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| London primed for quick start on 2012 Games (Sports) |
| | Poster: AP | Posting Date: 2005-07-07 | |
By Kate Holton Organizers of London's victorious bid to host the 2012 Olympics woke up somewhat dazed and bleary-eyed on Thursday to the news they had to start work immediately to produce a successful Games. London edged fierce rivals and favorites Paris by 54 votes to 50 in Wednesday's vote in Singapore, leaving the British organizers stunned, delirious and not quite sure how they had done it. The French team were disconsolate. But the London officials were immediately brought down to earth with advice from the Athens organizers who staged the most expensive Games in 2004. "Prepare early," Greek Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis said. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw led the praise for the work of bid leader Sebastian Coe and said the government would do all it could to make a London Games the best ever. "Lord Coe has taken the inspiration and energy which made him one of the world's greatest ever athletes and channeled it into building a powerful bid for London," he told the House of Commons on Wednesday. "His performance here, as it was on the track, has been phenomenal. "Today we can celebrate. From tomorrow we will start to make the Olympic vision come true." Paris had been the favorites throughout the bidding process and its officials were left stunned when International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge announced the result in a globally televised ceremony from Singapore. TASK AHEAD Madrid, New York and Moscow were ruled out at earlier stages of the voting. But immediately the size of the task ahead and the challenges became apparent. In a press conference minutes after the announcement, one journalist asked an ecstatic Prime Minister whether this would mean increasing taxes for the public and the capital's Evening Standard newspaper listed a string of promises the organizers must stick to. If the preparations are to run smoothly, Coe and his team will have to keep the notoriously fickle British press on side. "There can be none of the delays and brinkmanship about construction which blighted the Athens Games last year nor anything resembling the cock-ups that bedeviled the new Wembley," the Standard said, in reference to delays incurred over the national soccer stadium. Greece effectively wasted three years of preparations and was forced to foot a bill of more than 9.0 billion euros ($10.71 billion), more than twice the initial estimate, mainly because of the delays. London mayor Ken Livingstone and the government have agreed a public funding package of up to 2.375 billion pounds ($4.16 billion) to cover everything from new facilities to Olympic transport. Part of that would come from up to 1.5 billion pounds worth of lottery receipts. Increases in council taxes that will cost the average household about 20 pounds a year will also help fund the Games. Straw said the government would introduce a bill to outline their Olympic plans before parliament breaks for the summer recess on July 21 and said major contracts for work in the East End would be concluded in the next few weeks. The London bid centers on a run-down area in the east of the city, the Lower Lea Valley, where the Olympic village will be built. The organizers' passionate plea to use the Games to help regenerate the area may have played a significant part in clinching the result. Some building work has already begun on the site and Steve Cram, a former European and world champion, told Reuters the organizers were prepared to start full-time preparations immediately. "I don't think any time will be wasted at all," he said in an interview. "With a view to what happened in Athens, nobody wants that situation to arise."
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