London Won By Accident

It seems that those who seek to guide the behaviour of competitors in the Olympics, are not beyond bouts of sour grapes themselves.

Alex Gilady, an Israeli IOC member and a vice-president of the Olympic broadcasters NBC, has said that he believes that London won the 2012 Olympics because one of his colleagues pressed the wrong button during the vote to decide the 2012 hosts in Singapore in July.

The mistake happened during the third-round vote, and it worked in London's favour.

The "culprit" is believed to be Lambis Nikolaou, the organiser of the Athens Olympics.

It is alleged that he voted for Paris, rather than Madrid, in the third round.

Nikolaou interrupted the count in Singapore to complain that he had not voted, but a count back showed that all eligible members had cast their votes and his protest was rejected.

London won the third round vote, but the margin between Paris and Madrid was just two votes in Paris's favour.

Had the vote been in Madrid's favour, then there would have been a tie. A further vote would have been required to decide who proceeded to face London.

Gilady is quoted as saying:

"In the vote-off all the votes supporting London would go to Madrid because the fear was that Paris had a big chance to win.

Madrid would have won against Paris, coming to the final against London, all the votes from Paris going to support Madrid. Madrid would have won. This is what you call good fortune and good luck."

All rather academic and irrelevant now, isn't it?

Progress On Olympic Site

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, had some success in trying to clear a 500-acre industrial site for the London Olympics in 2012.

Sortex, a Swiss manufacturer of industrial sorting machines, has agreed a compensation package with the London Development Agency (LDA), which handles property deals for the Mayor.

The official announcement, which will be made in 2006, will put pressure on the other 280 businesses to settle with the LDA.

The LDA will pay Sortex to leave its premises at Lower Lea Valley in Stratford, east London; for a plot at Royal Albert Docks near City airport in the Docklands.

The company hopes to complete the move before October 2007.

The LDA recently increased its budget for relocating the businesses to £1BN, after complaints their valuations were too low and there was a scarcity of alternative sites nearby.

Banker Wins Top Olympics Job

Those of you who doubt that the Olympics is desinged to make money, rather than to promote sport, should note the fact that yesterday Paul Deighton was appointed to head the London 2012 Olympics Organising Committee.

He is currently chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs's European business.

Deighton will have responsibility for the running of the Olympics project, and was selected from a broad range of high-calibre applicants.

Lord Coe, chairman of London 2012, said that Deighton was "the right person to lead the London Olympic Games organising committee on its mission to produce an outstanding Olympic Games for the athletes and youth of the world in 2012".

Deighton will start in early 2006, and end his 23 year career at Goldman.

He is worth an estimated £100M.

Tessa Jowell, culture secretary, said:

"Paul will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the task of planning and then staging the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2012".

London 2012 Chief To Be Named

The name of the person who will be responsible for organising the 2012 Olympics in London will be revealed today.

It is reported that a number of candidates have been headhunted to front the London Organising Committee (Locog), the post will pay £300K per annum.

The final interviews were held last week, and the successful candidate will start in the spring.

The CEO will work closely with Lord Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012. The CEO will also have to work with the Olympic Delivery Authority, the organisation responsible for delivering the venues and infrastructure for the games.