Policing poser for Olympics

For all the people in this region who missed out altogether, it further perpetuates the belief that these will not be the British Olympics that Lord Coe, who grew up in Sheffield, promised when London won the right to stage this sporting spectacular.

Funding for grassroots sports has been scaled back – and the cost of staging the London Olympics has increased three-fold.

Yet, despite these considerable criticisms, it is important that the London Olympics is a great success story – even if this means hundreds of police officers from this region being deployed to the capital for the duration of the event.

Of course, there will be some consternation that this will jeopardise policing in this region – and it is up to Yorkshire’s chief constables to put appropriate contingency plans in place.

They are well placed to do so, with Meredydd Hughes, the head of South Yorkshire Police, playing a pivotal role in the preparations for the Olympics, and the nationwide torch relay, that will precede the Games. His expertise will be crucial.

However, despite the genuine misgivings that Lord Coe and his team have sidelined the regions over the past six years, the Olympics still represent a golden opportunity to showcase the very best of Britain to the world.

This will not happen if this once-in-a-generation celebration is blighted by security setbacks because of cost-cutting – the 1996 Atlanta Games are still remembered for a terrorism bomb rather than the inspirational brilliance of the runner Michael Johnson, or the poignancy when a shaking Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic cauldron.

It will, therefore, be regrettable if the brilliance of this country’s Olympic competitors, after a lifetime devoted to reaching the pinnacle of their chosen sport, is overshadowed by security lapses.

As such, the challenge is for the Olympic organisers to remember the enormous contribution that the regions are making to the Games, and how this needs to be reciprocated with a legacy that ensures every parish in Britain derives a sporting dividend from London. Over to you, Lord Coe.