My View: Catherine Scott

Lord Coe, head honcho of the 2012 Olympics, maintains that these will be the “people’s” Games and that he wants a family with three children from Sheffield to be able to attend without having to take out a mortgage.

Well, if they want to see some obscure sport, that may well be the case, but for those wanting to attend the much-anticipated opening and closing ceremonies, if you are not lucky enough to get one of the £20 seats up for grabs the next seat leaps to £150 a ticket. When you add in the travel and an overnight stay, that average family from Sheffield may well be struggling. That said, the 500-day countdown to the 2012 Games has started to stir some excitement in me. I was on maternity leave and watching live on TV when we were, surprisingly, awarded the bid. At the time there was a sense of excitement that we were to host such a prestigious event. I have to say in the ensuing years that have passed, and a recession come, and hopefully starting to go, the £10bn price tag has started to look somewhat extravagant.

Listening to the cynics, it is easy to write it off as a very expensive white elephant. I am not convinced by the regeneration of East London argument or the so-called benefits to the rest of the country. But we have it now and surely we need to pull together to make it the best and most memorable games ever. Let’s face it, we are highly unlikely to host another major sporting event in my or my children’s lifetime.

I for one will be applying for some (£20) tickets over the next six weeks. Apparently travel to the Games will be accessible, with special offers for ticket holders, bookable a year in advance. I am rather sceptical that no-one has yet been brave enough to advertise any prices. If not for me, then to give my children the opportunity sometime in the future to say they were there.

Who knows, it may well inspire them to take up synchronised swimming or handball or some other sport. But who really cares? I am sure if it were 2005 again we might think twice about submitting our bid, but we are stuck with it now and surely we need to make the best of it. The money is spent, it is going ahead no matter what so let’s stop our national pastime of whining, and get behind out athletes and elite sportsmen doing their best to bring home the gold. So long as the organisers stick to their side of the bargain and ensure that as many ordinary people as possible can actually attend the Olympics then I, for one, are prepared to drop my objections. There are so many terrible things happening in the world at the moment that we all need something to look forward to, why not make it the Olympics?