IOC president Jacques Rogge expressed confidence Monday that London's ``lean but very workable budget'' will deliver a successful Olympics in 2012 despite Britain's economic crisis and massive spending cuts.
``Every pound has to be really very well spent,'' Rogge said during a tour of Olympic facilities in east London, including the flagship 80,000-seat main stadium.
Nearly five years to the day since London was awarded the games in Singapore, Rogge also met with British Prime Minister David Cameron at his 10 Downing Street offices to discuss the government's support for the Olympics.
Accompanied by local organizing committee head Sebastian Coe, Rogge visited the $780 million Olympic Stadium in Stratford and helped fit the 2012th seat into place as construction crews worked on clearing the infield of the arena.
It was the International Olympic Committee leader's first tour of the stadium since 2008, when construction was just getting started. Now, the external structure of the stadium is complete, 14 huge light towers are in place, the roof cover is nearing completion and the black and white plastic seats are being installed at a rate of 700 a day.
``I'm very glad to see how far this has advanced,'' said Rogge, wearing a yellow hard hat and jacket, and goggles. ``It is intimate and beautiful. It combines both qualities. I think it is going to leave a great legacy for the city.''
``They have done a magnificent effort and have worked extremely hard in a difficult economic environment but they have achieved a lot,'' Rogge added. ``They are on schedule. They are on budget. This bodes well for the games.''
The Olympic Delivery Authority, the body responsible for building the venues for the games, had its funding cut by $39.5 million in June as part of the new British coalition government's efforts to slash the nation's record budget deficit.
The overall public sector budget for the Olympics stands at $13.6 billion. Coe's organizing committee, known as LOCOG, has a separate privately financed operating budget of $3 billion.
``I think the budget of ODA, including the cuts requested by the government, is a sound budget,'' Rogge said, noting the agency had previously made savings of more than $911 million. ``They have a lean but very workable budget. The same goes for LOCOG.
``We are in a period where every pound has to be really very well spent, but I think that's going to be a good outcome.''
The Olympic Stadium will host the track and field competition and opening and closing ceremonies of the games. Under the original plans, the stadium is to be downscaled after the Olympics to a 25,000-capacity venue, mainly for track and field.
Rogge said he hopes the athletics track will be retained.
Officials are now studying various possible long-term uses of the stadium. West Ham football club and American sports and entertainment giant AEG are among those which have applied to move into the stadium after the games. A final decision is expected by March 2011.
``We are keen on having an athletic track to remain, but I'm confident that my British friends will find the best possible solution in terms of legacy,'' Rogge said. ``I know they are studying various options, but it would be, I have been assured, an option with an athletic track.''
Overall, Rogge said London was well on track in its preparations for the games.
``I think London is on the front of the cities that were ready ahead of time,'' he said.
Rogge was in London at the start of a three-day visit by the IOC's coordination commission, the sixth since the city secured the games.
Among the issues to be discussed are plans for ticket sales. About 10 million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics will go on sale in the spring of 2011, but the prices haven't been determined yet.
``We do not want to see anything other than full stadiums, and with people that look like they want to be in them,'' Coe said.
Coe also offered a warning to future ticket holders: Don't come to the stadium with vuvuzelas, those plastic horns making such a din at the World Cup.
``You wouldn't want anything to trespass on that extraordinary theater that takes place five or six minutes before an Olympic 100-meter final,'' Coe said. ``It is the silence and experience that actually defines that moment.''
