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Sebastian Coe and Boris Johnson have praised the Evening Standard's Olympics coverage and its commitment to the 2012 Games.
Lord Coe, chairman of the London organising committee, said the Standard was “as iconic as a London taxi cab, Nelson's Column and Chelsea football club”.
The Mayor said the paper was a “formidable and impartial organ” as he issued a rallying cry for Olympic sponsors and volunteers. “This is simply the most exciting thing we are going to do in London in our lifetime,” he said.
Lord Coe also praised the Standard's Dispossessed campaign as “extraordinarily moving” at a central London meeting of 2012 stakeholders and athletes.
He said that the Standard's in-depth coverage of the Olympics — including prior to London winning host city status in 2005 — would help ensure that the Games were as good as possible. “We were a better bid because of the scrutiny you provided during that period. It will make us a better host city.”
Standard editor Geordie Greig said its distribution would increase next month from 600,000 to 700,000 each weekday evening. “That means there will be probably two million readers every day during the Olympics,” he said.
“We have done more Olympic supplements, run more stories and generally been more active in covering the build-up to the Games than any other paper.”
Reader views (3)
If Coe and Johnson have praised the Evening Standard's Olympics coverage and its commitment to the 2012 Games then (given the dreadful legacy it will burden London with) one must question whether the paper is genuinely acting as a “formidable and impartial organ”.
We need authentic news and robust investigation, not recycled press releases and sycophancy.
- Mike Campbell, Hackney London UK, 15/09/2010 13:10
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Oh do belt up Seb, you were a decent enough runner in your day but God knows what you are doing in this job except trying to polish up your CV to try and get into the IOC, just get on with raising some cash to bail out the taxpayer who is underwriting this ill conceived extravaganza ! And stop the public speeches, you always did sound ridiculous !!
- Kevin Bollox, London, 11/09/2010 18:24
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I'm sorry but every time I see these two together the question that springs to my mind is Which one leaves the biggest oil stain behind?
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford, 07/09/2010 15:53
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Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent, on Twitter
