Olympic plans blend old and new in London's bid for 2012 Games

By ALAN HUBBARD

London's battle to win the 2012 Olympics moves up a gear with the first images released of the proposed 80,000-seat stadium and Olympic village designed to win over the International Olympic Committee.

More details will be released this week before the full-scale plans, in a 600-page candidate file, are presented to the IOC in Lausanne next Monday, alongside those of rival cities Paris - the favourite - Madrid, New York and Moscow. The final choice is to be made in Singapore next July.

The stadium, with a lattice-like roof providing cover for 80,000 spectators, will be built in east London if the bid is successful and later downsized to a 20,000-capacity athletics venue that, it is hoped, will bury the spectre of Pickett's Lock, the disastrous project to host next year's world athletics championship. That stadium was never built and the games are being hosted in Helsinki.

Lord Coe, chairman of London 2012, believes the plan will impress the IOC as having the best purpose-built facilities in the world.

"What is unique is the imaginative use of old and new. We have the existing and iconic in Lord's, Wimbledon, Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. We also have cutting-edge, new-generation sports venues in the Olympic Park that will be totally environmentally friendly."

London's is the only bid that has a dedicated Olympic Park. And the former Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson claims it will have the best facilities for athletes of any Olympics or Paralympics.

The cost should be less than Wembley's £757 million ($2.02 billion).

Once the bids are digested by the IOC, promotion of the respective bids can begin in earnest. It means the gloves come off.

Paris' campaign has already received a £2.5 billion ($6.68 billion) from the French Government.

- INDEPENDENT