Five stars

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Hand on heart

TO ILLUSTRATE the French Federation of Tennis' support of Paris in its bid, the 2005 Tennis French Open will launch a number of initiatives to be rolled out during the tournament. These will create an Olympic atmosphere throughout the competition and give players a preview of what the tennis competitions would feel like during a 2012 Olympic Games held in Paris.

Paris is alive with activity, anticipation and "L'Amour des Jeux" as the city prepares to host one of the most prestigious events on the international sporting calendar, the 2005 Tennis French Open, which will be held at the Roland Garros stadium complex from 23 May to 5 June.

As the world's greatest tennis stars along with scores of spectators from France and around the world gather in Paris, Roland Garros has ensured that the presence of Paris 2012 is seen and felt around the stadium complex.

The Philippe-Chatrier court (central court) and other focal areas will be decorated with the Paris 2012 logo and motto. Two mobile studios positioned around the complex will offer all attending events an opportunity to show their support. By doing so they will join the thousands of supporters of the bid who are expressing their passion through a simple gesture of placing a hand on their heart, as part of the new campaign, "My heart beats for Paris 2012".

Christian Bimes, president of the French Federation of Tennis, said "Roland Garros is a world-class venue and makes Paris a fitting home for this prestigious sporting event. Both the French Federation of Tennis and Roland Garros are proud to offer support to Paris 2012, and demonstrate how the French sports community is behind the bid. Events such as this highlight not only France's success in hosting sports competitions on a global scale, but also the welcoming nature of a community that would be proud to host the Olympics."

Moscow counting

THE MOSCOW 2012 bid committee has set its sights on securing 2,012,000 votes in support of the city's campaign to host the Olympic Games and is determined to hit the target in less than six weeks. Since the launch of the counter in November 2004, almost 1.2 million people have signed up as supporters of the bid.

In support of Moscow's bid, Olympic champions and Russian athletes will step forward to press the Olympic counting machine, moved to the Russian Army Theatre from its usual place next to Red Square, and add their names to the mounting total of supporters.

Maria Sharapova, one of the world's top female tennis players, has reaffirmed her support for Moscow's bid.

The 18-year-old Russian sports star, who last year took the trophies at Wimbledon and the WTA Championships, said: "I'm really excited about competing at Roland Garros next week -- it's a great tournament -- and I'm also very excited about the possibility of Moscow hosting the 2012 Olympic Games."

Sharapova, left, became an international ambassador for the Moscow Games bid in January. Along with other sports stars who are official Moscow 2012 ambassadors -- including gymnast Svetlana Khorkina and boxing champion Kostya Tszyu -- she will be crossing her fingers on 6 July.

Two million

LONDON 2012 announced that it has passed the two million mark of registered supporters for their campaign to bring the Olympic Games to the capital in 2012.

"This is a fantastic milestone to reach," said London 2012 Chairman Sebastian Coe. "It demonstrates the high level of support for our campaign and that it is growing all the time. As we go into the final stages of our campaign every single person can do their bit to help us win the bid by showing their support."

London 2012 originally set itself a target last December of gaining one million signatures of support to present to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when they meet in Singapore in July to decide which city should host the 2012 Games. It passed the one million mark three months early and support has continued to flood in.

Several high profile names have registered their support for London's bid including international statesman Nelson Mandela, England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, players David Beckham, Michael Owen, Sol Campbell and Wayne Rooney, rock superstar Sir Mick Jagger, and actors Sir Roger Moore and Sir Ian McKellen.

No vote

NEW YORK's hopes of finding a quick solution to its 2012 Olympic stadium problems have suffered a blow with the postponement of a vote on the issue. Approval to build the 75,000-capacity stadium on Manhattan's West Side is vital for the city's bid for the Games.

Governor George Pataki postponed a vote scheduled for Wednesday at the request of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Last week, he admitted that failure to secure approval would be an "enormous problem" before the decision on 6 July.

Bruno asked for a month's postponement due to pending legal challenges.

The stadium would be built for the New York Jets gridiron team and used by the city to stage the Games. Initial problems looked to have been resolved when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority accepted a bid from the Jets for the land.

But Cablevision Systems Corp, which owns nearby Madison Square Garden and bid more for the rail yard, launched legal proceedings, along with several public interest groups.

The state Public Authorities Control Board must now give the final go-ahead for the stadium.