London 2012 venues `on the right track' - IOC

Guy JACKSON

OLYMPICS: LONDON, April 25, 2009: The International Olympic Committee's chief inspector said Thursday preparations for the 2012 London Olympics were "on the right track" and seemed unaffected by the global economic downturn.

"We can confirm that London 2012 is on the right track," Denis Oswald, the chair of the IOC's coordination commission, told journalists after his team spent three days visiting the construction sites.

"We had an opportunity to see the (Olympic) Park and for many of us it was the first time since May last year and we were deeply impressed by the progress made.

"The stadium is impressive, also the Olympic Village and the swimming pool," he added.

"The different venues are coming out of the ground and we know everything is on time and even ahead of schedule in some cases and this gives a very good feeling three years ahead of the Games."

The IOC delegation inspected the state of building work at the "big five" venues, including the main stadium, Aquatics Centre and velodrome.

Oswald said the progress of the work to transform a site in a deprived area of east London into the Olympic Park complete with venues and accommodation for thousands of athletes was continuing at full pace despite the credit crunch.

"We know the world is going through a difficult time but LOCOG (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) had a very strong commercial policy from the beginning and have been able to secure a high amount of sponsorship before the crisis came and have reached 0.5 billion pounds (0.6 billion euros, 0.7 billion dollars)," Oswald said.

"We are very pleased to see that LOCOG and the preparations of the Games have not been affected by the current world financial crisis."

Oswald said the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus in Pakistan last month had not left him more concerned for the safety of the Olympics in London, where suicide bombers struck the transport system in 2005. "In this country, you have a long experience with terrorism," Oswald said. "We are convinced that everything will be done so that the Games are safe."

He said that while London should not try to emulate the size and expense of last year's Beijing Olympics, lessons could still be learned from the widely successful Games in China.

One such issue was ticketing policy, which Oswald said presented some "problems" in Beijing.

He added: "It's important that you have an opportunity to exchange your ticket if you don't have the right one and can resell the unused one.

"LOCOG are considering a system to have resale possible so you do not have empty seats. This has been a problem in the past which has not been resolved."

AFP