IOC Happy with Games Operations, LOCOG; Coe on British Gold Medal Haul

(ATR) IOC Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli gives London 2012 organizers top marks at the halfway point of the Games, saying stakeholders are "very happy".

"It’s easy for me to be in front of you today," Felli told Sunday’s IOC/LOCOG briefing.

"I believe we have had a fantastic start to these Games. We can feel the atmosphere through the stadiums and the city of how people are supporting these Games and the athletes.

"All the members of the Olympic family are thrilled with this outcome."

Felli, who has witnessed 18 of the 26 Olympic sports, said that the iconic venues were part of the London success story so far, with international federations, chef de missions and broadcasters all reporting satisfaction with LOCOG.

"We have been talking with all of the international federations… to secretary generals and the presidents, all of them are very happy with what LOCOG have done to prepare for their sports and athletes to be in the best condition possible," he said.

Applauding LOCOG for their years of preparations to deliver a great week of Olympic sport with "no incidents", Felli added: "Every aspect has been planned and foreseen and the vision that they had in 2007 we can see today."

LOCOG chief executive Paul Deighton told reporters that his overwhelming sentiment at this stage of the Games was one of pride.

"I’m very proud of the show the UK is putting on, of the tremendous performance of our athletes and very proud of my team which has given its heart and soul to these Games over the last seven years and everybody who is working on these Games," he said.

Praising the thousands of "brilliant" volunteers for presenting the smiling face of the Games to visitors, he said the opening ceremony and first eight days of the Olympics "are showing the very best of British".

Olympic stakeholders and client groups including athletes, officials, spectators had been reported not major concerns to date, he said. "We are delighted with the quality, strength and consistency of the positive feedback we have been getting."

Security and transport worries dominated headlines the build-up to the Games. Deighton insisted the successes so far were down to putting in place plans to mitigate the two key challenges.

In the wake of the security debacle that preceded the Games, which saw military personnel drafted in to plug the shortfall in venue security provided by contractor G4S, Deighton said: "I think everybody’s experience in terms of the effective security in place and secondly the customer experience… no queues, everybody’s getting in, wonderful service… has demonstrated that we did the right thing to fix that."

Deighton described the early days of LOCOG’s Games-time operations as a test to see "how our plans survive when it collides with the reality of the massive numbers you have to deal with at Games-time and just how quickly you respond to the specific challenges, fine-tune things."

He added: "I was delighted with the way the team evaluated to what was going on on the ground, where we needed to make slight changes we did. Now we are in a very neat operational rhythm day in day out. All issues are being taken care of at the venue at local venues."

Deighton singled out the passion of the crowds – not just the support of the Brits – as the stars of the first week.

Felli and Deighton responded to questions about the empty seats seen in the first part of the week in accredited Olympic family areas. Under criticism from fans and media, LOCOG has since been in constant contact with the international federations to release more tickets to fans each night of the Games. Troops and volunteers have also been given the opportunity to take up vacant seats.

London 2012 has consistently emphasized this weekthat this Games has 15 percent fewer seats for accredited officials and athletes than Beijing 2008.

"I believe we have managed accredited seating better than anyone has ever done in the past and I suspect as well as or better than anyone will manage it in the future," he told the briefing.

IOC Satisfied with Olympic Cauldron

Many visitors and Olympic reporters have questioned LOCOG’s decision not to display the Olympic cauldron to park visitors; it’s only been visible to spectators inside the 80,000-seat stadium where action began Friday following its reconfiguration after the opening ceremony.

Deighton explained that the cauldron designer and opening ceremony director wanted something on a human scale and "something which from a sustainability point of view didn’t guzzle too much gas" in keeping with LOCOG’s green vision for the Games.

He said the positioning of the cauldron in the stadium was a nod back to its location in the main stadium for the 1948 London Olympics.

"We knew that the scale of it meant we wouldn’t be able to have it on display and we were comfortable that on balance we liked the overall proposition," he said.

Fellis said there was "no disappointment" from the IOC on the positioning of the cauldron.

"Takingpictures of the cauldron is always something people like to do. They will get the opportunity in the second week," he said.

Coe on GB’s Super Saturday

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe praised the three British stars of track and field who brought home gold medals last night - and said they had provided a boost for athletics in the U.K.

"It just got better and better as the evening went on," he said. "Yes, I dreamt it would happen like that but I didn’t think in my wildest dreams I quite saw it unfolding in the way that it did."

"From a personal perspective, blood is thicker than water I guess, Jess Ennis winning the heptathlon title from a city I know well [Sheffield], from an athletics club I was a member of and from somebody who I just think is an extraordinary person.

"Mo Farah in the 10,000m was extraordinary too… he was perfect and made all the right judgment calls

"In a way Greg Rutherford [long jump champion] because that was a product of that wall of noise that greeted him. I think he would be the first to admit that the crowd was the difference last night."

Coe sat alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron at the stadium last night and said the PM was "very seized by the need to build on everything that he was seeing in that stadium", including the performances of Team GB, the ongoing challenges of getting more young people into sport and the economic legacy.

Asked what a Saturday night’s heroics had done for athletics in the U.K., Coe said: "It reinforces in my mind that when you present a sport as well as last night… then track and field is as strong as sport as any in the world."

Coe admitted that Saturday night’s gold medal haul for Great Britain was the defining moment of London 2012, eclipsing his greatest night watching athletics - Sydney’s ‘Magic Monday’ when Australia’s Cathy Freeman claimed gold in 2000.

"This does edge ahead of it… there was a narrative yesterday of infectious success [six GB golds in all, rowing and track cycling] and it’s a day none of us will ever forget. I think yes it probably was for me the greatest day of sport I have ever witnessed."

LOCOG reported that 5.1 million spectators have attended venues to date. Saturday was the busiest day of the Games on the Olympic Park with 231,000 visiting venues.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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