And the winner of the Olympic bid is..........................................

[MarsLady]

LONDON

Although I am excited about having the olympics, I feel a tad sorry for Paris, it is not their fault their president is an idiot. He certainly lost them any finnish IOC votes - silly man!

However, as a londoner, am also nervous about the council tax bill we will end up getting. Most of us are still trying to recover from the 30% increase when we got the London Mayor! I also know some of the small business owners who are being shafted by the London Development agency over their land and premises which are being compulsory purchased to make way for car parks etc. So although happy to get olympics also worried for these people and their livelihoods.

Sorry am being a killjoy.................

I will be happier if they promise Londoners some sort of discount on tickets, it seems only fair!

I too love the opening ceremony. Even watching it on TV I feel overwhelmed with emotion.

they've already announced where all the events will be - it's on the london2012 website but it's down at the moment (for obvious reasons!)

And just think about it, we could have an Olympic-sized Mumsnet meet-up!

Time to be best friends with us Londoners if you want accommodation down here in 2012 ha ha ha

54 for London, 50 for Paris I've read... so quite tight!

Not all the events will be held in London, surely? Canoeing for instance will prob be held in Nottingham, at the International course built when the UK held the World championships some years ago, other Cities will hopefully hold events, as in Athens where not all events were held in Athens itself

Will help with conjestion and the accomodation problems too

Robinia

'£2.6 billion of public money. And it's not just for 3 weeks of sport - it;s for facilities that will last many years, it's for the regeneration of an impoverished part of London, it's for lasting attitudes to sport and fitness in our children'

Where are the facilities? How many in Scotland/North of England/Wales/NI etc.

Improved community and school facilities coupled with more teachers might change children's attitudes too - for a wee bit less money perhaps? Not convinced that it will have this magical effect on children the length and breadth of the country anyway

BTW my town is at a standstill due to G8 and how much coverage has thay had on the national news today? Not a lot really.

But you don't need to spend that amount of money to improve the image of sport, surely! Even a tenth of the Olympic budget spent on ad campaigns/other methods of improving the image of sport would do it, you don't need to host an event costing billions to improve the image of sport!

And as for facilities, like, for example, public transport, well, in my view they should exist anyway or be improved anyway, not only be improved because some athletic events are going on. Sophable, I don't think my question about where the money's coming from has been answered has it? Blair has promised the govt will find the money but where from? And HMC, surely it will be either/or for some things because surely something else is going to suffer/not receive funding because billions are being spent on the olympics?

This is in French but relates to the jibes between Paris and London.

I'm with the dissenters I'm afraid
I can see a Millenium Dome style project coming on
If it had been in Paris we could've popped over and French govt would've footed the bill

No, not we can't host any major event, but to spend xxxx BILLION quid on 3 WEEKS of sport? I just don't see why it's a good thing, it seems like the world has gone mad to me if we all agree that's a great thing!

combination of lottery funding and increased council tax for londoners www. no worries there then...

oh come on come on come on, aren't you feeling even the tiniest twingey twing of excitement...your kids are going to experience your country hosting the olympics...and maybe even going to experience the olympics themselves...?

to my knowledge, londoners will pay for it, supposedly it will only cost london a ticket on eurostar to paris - ironic don't you think?

I of course don't believe that for a second!

I too am pleased for the country as a whole but I too worry about London coping (as a Londoner). I go to premiership football games where say 40-50,000 people are trying to get into London and the chaos on the tube/trains is often dreadful. Sometimes it works, quite often it doesn't and this is football - something that happens every year. Goodness knows how the system will cope with such a one-off influx of people.

And as with almost every other Olympic games, the cost will be huge with London council tax payers footing a large part of the bill. I'm sure it will be great and I'm pleased that it will benefit a part of London but I think there is still a hell of a lot of work to do to convince Londoners that the city can cope with it.

meant londoners not london

www - the 2.6 billion is the outlay, not the overall cost. Some of it will be repaid in ticket sales etc.

Some public money will subsidise the thing, but it will boost the image of sport, improve London's transport system (part of the money is going on that), and do wonders for the tourist industry, both in london and elsewhere.

and I hate sport (except the men's gymnastics and swimming)

Honestly I started this with I am pleased for London honest but am beginning to go a bit bah humbug TBH!

Yes you only need trainers to go running and London having the Olympics changes that how exactly?

Can someone please explain explicitly how this will bring these enormous benefits to the whole of the UK? Not just children will get enthused and become more interested in Sport, the facilities but real examples of benefits that people in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Belfast etc. never mind the smaller towns in these parts of the UK will derive?

No, I don't feel the slightest twinge of excitement, I just think it's madness, I just cannot compute that 3 weeks of sport (and it IS just sport unless I'm mssing something here!) is worth spending billions of pounds on! Increased council tax funding and right, lottery funds ok, so some other things will definitely suffer because they would have got the money had London failed in its bid to host the olympics? Where's the flaw in that logical argument (and I am prepared to accept that I could be wrong on this!)

Gosh Pupuce, I did A-level French 14 years ago....I think I got the general gist tho!

it's not just sport tho, it is the ideal of international cooperation, of the honour of hosting the world and having the eyes of the world on us...

So is there any point in hosting any major event (not necessarily sporting) in this country? Presumably not.

But London's transport system needs improving anyway and how it's done is a whole other discussion really but surely that alone doesn't make hosting the olympics a Good Thing? yeah, right, that's if it is enough improved by 2012 to cope.

What about all the jobs for the workers at the stadiums

from ice cream sellers to car park attendents to officials to judges to cleaners to dancers

There are so many people

gomez a side effect of winning the games as hosts will be a massive push including massive funding to try to get as big a profile and as many medals at the games as possible: that will include things such as stopping closing down and selling off swimming pools and playing fields as compo has already said, but also a real drive to recruit sporting young talent from all over the country starting now.

agree with you fox

I think the mayor has tried to sell it to londoners by saying that transport will get better, but it should be better anyway, why wait till 2012!

anyway that has ever commuted in london's rush hour whether by car or public transport is a bit cynical

but am still looking forward to trying to see tennis at wimbledon, hopefully all tickets will be on public sale.