London Mayor upbeat over upcoming Olympics
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E-mail Xinhua, July 20, 2012
London Mayor Boris Johnson on Friday insisted that the London Olympic Games would be a huge success.
Just a week before the opening ceremony on July 27 and on the day that the Olympic torch arrived in London after travelling around the British Isles, there are doubts about security of the Games, given the failure of the security firm, G4S to supply security staff, which had led to troops and police being drafted in to cover for any shortfall.
Meanwhile there are also threats of strikes on the railway with strike action planned on East Midlands trains on Aug. 6-8 as union members strike over pensions, while immigration officials plan to strike the day before the opening ceremony, on a day when a huge volume of visitors are expected to arrive at London's airports.
There have also been revelations over unsold tickets for events, mainly football, which have cast a shadow over the run in to the Games, although it should also be pointed out that London 2012 has seen more football tickets sold than for any previous Games.
Johnson certainly prefers to look on the optimistic side of things as he wrote a rallying call in The Sun Newspaper.
"We are about to stage the greatest show on earth in the greatest city on earth, and if you believe much of the media we are all in the grip of paralysing stage fright," he writes..
"We worry about security, when we always planned to have a strong military role in making our games as safe as possible."
"We are nervous about our Olympic accommodation - when our Stratford village is already being showered with foreign praise. In just over a week London is going to raise the curtain on a gigantic festival of sport and culture," continued Johnson, who praised the Olympic Park and the efforts made by the British capital to impress visitors.
"On every side they will see proof London is also the cultural capital of the world. I'm not just talking about a few fire-eaters, or chaps painted silver making jerky movements. The bridges on the river will be lit up with state of the art displays," said the Mayor, who highlighted that the events were free.
He also said the Games had created around 37,000 jobs and that he and others would look to capitalize on them to attract investment.
"I know they will be dazzled and they are all here because of the Games. If we get it right we can make the Olympics a big winner for investment and jobs," he stressed, saying all he was worried about was whether or not Team GB could beat France and Australia.
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