At some ridiculously low temperature I jumped in the car on Saturday and drove to Białystok to participate in The Polish Olympic Sporting Awards. A great evening with some brilliant people from the world of sport in Poland – an excellent starting point for the visit of the British Olympic Travelling Exhibition to Poland, a packed agenda of two weeks’ activity to promote the massive opportunity of the London Olympic Games.
It’s going to be such a great year for the UK; an absolutely unique, once in a lifetime, fantastic, fantabulous occasion. We have Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics as an unprecedented global icon event in London! Nobody has ever seen that before and nobody alive today will ever witness anything like 2012 ever again.
The Olympics – a GREAT year for the UK
1. It was Nelson Mandela who said “I can think of no better city than London, the leading global city to host the Olympics”.
– London 1908 – the 1st purpose built Olympic stadium
– London 1948 – the 1st televised games and the birth of the paraolympic games
– London 2012 – the most sustainable games ever – the 1st where all events are integrated
2. The countdown begins in 2005 and we are ready with the big ticket preps already
– 6 July, 2005, Sebastian Coe leads a globally inspiring bid to win the games for London
– We have just 167 days to go – venues open already
– Opening ceremony 27 July – a full year of celebrations and opportunity
3. London 2012 – the biggest show in the world
– 204 countries; 147 nations qualified at least 1 athlete so far
– 26 sports and 39 disciplines
– 120 heads of state; 11.8 million visitors; a TV audience of 4 billion people via 27000 broadcasting networks and 20 million extra tube journeys getting everyone there
4. A superb legacy investment
– 8 billion invested – a huge legacy project and a superb catalyst for growth
– The most sustainable games ever – construction, transport and regeneration
– Bringing 21 billion pounds to UK economy
5. 2012 A unique celebration in Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Year
– A full year of celebrations – sport, culture and business
– 19 May – Olympic flame in UK – a 70 day tour involving 8000 people; the historic Olympic Flame will come within 10 miles of 95% people in the UK
– 27 August opening ceremony games
– The Cultural Olympiad – the London 2012 Festival which culminates a 4 year programme of over 500 cultural events
– The Business Olympiad – global investment conference – remember Crystal Palace in 1851? High profile sector summits; the British Business Embassy, a manic magnate attracting global investors into the UK.
It’s going to be a great year. Take a moment to reflect – think of a once in a lifetime opportunity and go for it. All aboard for London 2012! It’s time to be there.