London's bid is falling down

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London's bid is falling down

ROD MICKLEBURGH
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
December 6, 2008 at 1:31 AM EST
While the Vancouver Winter Games grapple with the grim global economy, any damage is certain to pale in comparison with what is happening in London, where organizers had once hoped to stage a grandiose, glorious Summer Olympics in 2012. The fiscal crunch has already forced the cancellation of some proposed venues, a slashing of funding for the country's athletes and dwindling private investment.

With more than 31/2 years still to go, the situation is so worrisome that Tessa Jowell, the minister in charge of the London Games, mused last month that there would have been no British bid for the Olympics if the government had known a recession was on its way. Her comment sparked much Gallic chortling in Paris, which was bitter over its loss to London for the right to host the 2012 Games.

There are now growing calls for London to dramatically scale back its huge £9-billion (nearly $17-billion Canadian) Olympic budget – four times original projections – and stage an austerity, bangers-and-mash event. Many refer fondly to the so-called “shoestring Olympics” that war-ravaged London held in 1948, when athletes were housed in military barracks and facilities as basic as a dog track were converted for use in the Games.

Luckily for Vancouver, the more modest Winter Olympics are fairly near at hand, all venues but one are finished and most of its financial commitments long since secured. London has several more years of what is likely to be exceedingly tough slogging (not an Olympic event).