Sun comes out as torch tours London

LONDON (AP) ― The Olympic torch has begun its tour of London ― and to everyone’s relief, the weather is cooperating.

After weeks of unseasonably chilly temperatures and miserable rain, the sun came out Saturday as thousands of people turned out to watch the flame begin its seven-day trip of the Olympic host city.

The torch arrived late Friday in the city with a dramatic entrance, abseiled from a helicopter by a Royal Marine to the Tower of London on the shore of the River Thames.

After a night locked inside the Jewel House of the 11th century landmark, the torch started a journey through London that took it from a historic ship to a shiny new shopping mall.

From the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the home of Greenwich Mean Time, the torch was carried to the Cutty Sark, a newly restored 140-year-old ship docked in the Thames.

Nadia Comaneci, the legendary Romanian gymnast who won nine Olympic medals in the 1976 and 1980 games, and former basketball player John Amaechi took the torch to the roof of the North Greenwich Arena, the venue for the gymnastics events and basketball finals.

“You know it doesn’t seem like it’s been 36 years ago,” Comaneci, the first female gymnast to be awarded a perfect 10 score in an Olympic gymnastics event, told the BBC. “It’s hard to believe that what I’ve done then people still remember. So I’m very honored to be here.”

Phillips Idowu, a champion triple jumper for Team Great Britain, later took the torch to the Westfield mall, Europe’s biggest, next to the Olympic Park.

Saturday’s torch relay also included stints from London’s youngest and oldest torchbearers: 12-year-old Chester Chambers, and 101-year-old Fauja Singh. Like most other torchbearers, they were nominated by their communities.

The torch, which has already traveled across Britain for more than 60 days, will continue to tour London’s streets until it ends its journey at the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony in the capital on July 27.

Rogge rules out silence

LONDON (AP) ― IOC president Jacques Rogge won’t budge: There will be no minute’s silence for the Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich massacre at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

Rogge rejected the latest calls Saturday for a special observance to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the murder of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian gunmen at the Munich Games.

“We feel that the opening ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident,” Rogge said.

The International Olympic Committee has come under pressure from politicians in the United States, Israel and Germany to pay tribute to the slain Israelis during Friday’s ceremony.

Rogge said the IOC will honor them at a reception in London during the games on Aug. 6. He said IOC officials will also attend a ceremony in Germany on the anniversary of the attack on Sept. 5 at the military airfield of Furstenfeldbruck where most of the Israelis died.

Rogge also noted that he has attended several ceremonies with the Israeli Olympic Committee and Israeli athletes during recent games.

IOC says no to tix sanctions

LONDON (AP) ― The IOC will not take disciplinary action before the London Olympics against officials accused of illegal ticket sales.

The IOC opened an ethics investigation last month after Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper reported that national Olympic committee officials and ticket agents in several countries were willing to offer tickets on the black market.

The paper turned its evidence over to the IOC, which was still reviewing it.

The evidence was a “huge file,” IOC president Jacques Rogge said Saturday, and a decision would likely take months.

“(There is) more than 20 people involved and a lot or organizations and commercial ticket resellers,” Rogge said. “The rights of the defense require everyone has the chance to explain his or her case. We expect the results of that probably by the end of September, beginning of October, because it is a huge work.”