The Telegraph reports:
Olympic bid envoy quits in protest
"By John Crowley
(Filed: 16/07/2004)
Pierre-Yves Gerbeau, the former of the Millennium Dome chief executive, resigned last night as an ambassador for the London 2012 Olympic Games bid.
The French businessman said his decision was in response to the "shocking" treatment of Barbara Cassani, the former American chief executive of the budget airline Go, who stepped down as the British Olympic committee's chairman in May.
Lord Coe took up the £150,000-a-year post after Miss Cassani quit, saying the bid stood a better chance if it was spearheaded by someone with a track record in the Olympic movement. She asked Mr Gerbeau to be her personal adviser and ambassador for the bid."
So who exactly is left running this half hearted Olympic bid ? There is still no Cabinet Minister devoted to the project, unlike in rival cities, so the committment of the Government is still seen to be lukewarm.
This is to be welcomed, if like us, you oppose the London 2012 Olympics bid, in the sense that hopefully the waste of vast amounts of our money and the immense disruption will not take place when some other city is landed with the burden.
If, as has been reported, the bid team now believes that the Bisley shooting range venue, just outside the M25 and even Alexandra Palace in north London, are "too far away" from the proposed Olympics complex, then the cost of duplicating these world famous facilities is going to have to be added to the budget, and even more attention is going to be focussed on the transport problems.
However, the more shambolic the bid team and process is, the worse it reflects on London's international reputation outside of the cosy world of international sport, something which could so easily have been avoided.
Meanwhile the planning blight imposed on the East End of London persists, still without the publication of the feasability study details which should be the baseline upon which to judge the true cost of the bid and of the Games if London is unlucky enough to be landed with them.
