91Èȱ¬

It was great talking to the Olympic Stadium project manager Ian Crockford the other night when the floodlights were switched on for the first time.

Ian is so passionate about the construction work and spoke with such pride about the achievements of all of his team.

As we get closer to the Games, it's important to step back and recognise how well the has done in getting these venues ready on time.

Remember Wembley and its delays? And the people I meet regularly at the Olympic Park - not just the top dogs - are so enthusiastic about their work.

What I'd like to see is the same passion and dynamism being shown by the organising committee () in 2011.

Look, I'm not saying 2012 chairman Seb Coe isn't passionate about the Games.

You couldn't meet a more dynamic man, an inspirational athlete who shows the same energy and tactical brilliance in his work as he displayed on the track in the 1970s and 1980s. And his chief executive Paul Deighton is equally as hard-working.

But what I'd like to see in the next 12 months is more risk-taking. I get the impression the cautious lawyers and the accountants have too much power in LOCOG.

And I'm not the only person who believes this. Quite a few of the partners who deal with them, admit privately that they want more risk-taking from 2012 officials.

Maybe it's because they are locked up with bankers and accountants in a Canary Wharf skyscraper. Every day they step into lifts with money men and women.

But why not start celebrating the Games now? Let's tell the world that we really want to stage them. We're being far too reserved and British about all this.

Why can't they put the Olympic rings on Tower Bridge now? Why can't they shine lights of the rings onto the Houses of Parliament now? Why don't they put them on the London Eye? Tell the world, we really care.

Why are there so few 2012 countdown clocks around London?

The BT Tower sometimes displays the number of days left but why not put clocks in Trafalgar Square, Oxford Street, a better one in Stratford in east London, at the Albert Hall, at the London Eye and across the country where the football matches are being played.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has a role to play here.

Why do you see so few children wearing Olympic pins? Why don't they make special ones for the east London boroughs and give them away to every child at school?

Why wait? Let's start building the excitement now. And let's ask Londoners and Brits what they want to see at the Games, what they want at the opening ceremony, what sort of merchandise they want?

It's time to engage the whole country in the Games and not just by selling tickets but by tapping into the nation's ideas.

LOCOG needs to stop worrying about whether it's okay to use the rings here or there - or whether somebody will take them to court for financial credit if they come up with a good idea.

Be brave, guys and spread the word big time.