1289 days ago, in a hotel in Singapore, the IOC selected "the city of... London" to host the 2012 Olympic Games. You may remember the occasion. You might be one of the Newham schoolchildren shamelessly flown over to appeal to international voting delegates. You might be a former Mayor of London now helplessly frozen out of the ongoing decision making process. Or, like me, you might have been standing in the middle of Trafalgar Square watching Denise Lewis's jaw drop on hearing the unexpected news.
And in 1289 days time, in the middle of a former industrial estate in the East End, the world's greatest athletes will troop into London's Olympic Stadium and wave flags. A global TV audience of two billion will watch a cut-price entertainment spectacle featuring tap-dancing Pearly Queens and the cast of Mamma Mia. Meanwhile, held back behind an extra-large security fence, several thousand Londoners will watch with eager anticipation as an avalanche of fireworks explode into the distant sky.
Which, if my calculations are correct, makes today precisely halfway to the Olympics. We found out it was us 184 weeks ago, and we have to deliver a flawless global spectacle in 184 weeks time. How time flies. So, how are we doing? Are the Olympic lands standing idle, or are we progressing with due diligence towards key project development milestones? Are we halfway there yet?
Head down to the Olympic Park and the signs look promising. Its previousindustrialexistence has been entirely eradicated, and now a small army of trucks and bulldozers swarm relentlessly across a landscape of lumpy earthworks. Where once the sky was filled with stalking pylons, now clusters of giant cranes spin to lower concrete chunks of future infrastructure into position. Former rivers have been scrubbed and sanitised, while much-loved allotments lie obliterated beneath caterpillar tracks ready to be replanted with airlifted saplings. Six hundred acres are abuzz with site offices, cement mixers and helmeted security guards. Far more people work here today than did 42 months ago, but the overlap of personnel between then and now must surely be minimal.
The most obvious sign of change is the appearance of the Olympic Stadium. You can't miss it, not from the Greenway, not from the East Cross Route, nor from a passing train. It's already standing at its full height, with a curved temporary grandstand perched high above the permanent bowl. Even the upper seating area has started to appear, the very terrace from which spectators will watch the athletics (and, presumably, purchase candy-floss, branded caps and souvenir programmes). Viewed close-up on the London 2012 official webcam it all looks terribly impressive. But only one tiny sliver of the stadium is yet this far advanced - the brief arc directly in front of the main site office (and webcam). Even the elevated steel raking stretches only a quarter of the way around the stadium circumference at present. It makes for an impressive looking flagship development, fully established only at foundation level, but the rest of the Olympic Park is nowhere near as advanced as this small chunk might suggest.
Never mind, London's still firmly on track to be ready for 2012. We can already pinpoint where the finishing line will be and where the medals will be awarded. The yachting venue in Weymouth was completed a few months ago, and could host an Olympic-scale regatta in 2009 if required. The beach volleyball in Whitehall's a doddle - it only needs a couple of grandstands moved into place - and the ExCel Centre in Newham was already there in the first place. OK, so it may take a while to finally confirm whether the shooting's going to end up in Woolwich or not, and there's still more shouting to come over the equestrian events in Greenwich Park. Plus there's still no cast-iron guarantee that the whole thing won't end up costing more than anticipated, with a post-Games legacy of empty apartment blocks surrounded by windswept parkland. But hey, there's still three and a half years to get it right. And, as we remember, a heck of a lot can be achieved in three and a half years.
Friday update: Hmmm. Seb Coe, the Prime Minister and the rest of London 2012 appear to be celebrating halfway one day late. Come on guys! If the original announcement was on a Wednesday, and the Opening Ceremony is on a Friday, then you'd expect halfway to be on a Thursday. For a project that relies so heavily on immaculate timing, I am not impressed.
Olympic update
1289 days ago, in a hotel in Singapore, the IOC selected "the city of... London" to host the 2012 Olympic Games. You may remember the occasion. You might be one of the Newham schoolchildren shamelessly flown over to appeal to international voting delegates. You might be a former Mayor of London now helplessly frozen out of the ongoing decision making process. Or, like me, you might have been standing in the middle of Trafalgar Square watching Denise Lewis's jaw drop on hearing the unexpected news.
The most obvious sign of change is the appearance of the Olympic Stadium. You can't miss it, not from the Greenway, not from the East Cross Route, nor from a passing train. It's already standing at its full height, with a curved temporary grandstand perched high above the permanent bowl. Even the upper seating area has started to appear, the very terrace from which spectators will watch the athletics (and, presumably, purchase candy-floss, branded caps and souvenir programmes). Viewed close-up on the London 2012 official webcam it all looks terribly impressive. But only one tiny sliver of the stadium is yet this far advanced - the brief arc directly in front of the main site office (and webcam). Even the elevated steel raking stretches only a quarter of the way around the stadium circumference at present. It makes for an impressive looking flagship development, fully established only at foundation level, but the rest of the Olympic Park is nowhere near as advanced as this small chunk might suggest.
1289 days ago, in a hotel in 