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WEATHER OR NOT
Britain's weather runs the traditional gamut Wednesday, offering challenges for many Olympic sports on tap.
Gusty winds are always fun for tennis and archery. The Met Office, Britain's weather service, says: "Bands of showery rain moving from west to east" will plague beach volleyball, cycling time trials and all six soccer stadiums. Some areas around London might even see "sunnier spells."
Still, the outlook for Thursday, Friday and Saturday looks worse, with "sunny spells but also heavy and thundery showers."
As we said, the gamut.
--Sheila Norman-Culp
http://twitter.com/snormanculp
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BACK TO WORK
Please, wait for the time-delay broadcast!
Los Angeles' the top technology officer is pleading with city workers to stop watching the Olympics online at work, saying it could cause a municipal computer meltdown.
City tech guru Randi Levin sent an email asking workers to stop watching the London games because the city was experiencing a high volume of traffic.
Watching Tuesday's women's gymnastics and soccer competitions live on the Internet causes a tremendous amount of bandwidth to be tied up, city officials say. That means city computers might be working at a snail's pace under the strain.
Councilman Dennis Zine says taxpayers aren't paying city workers to watch the Olympics.
--Source: The Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/OAuDVx )
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NO GOLD FOR ONE HOST
Britain is still holding out for its first gold medal in the 2012 games, but if it doesn't happen, it wouldn't be the first time for a host country.
The 1976 summer games in Montreal hold the embarrassing distinction of being the first in which the host country failed to win a gold medal.
The medal count wasn't the only problem for Canada. The games were also a financial disaster -- after the tragedy in Munich, security costs alone had ballooned and accounted for one-third of the total cost of the event. And the games were marred by political strife, with several nations boycotting.
-Source: "Pursuit of Excellence, The Olympic Story" by The Associated Press and Grolier
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BAD TIMING
It's everywhere you want to be. But maybe not at the right time.
NBC ran a poorly timed Visa commercial Tuesday that celebrated Michael Phelps winning a gold medal in 2008 in a split-second finish. It ran directly after the network broadcast Phelps' silver medal race -- which he lost in precisely the same way.
A day earlier, NBC ran a "Today" show promo about interviewing Missy Franklin on her swimming gold medal just BEFORE televising the race.
--David Bauder
http://twitter.com/dbauder
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PLAYING WITH PINKEYE
Two-time defending gold medalist beach volleyball pair Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor of the United States wrap up pool play Wednesday against Austrian sisters Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger -- and Walsh insists she won't be slowed by a case of pinkeye in her left eye.
"It's super minor," she said. "It just looks worse than it is."
Walsh Jennings' left eye was red and watery as she squinted through it, dabbing it repeatedly with a tissue to wipe away the gunk and teardrops. Her husband, fellow beach volleyball pro Casey Jennings, has it much worse.
"It looks like his eyeballs got their butts kicked," she said.
Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor have opened the London Games with victories in their first two matches in pool play -- a 16-game winning streak that stretches back to Athens. They are virtually assured of a spot in the knockout round regardless of what happens in Wednesday night's match.
--Jimmy Golen
http://twitter.com/jgolen
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AFRICA'S FENCING WIN
With a silver medal in hand, Egypt's Alaaeldin Abouelkassem won the first Olympic medal ever claimed by a fencer from Africa.
He lost the final 15-13 to his Chinese rival, yet could barely believe what he'd achieved.
Abouelkassem, son of an Algerian mother and an Egyptian father, said his victory would not just boost fencing in Egypt, but in all over Africa.
"They need this medal to improve the fencing in Africa," he said.
On his way to the final, Abouelkassem beat reigning world champion Andrea Cassara of Italy and former four-time world champion Peter Joppich of Germany.
"Every match, I am better than the match before," he said after defeating Cassara. "I feel good, I have no stress, I am from Africa, from Egypt, so no one expects me to win."
Abouelkassem dedicated the medal to his father who died recently.
"This was the dream of my dad and he left me three months ago," he said.
--Eric Willemsen
https://twitter.com/eWilmedia
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BAD-MINTON
Did the world doubles badminton champs try to lose?
Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China were booed off the Olympic court Tuesday after appearing to intentionally lose against South Koreans Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na in a preliminary women's match. The South Koreans also didn't look as if they were trying to win at times.
The reason? Both teams had already topped their groups and qualified for the last 16, but the result ensured top seeds Wang and Yu avoided playing their No. 2-seeded teammates until the final.
Yu said they were only trying to save energy for the knockout rounds, starting Wednesday.
"We would try hard in every match if they were elimination games," she said.
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FIERCE FIVE
The U.S. women's gymnastics team has gold medals around their necks, but one thing is still missing.
They need a catchy nickname, something like "The Magnificent Seven" from 1996, the last time American women landed on top of the medal stand.
"I like Fierce Five," McKayla Maroney said. "Because we are definitely the fiercest team out there."
--Nancy Armour
http://twitter.com/nrarmour
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TUNISIAN SURPRISE
The Americans were expected to have a blowout win against Tunisia on the basketball court Tuesday. But nobody told the Tunisians they were supposed to go down easily.
They began fearlessly, with Makram Ben Romdhane driving all the way for a dunk -- the type of athletic plays that are usually made by the Americans, not against them -- to take an 8-4 lead. Tunisia still led by three with 2:39 left in the period before the U.S. second unit ran off the final nine points for a 21-15 advantage.
The Americans came back and won 110-63.
But after wire-to-wire loser Sunday against Nigeria, the Tunisians will be able to tell their kids their first Olympic lead came against the powerful Americans.
--Brian Mahoney
http://twitter.com/briancmahoney
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NOTE: "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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