12/06/2007

Olympic inspectors arrive in London

Olympic officials have arrived in London for a three-day visit to check the capital's progress in preparing for the 2012 Games.

Members of the International Olympics Committee will visit the site in Stratford in east London where the Games will take place.

The group's previous visit to London was last April and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell told the BBC that everything was being done on time.

Ms Jowell said that tunnels, which will carry power cables under the site of the Olympic Park, are "virtually complete".

Ms Jowell briefed the committee members on Tuesday and announced five pledges, which included making the UK a world-leading sporting nation and transforming London's east end.

The other pledges are: creating a generation of young people with the opportunities to take part in volunteering associated with the Olympics, a commitment to the environment and sustainability within the Olympic Park and boosting the position of Britain as a creative and inclusive capital.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone also said that the London Games would be the most successful since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in terms of regeneration.

During their visit, the committee members are also expected to be the first passengers on a shuttle between Stratford International Station in east London and the new St Pancras International Station.

The seven-minute service, which will eventually use new high-speed javelin trains, is set to carry 25,000 passengers per hour during the Games.

The IOC's visit to London comes a week after a row over the logo for the 2012 Games.

The logo, which cost £400,000 to create, has attracted widespread criticism and more than 50,000 people have signed an online petition calling for it to be axed.

(KMcA/JM)


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