The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) announced Tuesday that a leading branding agency, Wolff Olins, has been chosen to design the new logo for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The company was chosen through a competitive tendering process among a number of the UK’s leading brand and design agencies. Phil Beard, Marketing and Sponsorship Director of LOCOG said, “we are confident they will develop an inspiring, highly visual new brand identity for the London 2012 Games”. The London 2012 logo will be launched in either late 2006 or early 2007 but it will be used more prominently following the Beijing 2008 Games and used extensively in the run up to, and the period after the London 2012 Games.
London 2012 officials are in Sydney to learn from their experience in hosting the 2000 Summer Games. Chairman Sebastian Coe, CEO Paul Deighton and Deputy Chairman Sir Keith Mills are meeting with New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma. The London 2012 leadership team also met with former Sydney Games organizers and New South Wales Government officials involved in preparations for the Sydney Games. Coe said, “like the Sydney model, key venues such as the Olympic Village, the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre will be co-located in London’s Olympic Park, providing the best possible conditions and facilities for athletes, spectators and the Olympic Family”.
An investigation by Sofia’s prosecutor’s office on a BBC documentary that showed corruption in connection with London’s 2012 Olympic bid has been dropped because of a lack of evidence. The BBC was investigated on incitement to corruption charges over the documentary that showed a Bulgarian Olympic Committee member, Ivan Slavkov, advising undercover reporters how to make bribes to win the 2012 Summer Games for London. The investigation was reportedly initiated by the Sofia prosecutor’s office after Slavkov told former chief prosecutor Nikola Filchev that he blamed the BBC journalists for distorting the film. But Boyko Naydenov, the current Sofia prosecutor, said Slavkov’s claims were irrelevant. “It has now been terminated at a pre-trial stage before any charges could be pressed in court due to a lack of evidence”, he said. BBC Bulgaria refused to comment on the issue.
