Scott Wilson
Getting a slice of Olympic pie
IN revealing the location of
more than 600 potential
training camps for the 2012
Olympic Games, Lord Coe has
finally addressed the thorny
issue of how his organising
team will spread the event's
benefits beyond the boundaries
of the City of London.
But after more well-judged
words, it is time for the chairman
of the 2012 organising
committee to put his money
where his mouth is.
Having promised a billionpound
budget to pay for the redevelopment
of London's East
End, it is time for Coe to spend
a few £25,000 bundles on ensuring
that regions like the North-
East get their own slice of the
Olympic pie.
If he doesn't, the regional
support that continues to prop
up the planning and development
process for the 2012
Games will quickly disappear.
As well as distributing their
Training Camp Guide at this
summer's Beijing Olympics - a
document that will contain details
of the 600-or-so potential
British training venues, 19 of
which can be found in the
North-East - London's organisers
are also able to offer a
£25,000 sweetener to persuade
countries to base themselves in
Britain as they prepare for the
2012 Games.
The money will be drawn
from the privately-funded section
of the London Organising
Committee (LOCOG) budget,
but, as yet, there have been no
indications as to how Coe intends
to spend it.
If he is genuinely committed
to making the 2012 Games an
Olympics for all, he should
make a public promise not to
spend a penny on contracts for
training camps in London and
the South-East.
Instead, he should only offer
financial support to countries
that are willing to base themselves
in a town or city away
from the capital.
London's economy already
stands to benefit massively in
the build-up to the Games, and
the capital's residents will also
experience the residual spinoffs
of having world-class
sportsmen and women in their
midst. For the North-East,
however, the Olympics could
yet turn into an expensive
white elephant.
The region is helping to fund
the Games through a combination
of direct taxation and Lottery
money, but save for a
handful of football matches at
St James' Park, the benefits
could be negligible if competitors
are not persuaded to use
the North-East's facilities in
the build-up to 2012.
The same is true of Scotland
and the North-West, and of the
South-West and the Midlands.
Hosting training camps is
the best way for Britain's regions
to benefit from London's
Games, so for Coe to spend
money on siting such camps in
the capital and its environs
would be a flagrant dereliction
of duty. He should be doing all
he can to attract foreign
Olympic associations to venues
that might otherwise be of little
interest to them.
London has enough going for
it already - it is time for the
Olympics to become a genuinely
British event. And if £25,000
is sufficient to persuade Romania's
gymnasts to base themselves
in Spennymoor for the
next four years, it will have
been money well spent.
WHILE Lord Coe ponders how
best to attract sportsmen and
women into Great Britain,
Gordon Brown and the government
are trying to find a way
of keeping some of them out.
The thorny issue of Zimbabwe's
cricketers refuses to go
away, and while the government
has distanced itself from
suggestions of a blanket ban
on all Zimbabwean sportspeople,
the Prime Minister is considering
an abandonment of
next summer's proposed Test
and one-day international series
between Zimbabwe and
England.
There are times when sport
and politics should not mix -
but this is not one of them.
Robert Mugabe is the patron
of the Zimbabwe Cricket
Union, and the ageing dictator
has repeatedly used cricket to
create a veneer of international
respectability for his
despotic regime.
If Zimbabwe's cricketers
play in England next summer,
there is no doubt that Mugabe
will portray the tour as a
diplomatic coup.
He should not be allowed to
do so, but the government
must show greater leadership
this time around than they
displayed when England were
due to visit Zimbabwe in the
2003 Cricket World Cup.
Back then, Tony Blair left
the ECB high and dry. Over
the course of the next 12
months, it is time for Brown to
take a stand rather than allowing
the cricketing authorities
to do his dirty work for him.
IT has taken three matches,
but Brian Ashton has finally
conceded that Iain Balshaw is
an accident waiting to happen.
Danny Cipriani will take the
Gloucester full-back's place at
Murrayfield this weekend, and
England will surely be stronger
as a result.
With Lee Mears and Tom
Croft also in the starting lineup,
the wind of change is blowing
through the national
team's ranks.
THE cat is out of the bag and
we know why England's goalkeepers
perform so dreadfully
for the national side.
When asked whether Peterborough
youngster Joe Lewis
could handle an international
call-up, Posh director of football
Barry Fry said: "He will
play for England Under-21s
with his eyes closed."
If they're doing that in the
Under-21s, little wonder
they're unable to stop anything
when they progress to
the senior side.
10:49am Thursday 6th March 2008
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