Edward Davie analyses London’s chances of winning the race to hold the world’s biggest sports event in under a decade’s time

The build-up to the summer’s Athens Games was dogged by concerns that city’s venues would not be ready and its infrastructure would not cope. In the event a sprint finish meant that Greece delivered a games that for many surpassed even Sydney 2000, which was said to be the best Olympics of the modern era.

Athens proved that a city could overcome negative expectations and succeed against the odds. As such, their example gives hope to London’s bid which, despite making it to the shortlist, still lags behind the favourites.
From the moment London became a candidate city it ran into difficulties with a controversial change of bid leader from American business woman Barbara Cassani to Olympic hero and Conservative peer Lord Coe.

However, London is thought to have made up ground on its rivals during the Athens games. Not only did UK athletes win more medals than forecast but the British supporters often outdid even the Greeks in numbers and visibility. That is said to have impressed members of the International Olympic Committee who place great store on the anticipated level of public participation in a Games. The committee may now feel that the sports-mad British will fill seats in 2012 in a way the French would not, perhaps allowing London to close in on the Paris favourites.

The Athens Paralympics, a part of the Olympic cycle originating in Britain, also provided an opportunity for the bid to gain points. With extensive BBC coverage and British fans outnumbering other supporters, London proved that if it wins then the Paralympics would also be well attended and given mass exposure. This was in marked contrast to the New York bid, which is thought to have suffered from the fact there was virtually no American broadcast or press coverage of the Paralympics.

The next challenge for London comes in February when the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission visits the city to assess the bid. The commission’s final report will be the key to determining the bid winner, to be announced at the IOC session in Singapore next July.

The inspection panel, led by Morocco’s 1984 Olympic 400 metres hurdles champion Nawal El Moutawakal, will meet bid leaders and city and government officials during the visits. They will need convincing that London’s already stretched transport infrastructure can be improved in time to cope with the strain of the Games. 

London’s bid leaders will need to be persuasive in convincing the committee that the brownfield sites of the East End will be transformed into the kind of venues that already exist in Paris. 

However London’s ace cards include the prospect of events in some of the most famous sporting venues in the world including tennis at Wimbledon and football at a rebuilt Wembley with a GB football team competing for the first time.

Before the commission’s visit the London bid is desperate to generate enthusiasm among the general public for hosting the Games. The major political parties are backing the bid, although the UK Independence Party has said it wants Paris to win in order to spare London the huge expense.

The government says it is doing everything it can to support the bid despite a refusal to appoint a specific “Olympic minister”, as recommended by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee. 

With the backing of political leaders, including London’s mayor, the bid must now do more to win round the public who will actually pay for the games. Despite an advertising campaign, many people are not yet as excited about the prospect of Britain hosting the Olympics for the first time since 1948 as organisers would like. Some would say the public have yet to be convinced that London has a realistic prospect of winning, and that there are worries the Olympics might prove a very expensive millstone.

For their next steps the bid’s leaders are set to build on the momentum created by the success of the Athens Games and Britain’s contribution. But they also need to prove that the country will not repeat the disasters of Pickett’s Lock and the Millennium Dome, and can actually deliver lasting benefits for London and beyond.

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