Coe says London Olympics is delivering its promises

Published on Sunday 1 November 2009 22:40

LORD Coe believes the London 2012 project is beginning to capture the imagination of the public as preparations for the Olympics move into the final 1,000 days.

The chairman of the London Organising Committee was in Glasgow this weekend to mark the milestone by handing out awards at a children's heptathlon event at the Kelvin Hall.

The huge investment needed to stage the Games prompted criticism in some quarters even before the global economic crisis, but Coe feels they are winning over the sceptics.

"I think people are now recognising what this project is all about, that they are now beginning to believe that this is really something that was worth doing," said Coe.

"They are also beginning to recognise that when I said this wasn't just about 16 days of Olympic sport, it had to capture the imagination of youngsters in Kelvin Hall; I think they are now beginning to recognise just how seriously I took that."

Coe revealed the Olympics was the first subject on the lips of anyone he met.

"And 19 out of 20 conversations are, by a distance, very positive," he added.

The former Olympic champion urged youngsters to join an athletics club if they were not already a member, and he feels the Olympic project is having the desired nationwide impact in increasing sports participation among youngsters.

"I think we are enabling that by using the brand cleverly and using our programmes and the activation of a lot of our sponsors – Lloyds in sports participation, Adidas are building sports parks around the country," he said.

"I think the partnerships are very good but the prime responsibility for driving sports participation sits with government.

"We can help with the branding and other things but it is about inter-governmental relationships, whether it's Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, and clearly at local authority level, too."

Coe also declared himself satisfied with the financial progress made amid the challenge posed by the recession.