London Update --ODA Denies Olympic Media Center Faces Funding Crisis

Media Center Funding Safe, Says LOCOG

The Olympic Delivery Authority rebuffs reports that the preferred developers for the $500 million media center are struggling to raise finance because of the global credit crunch.

Carillion and Igloo, who were expected to contribute up to half the cost of the venue, were reported Monday to be in need of taxpayer help to bail out the project.

But the ODA dismissed the reports as inaccurate, saying an announcement about the contract was pending and it anticipates private sector funding coming through when planning permission for the venue is rubberstamped in the autumn.

Final discussions are continuing positively and though the details remain commercially confidential it is not correct to say, as has been speculated, that private sector investment for the IBC/MPC is in jeopardy," a spokesman told ATR.

"We are confident of a significant investment from the private sector."

Discussions with Carillion and Igloo are centered around detailed legacy plans and designs, he added.

Reports suggesting the funding of the media center project is in difficulties surfaced just a week after Olympic Village constructor Lend Lease admitted it was struggling to secure lending for the $2 billion venue due to the economic slowdown.

The IBC/MPC contract is the third largest for the 2012 Games after the Olympic Village and the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium.

Post-2012, the new facilities will provide around 120,000 square meters of employment space, public transport links, and walking and cycling routes.

Mountain Bike Confirmation Due

London 2012 organizers are planning to announce the new venue for mountain biking before the Beijing Olympics.

Olympic officials have identified Hadleigh Castle Country Park in Essex as the replacement venue; the originally proposed Weald Country Park was rejected several months ago by the International Cycling Federation on the grounds that it was not hilly enough.

A LOCOG spokesman tells Around the Rings the venue issue should be resolved before Beijing.

"We're still going through a lot of discussions about how it might work. It's not something we are going to rush," he says.

LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe and his chief executive Paul Deighton are expected to report on the change of venue in their progress report to the IOC Executive Board meeting August 2 to 3.

Coe was expected to face calls to stage the mountain bike events in Wales during a visit Monday to examine the country's plans to maximize opportunities in the build-up to the Games.

But a move to Wales is highly unlikely as Olympic officials and the IOC are keen to maintain London's compact venue plan.

Asked if Wales might still be considered as a venue for mountain biking, the LOCOG spokesman said: "At the moment, we are working on the basis that we can find somewhere in Essex."

The new mountain biking venue must have a height difference of about 300m from the lowest to the highest point of the course. This is the minimum needed to test the world's best riders. It would also need to accommodate temporary grandstands for 3,000 spectators.

U.K.'s 'favorite' Olympians

Britain's six "favorite" Olympians are appearing on new National Lottery scratch cards designed to raise funding for the 2012 Games.

LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe, Steve Redgrave, Kelly Holmes, Jonathan Edwards, Sally Gunnell and Duncan Goodhew are on the new Camelot scratch cards.

They topped a poll to find the nation's favorite Olympians.

Linford Christie, the 1992 100m Olympic champion, didn't feature as he was banned from appearing on a 'prompt list' shown to those people who were surveyed because of his doping offence.

This list was devised in consultation with the British Olympic Association, who imposed a lifetime ban on Christie after he failed a drugs test at the end of his career.

London 2012 plans to raise $1.5 billion from scratch cards for the Games. So far it has raised $600 million from Olympic-specific games.

Sponsorship Announcement

London 2012's sixth top tier partner will be announced Thursday.

The sponsorship will fill one of LOCOG's three vacant tier one categories: oil and gas; automotive; or clothing and homeware.

Adidas, British Airways, British Telecom, EDF Energy and Lloyds TSB are London's current partners for the 2012 Games. Deloitte is the only second tier partner to sign up.

Film Promotes London

A leading London production company called th1ng is to create a film highlighting the capital's cultural and business successes and help raise the profile of its film industry in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics

The film is due to be shown at the Beijing Games as part of a London Development Agency initiative to promote the city's creative industries to international business audiences.

With reporting from Mark Bisson. Click here to see the latest Around the Rings Olympic Bid Power Index -- the only authoritative ranking of the 2016 bid cities.