The Hindu : Sport : London will be ready for 2012 Olympics: Tony Blair

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 06, 2006

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

London will be ready for 2012 Olympics: Tony Blair

LONDON: London will be well prepared to stage the 2012 Olympics, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Tuesday.

Blair also said the event would spark economic prosperity and the regeneration of derelict parts of the city.

``Six years of wrangling, one year of blind panic, two weeks of glory and an endless period of repentance at leisure. Welcome to the Olympics,'' Blair said.

Blair said London had ``risen again'' from the ``period of anxiety'' it experienced in the 1990s and would treat the Games as more than a two-week sporting spectacular.

``The Olympics can be a catalyst for the city which will be its host,'' Blair said. ``It can inspire new infrastructure, school and hospital buildings, new housing.''

``We could inspire economic prosperity that is sustained long after the closing ceremony and which will pay for the Games many, many times over.''

Blair said London had to harness the optimism of its reaction to winning the Olympics on July 6, 2005, with the steadfastness of its response to the terrorist bombs on its transit system a day later, which killed 56 people. — AP

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