Olympics 2012

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Well, I did say we'd screw this one up and so, it seems, we are doing it rather nicely. The cost of the main stadium has risen from an estimated £282 million in 2004 to a figure of £547 million this month. And after the games, it will cost a mere £800,000/year to keep it open. No football or rugby club wants to take it over because it's design places the audience too far back from the pitch. And it is conceded that whatever is done with it, it won't make money until 2017 at the earliest and that's if they are lucky.

That does not of course matter to our politicians. The Mayor of London has said that it will be a wonderful facility for world class athletics while the Muppet, Hazel Blears, says it's all about creating communities where people will are happy to live and work for years to come. At the rate we're going, we should be able to use the arena for tents and soup kitchens for the homeless and unemployed.

Most writers compare the forthcoming debacle with the Millennium Dome, another financial fisaco. What none of them mention is location and logistics.

A simple glance at any UK map will show you that most of us Brits live to the North and West of London so what do they do? Build the Dome at Greenwich in the South East and the Olympic Stadium in Stratford to the East. You ever tried getting across Greater London? it is a nigthmare. Sure they may improve travel links but both will still be a bugger to get to (although Paula Radcliffe will no doubt have her own helicopter from Monaco.)

My son lives very close to Greenwich. Driving from Cardiff takes just 2 hours to Heathrow and anything between 1.5 and 3 hours to get to him from there. No idea what it would take to get to Stratford but I'd bet there would be no parking when I got there.

Apart from him, I did think that the location might be nice for my two doctor friends in Southend but then I realised that they'd have no time to see the Games. They'd be on call 24/7 to fix the sick and the maimed and Paula Radcliffe.

We never learn, do we? As I write, England is bidding to host the 2018 soccer World Cup. Another triumph of hope over experience.