Supporting London 2012 (by Joe)

Bit of a soap-box rant this one, I'm afraid:

... I was delighted when we won it, if only because I'd got hung up on the London - Paris rivalry (and it always feels so good to beat the French). But before that I must admit to being firmly in the 'can't really be bothered to host it' camp.

Looking around Sydney and Melbourne (hosts of recent Olympic and Commonwealth Games respectively) rapidly turned me into a firm believer. These were undoubtedly fine cities before their Games, but my goodness they clearly benefited from them.

The benefits go beyond the new sports parks and renovated stadiums (see top - the renovated 100,00 seat Melbourne Cricket Ground and renovated Yarra riverside); beyond the regeneration of large parts of the city to house the athletes and media; beyond the creation and renovation of transport systems. The benefits even go beyond the wide-ranging smartening up of large swathes of the cities in preparation.

The real key benefit for both Sydney and Melbourne has been to raise their profiles and present them as modern, dynamic, attractive cities on the world stage.

This is a mighty competitive world of many many fine modern cities. 2012 is a wonderful opportunity to showcase London (and Britain) as modern, dynamic, relevant and one of the great places of the world today (not 'in the past'). This is an opportunity to grasp.

Sydney and Melbourne are wonderful multi-ethnic, modern dynamic cities. So too is London (truly) - and can be doubly in the future if investment for the Olympics is channelled as well for long-term good as it has been here.

So I'm supporting the Games - and don't dare give me any of that 'can't be bothered' / 'but we'll cock it up because we're British' rubbish!

Bring it on! - Hurrah!

Joe

P.S Apologies for the rant, thanks for reading!