Minister warns against Olympic match-fixing

OLYMPICS minister Hugh Robertson warned yesterday that the threat of illegal betting practices and match-fixing to the 2012 London Games is “obvious and enormous”.

According to reports, a dedicated police intelligence unit is to be introduced at this summer’s London Olympics tasked with identifying attempts to fix events.

For the first time in Olympics history, security chiefs will deploy a specialist team of officers to crack down on betting syndicates who attempt to bribe athletes into influencing the outcome of their event, the Sunday Times reported.