Although, the Evening Standard reports some International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials believe that IOC President Jacques Rogge and the IOC Ethics Commission are “nit-picking” too much in the race for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, and it is widely recognized in IOC circles that London 2012 has made huge strides in the last few months of the campaign because of the lobbying efforts of its bid chief Sebastian Coe and chief executive Keith Mills, the publicity surround the package of incentives announced last week in Berlin has lengthened the odds that London will be elected 2012 Summer Olympics host city.
The latest odds from Australia’s leading sports bookmaker Centrebet show Paris still in the lead at 1-2 from 2-5, London 11-4 from 9-4, New York at 10-1 unchanged, Madrid 12-1 from 14-1 and Moscow at 50-1 also unchanged.
The newspaper reports that apparently Paquerette Girard-Zapelli, the French judge responsible for policing the 2012 race, did not believe that the London 2012 bid team had broken any major rules in launching the package of incentives to athletes and sports federations. But the newspaper says it has learned that Rogge was “on the rampage and forced an ethics investigation following the unfortunate development”.
One IOC insider said Monday “the members are fed up with the nit-picking of Rogge and the Ethics Commission. Many feel the whole process has gone way over the top and the bidding is being choked of life”.
According to the newspaper former IOC marketing director Michael Payne, who worked for the organization for two decades said, “the IOC need to walk the fine line between encouraging a city to bid and be creative and not suffocating the bidding process. You do not address the excesses of some years ago by micro-managing the current rules process”.
Payne backed Coe’s view that the row over the incentives would not damage London’s bid. He said it wasn’t a death knell to London. “If anything, it could turn out to be a virtue since it is addressing issues that were problems at previous Games. In fact, some of the actions proposed were either encouraged by the IOC or have been written into the host city contracts as an obligation – such as the travel”.
One senior member of Rogge’s ruling executive board admitted, “we are going to have to make these rules much clearer”.
According to the Evening Standard, London’s bid won the best marks for its presentations skills when the IOC’s evaluation commission visited London in February. It reports that in terms of marketing and the technical prowess of the plans, London clearly has the ability to beat Paris.
The commission is not expected to impose any sanctions on London 2012, says the Standard.
