Excitement building up for the Olympics

With just 30 days to go before the London Olympics, there is a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation in the country.  Besides being a great sporting spectacle involving 10, 000 athletes from 204 countries, it is widely recognised that the event provides a unique opportunity for building good international relations and, in the case of the host country, for showcasing the nation in its best light.This awareness accounts for a strong turnout of diplomats at an event held in London on Thursday by the Global Diplomatic Forum (GDF) entitled, “Olympic Games – Bridging the Diplomatic Gap”.  The keynote speaker, introduced by Younes El Ghazi, CEO of GDF, was Sir Keith Mills, deputy chairman, London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). A business man and entrepreneur, famous for inventing Air Miles, he is about to see the fruits of nine years of planning.The Olympic Park, he explained, delivered on time and on budget, is the biggest urban development of its kind to be seen in Europe for 200 years.He is particularly proud of the way LOCOG has remained true to its bid pledge to bring sporting opportunities to developing countries. He revealed a shocking statistic about Bangladesh, stating that some 18,000 children drown annually in floods due to the fact they haven’t been taught how to swim.  A special training programme has been implemented to train parents and teachers to teach swimming skills to children, and safe areas have been created in lakes and rivers to provide inexpensive pools for the purpose. He also highlighted the positive economic and cultural impact of the UK’s GREAT campaign which supports the marketing and public diplomacy efforts of UK Trade and Investment, Visit Britain, the British Council and the Foreign Office.Ruairi O’Connell, head of GREAT and 2012 Campaigns, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said that while Britain was often recognised for its rich heritage, tolerance and rule of law, it also wanted to be known for innovation, entrepreneurship and design capacity.For Sir Keith, the biggest challenges for the London Olympics relate to security and transport. A great deal of planning has gone into ensuring safety and ease of travel.In relation to cost, he said while the infrastructure for the games is funded through the public purse, operational costs amounting to some £2bn are funded commercially. Professor David Armstrong, founder/editor, Diplomacy and Statecraft, who chaired the event, defined public diplomacy as the means by which a state communicates with people in other countries with the aim of both influencing and informing. Ever since the Berlin Olympics, he said, the event had been seen as being a vehicle that could draw the attention of the world – with both positive and negative aspects.Panel speaker, Jonathan Fryer, chairman, London Liberal Democrats, said hosting the Olympics afforded the host nation a great opportunity for making powerful statements. For the UK in 1948, in the aftermath of WW2, it was a statement about resilience. For Tokyo in 1964, it signalled Japan’s return to the mainstream, for Beijing in 2008, it afforded the Chinese a stage to show their world power status.Andy Reed, chair of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, UK, said taking on the Olympic Games required courage in the aftermath of the difficulties experienced with Wembley Stadium and the O2 arena. However, the upside of accepting the challenge was the enhanced reputation for the UK in delivering a massive project and the confidence that instilled.He also noted how hosting the Olympics opened doors for diplomatic engagement. He recalled how Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshiro Mori, a keen rugby player, had been only too delighted to engage with the British when it came to talk about sport.Panel speaker, Jacquelin Magnay, Olympics editor, the Telegraph newspaper, who has attended eight Olympic Games to date, said she had concerns for the image of the country in relation to telecommunications blackspots. In some areas in London, she noted, mobile phone reception was poor and broadband speed slow. It is not yet  possible to use a mobile phone on the London underground railway or “Tube”. Being incommunicado and mercifully free of other people’s phone chat is seen as a blessing to many weary commuters who take a chance to read a book or newspaper, or just switch-off for a few minutes. But movers and shakers want the Tube to be mobile friendly – even though for many high fliers, travelling on crowded, un-airconditioned trains would be beneath their dignity. He Rulong, head of Press and Public Diplomacy, the embassy of the People’s Republic of China in London, said that a Chinese telecommunications company had offered to provide the London underground with a mobile phone capability but that this offer had been turned down.Talking about the impressive Beijing Olympics in 2008, he said it was a valuable opportunity to show China’s contribution to the world economy and help balance what he termed as the “knowledge deficit” between Chinese society and the rest of the world. He felt that hosting the Games, cheered along by so many visiting heads of state, was a great confidence booster to China, resulting in greater openness. He added that in the run up to the Games the country had to contend with a devastating earthquake in which 80,000 people lost their lives.He recalled that 2mn volunteers assisted at the Games which aimed to engage the people, and promote sustainable development and Hi-tech industry.Rounding off the discussion was Daniel Costa Fernandes, head of Commercial Section, embassy of Brazil in London. His country will host the Olympics in 2016, the first time for a South American country to do so. He wants the Games to create a lasting legacy for the whole nation and hopes that a positive image of his country will emerge. He expressed frustration at a tendency for the BBC to focus only on the negative aspects of his country with constant reporting on the “favelas” or slums. “I can’t understand why they always focus on this one aspect,” he said.One unhappy participant was Arion Krasniqi, first secretary, embassy of the Republic of Kosovo. He expressed his disappointment at Kosovo being excluded from participating in the Olympic Games in London. In his view this exclusion, on the authority of the IOC, is related to geo-political factors – chiefly the opposition of Serbia and Russia.  Kosovo’s finest athlete, the judo star, Majinda Kelmendi, will compete under the Albanian flag.