By Simon Hart
(Filed: 30/01/2005)
Double Gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes will be aiming for another
Olympic victory when a team of International Olympic Committee
inspectors arrive in London next month to assess the capital's bid to
stage the 2012 Games.
Holmes is one of a number of high-profile athletes, past and present,
who have been recruited by the London organisers to meet and greet the
12-person IOC evaluation commission during their four-day stay from
Feb 16-19.
Holmes and other well-known British sports stars will have the chance
to bang the London drum at two receptions, one with the Prime Minister
at Downing Street and the other at a dinner hosted by the Queen at
Buckingham Palace, while athletes will also be positioned at the
proposed Olympic venues during the inspectors' site visits.
Sir Steven Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent will guide the commission
members around the rowing facilities at Eton Dorney while other
athletes lined up by London bid chiefs include Daley Thompson, Pippa
Funnell and Chris Boardman. The London team are also hoping boxer Amir
Khan will make an appearance.
Much of the commission's time in London will be spent behind closed
doors in hotel conference rooms hearing detailed technical
presentations, where the London organisers are also planning to bring
out their big guns.
Sir Ian Blair, the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner, will talk to
the inspectors about the security operation for the Games while the
Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, will address the commission
on health and medical issues.
Beginning with Madrid on Thursday, the IOC inspectors will tour all
five candidate cities before publishing their final report a month
before the all-important vote in Singapore on July 6. London will be
their second scheduled visit, followed by New York, Paris and Moscow.
London organisers are leaving nothing to chance and this week
Sebastian Coe, the bid chairman, and his team will be taking part in a
full dress rehearsal aimed at replicating every aspect of the
inspectors' stay.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/01/30/soathl30.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/01/30/ixothspt.html
