Debate over 2012 legacy

Sir Clive Woodward's involvement in London 2012 continues to attract suspicion from within Olympic governing bodies despite the peace deal between UK Sport and the British Olympic Association announced this month.
Athletics and cycling both used a hearing of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport select committee in parliament yesterday to express doubts about what the Rugby World Cup-winning coach could bring to their sports that they did not already have. Woodward has developed a £150,000-a-year multi-coach training programme for athletes but the major sports appear to require some convincing of its worth.
"At this time we don't see anything that he has to offer cycling that we are not already getting from UK Sport, and UK Sport would be in serious difficulties if he could offer anything they are not," said Chris Boardman, the former Olympic cycling champion.
The UK Athletics chairman, Ed Warner, was also sceptical. "There are those who would say there are no new ideas in the Woodward programme," he said. "So far he has had no impact on athletics but he might do, provided that we can dictate what we can use to improve our chances. There has been a risk that we get caught up in the political backlash of two organisations [UK Sport and the BOA] locking horns over their rival programmes."

Debate over 2012 legacy
The role of Sport England in delivering the sporting legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games remains a major concern to MPs and sports' governing bodies. The question was repeatedly raised at yesterday's select committee hearing, with all the sports agreeing that Sport England should drive the legacy commitment but unclear as to its plans.

The quango is currently in negotiations with the government over its funding package from 2009 to 2011 but it remains to be seen whether its primary role going forward will be mass participation to encourage a health and fitness agenda or promoting sport.

Fundraising doubts
Serious concerns remain at UK Sport about how the government will raise £100m from the private sector to complete its total pre-London 2012 funding package of £600m. UK Sport's chair, Sue Campbell, told the select committee yesterday that she could not confidently predict that the money would be raised.

The DCMS is in the process of hiring an agency to help raise the cash but sponsorship has already been ruled out as an option.

England look to first base
England have narrowed their search for potential Euro 2008 base camps down to two or three options should they qualify for the tournament by avoiding defeat against Croatia at Wembley tonight.

The favoured option is understood to be a base in Switzerland close to one of the major cities, with a site on Lac Leman, near Geneva, among the possibilities.

With two of the Euro 2008 groups playing all their matches in Austria, however, they will wait until the draw on December 2 before allowing England's head coach, Steve McClaren, to have the final say.

Refreshingly the Football Association has no intention of repeating the World Cup 2006 mistake of selecting a remote base that cuts the players off from media, supporters and, in some cases, reality.

Dein under fire
The former Arsenal vice chairman David Dein, below, clashed with Andy Walsh, chairman of the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association, at yesterday's Future of Football conference in London over the issue of supporter representation on club boards.

Dein, who is fronting the Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov's attempts to take control of Arsenal, said he had never met a board member who was not a fan.

Walsh also spoke out against foreign ownership but found no one in the audience of financiers and football club employees to support his view.

The flood of foreign cash into the English game shows no sign of slowing, meanwhile, with the Dubai International Capital group, which tried and failed to buy Liverpool, understood to be still eyeing investment opportunities in the Premier League.

Coincidental clash
It was curious timing yesterday for the launch of the Legacy Trust, a new charitable body whose task is to fund "the sporting and cultural legacy of the 2012 Olympics".

Some 19 months after Tessa Jowell first announced it, the official launch event started just as officials from UK Sport and leading governing bodies were being grilled in parliament on issues including the sporting legacy of London 2012.

A spokeswoman for the DCMS said the clash was entirely coincidental.

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London 2012 Olympic Games stadium design unveiled

London's Olympic organizers unveiled the design of the main stadium for the 2012 Games on Wednesday, billed as a hi-tech arena which will serve the British capital for generations afterwards.

The 496 million pound (710 million euro, 1.04 billion US dollar) structure, in the form of a sunken bowl with a wraparound fabric covering and a removable roof, will dominate the centre of the Olympic Park in east London.

The 80,000-seat stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games as well as key track and field events. Organizers hailed the unveiling of the plans as a "milestone" on the road to the London Olympics.

"In unveiling today's images I want that to be the unveiling of a journey for the next five years," said former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe, head of the London 2012 organizing committee, at a press conference.

"The stadium...is a stadium for a completely new era."

Initial reaction to the blueprint was positive. The London Evening Standard newspaper called it a "striking design," while London mayor Ken Livingstone said it would be a "beacon for the capital."

While the stadium's initial use will be for the 2012 Games, organizers also want to make sure it is still used by local people in the years afterwards.

When the Games are over the stadium's high-tech design allows for it to be reduced to a 25,000-seat arena, to be used by the local community and for other major sporting events.

English Premier League football side West Ham United were mooted as possible future tenants for the new stadium but many teams dislike playing in an athletics stadium because the track distances them from spectators.

Livingstone, though, said that football clubs may have to look elsewhere.

"We made a commitment that there would be a permanent athletics facility and we have honoured that commitment," he said.

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said: "This is a very important Olympic milestone and this stadium is focused very much on legacy and sustainability.

"Once the Games are over, this will then be translated into a stadium that will not only host grand prix athletics events and other national sport events but will also serve the communities of the boroughs."

With post-Olympic use in mind, the upper parts of the structure are designed to be removed, including a roof which will provide protection from the weather for two-thirds of the seats inside.

A wraparound fabric curtain, which will encircle the stadium in its Olympic version, will also come off afterwards, with plans for the material to be made into bags and other souvenir goods to remember the Games.

The London Olympics are helping to revive a deprived part of the city, and the permanent stadium will be a key part of that. "It's a stadium that will be inspiring, it will be a stadium that will have a lasting legacy," said Coe.

Critics have highlighted the ballooning budget since London won with its bid for the 2012 Olympics in Singapore in July 2005. The stadium price tag was put at 280 million pounds at that time.

John Armitt, chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority, said: "Nearly 500 million pounds is a lot of money in anyone's terms but it is the budget and we are determined to work within that."

"If there is a requirement for any extra, we have a contingency within the scheme covering this as a whole and we will use some of that, but that is not the plan."

Building work is due to start next April or May, three months ahead of schedule, and should be completed in 2011 to allow test events to be held in the stadium before the Games themselves.

olympic 2012 opening ceremony
companies building olympic stadium for 2012 olympic games

Guiding hand to make the most of the Olympics

BUSINESSES in Coventry and Warwickshire are being offered the opportunity to produce a guide to help other firms win London 2012 contracts.

West Midlands Business Council has invited the region's companies to pitch for a contract to design and produce the guide, which will then be distributed in the region.

The guide, which is targeted at smaller businesses, aims to assist bosses in winning the numerous lucrative contracts that the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will generate.

There are already several ways in which businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire can look for 2012-related contracts and a new electronic brokerage service is expected to be launched in early 2008.

The guide will contain all necessary information for businesses to find out about contracts and the best ways to win them.

More than £25 billion of work is expected to be generated when the capital hosts the Games and several companies in Coventry and Warwickshire have already secured 2012 contracts.

The Coventry and Warwickshire 2012 Partnership, a collaboration of private, public and voluntary organisations, is the local body working towards maximising the opportunities arising from the 2012 Games.

David Hartley is chairman of the partnership's business sub-group and director of business development and finance at the Coventry and Warwick-shire Chamber of Commerce.

He said: "Coventry and Warwick-shire's business community can reap huge rewards from the London 2012 Games.

"Bidding for 2012 work is a highly competitive field and many companies feel daunted by what they fear is a complicated process, but it is not as difficult as it may seem and there is plenty of help available.

"The Coventry and Warwickshire 2012 Partnership, working with local partners such as the Chamber and regional partners like the West Midlands Business Council, will make every effort to ensure companies feel confident in bidding for work.

"We all want to see the region maximising the opportunities available."