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Jonathan Knott

Former British ambassador to Hungary, Budapest

Part of Stay Ahead of the Games UK in Hungary

29th March 2012 Budapest, Hungary

Building the Olympics

I can’t wait for the Olympics to start. I love to watch sport and the Olympics is really special.  It’ll be even more special this year in London. I didn’t get any tickets in the public ballot so I’ll be watching the Games on TV. But the quality and diversity of the competition will be outstanding.

Quite apart from the sports themselves, though, I’m looking forward to seeing the venues in action. The east part of London where the main venue will be has been transformed. It will be a hyper-modern complex, designed for the first time with both the Olympic and Paralympic competitions in mind. And this will be the greenest, most environmentally friendly Games ever. For example, the Olympic arena uses only half the steel of comparable stadia, and it features a low-carbon concrete containing 40% less carbon than usual. The upper tier was built using surplus gas pipes.

We hosted an exhibition about the Olympic site in the Embassy last week; and we held events so that local schools could see it and get an idea of what to expect this summer. The main theme of the exhibition, though, was the legacy which the Games site will leave. There will, of course, be world class sporting venues which remain there (though the Olympic stadium itself will have its capacity reduced so it’s suitable for more modest events). But for me the really impressive part is the social and business legacy.  Immediately after the athletes leave the Games the area will be re-named the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It will be the centre of a regenerated east London, offering new hospital facilities and schools and new and much needed housing, much of which will be reserved for people on low incomes. A new, 21st century part of the world’s most cosmopolitan city.

I may not be able to get to the Olympic competitions this summer.  But I’ll definitely go and see the QE Park after the Games. It looks like it’ll be spectacular.  And it’s not far from my football team, West Ham’s, ground.  They may even use the Olympic stadium as their home ground in the future!

You might be interested in this link: the Embassy sponsored a journalist, Tamas Barok, to visit London ahead of the Paralympic Games and he made two videos.  They’re definitely worthy a look:

Giant preparations in London

Everybody can access the Games

I’ll let you know about other pre Olympic (and pre Paralympic) activities soon.

About Jonathan Knott

Jonathan Knott was appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Hungary in March 2011 and arrived in Budapest in February 2012 to take up his post. He left this post on April…

Jonathan Knott was appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to
Hungary in March 2011 and arrived in Budapest in February 2012 to take
up his post. He left this post on April 2015.
He has previously held a variety of diplomatic posts at home and
abroad, several with a particular focus on commercial and corporate
finance issues. Jonathan has served in a number of positions in the
British Diplomatic Service since joining in 1988:
Before his appointment was Deputy Head of Mission and Director for Trade and Investment in South Korea from 2008 to 2011.Between 2005 and 2008 he held the post of Deputy Finance Director in the FCO.From 2000 to 2005 he served as First Secretary (Trade, Corporate Affairs and Finance Negotiator) in UKDel OECD Paris.From 1996 to 2000 he was First Secretary (Head of Political/Economic/Aid Section) in Mexico.From 1995 to 1996 he worked in the FCO as Deputy European Correspondent at the EU Directorate.Between 1991 and 1995 he served as Third later Second Secretary (Political / Press and Public Affairs) in Havana.From 1990 to 1991 he was Desk Officer in the FCO’s First Gulf War Emergency Unit.Between 1988 and 1990 he worked as Desk Officer in the FCO in the Anti Drugs Cooperation Department.
Jonathan holds an MA in law from Oxford University, and he is a
member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. He speaks
English, French, Spanish and Hungarian. He is married to Angela Susan
Knott and has one daughter and two sons.

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