Aquatic centre ahead of schedule

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) announced the news last Thursday, along with a new set of milestones it aims to meet as it prepares for the London Games.

It means British athletes will feel the benefit of the new venues well before the 2012 Games, with the opportunity to train at the facilities once they are handed over to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG).

Chairman of LOCOG Lord Sebastian Coe said: “One of the most important concepts is our ability to get those venues well in advance of competition so that we are able to properly test event them.

“Training is a large part of that so I want people to be able to use those facilities as soon as they are in a position to be used, and we also want to make sure to maximise the athletes’ experience so that when those facilities are being used Games-time they have been properly tested in advance.�

And Lord Coe was looking forward to the handover to London during the closing ceremony of the Beijing Games next month.

He said: “It’s a great opportunity for London to have a very big global moment and it’s an important chance for us to start beginning to tell the story of what the London Games will be about in four years’ time.�

But while work on the Aquatic Centre is underway the finance problems for the Olympic Village continue to rumble on. The ODA is negotiating with several banks but financiers are cautious about committing to the huge project in such an uncertain economic climate.

Chairman of the ODA John Armitt believes the battle will be won by Christmas.

He said: “I don’t see anything which is going to stop us achieving our targets for the next year.

“The one which is probably causing us most concern at the moment is the finance for the village, which is affected by the credit crunch.

“We’ve started to build the village to make sure it’s completed on time. Negotiations with the banks are going along, but they’re difficult, they’re slow and to that extent we’re like everybody else trying to get the banks to put up funds for homes at the present time.

“Of course, like everybody else they are saying we don’t think we can lend as much as we were going to lend six months ago. And to the degree they don’t lend as much then we have to go back to central government and seek their support.

“The government, at the end of the day, is duty bound [to help] but equally we’re all conscious of the need to keep within our £9.3billion budget.

“We will definitely have everything sorted by Christmas, though.�