Three out of five British people are not enthusiastic about the Olympic Games which are taking place next year in London, our poll has discovered.
Feelings regarding the upcoming tournament, and the method by which tickets were allocated, are mainly negative. More than half of people are not confident that the London 2012 Olympic Games will leave a lasting legacy, and nearly three quarters think the allocation of tickets has been handled badly.
- 60% of British people say they are ‘not enthusiastic’ about the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games
- Compared to 39% of people who say that they are enthusiastic
- 54% of people are not confident that the London 2012 Olympic Games will leave a lasting legacy for the country
- While 39% say that they are confident the Olympics will benefit the nation in the long run
- 72% of people say that the allocation of Olympic tickets has been handled badly
- While just 16% believe that ticket distribution was handled well
The poll comes as last week the one year countdown to the London 2012 Olympic Games was celebrated in the capital’s Trafalgar Square.
A crowd of up to 7,500 people joined in the countdown revelries which involved famous faces such as Princess Anne, Organising Committee chief Seb Coe and London Mayor Boris Johnson. The International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge paid tribute to Britain, calling it ‘a nation of inventors’ that came up with ‘modern sport and the concept of fair play’.
He said: ‘Today, we invite 202 national Olympic committees to the 2012 Games. The athletes will be ready, and so will London.’
Johnson, who received the biggest cheers of the day, referred to the Olympic clock which stands in Trafalgar Square counting down the hours to the start of the Games: ‘We have a new monument, in this city, to the indomitability of London. A symbol of resilience to go with Nelson's Column or the Dome of St Paul's rising above the smoke of the Blitz. My friends, I give you, the Olympic clock.
Characteristically, Johnson joked, ‘No sooner had this masterpiece of the Swiss chronometer's art been installed, than it unexpectedly packed up. But, with the help of various Swiss chronometers, we got it going again didn't we!
He continued, ‘Nothing, and no-one, is going to stop us in our work of preparing London for the greatest event that has taken place in this city for the past 50 years.’
But our poll would suggest that not everyone is quite as excited; our poll of Londoners from early in June showed that the capital’s inhabitants were becoming less, rather than more, optimistic about the effects of the Games on London.
