Let the Games begin: London 2012

30 January 2012 - 18:05

By Nancy Richards

At an estimated cost of £9-billion, London is ready for the Olympics, writes Nancy Richards

ON July 27 last year, a beaming David Cameron stood on a stage in Trafalgar Square and told a sea of people that London was ready for the 30th Olympic Games, "on time and under budget".

An even more ebullient Boris Johnson said they were so ready they could "hold a snap Olympics tomorrow". Less than two weeks later, both the British prime minister and the London mayor would cut short their holidays to return to their capital in flames, to street riots and looting. All police leave would be cancelled and the "full force of the law" would be brought in to restore order.

But they didn't know that then. Back on that stage, specially erected for the One-Year-to-Go celebrations, trumpeters and mascots rubbed shoulders with VIPs. Princess Anne unveiled the medals and, screened live from the newly completed Aquatic Centre just 8km away, 17-year-old Tom Daley christened the pool with a perfect inward somersault pike.

The countdown clock ticked 365, confetti fluttered and cheers erupted. It was potent stuff. In among the crowd, from every corner of the globe, I stood and looked around in wonder.

The next day, destined for an interview with Lord Sebastian Coe, chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, I took a Tube to Canary Wharf, the glass-and-steel village where the LOCOG offices are on the 21st floor of 1 Churchill Place. In the hallowed halls of the Olympic gods, breakaway meeting rooms were humming.

The view from a plate-glass window took in the entire stretch of the Olympic site located deliberately in the energetic but once badly neglected East London boroughs of Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets.

After waiting an hour , I am called in. I have 15 minutes. I can forgive this man anything - a double-gold medallist himself, still fit at 55, Coe's schedule is heroic: reportedly 400 meetings and press interviews in three days. His office separates him from a swathe of people at computers, but he spends little time there: mostly he's out spreading the word.

"One of the reasons London won the bid again (it was host city both in 1908 and 1948) was because of its strong multi-faceted legacy component," he tells me. "There are currently 15000 people working on the Park, 20% from the host boroughs, many previously unemployed and all of whom have been given training and skills."

When the games are over, the area and its residents will undoubtedly be richer, and it will also be on the map - "Most Londoners have never been east of Aldgate." Patently, the games are not just about sport.

"The Olympic Park Legacy Company has been set up to leverage every last ounce, and every building has been designed to maximise its legacy from the outset."

Part of the £268-million, 17500-seater Aquatic Centre will be dismantled, leaving a manageable 2500 seats, and the Olympic village itself has been minutely planned to convert into social housing, complete with community medical facilities.

Having been to South Africa for an IOC meeting, Coe is upbeat about what sport can do for a country. "It's a continuum of nation building," he says, citing how well South Africa showcased itself in the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Conscious of the fact that many of the Trafalgar Square revellers were foreigners, I ask about the response from Londoners themselves.

"Well, given that 250000 people want to be volunteers, nominations for the 8000 people to carry the torch on its 8000km relay route are way oversubscribed and there's been a world-record demand for tickets, it doesn't look like they're going to sit out the dance," he replies.

With apologies, he slips on his jacket and takes a brief for his lunch appointment. To mull over the mind-boggling stats - 10500 athletes, 4500 Paralympians, 21000 media - I have lunch at Jamie's Italian across the square. A divinely creamy bocconcini caprese salad with torn basil makes another wait worthwhile. Diana, the manager, is excited that, come September, she'll be moving to the new Stratford branch of Jamie's, right in the heart of Olympic land.

In nearby Canada Square, flanked by giant TV screens pumping out the latest news, lunch-time office workers are doing takeaway wraps on the grass. I ask Nick, an intern at FTSE, for his take on the games plans.

"Well, Stratford was a dump, so it's good that they're fixing it up. But the ticketing story was rubbish."

The lottery system for ticket allocation, similar to that used for 2010, has caused some grief. But with approximately 23-million applications for only 6-million tickets, it's hardly surprising.

Another grumble on the streets was around the VIP lanes to be allocated during the Olympics - but with Boris Johnson's two-wheeler initiative, Boris Bikes, extending to East London (see box), cycling could be a better option anyway, even for VIPs.

I head back to the Tube to go and see Stratford's new station for myself, where it's promised the new Javelin train will whistle around 25000 passengers an hour through from St Pancras and the Eurostar. With the construction here of the new Westfield mega mall, the place is awash with men in reflective bibs and hard hats.

But the real site for sore eyes is the Olympic Park itself. Together with 100 others, mostly Brits this time, I've booked in for a Daily Olympic Walk. We gather at Bromley-on-Bow and are split into smaller groups. Our guide, Isabel Moore, delivers a jaw-dropping amount of knowledge.

First stop is Three Mills Studios, where film-maker Danny Boyle (of Slumdog Millionaire fame) is planning the opening and closing ceremonies under so much secrecy even Coe doesn't know what's in store. We walk through newly created, vandal-proof parks, past the twin sewage pumping station, dubbed Pinky and Perky by the builders, and up to the View Tube on the Greenway, where there's a panoramic view of the Park and a focus on regeneration and sustainability.

In fact, 98% of all 250 buildings demolished to clear the site was recycled, pipes destined for a gasworks that never happened have been used for the stadium gantries, there are plans to dismantle the basketball centre and send it through to Rio for 2016, the post-industrial lead-poisoned soil was sifted and cleaned - reused in some cases for landscaping - and all the water drained and purified. The process took three years, but they were not about to have a repeat of the Beijing tummy-bug disasters.

QUICK FACTS

The 2012 London Olympic Games are from July 27 till August 12. The Paralympics August 29 to September 9. For latest news, ticket and schedule info, see www.london2012.com.

South African-passport holders will need a visa.

There are over 100 000 hotels in London. If you plan to be there for the games, book early or consider staying outside the capital. For listings: www.visitlondon.com or www.visitbritain.com.

THINGS TO DO

A Daily Olympic Walk takes around two hours and covers about 2.4km. £9 for adults, £6 for kids. www.toursof2012sites.com

Visit the new Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford, the largest in Europe. See http://uk.westfield.com/stratfordcity

Boris Bikes lets you pick up bicycles at any one of the 400 docking stations across London. Rides are free for the first 30 minutes up to £50 for 24 hours. www.borisbikes.co.uk

Take the Javelin train that will whizz passengers to Stratford International from St Pancras in minutes. http://javelintrain.com

Before the games begin on July 27, time trials will happen in a number of venues. See www.london2012.com for details.

The Olympic Countdown clock in Trafalgar Square is a must-see.