A set of giant Olympic rings were lowered over River Thames, the media center welcomed its first batch of users and an official song was released on Wednesday, one month prior to the London Olympic Games.

OLYMPIC RINGS LOWERED

The rings were lowered from the iconic Tower Bridge in London Wednesday morning. Passers-by stopped to take photos and wave, as their mayor Boris Johnson and Games chief Sebastian Coe stood on a barge, sailing past the site.

The rings, 25 meters wide and 11.5 meters tall, weighed three tonnes.

"With one month to go to the Olympic Games opening ceremony, these spectacular rings on one of London's most famous landmarks will excite and inspire residents and visitors in the capital," said Coe.

Johnson, clasping hands with Coe, gave the order to lower the rings. Talking about the last month before the sports gala, Johnson said, "we are making our final preparations and want to ensure each and every person in the capital gets a flavor of the celebrations and feels part of the Games."

PRESS CENTER IN OPERATION

The main press center (MPC) in east London opened on Wednesday.

It offers 31,000 square meters of office space for 6,000 journalists, photographers and accredited non-rights holding broadcasters, as well as staff from the International Olympic Committee and the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). During the Games, it will be open for 52 days. Outside the four-floor building, a 200-meter-long wooden corridor was flanked by shops, post office, dry cleaners, pharmacy and hair salon.

Next to the main MPC building, a "wooden box" was used as canteen to provide food. It was estimated that 480,000 meals and 1.6 million cups of tea will be consumed over 24 hours a day.

The Press Workroom and Main Press Center bar are named after two British Olympic sports writers, John Rodda for the Guardian and Steve Parry, sports editor at Reuters, who died on the eve of the Beijing Olympics.

"Like the athletes competing at London 2012, the world's writers and photographers who will be based in the MPC are at the top of their profession," said Coe. "This is our first venue on the venue on the Olympic Park to open for business and we are ready to welcome the world's media."

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport, hoped that the venue could facilitate journalists, so that they will be able to "take the Games beyond London to the world", and "help take the Games to the future generation".

The press conference room in the MPC was used for the first time to launch a official song of the London 2012 Olympics. Namely "Survival", the song by Muse was said to be inspired by the "strength and determination" of athletes on the Olympic arena.

It will be available to download from Thursday, and will be played throughout sports sessions in all London 2012 venues.

Four other official songs are to be released next month.

TO BE IMPROVED

According to LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton, some seven million, or more than 80 percent of the Olympic tickets have been sold.
"We have finished training of volunteers and are waiting for arrival of athletes," he said.

Apart from a volleyball venue which is still being built, other Olympic venues are ready, he added.

It was not until June 18 that the construction of the 15,000-seat beach volleyball arena started, a report from local media the Telegraph said. "Owing to the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, and the Trooping the Color ceremony, the schedule of the build allows only 36 days to undertake a project that would ordinarily take 14 months," it said.

Traffic is another problem. Sebastian Coe was late Wednesday morning, which aroused concern against for the rankling traffic condition. Tens of thousands of visitors will flock to London this year. With bus drivers threatening to go on strike over bonus dispute, the city needs to take some measure so as to prevent the traffic from paralyzing.

Deighton said frankly that preparation for the Olympics was far from cakewalk, concerning the "enormous size of the venues, complexity of the event and number of people involved". "When you see a gliding swan on the surface, its legs were struggling beneath the water," he said.

London started preparation for the Olympics seven years ago. "During the seven-year journey, time is passing fast," he said. "We will make sure that we have done everything we can, so as to hold a successful Olympics."

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet