yesterday, as the latest tranche of tickets were made available at 11am, hundreds of people took to Twitter to vent their fury.
Even Olympics legend Daley Thompson told how he had failed to get any tickets and had 'wasted 45 minutes' on the London 2012 website.
Angry buyers told how they waited for the online system to tell them whether they had secured their chosen tickets only to be told that there were no more available.
Former Olympic gold medal winning decathlete Thompson Tweeted: 'I bet I’m not alone in being unable to get any tickets on 2012 website wasted 45mins and I want them so badly'
And Television and BBC radio presenter Sarah-Jane Crawford Tweeted: 'I’m trying to get some tickets for the Olympics but when I click ‘request tickets’ on the site, it just refreshes page and tells me nothing?'
And Twitter used Neil Robertson wrote: 'Appear to have more chance of winning lottery tonight than getting Olympics tickets!'
LBC presenter Anthony Davis said: 'I’m in the virtual queue for #Olympics tickets. 3 min wait to see if I’ve been successful. The official ticket website is a joke.
'Been trying to buy Olympic tickets for 35 mins. Nothing available for under 450 each apparently… gutted.'
Deborah Roback wrote: 'What a rubbish system, impossible to find available tickets for any event.' And furious fans also yesterday hit out at the expensive 'prestige tickets' on offer.
Paul Roberts, 40, from Essex, told The Sun: 'We were told it was going to be the Games for the people. But I didn’t realise they were talking about people with big wallets and cash to burn.'
Premium: Tickets to see athletes like Jessica Ennis compete in athletics events are among the most expensive available
London 2012 organisers say the high prices help to subsidise the cheap tickets on offer to the public. Company Prestige Ticketing was given about 80,000 Olympics and Paralympics tickets to sell.
A Prestige spokesman said: 'The income from these programmes provides a vital source of revenue that makes the Games more accessible.
'Tickets for the Opening Ceremony would not be available to the public at 20.12 if there were not tickets at 2,012 that subsidise the cheaper ones.'
Experts believe LOCOG has done a good job, having already sold more than 90 percent of its tickets (excluding the football). It is on target to raise the 500million needed towards its 2billion budget.
'They have a few hundred thousand tickets which millions of people would like to buy, then they have several millions of tickets that nobody wants to buy,' said Stefan Szymanski of the University of Michigan. 'And they have a commitment to make every event a sell-out.'
The lottery-style process adopted in the early rounds allowed it to get the best price for the tickets, he said.
'The problem is that the British public didn't seem to understand this,' he added.
Alternatives, such as an auction, would have raised more revenue, but would have been resented even more by a British public that had already forked out 9.3 pounds towards getting the Games ready.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Seaford’s part in warning against foreign invasion - Lewes Today
I SHOULD imagine that beacons have been used for many years as a means of communication. This was particularly the case to warn us good Sussex folk from invasion against the French.
The first records of these devices in England date from the 14th century when we were at war with the French – the Hundred Years War. There would have been a beacon, ready to be lit on Seaford Head. In July 1545, a French fleet headed by the French Admiral Claude D’Annebault attacked Seaford. Locals, under the command of Sir Nicholas Pelham of Lewes used farm implements and stones from the beach to pelt the enemy into a hasty retreat. How did Pelham raise this makeshift army so quickly? I am sure his motley army was warned by beacons. The French went on to attack Brighton and Hove and a contemporary print shows the “ye Towne Fire Cage” lit on high ground where Kemp Town is now located.
Other beacons were more substantial. Orders issued in 1585 stated that beacons would need to be ‘in the accustomed places’ and that five households would be appointed for each pair of beacons. Two people were needed to watch the beacons at all times – a rule that lasted until after the Spanish Amada passed in 1588. In 1584 an entry in the Seaford Town Records says: “Robert Best will not watch at the sea-side according to the laudable custom.” This indicates that there was obviously a form of coastal watch at Seaford.
The beacons were all the way along the Sussex coast. At Beachy Head (the most southerly part of East Sussex) a series of beacons were constructed in-land at Willingdon, Wilmington and Firle (Beacon) to send warning quickly to Lewes, the County Town.
By the Victorian era, more sophisticated means of communication had been developed but beacons still used – not for warning but for celebration. Bonfire beacons were lit on Seaford Head to commemorate Royal jubilees and coronations. When George V was crowned on June 22, 1911, both Seaford and Newhaven celebrated with beacons lit at 10pm. The one at Newhaven was so big it was still alight the next morning! The teenage girls of Ladycross School decided they were going to watch a beacon being lit – not at Seaford but Firle!
They set off from school in pelting rain at 8.30pm and by the time they reached Blatchington Golf Course their shoes were waterlogged and they were soaked through. They soldiered on and finally reached the huge bonfire in the pitch dark. At first there were just a few people there but by 10pm a large crowd had gathered. On the stroke of 10pm a rocket and a loud bang was heard from Newhaven. Two men with flaming torches ran to the beacon, pulled aside large branches that covered openings and applied the torches to the dry gorse underneath. Soon the whole bonfire was ablaze and lit up a large area (and hopefully dried the girls!). One of the party, Miss D Patterson said she could count 18 other beacons from Firle and was sure she would have seen more if it was not for the bad weather.
After nearly an hour, the girls decided to head back to Seaford, lit for a short distance by the beacon. The weather was still bad, the Firle beacon was soon out, it was pitch black and they had no torches. They got lost. They were aiming for Alfriston race course but were too close to Newhaven, some fell in rabbit holes or tripped as they walked through dark fields of barley, climbed fences and stumbled through gorse hedges. Eventually, led by Miss Brunton, they heard St Leonard’s Church Clock strike midnight and saw the Seaford beacon, which guided them back to their school an hour and a half later. I am sure they deserved the hot cocoa and biscuits that were waiting for them.
Isn’t that a fantastic story? I am sure every girl remembered the beacon and their adventure until their dying day. Can you imagine the Health & Safety implications today?
This leads me to the special beacon built by Seaford Bonfire Society for her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee last Monday where unfortunately red-tape prevented a bonfire being built on its traditional spot. The beacon however was built on the retaining wall of the old Splash Point Hotel and was clearly visible from the east end of the town. Following the excellent concert on Martello Fields which every one seemed to really enjoy there was a laser light show from the top of the Martello Tower. A few minutes earlier the huge golden orb of a full-moon hoved into view from behind the cliffs, a truly beautiful spectacle.
At 10.15pm a shaft of green laser light sliced through the night air to the beacon which was soon alight to the cheers of the thousands of Seafordians.
As I was caretaking at the Martello Tower I was able to see the beacon on Castle Hill, Newhaven and the glow of the Firle and Alfriston Beacons. Michael Ann was the Beacon Master for East Sussex and reports that about 300 people witnessed the lighting of the Alfriston beacon which he believes was the largest in the county. There were over 50 official beacons in East Sussex and our beacons will be added to a list which will be presented to Her Majesty.
I would have liked to ended this report by saying there was no sign of the French – but I can’t. I spoke to a part of two French families who were visiting us. They said that they had had a fantastic evening and it was. Thank you to all concerned.
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Print this pageSource: www.sussexexpress.co.uk
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