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Olympics summit to learn from Beijing
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent14 Nov 2008
THE high command of the Olympic movement is to meet in London to discuss what lessons can be learned from the Beijing Games.
Up to 70 VIPs will attend the "Beijing debrief" this month in a week-long summit which will begin with a lecture by Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee.
Mr Rogge is expected to tackle the issue of how the scale of the Olympic Games can be adapted to cope with a worldwide recession. Last month he sparked a row when he said that to avoid the main 2012 stadium becoming a "white elephant" after the Games, the athletics track could be removed. Officials from the Beijing Games organising committee, Bocog, will brief their London counterparts on issues ranging from transport, catering and security. Bocog earned praise for the organisation of the Games and the sports venues, especially the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube.
However, the London organising committee, Locog, will be keen to improve on public catering at venues and the poor atmosphere in the Beijing Olympic Green.
Meetings will be led by Hein Verbruggen, head of the IOC's team overseeing the Beijing Games, and IOC chief technocrat Gilbert Felli.
Future Winter Olympics hosts Vancouver and Sochi will also attend, as will cities bidding to host the 2016 Games - Rio, Madrid, Chicago and Tokyo - who will also be given a tour of the Olympic Park. They will be discreetly trying to lobby the dozen IOC members in attendance, ahead of the 2016 vote next year in Copenhagen.
■BORIS Johnson has rejected claims that Olympic chiefs will struggle to put on the 2012 Games because of the financial downturn.
"Not only can we cope, but we can do a fantastic job," he insisted, adding that this would be done within the £9.3 billion budget.
However, the Mayor admitted that Games organisers may have to attract more foreign investment, particularly from China, as a result.
The Standard reported last month that he was holding talks with some of China's leading universities to establish a new campus in the Olympic Park.
Mr Johnson's remarks on Channel 4 News come after Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said the Government would not have bid for the Games if it had known a recession was on its way.
