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Olympics countdown diary | 77 comments (77 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Please Not London (none / 0)
boy you got that right.  I'm 10 years out of date but London's not up to it unless there have been huge changes.

Also, are the existing sports facilities adequate?  I went to Wembley in the early 90's and concluded that if it were in the US it would have been dynamited years earlier.  Even my college team had a nicer stadium.

As for places like the Oval, again ancient ramshackle facilities with miserable sightlines (at least from where I sat).  Didn't ever enter Lords but sure looked old and "full of tradition" from the 2nd level of the bus.  If this is what London is basing their bid on........

Not that we'd spend the money to fight the crowds half way around the world to watch track and field anyway.

by HiD on Mon Jul 4th, 2005 at 06:55:33 AM EST
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Re: Please Not London (none / 1)
I'm not quite sure about the majority of the facilities, but they're in the process of building a new Wembley, which would probably end up being the 'oficial' Olympic stadium. While it should be a pretty decent stadium, it's been criticized for having too many private boxes in the prime seating areas, as well as having sub-par transport links.

It's also a few billion pounds over budget and will end up a year or two late, but that's to be expected with English construction.

Lords' isn't that bad nowadays, but seeing as it's going to be used for Archery, I'm not all that worried about it. Beach Volleyball is going to be in horseguards, which, while pretty sacreligious, is nothing compared to having it in Tian'an'men Square (like they're planning for in Beijing).

As for the rest, I'm nto sure where they're building them. I remember hearing about plans to raize the hundred football pitches of Dalston to build an Olympic village, and to redevelop parts of the East End for it as well. However, in order for that area to be enev renotely accessible, they need Crossrail - which ain't happening for a long time.

by Scipio on Mon Jul 4th, 2005 at 07:21:38 AM EST
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Re: Please Not London (none / 1)
The London bid includes existing facilities like the boating lake, the new Wembley statduium (due for completion next year) for football and Wimbledon for tennis; some venues like Lords used for current Olympic sporte (archery) rather than their normal use for old Olympic sport; temposrary use of landmarks like Hoseguards for beach volleyball (Paris would use the area under the Eiffel Tower) with the main stadium, velodrom and other facilities including the Olympic village just outside Stratford.

The Olympic area will be served by a high speed link from Stratford. That station will be on the new high speed channel tunnel link that terminates at Kings Cross and extra link trains will be run along that line. Crossrail may well go ahead for completion by 2012 if the bid is successful but Stratford is also served by the Jubilee Line extension which gets to central London in about 15 minutes and also the Docklands light railway which links to London City airport. Transport is therefore probably as easy as Paris even thought Paris has a more compact city centre bid.

Of the bidders, Moscow and New York are probably likely to go out first. Moscow has image and security problems. New York's bid should have been ruled out according to the rules because of the loss of the original stadium site. Madrid is likely to go out in the third round - although it has some positive aspects, its major disadvantage is that Spain had the Barcelona games fairly recently. London and Paris will probably be in the last run-off. Their bids are thought to be fairly evenly balanced with Paris having existing builds and more hotel rooms available at the time, London's bid has greater legacy (the main site will be used for a sports academy with the main stadium "shrinking" in capacity for ordinary meets) and regenerates a far bigger area than the Paris bid.

The final vote is thought to be so tight that indescrete remarks from Chirac about Finnish food might swing the balance. If London did get it, it would at least mean that there will be more time to prepare than the last time when there were less than three years after London bailed out the Olympics with a venue for 1948 when no-one else was willing or capable to. It will also bring the Olympics back to the home of the modern Olympics (read the history and where de Coubertain got the idea)    

by Londonbear on Mon Jul 4th, 2005 at 08:45:04 PM EST
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Olympics countdown diary | 77 comments (77 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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