CARDIFF/LONDON — The British women's soccer team kicked off the Olympics Wednesday with victory for the home team over New Zealand, and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, hero of the 2008 Games and the fastest man on earth, vowed to win again, declaring: “This is my time”. The whiff of scandal hung over London's Olympic Park, where thousands of journalists and athletes were limbering up for the July 27-Aug. 12 showcase, after Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou was withdrawn from the Games for a racist tweet. “With so many Africans in Greece... the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!!!” she had posted on her Twitter account. Her subsequent apology fell on deaf ears, with the head of the Greek Olympic mission, Isidoros Kouvelos, saying: “She made a mistake and in life we pay for our mistakes.” The soccer match in the Welsh capital, which Britain won 1-0, came two days before Friday's opening ceremony at the main London stadium, the culmination of seven years of preparations for an event that draws billions of viewers around the world. The US and Japan, the two favorites for women's football gold, also made winning starts. Japan, bidding to add the Olympic title to the World Cup it won by beating the US on penalties in the final in Germany last year, defeated Canada 2-1 in Coventry, but the Americans had to come from 2-0 down to beat France 4-2 at Glasgow's Hampden Park, Scotland's national stadium. Brazil, meanwhile, scored two early goals and got two more from Marta in the second half to easily defeat Cameroon 5-0. In host city London, basking in sunshine after a rainy summer, authorities went ahead with unpopular lane closures to keep the roads, and hundreds of thousands of extra visitors, moving, and security has been beefed up to protect the Games. Counter-terrorism chiefs have played down the possibility of a major attack, although in a possible sign of pre-Games jitters, a Typhoon fighter jet was scrambled to intercept an aircraft that had flown into restricted air space. Communications with the plane were restored, however, and the fighter told to stand down, the Defense Ministry said. More than 16,000 athletes are warming up for their big day at venues across Britain, and 11 million visitors will follow every twist and turn of intense battles for the ultimate prize - Olympic gold. Bolt, Jamaican winner of the 100m and 200m Olympic titles in Beijing in 2008, fired the opening salvo in what promises to be an explosive 100m sprint final on Aug. 5, arguably the blue riband event of the Games. “This is my time,” said the 6ft-5in (1.95m) athlete, as attention turns from a security scandal and transport chaos in the run-in to the Olympics to what really counts - sport. While the British government and Olympic officials will be delighted that sport is now in focus, the threat of transport disruption and security worries lingered with just two days to go before the eagerly-awaited opening ceremony. One target of anger among notoriously grumpy taxi drivers and many ordinary Londoners are the so-called “Games lanes” which came into operation Wednesday. Scathingly dubbed “Zil” lanes after Soviet roads reserved for black limousines carrying senior Communist party members, the roads are reserved exclusively for Olympic officials, the media, athletes and sponsors. Anyone caught straying into the lanes without permission faces an automatic 130-pound fine, and there has been confusion and heavy traffic in several parts of the capital as a direct result of the system. Also attracting the cameras were Syria's athletes, who put aside the increasingly violent civil conflict engulfing their country Wednesday to sign a “truce wall” at the Olympic Park and raise their flag. The symbolic Olympic torch, nearing the end of its 8,000-mile journey, Wednesday visited Wembley Stadium, scene of England's only soccer World Cup triumph in 1966, and was carried by the goalkeeper in that match, Gordon Banks. Harry Potter star Rupert Grint, who plays the red-haired Ron Weasley in the hit movie franchise, was also among the bearers. The torch's odyssey ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron Friday evening before 60,000 spectators including Queen Elizabeth, US First Lady Michelle Obama and a host of celebrities and dignitaries. Another one billion people are expected to tune in around the world for the ceremony directed by film-maker Danny Boyle. — Reuters
