London 2012 blog

I represented LOCOG at one of the ODA’s Olympic Park tours for MPs this morning. Getting the MPs all together at Stratford station was, well, a little tricky, but they were soon on the bus and in the Park, to see the building work first hand and at close range. 

But it’s only when you step back and view the whole Park (such as from the ODA’s 6th floor viewing flat, just outside the Park boundary) that you get a better feel for the size of the site, which is bigger than Hyde Park. From the balcony the MPs were understandably - and predictably – quite taken by the sheer scale of the project. All the areas we saw were teeming with builders and diggers all beavering away on the different venue sites. 

Read more of “MPs and The Lean Mean Green Machine”

Diversity is one of many things that make London such a great world city. It’s also no surprise that it is therefore also one of the reasons that the London 2012 bid for the Games won way back in Singapore in 2005.

It counts in so many ways – every country that will send teams to London will have people already here that can speak their language and often have a satellite culture, which will help make athletes and visitors feel welcome. One strand of London’s diversity that is globally renowned is the strength and size of its gay community, so the London Organising Committee teamed up with the London Development Agency to take over a prime corner of Trafalgar Square for the annual Gay Pride event.

Read more of “London 2012 goes pink for the day”

Yesterday, eight London 2012 staffers joined what seemed like several thousand other workers from Canary Wharf to go running after work. The Canary Wharf Jog does exactly what it says on the tin - it's an organised 'up-to-10k' run open to people of all abilities. To increase participation, there's no entry fee for the event - and everyone wore the distinctive red t-shirt supplied by the British Heart Foundation.

Being sport obsessives - and working for an organisation led by Seb Coe - the London2012ers were first across the start line and set out at a blistering pace, hoping to speed our way to personal bests. This was thwarted within about four minutes - the route was actually eight laps of the same tiny course, so we were lapping stragglers and caught up in crowds after just one loop.

At first the congestion of people was annoying, as we had to dodge slower runners and walkers. But it dawned that this was actually what we are all about - inspiring those not used to physical activity to try something new, and mixing them with regular runners passionate about their sport. In 2012, let's see how many people we can inspire to unshackle themselves from their Canary Wharf desks and try this out in the summer of 2012.

The warm glow we felt at being part of something worthwhile was helped by a supply of free bananas at the end, and an almost-barmily hot sunny evening. Same time next year?

A major ambition in the bid for London’s Olympic Games and Paralympic Games was the plan to engage with people right across the UK – to excite them and get them to play a part in it.

One aspect of this is to talk to their elected representatives, and so we organised a visit by Seb Coe (our Chair) and Paul Deighton (our Chief Executive) to Glasgow and the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh to see as many key politicians and civil servants as we could cram in – as well as to join the emerging bid company for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games for an event with students and staff from central belt universities.

We ended up seeing just about everyone – from private meetings with the First Minister Alex Salmond and the Minister for Sport Stewart Maxwell, through to a grilling by MSPs on the heavy-weight parliamentary Health and Sport Committee, useful talks with the main government officials and of course the Glasgow 2014 team itself.

L-R: Paul and Seb with Alex Salmond:

Read more of “Taking London 2012 to Scotland”

A new-starter working at London 2012 on our political relations, I couldn’t have predicted that within a few weeks I’d be made a press officer for the day, and posted to Birmingham to look after an Olympic Champion.

Yet here I was – helping out at an announcement about potential Pre-Games Training venues around the West Midlands for 2012. I arrived at Birmingham’s fabulous Alexander Stadium just in time for the press conference where Councillors, LOCOG’s Director of Sport Debbie Jevans and athlete Jason Gardener were all ready to speak about what could be achieved by hosting overseas teams. They highlighted the great facilities available in Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, Lilleshall and the universities. 

Read more of “Birmingham in 11 secs”