Olympics 2012

A year ago, London celebrated winning the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. I went searching for some news on how well London was shaping up for this huge event. A trip to BBC News was a good place to start as they have an entire section on the subject in their sport section.

I hadn't been to Sydney before they hosted the 2000 Olympics but I have been a beneficiary of the the changes that were made to make it such a success. The entire Darling Harbour area was regenerated (okay, so today it looks a little worse for wear but when I was here in December 2000 there was still an Olympics buzz about the place). I have been many times to the fantastic Olympic Stadium (now called the Telstra Stadium) out at Olympic Park in Homebush. The entire Homebush area was a wasteland, and I believe London has half of the Sydney contractors/organisers involved so they probably intend to do a similar re-vamp of East London.

Every year we always talk about going canoeing/whitewater rafting in Penrith at the man-made facility that was built there (never made it yet, maybe this summer). And apparently the trains were unbelievably reliable in those two weeks. Although CityRail have been regretting it ever since as everyone says "If they could do it for the Olympics, why can't they do it now!".

London hasn't been quite so accepting of being the host of this party, and many people are probably already nervous after having witnessed the whole Wembley Stadium debacle (Australian contractors, a-hem).

Still, they have another 6 years to make their mark and let's face it, if Athens can do it, surely London can.