UK: OLYMPICS - London's organising committee welomes International Olympic Committee visit

Record ID: 331823

  • Title: UK: OLYMPICS - London's organising committee welomes International Olympic Committee visit
  • Date: 21st April 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEBASTIAN COE, CHAIRMAN OF LONDON OLYMPIC ORGANISING COMMITTEE, SAYING: "The vision of course is to present to the world in 2012 the best games ever for athletes, for the Olympic family and for spectators. And the objectives are also equally clear. We want from this permanent and lasting legacy, environmental sustainability; we want to change the face of the delivery mechanisms of British sports. We want London to play its key role in the global movement, which is what the Olympic movement is. And, we want you to be able to report about lasting legacy in a generation for many years to come." MEDIA AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEBASTIAN COE, CHAIRMAN OF LONDON OLYMPIC ORGANISING COMMITTEE, SAYING: "We have now started the forensic work with our (IOC) partners in Lausanne on analysing how, when and where we need to be over the next six years." REPORTERS TAKING NOTES AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) JACK LEMLEY, OLYMPIC DELIVERY AUTHORITY CHAIRMAN, SAYING: "It's a marathon not a sprint and we will deliver a gold medal performance." MEDIA AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) LONDON MAYOR KEN LIVINGSTONE, SAYING: "Oh I can confidently predict that Wembley (stadium) will be finished on time for the Olympics." (Audience laughter) WIDE VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 6th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVACR1WU3HRXP29429ZSUXGRVCPT
  • Story Text: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was given its first close-up view of London's preparations for the 2012 Games on Thursday (April 20, 2006). A 17-strong IOC inspection committee, the first to visit London since the city's victorious bid last July, arrived for two days of meetings with the London Organising Committee of the Games (LOCOG).
    During their visit, the members of the IOC's Co-ordination Commission visited the site of the Olympic Park in London's East End and several venue sites. LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe welcomed the visit and said it represented the start of the long journey to 2012.
    Coe repeated London's promise to host the best Olympic Games ever and to leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
    "The vision of course is to present to the world in 2012 the best games ever," Coe told a news conference in London." We want you to be able to report about lasting legacy in a generation for many years to come." But he added there was plenty of work still to do.
    "We have now started the forensic work with our (IOC) partners in Lausanne on analysing how, when and where we need to be over the next six years," he said.
    "It's a marathon not a sprint and we will deliver a gold medal performance," added a confident Jack Lemley, chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). London's Mayor Ken Livingstone also expressed confidence that problems over land purchases, a potential sticking point, were well on the way to being resolved and that the venues would be prepared in time.
    The new Wembley Stadium has faced a series of delays and will not be ready for this year's FA Cup Final. London beat off stiff competition from Madrid and Paris to host the Games, the first to be awarded to London since 1948.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register