[ti:Counting Down to the Olympic Crowds in London] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:IN THE NEWS] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. [00:08.48]The London Olympics are less than [00:11.38]one hundred days away. [00:13.38]Across the world, [00:15.15]many competitors still have to qualify [00:18.34]for the sixteen days of competition. [00:21.84]Others are entering the final weeks of training. [00:25.44]Three hundred thousand people [00:28.38]are expected to travel to the British capital [00:31.47]for the Summer Olympic Games. [00:34.27]The opening ceremonies are on July twenty-seventh. [00:38.31]Wednesday marked the one-hundred-day point. [00:42.29]Sebastian Coe -- the British runner [00:45.83]who won two Olympic gold medals [00:48.62]-- is chairman of the London 2012 organizing committee. [00:53.37]SEBASTIAN COE: "It signifies, first of all, [00:55.97]still an extraordinary amount of work still to do, [00:59.23]but I think one hundred days, [01:01.18]it means something to people. [01:04.02]When you're talking about seven years, [01:06.58]six years, five years, four years, [01:08.52]but actually when you're really talking about days, [01:10.77]and we're talking twelve Wednesdays or something, [01:15.34]I mean it really is, it's very close." [01:18.13]The Olympic Park is mostly complete. [01:21.27]The Aquatic Center is ready for the likes of [01:24.56]American swimmer Michael Phelps. [01:27.10]He will attempt to build on his record [01:29.89]fourteen Olympic gold medals. [01:32.93]In east London, other Olympic sites are taking shape. [01:37.50]International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge [01:41.46]visited the sites and offered an opinion [01:44.79]to Prime Minister David Cameron. [01:47.01]JACQUES ROGGE: "There is already, [01:47.91]before the Games even begin, [01:49.70]a great legacy in east London, [01:52.12]a great legacy of the sports venues [01:54.37]and this is a tangible legacy. [01:56.32]To conclude, prime minister, [01:58.41]we are a happy International Olympic Committee. [02:01.35]Thank you very much." [02:02.30]But not everyone is happy. [02:04.34]On two days this week, immigration lines [02:07.85]reached well over ninety minutes [02:10.44]at Heathrow, London's main airport. [02:13.59]Some travelers expressed their anger [02:16.08]and shared photographs on the Internet. [02:19.09]British lawmakers are warning [02:21.64]that Olympic visitors could face long waits [02:25.39]in immigration lines or on airplanes. [02:28.74]The government says it will be ready. [02:31.83]A temporary terminal at the airport [02:35.07]has been built especially for Olympic competitors. [02:39.21]There are also concerns about traffic on roads [02:43.25]and crowds on public transportation during the Games. [02:48.05]Another concern is security. [02:51.73]This will be Britain's biggest [02:53.88]peacetime security operation ever. [02:57.43]The security budget has doubled [03:00.26]to eight hundred eighty-two million dollars. [03:03.69]In a late addition, the Ministry of Defense [03:07.67]is providing thirteen thousand [03:10.44]five hundred soldiers for the Games. [03:13.28]David Rubens is a security consultant specializing [03:17.90]in the Olympics. [03:19.56]DAVID RUBENS: "It's very difficult to maintain the balance [03:21.11]between an open and welcoming event and security management. [03:24.02]It's different from what happened in Vancouver, [03:26.56]it's certainly different from what happened in Beijing. [03:29.10]And the people responsible will be lying awake [03:32.06]at night trying to wonder whether they've got that balance right, [03:35.94]and the answer is, if it goes wrong, then you got it wrong." [03:38.03]Terrorists are not the only concern. [03:41.53]A protester recently halted the historic rowing race [03:46.13]between Oxford and Cambridge universities along the River Thames. [03:51.19]Trenton Oldfield swam in front of Oxford's boat, [03:56.02]forcing the race to be restarted. [03:58.76]He said he did it as a protest [04:02.02]against what he called "elitist society." [04:05.12]His actions led the chief of the British Olympic Association [04:10.66]to warn that it would take "just one idiot" [04:15.11]to ruin the Summer Olympics. [04:17.65]The next Olympics are the twenty-fourteen Winter Games [04:22.85]in Sochi, Russia. [04:24.65]Then come the twenty-sixteen Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. [04:30.37]But first Brazil will hold another of the world's [04:34.61]major sporting events: the twenty-fourteen World Cup finals. [04:39.89]And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. [04:44.92]You can watch a video about the preparations [04:48.61]for the London Olympics at 51voa.com. [04:53.93]I'm Steve Ember.