Craig Reedie, the British IOC member who played a leading role in bringing the Olympics to London, tells Around the Rings that carrying the Olympic torch at St. Andrews today was a "very, very special moment."
Reedie ran 2000 feet at St. Andrews, the home of golf, at 7:13 A.M. on Wednesday.
Nominated by the IOC, he tells Around the Rings that it was "a big thrill" to run with the torch in the presence of so many people and at the home of one of the two new Olympic sports.
"For all of these reasons, everything came together. It was terrific," he said.
"To my amazement my son and granddaughter also appeared unexpectedly off the overnight sleeper from London.
"I was amazed at how many people came out so early in the morning and that really follows what has happened around the U.K. It builds up wonderfully towards July 27."
"Obviously for me it's been a long gestation," he added.
Reedie recalled chairing the first meeting of the British Olympic Association at which London 2012 bid discussions took place - that was on Jan. 12, 1994. Since then, Reedie has been a influential figure for London, first in the Olympic bidding contest and since 2005 in preparations for the Games.
No Contingency in Budget for UK Sport
Britain's Olympics minister reveals that there is contingency money left in the Olympic budget – but that it will not return to U.K. sport.
Hugh Robertson spoke to journalists at the last Department for Culture, Media and Sport Olympic budget briefing before the London Olympics.
Robertson announced there was an uncommitted contingency of $741million in the budget.
"We’re probably becoming increasingly certain that we can deliver these Games under budget – and if we can do that that will be a remarkable achievement given the backdrop that we started off with," he said.
"Will we get any of that contingency back for sport? No, as much as I would like to get money back to spend on pet schemes. The range of benefits coming to British sport as a direct result of this process is unquantifiable – it would not have happened under any other circumstances."
He added: "A new stadium, a new aquatics centre, a new velodrome and all these sort of things – all the improvements made to winning major events that all flow from that.
"It’s an incredibly convincing package. So we’ve done pretty well out of this. I don’t think the economic backdrop means
we’re going to have much luck getting $390 million out of it at the end."
The DCMS's quarterly economic report on Games preparations also showed there had been an increase of $34 million for "operational provisions."
These included spending an additional $30 million on crowd management in central London and around Games venues, two lessons learned from the Torch Relay and Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
"The torch relay surprised us," he said. "We know people suddenly got this, but we were pleasantly surprised by it. When you consider that the torch is going to come down the Thames, you’ve then got the road race so the capacity for people to come into London is enormous and we’ve got to be prepared for that."
"Nobody knows how many people are going to come into London – London is going to be the place this summer to come and have a party and its very difficult to estimate how many people will come."
LOCOG will receive an extra $45 million for infrastructure works mainly on Olympic Park venues, Games-time training venues, and $12.5 million on concession pods in the Olympic stadium.
British Cyclists Selected
Beijing Olympic gold medalists Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton are among the 18 cyclists today selected to represent Team GB at London 2012.
The group of athletes will compete across the track cycling, BMX and mountain biking disciplines.
Britain has big medal hopes across the cycling events after strong performances at the Melbourne 2012 Track World Championships where they secured 13 medals, including six golds. At the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Team GB cyclists won eight gold medals.
Torch Relay Update
The Olympic Torch will travel 143 miles though 18 communities on Day 26 of its journey to the London Games.
The Flame started the day in St. Andrews where 13-year-old Joseph Forrester carried the Torch along the West Sands beach, recreating the iconic opening scene from "Chariots of Fire", a film about two British runners competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics.
A total of 115 Torchbearers will carry the Flame to its destination in Edinburgh Castle.
Olympic Rings Unveiled in Edinburgh, Newcastle
Edinburgh unveils Scotland’s second set of Olympic Rings while Newcastle will unveil the U.K.’s largest Rings.
The Rings in Edinburgh are suspended from The Mound and are 60 feet by 26 feet weighing nearly 7,000 pounds.
"Now it is Edinburgh’s turn to be at the heart of the celebrations and today has really shown the city at its best," Scottish secretary of state Michael Moore said. "These Olympic Rings look brilliant on The Mound and are a bold reminder that the Olympic Games are going to be a great event for the whole of the UK."
Newcastle’s Rings will be hung from Tyne Bridge and are 82 feet by 39 feet.
The Rings will be installed before the Olympic Flame reaches Newcastle on June 15.
Reported by Mark Bisson and Christian Radnedge
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