Olympic elephants and Boris

One of the biggest jobs that was going to face the new Mayor of London was planning for the 2012 Olympics.

Unsurprisingly, in only his second month in office, controversy over funding has hit the headlines.

Boris Johnson’s Olympic costs adviser, David Ross, has said that a “perfect storm” of financial and security issues could mean that the final costs of the project escalates beyond the planned £9.3bn.

According to the Guardian, Ross has said that pressures are such that the £1bn contingency built into the financial planning may not be enough.

The Mayor appeared on the Today programme this morning to say that the funding legacy he had inherited from his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, was far from clear. He also promised that Londoners would not be asked to pay any extra if costs spiral. That then raises then important question of why residents outside London should pay for a scheme that has been sold as one which will bring benefit to the capital.

For me it raises an even more important question of what those benefits are likely to be.

Apparently “free” swimming could be on offer by 2012, initially for over-60s followed by under-16s then everyone by the time the Olympics are held. In Wales swimming is already offered free to pensioners and youngsters at certain times of the year.

Then there is the government’s plan to get an extra 2 million people active by London 2012. A tall order that I reckon the Olympics will do little to help attain.

What about facilities? We have been promised that we won’t see a repeat of the post Athens situation, where many white elephants now lie unused. See this BBC feature.

Most likely Londoners won’t get tickets for the most high profile events (like the drug fuelled straight line blast that is the race that apparently determines who the fastest man in the world is) – they will be scooped up by corporates or will be out of the price bracket of most. They might get to see the first round of the table tennis, or perhaps a sneak at who has the best horse event. But more likely residents will have to put up with an even more overburdened transport system as they fight through the throng of zombies that dither around over and underground on the London network.

It would have made far more sense to let Athens hold it every 4 years. It is, after all, the home of the Olympics. Then we could put an end to this perennial IOC gravy train where elderly “sporticians” get to visit the world’s major cities, staying in the top hotels, eating in the best restaurants etc whilst going through the charade of deciding which lucky venue will be burdened with the games 8 years hence.

We might then be left with enough money to pump into grass roots sport, with the net effect that we could see a footballer from the British Isles playing for one of the home nations in a major football event. Or maybe not.