London Latest - LOCOG Chief Reveals Challenges Ahead; Olympic Jobs Advertised

(ATR) LOCOG chief executive Paul Deighton says Olympic organizers are well-positioned with nine months until the Games open "with the hardest bit to go".

Deighton spoke of London 2012's achievements past as well as its challenges ahead at the International Sports Event Management Conference on Thursday in London.

"We’re having to deliver these Games in the toughest economic conditions we have seen in our lifetime – and it looks like it’s getting tougher," he told delegates.

"For financing the organizing committee, which is financed privately, we raised more than expected from sponsorship and our ticketing program has been an extraordinary success.

"That gravity-defying commercial performance has positioned us strongly to deliver the Games as we promised in Singapore in 2005."

LOCOG met its $1.1 billion sponsorship target last month after signing Westfield as the official shopping center developer of the Games. Westfield was LOCOG's 44th domestic sponsor.

Looking ahead, Deighton said the biggest challenge organizers face is "the massive scaling-up exercise of people, an extraordinary mobilization.

"We have 2,000 people at the moment, but we’ll have 6,000 by Games-time. Then we have to layer on top of that 70,000 volunteers – ‘Games-makers’ as we call them. We had a quarter of a million apply, andwe’re going through the interviews now.

"Finally, we have to mobilize a very big contractor force [catering, cleaning, security etc]."

Testing of venues is another priority identified by Deighton. The London Prepares series of ticketed and non-ticketed events is well underway and continues through the spring.

"We’re testing things to death. It’s one thing having a brilliant plan, another thing altogether having something which will survive contact with real people on the ground," Deighton told the conference.

"The test events have gone brilliantly, especially those outside the Olympic Park. Just seeing sport in our venues has been a great experience and given us a lot of confidence and now we’re on to thecommand, control and communications – functions which are critical to how you react when things don’t quite go to plan."

Amid the difficult economic climate, Deighton spoke of the importance of ensuring the Olympics and Paralympics were staged within their $3.2 billion operating budget.

"The fourth [challenge] is continuing to deliver the budget. Nobody wants to see us wasting money or putting on service levels which are extravagant so we feel a great responsibility to be seen to be giving value for money and deliver on the cost side as efficiently as we possibly can," he said.

In the 288 days until the Games open, Deighton also said LOCOG will be challenged "to continue to engage and excite the nation and the world, broadening and deepening our fan base.

"We’ve got more tickets to sell, which is something we’ll use as a way to get people excited.

"We have the [Olympic] torch arriving in May, which is really when the excitement will be ignitedhere. Then there’s the Cultural Olympiad – we’ve got some tremendous events for that. Then of course the kickoff on July 27."

Deighton also commented on LOCOG's close relationship with the IOC, whose inspection team led by Denis Oswald gave London 2012 high marks in its penultimate check-up on Games preparations last week.

"The most satisfying thing is that they absolutely trust us. We tell them the truth about what’s going on and the six years we’ve put into building that relationship has been crucial," Deighton added.

Olympics Jobs Advertised

LOCOG launched Thursday a drive to recruit tens of thousands of people to work on Olympics-related projects. By Games-time, London 2012 will have a workforce of around 6,000 paid staff, up to 70,000 volunteers and around 100,000 paid contractors.

Around 4,000 roles with LOCOG will be available over the next six months in areas such as customer service, hospitality, operations, help desk, facilities managementandadministration. Opportunities with contractors will be in catering, cleaning, security, transport, event stewarding and retail.

For the London 2012 Ceremonies company alone, around 350 jobs are available.

The majority of jobs will be short-term posts starting from April 2012 and running through the Olympics and Paralympics.

The Summer Jobs of a Lifetime website, run by London 2012 official recruitment services provider Adecco, and supported by Podium – the Further and Higher Education Unit for the 2012 Games – is an important recruitment channel for Olympics contractors and allows students to also register their interest in work.

Other jobs are being created by London 2012 sponsors and suppliers.

New roles for LOCOG, London 2012 Ceremonies and contractors can be found here.

Award for 2012 Velodrome

The Olympic velodrome was awarded Wednesday the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award, a prestigious accolade recognizing the best of British design and service.

The 6,000-seater, the most eye-catching venue in Olympic Park, opened in February as the first venue on the site to be completed. It’s due to host Olympic and Paralympic track cycling next year and will be used by elite athletes and by local communities in legacy mode.

Judges picked the velodrome out of a list of 27 projects from across the U.K., including the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium.

"This is a tremendous achievement for a venue that combines innovative architecture, engineering and construction into a stunning and sustainable building," said Olympic Delivery Authority chairman John Armitt.

"Along with its striking design, the velodrome also places sport at its heart, creating a world-class facility for the Games and for a new generation of cyclists to train and compete on in future."

Reported by Christian Radnedge and Mark Bisson

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