British newspaper The Guardian said London’s bid continues to gather momentum and is closing the gap on the favourite, Paris, after London 2012 bid head Sebastian Coe gave a well received presentation.
But the British Evening Standard reports that New York’s 2012 bid upstaged London with the city’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg “making a real impact in the absence of (London’s Mayor) Ken Livingstone”.
London bid officials said Mayor Livingstone was unable to find time to attend the meeting.
According to the Evening Standard, New York Mayor Bloomberg won many friends by sitting through several hours of the general assembly in addition to giving the presentation. It seems that many Olympic leaders were impressed that such a high-profile political figure had taken the trouble to listen to their deliberations.
But the Guardian reports that there are doubts about Bloomberg’s plans to build an Olympic Stadium in Manhattan, after an editorial in the New York Times on Sunday challenged the scheme.
During London’s presentation, Lord Coe addressed head-on the issues of transport, which many see as London’s Achilles heel. He said: “From my experience I know one of the biggest impediments to peak performance is the inability to move competitors quickly and safely between village and their venue.
“I guarantee that these Games won’t impede the aspirations of any competitor. I will not allow their years of hard work and sacrifice to unravel. Competitors will spend their time competing, not commuting”.
As for Paris, considered to be the frontrunner in the race, the Guardian reports that its presentation was considered too low key and the consensus was that it suffered in being conducted entirely in French. Also, one delegate to the assembly considered a speech given by the city’s Mayor Bertrand Delanoe to be “uninspiring”.
One International Olympic Committee (IOC) member said: “If it was down to presentation then London would clearly be the favourite. I can tell you that the whole thing made quite an impression on me and my colleagues. It was excellent. I do not see why the Olympics cannot go to London in 2012”.
Reports say the reputations of Madrid and Moscow as outsiders in the race were reinforced, after generally unimpressive presentations.
