Following the announcement of London’s successful bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, London 2012 head Sebastian Coe said, “this is our moment”.
He told Sky Sports, “there were five very very strong cities, as sporting cities they don’t get much bigger. I’m absolutely ecstatic, we have the opportunity to do what we always dreamed about – getting more young people into sport. This is our moment”.
He added, “I think we have an obligation as a host city not to think only about our own county’s position. The spin-offs are massive off the back of it. We have to look at more than just London and work alongside the IOC. We made commitments and we will stick to them. It’s massive, – it’s huge”.
Coe said he will be involved in the actual Games and preparations for them.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking from the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland where he is hosting the G8 Conference, called it a team effort. He said Coe and CEO Keith Mills and the team were “brilliant”.
Blair said he couldn’t watch the announcement on television and it was relayed to him by telephone.
Queen Elizabeth sent her “warmest congratulations” to Coe. She said, “I send my warmest congratulations to you and every member of the London 2012 team for winning the bid for the UK.
“It’s a really outstanding achievement to beat such a highly competitive field”.
Senior Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper said London won because of the way it sold its message in the final hours. “They delivered on the day. The presentations just had that little extra feel”.
IOC Member Dick Pound of Canada credits London’s win to the Prime Minister and his wife Cherie Blair who were campaigning in Singapore for two days.
London 2012 had promised that should it win the bid it would appoint a dedicated Olympic Minister.
Sky News reports that Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport will become a dedicated Olympic Minister sitting in Cabinet.
Jowell will give up her current Cabinet post reports the newspaper.
