The red carpet will be rolled out this week for the high command from the International Olympic Committee.
David Cameron is hosting a Downing Street lunch for Seb Coe and IOC president Jacques Rogge on the occasion of the IOC final inspection visit to London. Expect it all to end at Friday’s press conference with mutual back-slapping between Locog and the IOC. Even if there are serious issues behind the scenes, any cracks tend to get papered over by the IOC’s chief technocrats. Hear them deploy the language of diplomacy, euphemism and downright evasion as questions are fired at them about the secrecy surrounding public ticket sales and the sports legacy that London was supposed to inspire — which is largely missing. The IOC’s chief inspector Denis Oswald has already pronounced that Locog scores 9.75 for its preparations. A perfect 10 would cement a reputation for smugness — and further rile those who want to know how many members of the public got tickets to the top events.
This Sunday several thousand runners will snake through the Olympic Park on a five-mile event, sponsored by the National Lottery, ending in the Olympic Stadium. It will be the first community sports event in the Park and it is hoped to be the forerunner of an annual half-marathon once the Games are over. Emer Martin will be representing the Evening Standard and is confident of coming in at under 50 minutes.
