Cameron plays up value of Games

The 2012 London Olympics will bring a “lasting legacy for the whole of Britain,” Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday, as the Government and organisers marked 200 days until the start of the Games.

Swapping No 10 for the 7,000-capacity handball arena for this week’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Cameron said six of the eight main venues would have a future after the Olympics and Paralympics, with announcements on the other two expected before the opening ceremony on July 27.

Ministers heard a presentation from Lord Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee, ahead of the official handover of the Olympic park by the Delivery Authority today.

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He said: “The handover of the Olympic park sounds the starting pistol in the race to get the site and venues ready to host the two biggest sporting events on the planet.

“In just 200 days, 200 countries – more than the membership of the United Nations – will be sending 15,000 athletes and 20,000 accredited media to London to create history.

“There is huge excitement ahead and we want the whole country to start planning their summer.” After touring the Aquatics Centre with London Mayor Boris Johnson, Mr Cameron said: “All credit to the people who have been involved in providing these venues, getting them done on time and on budget.

“We have spent money and sporting organisations have spent money building great swimming pools in Luton, in the West Country and in Scotland so there are centres like this in other parts of the UK.”

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He went on: “The whole country can benefit from the legacy of the Games because of the inspiration they will bring to people young and old.”

Ministers fanned out across the country, visiting sports facilities, schools and businesses to promote the Games.

Environment Minister Caroline Spelman visited Adel Primary School in Leeds, where she presented medals to the winners of walking races alongside Team GB hopeful and Leeds Met student Tom Bosworth.

She said the Games would bring “enormous benefit” to Yorkshire and young children would be inspired to take up sports.

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“The Olympic Games are not just in London, they are spread out to over a hundred different locations across the country.

“Just in construction alone, the Games will bring £74m to Yorkshire and the Humber at a time it needs it.

“That’s just the construction phase – there’s also the different national groups of athletes that are coming. The fact that the Chinese Olympic Committee have chosen to have their headquarters in Leeds brings investment and is a testament to the quality of the facilities there.

“The investment that goes into these facilities will be of lasting benefit to all those who would like to use them after the visiting delegations have gone.”

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She added that the Games would be greenest in Olympic history. “This is really demonstrating the capability that Britain has and shows the wider world what we can do – on budget, on time and also sustainably, which is really important to me.

“For example, the water used for watering the grass all around the park is all recycled and that’s the kind of British technology the whole country can benefit from in times to come.”

Stephen Boothroyd, headteacher at Adel Primary, said the Olympics would “fuel the children’s imagination” and that the school’s pupils were taking part in a challenge to clock up between them the thousands of miles between all the host cities by walking to and from school.