Simon Clegg, chief executive of the British Olympic Association, is meeting with government officials and lawmakers Tuesday in a campaign to secure government support for a London 2012 bid.
Clegg told Associated Press, “please tell me that we, the third or fourth largest economy in the world, are not up to staging this even when other countries such as Greece, with all their transportation, pollution, ecological and environmental challenges, can bid successfully for the Games and stage it successfully as I believe they will in 2004”.
A published report says that London’s transport infrastructure must be improved if a bid to host the 2012 Games is to stand a chance. Greater capacity on public transport, already struggling at regular commuter levels, is needed to cope with the thousands of extra people who would flock to the capital, reports the London Assembly.
According to the report London could expect to cope with 11,000 athletes, 10,000 support staff, 20,000 journalists and up to nine million spectators. Another 3,000 jobs would be created around east London where up to 150,000 spectators could travel for morning events.
Also, estimates suggest that approximately 125,000 of these spectators would travel from or through central London.
Meg Hillier, chair of the London Assembly’s culture committee said, “major projects need to be started by the government as soon as possible if they are going to be completed on time. If the government decides to back a bid, we ask that it is bold in its support. A half-hearted bid will do no favours to London or the UK. We believe that if the will of Londoners, London government and the government is behind a successful bid then we have a sporting chance of hosting the Olympics in 2012”.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair made his first public comments Monday about a London bid. Blair said he supports a London bid but only if the city has a good chance of winning. “You can’t guarantee these things but are we going to have a realistic prospect of winning? It would be a very odd person who said, ‘if we could get the Olympics in London should you take it?’ The question is, will we be able to do that? Is it likely that we will succeed?”
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, a key Cabinet minister supporting the bid, said a London Olympics could cost the government $4 billion. An earlier government-funded report estimated the cost of a bid at $2.8 billion. The report found that, depending on tourism income and other benefits such as job creation, the Games could post a $127.9 billion profit or a $226.2 million deficit.
Jowell says the decision on whether the government will back a bid is “very finely balanced”.
Jowell told the BBC, “I think there is a very strong sporting case (for a London bid) but a decision of this kind of scale and impact on the business of government for 10 years to come is a decision that has got to be a decision of the whole of government, a decision taken and justified by more than just the sporting benefits alone”.
Following Tuesday’s meeting of the Commons select committee, the issue will be debated in the House of Commons. Jowell travels to Lausanne Switzerland to meet with International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge on Friday.
