Missing: Steve Ovett (Photo: AFP)
London Olympics organisers say they are mystified by claims by Steve Ovett that they turned down his request for a couple of tickets for the Olympic 1500m final in exchange for taking part in a photo-call at the official ticket launch in March.
Ovett, Lord Coe’s great rival on the track in the 1970s and ‘80s, was invited to fly to London from his home in Australia to join fellow Olympic gold medallists Carl Lewis, Nadia Comaneci and Rebecca Adlington for the promotional event.
But, as reported in last week’s Olympic Diary, he says he pulled out after his ticket request was rejected. However, the London organising committee (Locog) has painted a very different picture of the negotiations with Ovett’s management company over the terms of his appearance in London and says the former runner may not be aware of the scale of its demands.
Locog has correspondence to prove that it agreed to pay Ovett £10,000 for his single day of promotional work (Locog’s original, smaller cash offer was turned down by Ovett’s team), plus business-class travel and accommodation.
The reply from Ovett’s management company was that he would also require four tickets for his children for all nine days of the track and field competition in the Olympic Stadium, at which point Locog decided to pull the plug.
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Russian plans to turn London’s Marble Arch into a £10 million party venue, dubbed ‘Marble Archski’, during next summer’s Olympics are set to be turned down by Westminster City Council.
Council offers have recommended that planning permission be refused for the ‘Sochi World’ project, which was meant to showcase the 2014 Winter Olympics with a 700-capacity ice rink as well as an exhibition centre, bars and restaurants.
The plans ran into huge opposition from local residents angry at the disruption and overcrowding that would result, and there were also strong objections from transport chiefs, the Metropolitan Police and English Heritage.
The Russian organisers now have the headache of finding an alternative venue with many of the capital’s prime sites having already been booked by other countries.
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Dame Kelly Holmes believes former world champion Caster Semenya has made a smart move in hiring 800 metres great Maria Mutola as her new coach as the South African runner begins her countdown to 2012.
Holmes credits the time she spent training with Mutola in South Africa in 2003 as a key factor in her double triumph at the Athens Olympics the following year.
“She’s the most focused athlete I’ve ever known,” says Holmes. “I thought I was focused, but she is really scary. She’s just so blinkered. I don’t know what her coaching ability is, but for Caster to have that energy around her and to be working with someone who beat everyone that was thrown at her and achieved so much, it has to be the perfect move for her.”
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Londoners hoping to make a few extra quid next summer by renting out their homes to Olympic visitors face a confusing postcode lottery when it comes to council rules on short-term lets.
Research carried out by Holiday Lettings, the UK’s leading holiday lets website, has revealed a huge disparity in regulations, with some councils levying hefty charges for short-let planning permission while others imposing no charge at all.
The strictest rules appear to be in Westminster, where the council is charging £335 for planning permission with the threat of a £20,000 fine for non-compliance.
By contrast, host boroughs Tower Hamlets and Hackney say residents require no permission to rent their homes.
A Holiday Lettings spokeswoman said: “This is a huge opportunity for Londoners to support the Olympic effort and we must question why some councils are objecting to this.”
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