Who said Olympics brings no benefit?

Three out of four people believe the 2012 Olympics will bring no real benefit to their area, according to a BBC survey of 2,000 people.

What nonsense! True, the Olympic Delivery Authority is expected to run up an additional bill of £10 billion - four times the government’s original estimate. True, London council-tax payers are being mugged for the money. True, Lottery funding is being diverted from grassroots sports, charities and local theatres. True, general taxpayers will also have to dig deep – despite promises to the contrary. And even truer – we are completely useless at delivering grands projets – cf the Dome, Millennium Bridge, Wembley and Terminal 5 etc etc.

But no real benefits? Hang on. Princess Anne (personal fortune: £21m) received £4,000 in fees for attending four board meetings as head of the British Olympic Association – that’s a cool £400 smackers an hour.
The Olympics organising committee’s chief executive Paul Deighton - who commissioned that ground-breaking  2012 logo - received £536,000 last year, including a £100,000 “performance related bonus”. Mr Deighton’s personal fortune is estimated at £100 million.
Not to leave out my dear old mate Seb ‘Lord’ Coe, who earned £461,000 from speeches and ‘personal image rights’ in one year – that’s on top of £285,000 pa as chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games. Seb also trousered £2.7million from shares in the Complete Leisure Group - set up just 16 short days after the successful Olympics bid. And Seb went on to generate £434,184 offering ‘consultancy advice on sports-related activities’.

No benefits? How out of touch ordinary folk are!

Phillip Oppenheim