Jacques Rogge, the President of International Olympic Committee (IOC) has termed the London Olympics preparation ‘great’ and expressed his satisfaction on the arrangements made by the Olympic Committee to deal with any adversary and hoped the games will not be affected by bad weather or any other problem. He was talking to media on his arrival in the British capital a week before the opening ceremony.
London is hosting country’s third Olympic Games from July 27 to August 12 amidst worst financial crisis and must deal with security issues, threats of strikes and an unpredictable weather.
IOC’s Belgian President, who will step down next year, said the organizers have laid the foundation for a successful event despite all the difficulties. He also ruled that the bad weather will not complicate the normal development of the Games.
Britain this year witnessed one of the worst recorded rains in June that also severely affected Wimbledon tournament and though the Olympic Committee says it has made the appropriate arrangements to deal with an unlikely weather situation, overseas visitors are still skeptical.
The transport delays are another threat hanging over the Games with airport Border guards’ strike on July 26. Meanwhile, the East Midlands railway workers have also announced they will not be coming to work in the last week of Olympics, from 6 to 8 August. The British Home Secretary Theresa May has called the Border guards’ strike a shameful act since it will be on the eve of such spectacular event, people from around the world arriving to witness.
The ASLEF union had earlier made a public announcement of strikes that if staged as planned, will affect trains linking London airports including Luton, Stansted and Gatwick, as well as Olympic venues outside the capital that include Manchester and Newcastle. The British government already had to deploy extra troops to deal with security of the games after the company tasked with providing guards failed to deliver.
Despite all these woes, IOC is optimistic about a successful sporting spectacle, from start to finish.
