100 days to go for the greatest show, London Olympics

[1]

The collective gaze of the sporting world would be on London from July 27 to August 12. Wednesday (April 18) marks the 100-day countdown for the greatest sporting extravaganza known to mankind: the Olympics. London edged out Paris 54-50 in a thrilling vote on July 7, 2005, to win the hosting rights of the 30th Olympiad.

The UK capital will, thus, become the first city in the history of modern Olympics to host the Games three times.

England’s bid to organise the Fifa World Cup, the only other global sporting spectacle that can rival the Olympics in spectator interest, has never been successful since 1966.

But the decision of the International Olympic Committee to award the Games to London must have alleviated the pain to some extent.

The man who is spearheading the organisation of the 2012 Games is Lord Sebastian Coe, an Olympic champion himself and a former world record holder in the 800m. Coe is the face of the London Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee should be happy that a person of Suresh Kalmadi’s integrity isn’t the boss. Kalmadi was at the helm of the 2010 Commonwealth Games and India is still paying the price for giving the reins to him.

Coe has made it clear that London is not competing with Beijing, which hosted the 29th edition. The Chinese capital proved doubters — most of them from the Western press — wrong by putting on a show of athletic might and organisational splendour in 2008.

London wants to conduct an Olympics that will be remembered as people’s event. The legacy of the Games is in the hands of the public now.

Past records suggest that London will host an outstanding Olympics.

The IOC hadn’t initially chosen the UK capital to conduct the event in 1908. Only the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius forced Italy, the original host, to withdraw its rights. But the substitute did a commendable job. The fourth edition in 1908, an unqualified success in all fronts, shaped the future of the Olympics.

The Universal Exhibition organised simultaneously with the Olympics had devalued the two preceding editions at Paris (1900) and St Louis (1904). It was at London that the primacy of the Olympics was established.

Another legacy of the 1908 Games was the alteration in the distance of the marathon. Originally a 42-km race, the marathon was extended by 195 metres to enable the race to finish in front of the Royal Box at the White City Stadium. The new distance of 42 kms and 195 metres (26 miles and 285 yards) was standardised in 1924.

London hosted its second Olympics in 1948 after the devastation of World War II. Many European countries were still counting the cost of the war when the Games got under way. Once again London delivered. The world has changed in myriad ways in 64 years but the Olympics haven’t lost their sheen.

Can London do it for the third time?