Filed under: Other Sports, Olympics
After the rows over ticketing arrangements, traffic plans, the future use of the main stadium and the huge costs of staging the London Olympics, the organisers can be forgiven for trumpeting the progress that has been made as the countdown to the games enters its final year.A year to the day before the Danny Boyle-choreographed opening ceremony formally kick-starts proceedings, events across London will signal the passing of the latest milestone, culminating in Tom Daley marking the opening of the aquatics centre from the diving platform.
Preparations have not gone entirely smoothly but with plans on or ahead of schedule and the £7 billion plus budget apparently so far being adhered to, Lord Coe and the rest of the organising committee will be satisfied that London appears to have escaped some of the problems that have affected previous games.
Criticism of the controversial application process notwithstanding, the demand for tickets has been extraordinary with many sports sold out in the first two rounds of sales and a ready queue of disappointed applicants expected to snap up the remaining 1.2 million tickets that will be made available in December when final seating arrangements have been decided.
A poll conducted for BBC London, meanwhile, provides further evidence that the organisers are winning the battle for hearts and minds with 73% of the 1000 people polled expressing support for London's role as host with, tellingly, 38% declaring themselves to be more positive about the games than last year.
The excitement, it seems, is building.
And so it should. This may be the third time London has staged the Olympics but with the competition to stage an event that now has immense commercial spin-offs growing all the time, this is almost certainly a once in a lifetime experience for even the youngest sports fan.
Expectation will grow over the coming 12 months and the home athletes can expect an unprecedented level of scrutiny as their prospects of winning a medal are examined. Forget all that stuff about taking part, this time next year the medal table will provide a gauge of national pride like never before.
Meanwhile, concerns about legacy, the word that accompanies any statement about the Olympics, will fade as anticipation of the sport to come increases and focus shifts onto the more immediate narrative of who is capable of beating who.
yet a dissenting voice should be maintained to ensure the games are as inclusive as possible and Christine Ohuruogu, winner of the 400m in Beijing in 2008, provided a welcome counterbalance to the grandstanding hype when she reflected the views of young people she had met to the BBC World Service.
"I've seen, not apathy, but it is like, 'We don't take part in sports, what's in it for us?'," she said. "They are excited. However, it is very hard to sell the Olympic story when you have not experienced it."
"The general impression I get is that they are not really interested. I am fortunate enough to have been to two Games so I know how brilliant it can be.
"They don't really see what is there for them. It is very hard to get people to understand how amazing it actually is.
"It is almost like it is for everybody else: people who are athletes, the sponsors, the older generations, all the ones who have money.
"I think that is a shame and there is more that needs to be done over the next year to make sure we include our all young people."
Ohuruogu's comments are timely and serve as a reminder there can be no complacency when it comes to ensuring an event staged at huge cost to the public does all it can to reach beyond the corporate sponsors, the ticket holders and the rest of the great and the good.
But that doesn't mean the organisers should pass up the chance to celebrate good news. And the progress with a year to go is undeniably promising.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/07/27/london-olympics-one-year-to-go-but-no-room-for-complacency/
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