The Debate: Should London bid for the 2040 Olympic Games?
While many would love to live the heady days of 2012 once again, should London really put in a bid for the 2040 Olympics? Two experts hash it out in this week’s Debate
Yes: The facilities built for 2012 are still booming and could be utilised again
London 2012 meant Britain became a better place to live and a country that believed it could achieve greatness. It changed the global perception of our country – and we need more of that now.
The opening ceremony delighted and surprised the world, showcasing our sense of humour, our history and our unique ability not to take ourselves too seriously. Strangers talked to each other, tourism boomed and the redevelopment of East London has made a positive difference to our society.
Uniquely, in Olympic terms, the facilities built for London 2012 are still booming. The London Stadium hosts West Ham and the annual London Athletics meeting, the world’s largest one day meet. The velodrome and aquatic centre, in the heart of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (QEOP), are well loved and well used for major events and by the community.
Eton Dorney’s rowing course, the Excel centre and Lee Valley canoeing course are just some of the many venues which could be easily utilised again. Why not add skateboarding, urban BMX and speed climbing at Crystal Palace and revitalise this amazing park in the south east of our great city? Rebuilding the east side of QEOP (planning is already in place) could create the athletes’ village and a legacy of increased housing.
London has a Mayor with vision working to create a fairer society, a more vibrant city, a healthier city, and one that brings people together. London 2040 would be a catalyst for this, showcasing London once again as a city of growth and of the future.
Hugh Brasher is CEO of London Marathon Events
No: Passing the baton to another UK city would be a more worthy legacy
2012 was spectacular – indeed the Games were so positive for London that their transformational impacts are still being felt and will be for some time. The Olympics and Paralympics inspired people to be better and to do more, creating places that are clean and lush where once they were polluted and sterile. Who wouldn’t want more?
Yet one of the key questions for a future London Games is whether there is another fissure like the Lea Valley that needs bridging with streets, parks, stadia and real estate development. Or that has existing, box-fresh transport infrastructure such as the likes of Stratford International handed to the designers of 2012.
No, London doesn’t need another Olympics and Paralympics for some time to come. Certainly not before another UK city has received that honour. Instead, the lessons of 2012 need to be passed to one of the nation’s other great cities where, like London, there are inequalities between west and east, or north and south. Where development needs to be undertaken on a scale that only the Games can deliver. A New York to Los Angeles or a Sydney to Melbourne.
But let’s not leave London out entirely. After all, this city remains the repository for much of the knowledge, passion and guile that delivered that summer of love. Let London’s contribution be in offering the people that made 2012 possible. A collective memory of Olympics wisdom resides here in the capital, with a tome of tips and tricks to make things happen faster, cheaper and better. Let’s offer a different kind of Games volunteers. That would be an extraordinary legacy.
Tim Stonor is managing director at Space Syntax and worked on the Manchester bid for the 2000 Olympic Games
The Verdict: Sharing is caring
When Sadiq Khan this week threw his weight behind a London bid for the 2040 Olympic Games, doubtless many cast their minds back to the heady days of 2012, when the Spice Girls were reunited and Boris Johnson was just a flag-waving patriot on a zipwire. But should we really try to recreate it all so soon?
Mr Brasher, no stranger to the realities of hosting major sporting events, argues yes, and gives a valiant case why so. Hosting the Olympics can provide a boost for the economy, tourism and certainly the national spirit. Plus, thanks to 2012, we already have much of the infrastructure readymade. However, as Mr Stonor says, isn’t this exactly why London should take a noble step back?
It’s also worth acknowledging that the legacy of 2012 is not universally rosy. Many of the pledged benefits, not least the promise of 40,000 new homes in Newham, were underdelivered, and Brits are in fact no sportier than they were pre-2012. As it stands, the shortest time gap any city has hosted two Olympic Games is 48 years. Perhaps that’s not a record to break.