and from all over the world will be competing in the stadium, but for this test event there were only British university athletes.  

Still, some hope to make the Olympic team, including runner David Bishop. "That was the whole reason why I came.  I just wanted to get a feel of what it was like to run in here (to) give me the help and motivation for a couple more months to push on so I can get my time down and nail this trial," Bishop said.

For the London Organizing Committee Chairman and four-time British Olympic medalist Sebastian Coe, the test events were a chance to mingle with young athletes and to show off the fruits of seven years of work.

“We’re making sure that no stone is left unturned.  And that testing is across everything from security, through to our venues, tickets, spectator flows, mobility, our ability to test some of our park-wide operations, workforce, logistics, pretty important.  So a big moment for us,” Coe said.

Saturday’s friendly competition and celebrations were marred somewhat on Sunday, when a tabloid newspaper revealed it had helped a construction worker smuggle a fake bomb into the Olympic Park.  That provided evidence there is still work to be done, as officials hope to keep the focus during the games on images like a military wives choir, which helped get the stadium’s opening ceremony going.

points, ahead of second place El Salvador which had just over 8,000 points. The following standings, in order, were teams from Guatemala, Panamá and Nicaragua.

Apart from medals and the prestige of representing their own countries, winners from the different categories of competition received $5,000 in prize money (2.5 million colons). José Ureña, presIdent of the Federación de Surf de Costa Rica, said that aN olympic-style event usually doesn't give monetary prizes to the surfers, only medals and trophies, but that it adds an individual incentive for the surfers.

The annual competition began in Costa Rica in 2006. Next year for the first time it will be held in Guatemala.

open ocean habitat,” said Jason Schratwieser, Game fish Association research director, adding:

“We also envision giving open access to the tagging data so that it can be utilized by scientists around the world.”

Tags record information about depth, temperature and light levels, which can be used to study fish migrations and behaviors over the course of several months after they have been tagged.  These data, in turn, will help scientists to identify key habitat areas where large numbers of fish spend significant portions of time as well as the migratory corridors they use when they travel from place to place. Data from the tags will be processed and disseminated via Barbara Block’s lab at Stanford University in California.

Ms. Block pioneered the use of electronic tags on open ocean fishes in the early 1990’s. She was also one of the founders of the initial Great Marlin Race program, which was launched in 2009 in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament in Kona, Hawaii .
“We are really excited about this new partnership between our organization and Stanford University,” explains Paxson Offield, chairman of the IGFA and long-term supporter of the Great Marlin Race. “By pairing top-notch science with tournament angling, we hope not only to learn more about the biology of the animals, but also to engage our constituents – billfish anglers around the world – in helping to conserve them for future generations.”

existing events on the sports program" and they "bring added appeal and increase the number of women participating at the games.''

Proposals for inclusion of slopestyle events in snowboard and freestyle skiing and a team Alpine skiing event were put on hold for further review.

In the new event of ski halfpipe, skiers score points for performing tricks and jumps on the same course used for the snowboard halfpipe.

The only remaining Winter Olympics event that does not have both male and female representation is Nordic combined, which features ski jumping followed by a cross country ski race.