It's Hammer Time

It would seem that the increasingly vitriolic and acrimonious battle between Spurs and West Ham, for control of the Olympic stadium post 2012 Olympics, has been resolved.

West Ham United are expected to be recommended as the preferred bidder for the Olympic Stadium on Friday, when the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) will meet.

Seemingly Spurs' plans to rip up the athletics track, thus denying any form of athletics legacy as promised in the original bid for the games, was a step too far.

Once OPLC ratify the bid, it will then pass to London mayor Boris Johnson and government ministers Jeremy Hunt and Eric Pickles for final approval.

As to whether a combined track and football stadium is actually economically viable, only time will tell. Once the economic success/failure of the Hammers' legacy is actually known, those who have made the decisions and backed the bid will have long since moved on.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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The Stadium Debacle

Despite Lord Coe chastising the Spurs bid for the post Olympics stadium and, seemingly, coming out in favour of West Ham's bid (on the basis that they will leave some form of athletics legacy) it is interesting to note that 18 months after winning the bid to host the games the Olympic Board had in fact rejected both clubs.

The Telegraph reports that both bids were rejected at the time, because the Board wanted no diminution of the athletics "legacy".

Time and financial reality often crush naive dreams, and it seems now that the Board will have to accept a bid from one of these two football clubs.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Spurs Bid "Completely Unacceptable"

The Chairman of UK Athletics (UKA), Ed Warner, has lashed out at Tottenham Hotspur's bid for the Olympic Stadium post London Olympics 2012.

Spurs with their bidding partner, AEG, have been named as one of the preferred bidders. However, if they win, they plan to remove the athletics track and turn the stadium into a mecca for the "god of football".

All very well, maybe. However, when the London Olympics organisers bid for the games in 2005 they made a "promise" (how these things tend to be "forgotten" with the passage of time) to leave a legacy of an athletics track.

Ed Warner hasn't forgotten that promise, and has told the BBC:

"It is [essential] for Tottenham and AEG to go back to the original promise made in 2005.

That was about UK Athletics being at the heart of the Olympic Park...

Anything they might propose for an athletics legacy has to be a compromise to the stadium continuing to operate at a world-class level. To my mind that is completely unacceptable."

The question is will money override fairweather promises?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Price Promise Breached

The ticket prices for the London 2012 Olympics were published last Friday. Without any "irony" the highest price ticket is in fact £2,012 (for the opening ceremony on July 27 2012).

Notwithstanding that, the organisers claim that they have honoured promises to sell tickets at affordable prices (approximately 33% will be available at £20 or less).

However, their original estimate from the organisers was that approximately 50% of the tickets would be priced at £20 or less.

Tickets for the closing ceremony will cost up to £1,500. Athletics finals up to £725, and the finals of swimming, diving, gymnastics and beach volleyball will cost up to £450.

Unsurprisingly most of these will be sold off in blocks to corporate hospitality providers.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Legacy Matters

Tottenham Hotspurs' recent bid to move into the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 games has one rather significant problem, it does not include any provision for an athletics track.

Spurs do not want a track, because it will detract from having a "perfect" football stadium.

All very well, maybe. However, London 2012 won its Olympic bid on the basis of a promise to the International Olympic Committee that part of the legacy of the games would be an athletics track capable of staging major events.

Who will blink first?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Locog Snubs East End

The London 2012 Olympics organisers (Locog) have managed to ruffle some feathers again, this time they have upset Newham council over plans to change the marathon route.

Locog want to move the finish of the marathon from the stadium in Stratford, East London, to the Mall.

Seemingly Locog want to create the "best experience for spectators and athletics and to profile London".

All very well, but the games were sold to world, and to the people of the East End, on the basis of regeneration and leaving a legacy in the area in which they are being staged (ie Stratford).

By snubbing the area which is having to put up with the disruption of the preparation for the games, and indeed the disruption that the games themselves will cause, Locog are at the very least being insensitive to the residents of Stratford and the East End.

Paul Brickell, Newham Council's executive member for Olympics, is quoted by the BBC:

"The route comes out from Aldgate, through Whitechapel and Stepney and Bow to Stratford and that is a fantastic street with 1,000 years of history.

The stories about that street are incredible and I reckon any marathon commentator could make it really interesting for a world audience.

This is a golden opportunity for those residents to be part of the greatest show on earth for free, on their doorsteps.

If these plans go ahead there will be a lot of disappointed residents in east London."

Tourists, Olympic visitors etc should be given a different perspective of London, other than the standard image portrayed on postcards etc of the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace etc.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Legacy

The London Assembly is not very pleased with the legacy plans of the Olympics Board for the Olympics stadium.

The Telegraph reports that the plans to transform the stadium from its 80,000 capacity at Games time, to a 25,000 seat athletics arena were "flawed" and have contributed to delays in securing a lasting legacy.

Len Duvall, Chairman of the economic development, culture, sport and tourism committee is quoted:

"An elite 25,000-seat athletics stadium is not, and was never going to be, in the long-term interests of the East End or of the taxpayer."

Mr Duvall is correct. However, he misses the essential truth, the London Olympics have never been planned or "budgeted" with the interests of the East End or taxpayer in mind.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Legacy

The Guardian reports that the Olympics Minister, Tessa Jowell, has called upon West Ham to bid for the Olympics stadium.

All very well, however if West Ham were to bid and win the bid this may well conflict with the promised Olympics legacy (as outlined in the original bid that won the UK the right to hold the 2012 Olympics).

For why?

The stadium capacity needs to be around 25,000, in order to accommodate the athletics legacy pledged to the IOC in London's bid.

However, this is not a capacity that would suit West Ham.

Who will win?

The bid that offers the most money.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Passport To London 2012

Evidently the Councillors in Pas-de-Calais have been watching that fine Ealing classic "Passport To Pimlico".

That can be the only conclusion to draw from their plans to jump on the Olympics 2012 bandwagon, and rebrand Pas-de-Calais as being part of Britain.

Dominique Dupilet, head of the Pas-de-Calais' county council, is quoted in the Telegraph:

"I consider that we are the south of England, and because we're the south of England it's normal that we would associate ourselves with this extraordinary event."

The region has already signed a contract with Chad's boxing, wrestling, judo and athletics teams to hold training camps in the region. The canoe and kayak teams of Uzbekistan and Senegal have also agreed to train in Pas-de-Calais ahead of the Games.

I assume that Pas-de-Calais will be paying their share of the costs of the games then?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Disastrous Figures

The government claims that there will be a "sporting legacy" from the London 2012 Olympics. The government has made much of a target to increase, by two million by 2012, the 6.8m people playing sport, or doing some form of physical exercise for 30 minutes three times a week.

However, quarterly figures just released show that only three sports (athletics, canoeing and cycling) have recorded an increase in the number of people participating at least once a week; all the others have flatlined.

Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat shadow culture, media and sport secretary, is quoted in The Guardian:

"These disastrous figures show the government's Olympic legacy strategy is going badly wrong. Many sports which have had huge funding increases are actually witnessing a decline in participation."

Throwing money at a problem is not always the best way to resolve it.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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IOC Warns Against White Elephant Legacy

The head of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, has stirred up a hornets' nest by publicly stating that London 2012's main stadium does not need an athletics legacy.

He told the BBC that the main concern for London 2012's organisers should be to avoid leaving behind "white elephants".

Quote:

"If the best solution is to transform the track into something else then we would be in favour of that.

We had the same situation in Atlanta where the Olympic Stadium was changed into a baseball stadium, which kept an interest for sport.

We don't have problems with that. I don't want to enter into specifics but we don't want to leave white elephants."

This of course means that the stadium can be turned into a football stadium afterwards. All very well, but hardly the "legacy" that the government had promised.

Lord Coe promised that the £525M complex would be a "stadium with track and field as its primary legacy".

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Get On With It

The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, has issued a thinly disguised "hurry up" message to the London Olympics organisers.

Rogge told the BBC that London "is doing OK", but must focus on delivering the Games on time.

Quote:

"We urge them to work as soon as possible and to prepare today for the unforeseen of tomorrow."

Hardly a ringing endorsement of progress made so far.

Rogge also said that he remained optimistic that a permanent tenant for the London Olympic stadium will be found.

The current legacy plan is to reduce the stadium's capacity from 80,000 to 25,000 in 2013, and use it as a multi-sport venue with athletics and community facilities at its heart.

However, LOCOG need a football or rugby club to become the "anchor tenant" and thus subsidise the stadium. The trouble being that the plans for the stadium do not include a roof for the majority of the seats.

Another example of the poor planning of this event.

Olympics Organisers Grilled

The organisers of the London 2012 Olympics submitted themselves to a grilling by the people of Stratford yesterday. Around 200 Londoners filled the Stratford Circus arts venue, for a 2012 Olympic Question and Answer session.

Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee, promised that the stadium to be built at Stratford to hold the games would continue to be available for the staging of athletics events and for local youths.

Quote:

"It's very clear. We went to Singapore for the bid and made a commitment it would be a multi-purpose stadium for the local community.

You cannot just leave an 80,000-seater stadium in a lunar landscape without any thought of how the legacy will pan out over the years to come.

We will be constructing a permanent 25,000-seater stadium with temporary seating for 50,000. It is a very well-thought-out legacy.

It doesn't stop us talking to local rugby clubs and amateur football clubs."

It will come down to money at the end of the day after the games. In the event that the stadium does not look financially viable, when run purely for athletics, those organisations with large wallets (ie football clubs) will inevitably end up calling the shots.

Coe Goes For Gold

Sebastian Coe, head of the London 2012 Olympics, will hear next weekend if he has been elected vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the world governing body.

If successful, he will be one step closer to becoming president of the IOC.

The Legacy

Something of a storm is brewing between British athletes and the organisers of the London Olympics 2012, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), over the legacy of the games.

The legacy in many athletes eyes, and indeed as was promised to the IOC, was that the main Olympic stadium would become an international flagship venue for track and field events after 2012.

However, it seems that the legacy is changing as the organisers belatedly realise/admit that the legacy has to be commercially viable.

As I keep repeating, the Games are not about sport they are about money.

The final designs and legacy plans for the £500M stadium are not due to be signed off until the autumn. However, a new report by management consultants PMP proposes a multi-use facility which would only be available for athletics for a third of the year.

There are also no plans to re-house the warm-up track to be built alongside the Olympic Stadium after the Games, this makes it impossible for London to bid for the World Athletics Championships.

A spokeswoman for UK Athletics is quoted in The Telegraph as saying:

"An athletics legacy was part of the promise made by the London 2012 bid team in Singapore and UK Athletics fully expect that legacy to be delivered post 2012.

If athletics is to optimise its use of the Olympic Stadium facility and develop high quality athletics events for all age groups then there must be a warm-up track as part of that legacy.

UK Athletics would have grave concerns over revised proposals that would not enable the sport to enjoy the fruits of the promised legacy."

Good old fashioned fudge will be the "dish" of the day, once the plans are finalised.