"It's a big day for us, 100 days to go," said Sebastian Coe, the
head of the London
The UK
In 1948, when London
Although nowhere near the scale of those "Austerity Games,"
London 2012 has faced its own challenges amid the global financial crisis which
began after it won the bid in 2005.
Still, an organizing committee led by two-time former Olympic champion Coe remains hopeful of
delivering the games within the £9.3 billion ($14.8 billion) budget -- albeit a
budget that more than doubled from an initial estimate of £4 billion ($6.5 billion).
The permanent venues, including the £468 million ($746 million) Olympic
Stadium, the Aquatics
Center
"I think the one thing I'm confident in saying is that those things
that are within our control are under control," Coe said. "And we're
in shape to deal with those things that inevitably come at you that you don't
always see."
During the International Olympic Committee's final visit to London last month, president Jacques Rogge said: "London London
The regeneration of a rundown area of east London
As recently as last week, six protesters were evicted from a patch of
parkland where a temporary basketball practice facility will be constructed.
They claim the land has protected status and is for the enjoyment of all;
Olympic organizers insist they will return the land to its original state once
the Games are over.
The athletes' village has been sold in a joint deal to the
investment arm of the Qatari ruling family and a private British company,
although 1,379 of the 2,818 homes will be set aside for affordable housing.
A major question mark hangs over the future of the games' centerpiece: the
Olympic Stadium.
The process has been fraught with problems. Football club West Ham was
originally awarded the venue, but that deal fell through after complaints from
rival bidders. As it stands, West Ham remains one of four parties interested in
becoming tenants from 2014. A decision is expected next month.
Transport and security concerns
The most immediate concerns for London
Ask any Londoner the worst thing about their city and they will almost
certainly reply: getting around. The city's aging subway system already barely
copes with the daily demand. During the Olympics, an additional 325,000 people
are expected in the city each day.
Add in the regular strikes by underground workers that cripple the network
-- another of which was called on Monday -- and the potential for chaos only
increases.
Athletes, officials and VIPs shouldn't be affected. They will have access
to special road lanes to get them to the venues with the minimum of fuss. That
plan hasn't met with universal approval though, with critics insisting it will
leave the rest of the roads gridlocked.
Security issues were brought into sharp focus by an incident at the recent
Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race when a protester managed to swim across the River
Thames and bring a temporary halt to one of the Britain
While preventing every breach may be impossible, London
Protest fears
Even before the Games begin, there are fears that the 70-day torch relay
beginning May 19 could be targeted by protesters.
A group known as "Greenwash Gold 2012" this week unveiled plans
to target three major Olympic sponsors -- Dow Chemical, BP and Rio Tinto -- who
the activists accuse of human rights or environmental abuses.
The group is led by Meredith Alexander, who resigned from the London 2012
sustainability watchdog after Dow, which has links to a deadly gas leak at the Bhopal plant in India in 1984,
was announced as sponsor of the proposed "wrap" around the Olympic
Stadium.
"We live in a democracy but we always balance protest with the rights
of other people as well," Coe said Tuesday. "We have to remember that
one man's protest is the destruction of somebody else's dream. I'm sure we will
get this in balance."
But the start of the torch relay is also expected to finally spark
enthusiasm among a characteristically cynical British public.
A recent survey by a foreign exchange company suggested a quarter of those
Britons traveling abroad this summer are doing so specifically to avoid the
Olympics.
As they leave, more than 10,000 athletes from 204 countries will arrive,
and the tantalizing prospect of international stars such as Usain Bolt and
Michael Phelps competing alongside British hopes like Jessica Ennis and Mo
Farah should go some way to appeasing those Britons who choose to stay behind.
"There is an unprecedented appetite among elite-level competitors
around the world to get to London
