Seizing the Olympic flame

Last updated at 16:34 07 July 2005


It was a moment of sheer electricity.

As London was named host city for the 2012 Olympic Games, the sense of exhilaration across the country - not just the capital - was palpable.

What made the moment all the more gratifying was that until a few days ago, most were expecting London to be an also-ran.

The greatest congratulations must go to Lord Coe who in the space of a year has turned a demoralised, poorly-run bid team into a highly professional unit that has won the respect of the Olympic movement.

Full credit also to Tony Blair who from the word go threw the Government 100 per cent behind the bid. Significantly, he was the only national leader to take the trouble to fly early to Singapore to lobby the International Olympic Committee in the days before the vote. Given the fourvote winning margin, that may have proved crucial.

But forgive us for being uncharitable. What most put a spring in the step of every red-blooded Englishman yesterday was the spectacle of France's discomfort.

How they have misplayed their hand. Supremely complacent, they were convinced that Paris had the games in the bag long ago.

Jacques Chirac, fresh from his puerile abuse of British (and Finnish) food, was at his most pompous and condescending, deigning to turn up only to make the final presentation - and what a tired performance it was.

And with some justice he is being blamed for the French failure, with rumours that his jejune attack on Finnish cuisine caused the two Finns on the IOC to switch from Paris to London - so clinching the games for the UK. Quel dommage!

Yes, truly, landing the Olympics was a magnificent achievement - one that gives Britain a unique opportunity to rise to two great challenges.

First, we must now seize the opportunity to make sport integral to the lives of all young people.

As this paper has argued repeatedly, sport is vital to the development of the young, building character, encouraging fitness, and most importantly giving confidence to those who may not shine academically as well as boosting their social skills.

Tessa Jowell, who becomes Minister for the Olympics, must make this her priority.

Second, we must use the Olympics to lay the ghost that Britain can no longer mastermind major civil engineering projects.

This is a wonderful opportunity to transform the blighted East End of London. This so-called 'legacy' aspect of the bid clearly helped sway the IOC; it must be delivered.

More pertinently, it must be delivered on time and within budget, unlike the M25 motorway, the Channel Tunnel, the Dome, London's Jubilee Line Extension, the West Coast mainline, and the national football stadium at Wembley.

This is a monumental challenge - one that is already running from behind with estimates for the Olympic site climbing, up from £3.6billion to £5billion in little more than a year.

London's Olympic managers should not be allowed to forget that the cost of the Athens games came in at £8billion, double the original estimate, and that means we could be facing a £10billion price tag.

But this is not the day for such accountancy.

Instead we should glory in the Olympic team's success and look forward to turning the opportunity it provides to Britain's huge advantage.

Yes, a great day - made doubly pleasurable by the thought of Jacques Chirac eating that tasty British dish, humble pie.

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