London 2012 – Are We at Risk of Repeating Montreal in 1976?



As a very keen supporter of the Olympic movement, nothing made me more proud that the moment that we successfully won the bid on the 6th of July 2005. Seeing the Parisians look mournfully at their champagne as it all went off in Trafalgar square was in a horrible way, fantastic. We had beaten the French who were so sure that they had it in the bag, and London was full of enthusiasm to bring sport’s greatest event to the London stage.



Fast forward 6 years with overspend increasing every day, a stadium that is the subject of a bitter battle between two London premier league teams, an aquatic centre that can’t be a leisure centre post-games because the roof is too low and a general discontent from many in East London regarding the handling of events and facilities. London appears to have lost its enthusiasm for 2012, which is such a shame considering how much we wanted it. At the moment it feels like the only sliver of redemption for the Olympic committee is the Velodrome, which has received widespread praise from the cycling community as it nears its completion date. It’s hard to believe that the venue that looks like a giant pringle crisp is the one holding up our hopes at the moment.



The London 2012 Velodrome

As we wait today for the OPLC decision on whether it will be West Ham or Tottenham Hotspur who will be the preferred bidder for ownership of the stadium once the games have ended, you have to ask as to whether all the public sniping has only further worsened the prospects of the games in the eyes of many Londoners.



The 'Big Owe'

In 1976 the Montreal Olympics changed the face of Olympic organisation and funding. Due to construction and venues being unfinished only a year before the games the final push to get things ready the debt when everything was over totalled around $1 billion, and the city was still paying off that debt 30 years later. The stadium which generated most of the cost was known as the ‘Big O’ due to its shape, but thanks to it being mostly unused since the games and its massive debts, residents of the city have renamed it the ‘Big Owe’.

Of course the stadium is over budget, you would be naive to think that any Olympic Stadium wouldn't be. Granted we are not in the position of the organisers in Delhi for the commonwealth games who were struggling to finish the running track as the athletes arrived in their accomodation, but we need to address issues like the funding for the 'wrap' around the stadium which was scrapped from the public funding in order to save money.

Montreal has suffered from its Olympic legacy, which is something we don’t want to happen here in London. The 1984 games in Los Angeles changed the face of Olympic funding as it looked to corporate support and sponsorship to put on one of the most ostentatious events in Olympic history, but a city needs both corporate and grassroots backing to make sure the legacy is in tact many years after the gold medallists have left.
 

West Ham's Impression for the Olympic Stadium





The Olympic organisers are already alienating the local public, by deciding not to run the marathon through east London and through London’s more significant sights gives a clear signal that East London is only really important because it had the space to accommodate the Olympic park and its various other needs, not because it’s an area that is worthy to see the world’s best battle it out on the roads around the park. Indeed, if the bid for the stadium goes to Tottenham Hotspur then it will be a second snub to East London, due to the West Ham bid being planned in conjunction with and financed by Newham council, who are looking to retain a legacy for their borough.

I personally believe that the bid should go West Ham’s way. As a West Ham supporter (ok, QPR are first in my affections, but the Hammers are a close second) it does worry me that we don’t really have the financial capacity to support the bid, and we are battling anyway to stay in the premier league, but the fact is that knocking down the Olympic stadium would be a travesty. Montreal’s stadium may have been an absolute disaster, but the demolition crew didn’t move in despite its troubles.

Although Spurs do propose to retain the legacy for athletics elsewhere in London rejuvenating Crystal Palace’s neglected athletics arena, the honest truth is that the Crystal Palace complex needs an entire makeover. What used to be at the forefront of sports development here in London is now a rather sad looking complex that would need a complete overhaul to compete with the facilities that are available elsewhere around the world.

We cannot expect greatness from our athletes if we are not prepared to provide for them at grassroots and give them access and support to facilities and staff. We now have excellent results in cycling, rowing and swimming with the gymnasts also pushing for glory once 2012 comes around, but can we really expect young athletes to keep going in distinctly average facilities once the lure of a home crowd has gone? Manchester Velodrome is looking a bit worse for wear and all credit to our swimmers who have fewer 50m swimming pools in the entire country than the city of Melbourne is Australia.

It would be a shame to see a world class athletics facility be ripped out all in the name of good seats to a football game. It can be viable to host athletics and football in the same place and it seems like Spurs, although producing an excellent bid, have forgotten the point of the Olympics. It’s about opening sport up to all and the excellence of the amateur. What better way to exclude the amateur athlete by ignoring its original purpose and making it a premier league football club.