The 13-member International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission arrived in London Tuesday for its four-day inspection tour of the city for London’s 2012 Olympic bid. They will inspect the bid February 16-19.
A three-storey high statue and a 750,000 high-tech exhibition at Trafalgar Square will be launched February 19 for the public, but during their visit the Evaluation Commission members will be able to view the fibreglass sculpture of a female middle-distance runner holding a British flag, Britain’s largest ever image of an athlete, which will stand next to Nelson’s Column. The statue will accompany a 300-square-metre promotional display called “Home of the Bid”.
It seems that the normally congested traffic is flowing a little more freely this week because of the IOC visit. The Times reports that traffic light sequences have been altered to enable a fleet of cars to speed the inspectors to their destinations, and that all efforts will be made to speed up the flow of buses and public transport.
The London 2012 bid committee will be addressing previous IOC concerns, one of them being that plans for the use of Greenwich Park, Hyde Park, Regent’s Park and Horse Guards Parade were “unclear” as venues since no money was allocated for their upgrade. London 2012 has now made it clearer how public parks will be used for events such as equestrian at Greenwich Park and beach volleyball at House Guards Parade.
The bid has also promised to avoid creating “white elephants” and has axed three venues because they were too far from Stratford.
Five of the nine new venues in the Olympic park will be retained after the Games and become London’s Olympic Institute promoting grassroots sports. All new facilities will have 25-year business plans. Four sports arenas and swimming and water polo pools will all be rebuilt in the regions.
London’s Olympic Village will be the most spacious in the Games’ history with 17,320 beds and 16 security square metres per athlete. Each apartment will have a private courtyard, TV and Internet access. The Village will become flats after the Games.
The government and Metropolitan Police will oversee security and there will be a Cabinet-level Olympic Security Committee to coordinate anti-terror planning.
Meanwhile, the British public is overwhelmingly in favour of the Olympics coming to London in 2012, but they don’t believe the city will win the bid, according to a new poll.
The ICM research for the Guardian found that while 74 per cent of those questioned backed the bid, only 39 per cent were confident that the Games would come to London.
About 52 per cent thought London would lose the bid become of opposition from Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid. In May last year only 44 per cent felt London would lose the 2012 race.
