Interest in the Olympics is preventing events such as the Derby and Cowes Week from securing sponsors. It is understood that a number of key sporting events are struggling to find brands to take up sponsorship opportunities.

London Olympic chiefs defended the salaries of its top executives on Thursday after it emerged some were earning up to 100,000 pounds more than first thought.About seven senior executives at the Olympic Delivery Authority are being paid more than 200,000 pounds. The authority published the salaries of its executives in its annual report for 2006/7, but the report only included the amount earned so far that year.

The NAO report concludes:

Our overall conclusion is that the key relationships and working arrangements to deliver the Olympic programme are still being developed. There are a number of areas of risk that will need to be managed but a major risk is the lack of final agreed cost estimates and an accompanying funding package, and this will inevitably have a detrimental impact on the programme if it is allowed to continue.

House of Commons, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee

London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games: funding and legacy

Second Report of Session 2006–07, published 24 1 07

Conclusions and recommendations

Ken Livingstone has issued a "firm guarantee" that there will be no increase to London Council Tax bills to fund the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Speaking to Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio London earlier today the Mayor said:

The true cost of the showpiece venue for the 2012 Olympics was seriously underestimated by organisers of London's bid when they were campaigning to win the right to host the event, The Observer can reveal.

We should seriously be thinking about giving the 2012 Olympic games back, before it is too late.

On the face of it, this should be a golden era for Britain's public swimming pools. The government is constantly urging us to do more exercise. And ministers have pledged to improve sporting facilities in the run up to the London Olympics in 2012. But despite that, hundreds of local pools are increasingly shabby and some are threatened with closure.