Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, England, has committed himself to a London 2012 Olympic bid and said that running for the Games is now down to Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The British Olympic Committee has already said it was interested in bringing the Games to Britain in 2012.
Livingstone said, “Tony Blair has to decide some time this summer if this is something he wants to throw the weight of the government behind. The government is seriously considering it”.
“Clearly, they don’t want to rush into something that’s going to fail, but I think by the end of the summer there will be a clear indication of where they’re going”.
Livingstone said he feels that there are strong parallels to be drawn with Barcelona. When it was awarded the 1992 Games, it was the trigger for redevelopment of a large area of the city.
He said, “Barcelona had their waterfront, we’ve got the Thames gateway. There’s an incredible amount of land ready to go and needing regeneration to take London out eastwards. So we could be a success like Barcelona”.
And Livingstone believes there’s one factor that could help swing the Prime Minister’s decision on whether or not to campaign for the Olympics. He said: “In 2012 Tony Blair will be 59 years old. What a great way to end the longest premiership of recent times”.
