London's 2012 Olympic project yesterday enjoyed its best moment since the Games were won in Singapore almost two years ago when the International Olympic Committee delivered a glowing evaluation of progress to date. After a three-day visit by an IOC coordination commission, including 14 Olympic medallists with the experience of 215 Games between them, its Swiss chairman, Denis Oswald, said London's preparations were perhaps the best he had seen.
After nine months dominated by rows over a spiralling budget and capped by 10 days of controversy over the new logo, Oswald's five-star assessment was gratefully received by the organising committee chairman, Lord Coe, at a press conference yesterday afternoon. Sitting alongside Oswald, the double Olympic champion's smile broadened as the superlatives flowed, as well it might; had his school reports been this good he might not have needed to take up running.
Even by IOC standards of diplomatic language, a code that reduces crises to "challenges" and fiascos to "setbacks", Oswald's summary was glowing. "The IOC have been very impressed with what we have seen this week. There is an excellent team in place who work together with real spirit," he said. "Operationally and financially they are on track and on time. The interest from the business community is very high . . . and interest in the local community is also very high. The vision outlined in Singapore is still there. As far as legacy is concerned . . . we really consider that London will be a model for future host cities."
Asked whether London's progress was the most impressive he had seen, Oswald only hesitated for fear of insulting the 2008 hosts Beijing by omission. "It is very difficult to compare because every Games is different . . . but I am strongly tempted to say yes . . . I have been involved in the organisation of 18 Games and for recent Games I have to say yes."
He was, if anything, even more enthusiastic about the logo, described earlier in the day by Tony Blair as either "brilliant or awful". "I love it," Oswald said. "It's very simple. We had a presentation about two months ago before it became public. When I came back I phoned the IOC president to report and the first thing I told him is they have a fantastic logo: very young, very dynamic, with flexibility about how it can be used. It reflects what London wants to do with the Games in 2012."
After the controversy of the past few months, epitomised by the damaging longeurs while the DCMS and the Treasury haggled over the £9.3bn budget, the IOC's assessment was particularly welcome, not least among Locog staff said to be disheartened by negative coverage.
Challenges remain for the organising committee and the Olympic Delivery Authority as they prepare to start the construction of the Olympic Park next summer, not least the transfer of power from Blair to Gordon Brown. Oswald said he was confident that the shift in power would not affect London's progress, even if the change were to end with a Conservative government.
"The IOC has no influence over national politics, but we are well used to change. In Athens [2004 hosts] we had elections almost every year at local, regional or national level and we had a change of government four months before the Games, so we are used to it. What is important is that people support the Games, and from what I have heard there will be full support . . . from both sides."
The IOC's visit, the second of what will become twice-yearly inspections from 2008, was the first since the massively increased budget - up from £2.4bn at the bidding stage to £9.3bn - but Oswald professed to be untroubled.
