Olympics

Tickets for London 2012 have gone on sale, 500 days ahead of the event. 

Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour in the south-west will be the venue for the Olympic and Paralympic sailing competitions.

These will be held from July 29 to August 11 next year. Weymouth will see the Elliott 6m, an Olympic-class keelboat designed by Greg Elliott, has been selected for the women's match racing event.

Iran has threatened to boycott the London Olympics because the logo is "racist".

Iran's Olympic committee has sent a letter to to the International Olympic Committtee criticising the emblem because of its perceived resemblance to the word "zion", a biblical term referring to the city of Jerusalem. The letter goes on to call on other Muslim states to oppose the logo.

The IOC said: "The London 2012 logo represents the figure 2012, nothing else."

Britain’s men’s curling team suffered defeat at the hands of Sweden in the opening match of the round robins. European Champions Sweden made the most of Britain’s lack of accuracy to claim the 6-4 victory.

The team still have nine round robin matches to play starting with France tonight. Captain David Murdoch said they must raise their game, but was not too concerned by the opening defeat.

Canadian Maelle Ricker has won a second gold medal for her host nation in the Winter Olympics women’s snowboard cross.

The 31-year old flew out of the gate to take an early lead in the final run and maintained her position to clinch the title.

The Vancouver resident, who finished fourth in Turin in 2006, came into the games at the top of the world cup standings.

It was an eventful final run with world champion Helen Olafsen of Norway and Olivia Nobs of Switzerland both crashing out half-way through.