17/07/2012 Newsround

Thanks for stopping by everyone. You're with Ricky for Tuesday's

Newsround. We've got all the big stories covered, including some of

this: We track down the athletes that could be training near you.

And fed up of the rain? Well, we might have some good news for you.

Stick around for all that. First thought, its taken seven years and

a whopping �9 billion to organise the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It looked like everything was going smoothly until last week when one

of the big companies responsible for guarding the venues said it

didn't have enough security guards to do the job. Today the company's

boss faced a grilling from MPs, but as I've been finding out, putting

on a major sporting event is never straight forward.

On your marks, get set, GO! In the race to host a major sporting event

there are always going to be a few hurdles. In 2010 in India at the

Commonwealth Games the track was still being laid days before the

100 metres. At the last Olympics in China officials thought about

calling off some events altogether because of air pollution. And in

2004 just weeks before the opening ceremony in Greece some of the

stadiums still weren't finished. Now, London's venues have been

built on time and on budget, so what's the problem? Well it's all

focusing on this company, G4S. They were given the job of providing

security guards for lots of the Olympic venues around the country.

Last week, just two weeks before the start of Games the boss of G4S

told the Government that they couldn't deliver the staff they'd

promised. Yesterday 56 security staff were meant to show up to look

after Olympic footballers who'll be staying at this hotel, but only 17

actually arrived. Local police had to be brought in. They had been

asked to supply 10,000 members of security staff altogether but have

said that technical and management problems mean that they just aren't

sure where their staff are. The Government has asked extra police

officers and soldiers to be drafted in to make sure they have all the

security they need. Organising the Games has been a massive operation

that's taken seven years and �9 billion. With ten days to go the

finish line is finally in sight. That's the security sorted but what

about the people we're all waiting to see? The world's best sports

stars are heading to the UK and do you think they're all training at

stadiums and sports venues in London? Think again! They're all

over Britain. And not all of them are using typical sports venues.

Some teams are based at universities and even schools. The

Malawi team are training at the University of Gloucestershire. The

Colombians are in Gateshead. Meanwhile the US synchronised

swimming team are further a field - they're at the National Aquatics

Centre over in Dublin. Birmingham will be hosting Usain Bolt and the

rest of the Jamaican athletics team at the university. Russian swimmers

are getting some last minute lengths in at a school in Somerset.

And the Cameroon Olympic team are at a sports village up in Aberdeen.

We asked if any of you have seen any athletes training near you. And

Usain Bolt is looking like he's destined for a medal at the Games,

but his main competition might actually come from his team-mate.

The Lightening Bolt has been speaking about how his training pal,

Yohan Blake is also going for gold. He was asked who he wants to win if

he does not come first. Please do not Jinks me on that one.

Definitely Blake, because I am happy for him. We train every day

and I know how hard he works. Let's not ask that question again, please.

Next, a story for anyone that's fed up of the rain. Forecasters say the

bad weather is down to something called the jet stream that's been

hanging over Britain for the last two months. It's known for bringing

bad weather, but the good news is it looks like it should soon be

moving north away from Britain which means if we're lucky we might

just see some sunshine. The wet weather here has been causing

problems for farmers but in America it's dry weather that they're

worried about. More than half of the country is in drought and the

dry conditions are having an impact on crops like corn and soybeans.

It's the worst drought in the country for more than 50 years with

more than 1,000 areas are being called disaster zones. And now

there are worries that the poor harvest could lead to a rise in

food prices. At this time of year the crops

should be growing high, ready for harvesting in the autumn. But this

year it is so dry that many plants have been damaged. The leaves have

turned brown and crispy and the soil is bone dry. This should be as

high as my head right now. This cannot reach its maximum potential.

It is already damaged. It's estimated that 30% of the corn

planted in the area of America called the corn belt is already in

a poor or very poor condition. we grow most of the corn and soya

beans in the United States and this is work the drought is centred. It

is very serious. Crops have been affected so badly that some farmers

have already decided it's not worth harvesting and are throwing away

the corn instead. It might be a long way away, but all this does

affect us. Corn provides food for lots of people around the world and

it's also used for animal feed and to make a type of fuel called

ethanol. America is one of the largest producers of it and so the

bad harvest this year means that there will be less corn. That will

make the stuff that there is, more expensive, which will drive prices

up all over the world. It won't just be corn on the cob that could

become more expensive. The plant is used in all sorts of products from

cereal to face wash. Although food prices won't increase straight away,

this drought is likely to affect the prices in the supermarket by

the end of next year. Next, the UEFA nominations for best

player in Europe are out. On the list are football favourites like

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Les Davies?! Yep,

you heard it right. The 27-year-old Bangor City winger has been

nominated for the award. Davies said he was stunned to be on the

list but - get this fact fans - he scored more goals in the league

last season than Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres put together! Want

to find out more? Head over to the Newsround website and check out our

fact file! Newsround's been asking some of

Great Britain's most A-list Olympic medallists to tell us what it's

like to take part in the biggest sporting event on earth. Today it's

Zac Purchase. He and rowing partner, Mark Hunter grabbed gold at the

last Olympics, becoming the first British champs in the Lightweight

Double Sculls. My name is Zack purchase and I

competed in the Beijing Olympics in the sport of rowing. A few days

before our final were really exciting, we have had a fantastic

year. We were going to the final with a strong chance of winning the

gold medal. On the day of the final the race wasn't until about 1:30pm,

so we have the entire morning to relax. I watched a couple of films

and had a nice breakfast. Then we went to the lake and warmed up and

made sure we were ready to race. We had a fantastic race in Beijing. We

crossed the finish line first so it was an exciting end to a fantastic

year. My favourite memory in Beijing was standing on the medal

podium and hearing the national anthem being played and watching

the flag going up the flagpole. Coming back to the UK after it was

finished was fantastic. The aeroplane had a cold front on it

and fall of Olympic champions. The atmosphere was great because