Olympics is already having an important influence on Britain's £74 billion visitor economy, according to a new

Visitors from Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand and South Africa are among the top 

  AUGUST 26 - BRITAIN enjoyed a successful day at the World Rowing Championships on Dorney Lake in Eton, the course which will stage the Olympics in 2012.

pictured) while Zac Purchase also claimed a gold medal, winning the lightweight men's single scull in a new

Purchase finished in a new world record time of 6min 47.82sec while Duncan Grant of New Zealand took

  AUGUST 26 - BRITAIN enjoyed a successful day at the World Rowing Championships on Dorney Lake in Eton, the course which will stage the Olympics in 2012.

pictured) while Zac Purchase also claimed a gold medal, winning the lightweight men's single scull in a new

Purchase finished in a new world record time of 6min 47.82sec while Duncan Grant of New Zealand took

  JUNE 13 - WESTFIELD GROUP have issued a statement in Sydney overnight confirming they have officially acquired the remaining 75 per cent interest it does not own in the controversial Stratford City development in East London for £140 million.

has about £20 billion of assets under management in a portfolio of 128 shopping centres in Australia, New

Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom.  

  MAY 17 – UK SPORT, the National Anti-Doping Organisation for the UK, has today announced the appointment of Andy Parkinson as head of operations in its Drug-Free Sport team to make sure Britain’s competitors are clean for the 2012 Olympics.

He takes up his new role on August 7.

Scott explained that whilst the two roles were essentially the same, the new title better describes its

been at the IPC since 2003, before which he spent four years as sport services manager at Paralympics New

Zealand.

Parkinson also spent two years as President of New Zealand Wheelchair Rugby and was a Member of the International

Olympics two years prior to the Edmonton Games saw many boycotts from the African nations because of a New

Zealand rugby tour of South Africa, who were banned from competing in most international sporting events

Security in New Zealand is tightened following the tragic 1972 OlympicsThe Christchurch 1974 British

This deterred New Zealand from hosting major events until 1990 when the Government stepped in with lotteries

entertain the world  In 1990, the Commonwealth Games came to Auckland for the second time and New

Zealand for the third time.

It featured many Maori ceremonial stories as the Maoris are New Zealand’s indigenous population.

 There was instead, a new positive spirit of co-operation that was far more in keeping with the

New Zealand finished the Games in a respectable fourth place behind the traditional Commonwealth powers

Rugby Sevens in particularly were an enormous success with New Zealand collecting its 100th Commonwealth

 Man of the match was the giant New Zealand rugby union superstar Jonah Lomu who had worked tirelessly

March 30 - Fiji's win in the prestigious Hong Kong Sevens event shows the increased global appeal of rugby as it bids to regain its Olympic status, the International Rugby Board's (IRB) Bernard Lapasset claimed today.

highly-competitive format packaged in matches of 14 minutes, has proven successful in reaching out to new

It was no surprise in rugby-crazy New Zealand that the chances of the sport being reintroduced into the

March 31 - Australia's Kevan Gosper (pictured) has retired as head of the  Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) after 20 years, and will be replaced by Fiji's Robin Mitchell.

The ONOC was holding its two-day general assembly in Queenstown, on New Zealand's South Island.  

Sebastian Coe  is also flying into New Zealand to give an update on the progress of the 2012 London Olympics

March 27 - Britain's Lizzie Armitstead (pictured) picked herself up after a crash at the World Championships in Poznan tonight after a fall to win her second medal in consecutive days.

Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Peter Kennaugh and Jonny Bellis were beaten by New Zealand in the bronze-medal

March 26 - Britain's team of Women's team pursuit trio Wendy Houvenaghel, Joanna Rowsell and Lizzie Armitstead secured the team's first gold of the  World Track Championships in Poznan tonight.

The British trio lapped consistently quicker than their New Zealand rivals and stepped up the pace in

March 30 - Don Porter, the president of the International Softball Federation (ISF), today claimed that he was confident that attempts to get the sport back into the Olympics for the 2016 Games would prove successful.

critical presentation to the Oceania National Olympic Committee Annual Assembly tomorrow in Queenstown, New

Zealand.  

March 22 - Australia has picked a bigger than normal athletics team for this year's World Championships to give them the opportunity to impress before London 2012, including teenage sprinter Melissa Breen (pictured).

two-time Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson, was previously the performance director of Athletics New

Zealand.