- 7 Jan 09, 02:24 PM
It doesn't make me very popular with London 2012 organisers but I'm not a great fan of Olympic anniversaries - 1,000 days to go to the Games and all that.
They are great for people who collect Olympic badges - and, believe it or not, Beijing produced loads of pins with various "days to go" and the same Chinese company is doing the badges for London - but they mean little to the rest of us.
But there IS a significant Olympic anniversary on 16 January. It's going to be the halfway point between London winning the bid in July 2005 and the opening ceremony - three-and-a-half years gone and three-and-a-half to go.
So 2012 officials are going to face a recession right in the middle of their preparations for the Games.
Like a cake in the oven hit by a power cut in the middle of baking, the Games will be affected. But how?
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One thing that isn't going to be hit much by the economic downturn is the Olympic Stadium. I was walking around the site the other day with Olympic Delivery Authority chairman John Armitt and construction is racing ahead.
Take a look at one of the webcams on the BBC London website and you will see the remarkable progress.
The policy is to speed ahead and attempt to help London build its way out of the approaching recession. Chairman Lord Coe was stressing the other day how important the Olympic project will be for both work and business in the capital. Expect to hear that message a lot in the next 12 months.
But there will have to be some cost-cutting across the £9.3 billion project. Some of the construction costs may actually fall because of a lack of demand for building services during the recession.
But most of the money-saving will come from changes to the organisation of the Games.
Expect 2009 to see London's "bid book" from 2004 to be re-written - probably by the spring. Fewer temporary venues will be built and some sports like badminton, rhythmic gymnastics and shooting are likely to see their venues moved to cheaper locations.
The media centre will not be as grand as originally planned and the apartments in the village will be designed differently.
Some of the sports will complain that their competitors are not being treated correctly but the International Olympic Committee is unlikely to kick up a fuss in the middle of a global recession.
The real challenge will be to make sure the cost-cutting doesn't go so far that the Games will look too "cheap" in 2012 when the economy is - we hope - in much better shape.
This is going to be a difficult balancing act for Seb Coe and John Armitt this year.
The Olympic cake will have to look and taste right in 2012 despite losing power and heat this year.
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This olympics is a complete waste of time and money, just think the 9.375 billion been spent on this 17 day show, could be used elsewere in the country, we could improve all of the leisure centres in the uk for just 2 billion.
the government say this games will leave a lasting legacy but we do not have the capacity of coaches to cope witht he new influx of young children wanting to play a new sport, also grassroots sports is been sacrificed to host this games, with sport england withdrawing all grass roots funding and using it for elite sport.
so all in all the olympics stand a better chance of harming british sport than aiding it.
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The olympics is a big party, a feel good factor and exposure that comes at a price.
The legacy to some people will be 6 months of eager jogging and sports facilities will be full - then it will tail off, like gym memberships in March after the January boom.
Be realistic, for something that happens once in a lifetime, I reckon £9 million is fine.
The Chancellor spent more than that by reducing VAT for a year, and look how useless that was to everyone.
The Olympics cannot be valued by a £ sign. It's much more than that, and we are lucky to have been granted temporary custody of it in 2012.
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I completely agree with comment 1. I play sunday morning football and last weekend we turned up for an away match at a sports centre paid £2.40 per car to park, paid to use the facilities and referee. Following a delayed kick off we returned to our cars to find parking tickets as we had gone 10 minutes over the allocated time. How is this going to attract people to leisure centres!?! to rub salt into the wound the car park was not even 1/4 full.
How come when ever large amounts of money are spent the average person never reeps the reward!?
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I completely disagree with the comments stating that this will be a 17 day party.
The Olympic project will rejuvenate a deprived area of the city and draw millions of tourists for years to come. This is clearly evidenced in cities like Barcelona where the legacy is there for all to see. Once the infrastructure was in place it attracted business and tourism on a huge scale to what was essentially old dock yards. The same thing will happen within London if managed correctly.
Forget cynical comments about Britain not having the coaches etc. A large part of our 2008 medal haul came from the superb coaching techniques of our British cycling team ? recently recognised in the honors list. We have historically underachieved due to a lack of facilities and this has now been addressed. Great Britain is on a sporting high after the Olympics, and this so-called ?7 day party? is exactly what this country needs right now. Bring on the Olympics!!
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i'd like to know what authoirty these comments are made on? Not enough coaches etc etc? How often are you out in the cold and wet working with youngsters to try and nurture and develop the next generation of ports stars?
As a fully qualified coach, albeit in a non olympic sport, i see only positives from the whole project. there are thousands of talented athletes across the country and an army of able and capable coaches to support and bring them on.
Most sports have instigated new practices in the last 5 years to bring up levels of coaching and perhaps this is justified in the glourious days surronding Beijing?
Sport england might have withdrawn funding but individual sports bodies have not.
i guess we could fold our arms, moan and let our kids grow up into the fattest and laziest generation ever?
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So the Olympics costs us 9 Billion to put on, which is a significant amount of cash. However, surely that's before you start adding back the revenue that will be gained from tourism...?
I mean, people will be flying in some using British companies and majority through the UK Airports. Then there hotels, food & drink plus entertainment for the many thousands of people that will head to the UK and London.
AFTER all the money that the event raises is deducted from the project cost we can see if it was still a huge expense.
However, a successful Olympics at home should only spurr and encourage people to use the sports facilities in some ways?
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Hopefully this will end the bonkers decisions that have been made to 'keep the games within the vicinity of London' such as building a mountain biking track in one of the flattest parts of the country. Maybe now they will do the sensible thing and host the sport somewhere like the Brecon Beacons. Share the sports around the UK. There are plenty of suitable locations outside London. I mean, Beach Volleyball at Buckingham Palace....
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Actually, I agree with point 1. But I would like to add, remember when the olympics was for Amateurs only? People who worked and did sport as a past time, but trained as often as they could, are now a thing of the past. We are now repeating how the origional olympics went. Only proffesionals will get the nod to represent thier nation.
Personally, I did not watch anything from the last event in China, not because of politics, but because of drugs. Every time an American, a Brit, or a Chinees or a Russian, or any of the other big nations come romping home, I can't help but thinking, where they on drugs? Virtually all sports are now awash with performance enhancing drugs, why should I cheer on portential cheats? Sorry, but I have no time for these sort of people, in fact I hardly ever watch any sports now.
As for the grass roots, bringing on the future, it is difficult to bring on the future when schools are selling their sports grounds for lots of money so houses or offices can be built on them. Where fore the future?
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this_is_why_im_hot wrote:
"the government say this games will leave a lasting legacy but we do not have the capacity of coaches to cope witht he new influx of young children wanting to play a new sport, also grassroots sports is been sacrificed to host this games, with sport england withdrawing all grass roots funding and using it for elite sport.
so all in all the olympics stand a better chance of harming british sport than aiding it."
this_is_why_im_hot
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this_is_why_im_hot wrote:
"the government say this games will leave a lasting legacy but we do not have the capacity of coaches to cope witht he new influx of young children wanting to play a new sport, also grassroots sports is been sacrificed to host this games, with sport england withdrawing all grass roots funding and using it for elite sport.
so all in all the olympics stand a better chance of harming british sport than aiding it."
this_is_why_im_hot
This is simply not true, I work in sport, at grass roots level and our sport has had a 15% increase in funding for the next four years FOR grass roots sports and just for grass roots sport.
UK Sport has also increased our funding to our elite end so get your facts right.
Sport England are funding grass roots sports.
Stick to facts or you end up looking a fool like the BBC's own Adrian Warner.
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Just to vent my personal disappointment at those who agree with the first comment, the Olympic games will change Britain as we know it today. It will bring about a great resurgence in sport uptake and I know many will be cynical that this will be a temporary thing, but why should it be? I noticed the immediate uptake as soon as Beijing finished when the pools were full!
To clarify to people, it has been clearly stated that the project will cost £9.325 Billion, but this is the full project, not the 17 days of Olympic competition, but also the 14 days of Paralympic competition which gets overlooked so much when we are so good at it! The cost involved is also not for these 4 or so weeks of sport, it is for the revitalisation of a deprived part of the country and will provide affordable housing to thousands in the capital.
The whole country will feel the benefits with the influx of tourism the games will bring. It is possible that the revenue the games will provide will cover the costs of running them.
I'm a medical professional and I see the great benefits that sport will have on this country and home success in 2012 will boost sport uptake. Why should people be so cynical?
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I understand that LIDL is one of the new sponsors.
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I believe Riiiten has summarized it very nicely! Done correctly it can be a great benefit to a city (read Barcelona, Atlanta). Done incorrectly it can be an absolute mess for decades to come (read Montreal!)
I for one am eagerly awaiting the enxt Olympics in your lovely city that I just visited in September!
My favourite slideshows
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I think those people who don't see the benefit of the Olympic Games either believe the cynical journalists that don't understand the sports development world or don't understand how sport works themselves. I believe the meida has a lot to blame for this negativity. Numbers such as £9 billion have been quoted etc. What people don't understand is that this money is not just for the building of stadia and for regeneration etc. It's also funding elite and grassroot sport that will provide what the Olympics is all about- legacy.
I work in a post that is within sports development at the management but before then I have coached at grassroots and elite level. Currently my role is directly linked to developing and strategically changing school sport and grassroot sports. Money that is being made available for this to happen is part of that huge pot of money. People brandish hige sums of money without fully knowing the full facts. The facts are this-
1) We live in an age that is concerned about obesity so physical activity and sport are crucial. Youngsters will be inspired by the Olympics.
2) A comment made about the leagcy lasting 6 months is not true. 4 years of groundwork has gone in before 2012 and this will ensure sustainability post 2012. This would happen without the Olympics BUT couldn't happen if we hadn't have won the Olympics in the first place.
3) It will regenerate one of the most deprived areas of Britain and create jobs, not just for the current residents but for the 15-18 year olds currently.
4) Britan can take pride in the fact that they will put on a fantastic show with the whole world watching and thinking how fantastic London AND the UK is. This will increase tourism post 2012 but more importantly prove the cynics wrong and show them that we can succeed as a nation.
Please get your facts right before criticising the biggest thing to happen to Britain for years!
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One more thing- kwikscull, thankyou for pointing out the fact that grassroot funding has increased by 15%. Everyone should go to Sport England's website to find out more! Look into the sports whole sport plans!
Sport England hasn't cut funding to grassroots, it has merely passed the funding over to the National Governing Bodies and they decide where to place the money. This is a wise move as its the NGBs that have the working knowledge and not SE. Sport England have also reduced costs by getting rid of their regional offices and working from a central hub. Something which has saved millions. Less beaurocracy!
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I completely disagree with the 1st comment on here. The Olympics will not harm British sport, how could it? We are becoming a much more sport focused country,with children in schools being coached much more than before. How can you say we don't have the capacity of coaches-there are an increasing amount emerging and people studying degrees in coaching, in order to be able to coach 2012 hopefuls.
The Olympics are going to transform the lives of many people, not only in London, but from all over the UK. They are the greatest opportunity many of todays children are going to experience for a very long time, so we should just let them grab this valuble opportunity with both hands.
I am sure Seb Coe will not settle for the Olympic Park looking cheap, and I think that what has already been achieved is remarkable given the current economic climate.
I think we will all be suprised by the final result, the plans have already come a long way and now we should look foward to the remaining 3 and a half years in the run up to London 2012.
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Wow 9 billion for Olympics, well its time to promote your Olympics websites by submitting them to social bookmarking websites.
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