London still has some tricky hurdles to cross

OLYMPIC GAMES:Organisers still have urgent logistical issues to deal with, writes OWEN GIBSON

LONDON 2012 organisers and the British prime minister, David Cameron, yesterday welcomed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Jacques Rogge, and the chair of the IOC coordination commission, Denis Oswald, to a Downing Street reception to mark their 10th and final inspection visit.

Rogge said he was confident that London 2012 “will be a great Games. We are a happy International Olympic Committee”.

Cameron responded that “if you are happy, then I am happy” while London 2012 chairman Seb Coe said he was “delirious”, only to be jokingly told by Cameron that this is not necessarily the same thing.

But, for all the plaudits and occasional brickbats that have come the way of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games so far, the committee is now entering its most mission-critical phase.

Here we outline five specific challenges that are most exercising a rapidly expanding staff (the number will reach 6,000 by Games time, in addition to the 70,000 volunteers) and will make or break the London Olympics.

THE OPENING WEEKEND

The climactic two days of the torch relay, leading into the opening ceremony and the first weekend of action – which includes the men’s and women’s cycling road races that require closure of routes of 156 and 87 miles – are exercising the organising committee, Transport for London and government officials.

There is believed to be concern about the logistics of the final two days of the torch relay, which are likely to require major bridges and roads to be closed as the flame makes its way around central London and up the Thames in time for the opening ceremony.

Around 120 heads of state are to be transported to the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony and there will be major events in Hyde Park for up to 80,000 people on both the evening of July 26th (marking the torch’s arrival in central London and headlined by Dizzee Rascal) and July 27th (to mark the opening ceremony). This will certainly test the city’s logistics for the entire Games period.

Organisers are desperate for the opening ceremony to pass off without incident and to set the tone for the rest of the Games. Much of the fine detail of the planning still needs to be done and will be necessarily last-minute.

THE FINAL TICKET STAMPEDE

The sale of the final batch of 1.2 million tickets (apart from more than a million remaining football tickets and thousands likely to be sold at public box offices when venues are finalised) will be a huge test for the organising committee.

The emotive issue of ticket sales has the potential to be an ongoing Achille’s heel for organisers.

In one sense ticket sales have been phenomenally successful, with more than seven million of the 10.8 million available across the Olympics and Paralympics already sold and revenue targets all but met. But the organising committee’s refusal to give a rolling update on how many remain in each price category at every venue has fuelled suspicion.

Issues with Ticketmaster’s technology and a perceived lack of transparency have not left potential purchasers predisposed to give organisers the benefit of the doubt. And given the organising committee’s rhetoric around inclusiveness and diversity, getting the ticketing right has always been vital. Some frustration is inevitable, as the 1.2 million people who failed in the first ballot chase the remaining tickets as they are put up for sale on a sport-by-sport basis over five days. The organising committee’s task will be to keep a sense of calm amid intense media interest in the last week of April.

INSTALL TEMPORARY VENUES

To a greater extent than other Games, the London 2012 vision of a “compact” Olympics, leaving behind no white elephants, heaps pressure on the end of the process.

The build-up to the Games has seen the successful completion of the £7.1 billion worth of permanent venues in plenty of time. But the big task of installing 200,000 temporary seats in locations as diverse as Horse Guards Parade (beach volleyball), Greenwich Park (equestrian) and the Olympic Park itself (hockey) has only just begun.

Given the awkward locations, fine margins and small time frames involved, the £35 million “overlay” that needs to be constructed around those temporary venues remains one of the most problematic tasks facing organisers.

DOW AND OTHER SPONSORS

Organising committee executives had hoped that by now the noise around their decision to award Dow the contract to sponsor the £7 million wrap that will surround the stadium at Games time would have dwindled to nothing. That has not happened, though nor has it reached a definitive climax.

Instead the drip, drip of criticism from those who insist Dow has ongoing liabilities relating to the 1984 Bhopal disaster – and the equally loud rebuttals from the company itself – threaten to taint the tone of the Games.

The IOC, which has its own $100 million sponsorship deal with Dow, and the prime minister, have weighed in squarely behind the organising committee. But the issue will not go away and, for critics of the Games, it will play into more general themes about the uneasy alliance between big business and Olympic values.

For the organising committee the danger is that it also undermines its own message about this being a sustainable Games with a lasting legacy.

BALANCED BUDGET

There has been widespread criticism of the extent to which the organising committee’s enlarged budget now includes items funded by the taxpayer – including a hugely enlarged security budget and a £40 million top-up to the ceremonies budget – and the extent to which items have moved in and out of its balance sheet. The only way for the organising committee to counter that criticism has been to insist that the new money is for tasks it was not originally due to perform and that, as promised, it will balance its own £2 billion budget privately with money raised from sponsorship and tickets.

The committee’s chief executive, Paul Deighton, has admitted that it is operating with perhaps only £5 million of headroom. A true evaluation of whether the organising committee has delivered value for money will not be possible until well after the closing ceremony.

The organising committee’s final accounts will not be published until after the Games.