Saturday 12 February 2011

Forever Blowing Olympic Bubbles

A few weeks ago I commented here of my anger at Tottenham Hotspur's bid for the Olympic Stadium after the Games finish next year.

Thankfully, the Olympic Park Legacy Company have yesterday unanimously selected West Ham United as their preferred choice to move into the Olympic Stadium.

That preference still has to be confirmed by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson and by the Government but those confirmations should be assured within the coming days.

An artists' impression of a West Ham occupied
Olympic Stadium
 This is the right decision. West Ham promised to preserve the Olympic legacy by keeping the running track whilst Spurs offered to buldoze the stadium and build it again without the track. Such an incredibly tactless and divisive plan has rightly been overwhelmingly turned down.

West Ham is an East London club, not Spurs, and they have looked to honour the principles that were laid down by the British Olympic bid when the IOC gave us the Games back in 2005 whilst Spurs sought to trash them.

Good luck to West Ham United. If they'll forever be blowing bubbles, then what better place to do so than in the Olympic Stadium?

Posted by Mark Cole at 08:58
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2 comments:

  1. Andrew Lye12 February 2011 at 09:13

    I hope the stadium does become a mecca for athletics once the Olympics are over and I hope that football and athletics can live side by side.

    "Good Morning Lord Sugar" has trashed the idea so I hope West Ham will prove him wrong. GMLS was a former chairman of Spurs, so he has an axe to grind.

    Other Olympics stadiums remain empty, so hopefully the Sratford Stadium will prove London was right to host the games. To bulldoze the stadium after 2 weeks use would have been an absolute farce and waste of money, whether private or public.

    Spurs promised to revamp the Crystal Palace athletics tracks.

    What will happen to the Crystal Palace track, now athletics is now likely to be safe at the Olympic Stadium.

    As Manchester City took over the Commonwealth Games Stadium and renamed it Eastlands, I also hope the stadium will retain the name of the London Olympics Stadium, when West Ham take it over.

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  2. Radar12 February 2011 at 11:36

    The right decision was made. Call me naive but I was under the impression they had a plan in 2005 when we won the bid, I think this was a farce. The stadium could have been designed for multiple uses from the start rather than West Ham having to adjust it.

    Hopefully they'll now make it into not just their home but a community home. Though I worry about them if they slip to the Championship!

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