Don't scrimp on the Olympics
A senior official told me the other day about the most important advice he always gives to cities hosting the Games.
He tells them: "There's no point buying one of the most beautiful paintings in the world and then putting it in a cheap frame."
What he means is that there is little point in spending billions of pounds building the facilities for the Olympics and then failing to take advantage of the Games because you haven't spent enough money on the projects which help them make a real difference.
There is growing concern that Britain is doing that because there are not enough programmes in place to increase sports participation across London and the country.
Remember, the big promise of the bid was to inspire people to take up sport.
I was doing a report for the this week at the only athletics track in the Olympic borough of in east London.
The chief coach Jane Farrier there spends her days having to worry whether there is going to be a track at all in because the land is set to be used for redevelopment.
The council says it wants to keep a track in the borough but the people at are not convinced the club has a future.
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This is hardly great evidence of Britain taking full advantage of the Games. The Government is running a 2012 campaign for free swimming for the under 17s and people 60 or over. It's a good idea and it has had success in some areas.
But the , which represents grassroots sports around the country, says it's time to be more ambitious with less than three years to go before the Olympics.
The key goals are to train up more new coaches and to improve facilities so that when children want to have a go at Olympic sports in 2011 and 2012, they will easily find a coach and a sports centre near their home.
Even in a recession, it's worth spending a little bit of extra cash on these projects to avoid 2012 ending up like a Van Gogh masterpiece in a plastic frame.
I'm 91Èȱ¬ London's Olympics Correspondent, which means I report on every aspect of the preparations for 2012. I'm going to be telling you what people are saying about London's preparations - both in the Olympic corridors of power and on the streets of the capital - and I want to hear your views.
Comment number 1.
At 15th Sep 2009, jonasheros wrote:Governments should be doing more to encourage young people to take up sport and yes there should be more money being used to help achieve this but this is nothing new. For decades now all Governments have been responsible for a lack of investment in sport and facilities, none more than in the 80's. The Olympic Games in London will be the catalyst for change and I would like to see a report on the vast amount of good work already undertaken by the London 2012 organisers (maybe for once Adrian) and the sporting legacy that will be available for the children of the UK and in particular the deprived areas of the East End. Something we can be proud of maybe or perhaps that wouldn't make for good blogging?
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