British Sports Minister Richard Caborn says that London will prove “terrorists can’t win” by staging a successful Olympics in 2012. Caborn told BBC Sports, “we can show that terrorists can’t win by bringing people together through sport”. He added that he was confident London would stage a safe and secure Games. “We’ve got some of the most professional people in terms of security in the world. That is why we were asked to give that expertise to both Athens (2004) and Sydney (2000).
He also said London was well prepared, vowing that London would not suffer the same problems that hampered Athens.
He said, “I’m pretty sure we’ll deliver on time and on budget. At this stage we are three years in front of what Athens was doing”.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge said that the London 2012 Games will be better following the axing of baseball and softball from the Olympic program. Rogge said, “we want quality over quantity”.
Rogge also hopes he’s put an end to criticism of British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s involvement in London’s Olympic bid.
Paris 2012 was reportedly angered that Blair met with IOC members in his Singapore hotel room and probably persuaded a few to vote in London’s favour.
Rogge said, “what we call political influence is that a member would be swayed in his decision for political ideological reasons. There’s nothing wrong with having a conversation with a major politician from a bid city. Mr. Blair never asked an (IOC) member to become a member of the Labor Party.
“He tried to sell the idea that the member vote for London. Political influence is certainly something else”.
Rogge said none of the cities broke rules designed to stamp out corruption in the bidding process.
“Sometimes they were close to the limits, sometimes we had to give a little slap on the fingers, but they responded well. In the past we’ve been criticized because there was too much laxity, too much red-carpet treatment, this time we did not see that”.
