London welcomes world, again

LONDON – Sammy Lee remembers it vividly: food rationing, bombed-out buildings, rubble.

The year was 1948, and London was hosting the Olympics amid severe austerity in the aftermath of World War II. Lee, an American diver, and fellow amateur athletes slept on cots at local air bases and schools, brought their own towels and were ferried to events in old London buses.

“We didn’t mind,” said Lee, who won a gold medal and a bronze in the Empire Pool. “It was the spirit of the Olympics. We were there to compete against the best.”

Sixty-four years later, Lee will return as a spectator next week when London welcomes the world again.

Saying these 2012 Olympics will be much different is in itself a gold-medal understatement. This will be a $14.5 billion extravaganza featuring multimillionaire professionals and global stars such as Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, shiny new purpose-built venues and a revitalized east London.

Britain’s biggest peacetime project also entails a massive security operation. To guard the games from terrorist attack, the country is deploying 35,000 safety, police and military personnel, surface-to-air missiles on rooftops, fighter jets, helicopters and two warships on the River Thames.

Yet, put aside worries about trouble and whether the city’s stretched public transportation network can transport millions of extra riders, and this should be London’s finest hour. A chance to throw a rousing five-ring celebration, a global bear hug that restores the festive atmosphere lacking at the past two Olympics, in Athens and Beijing.

“London this summer is going to be the place to have a party,” Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson said.

The city will provide a stunning mix of old and new:

 • Beach volleyball players diving across the sand in Horse Guards Parade, practically on the doorstep of the prime minister’s 10 Downing Street residence.

 • Marathon runners and road cyclists winding past Buckingham Palace.

 • Tennis stars dueling on the Centre Court grass at Wimbledon.

 • Archers firing their arrows at the hallowed Lord’s Cricket Ground.

 • Sprinters and swimmers competing in brand new arenas erected in a once-derelict area of east London brought back to life as the Olympic Park.

Headlining the show will be 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries; none bigger than — who else? — Bolt and Phelps. What can Bolt possibly do for an encore after his jaw-dropping three gold medals and three world records on the track in Beijing? Can 14-time gold medalist Phelps – winner of a record eight golds in the pool in Beijing – hold off American rival Ryan Lochte in what Phelps says will be his final Olympics?

Also at stake will be the top spot in the medals table between the world’s two sporting superpowers: the United States and China. The U.S. won the most medals (110) in Beijing, but China took the most golds (51). Expect a tight race on both fronts this time.

Away from the playing fields, the city is dressing up, from the giant Olympic rings on Tower Bridge, to the party venues and giant screens in Hyde Park, to the landscaped gardens inside the 560-acre Olympic Park.

Four years ago, China used the Beijing Olympics as a coming-out spectacle to underscore its presence as a world power. It spent $40 billion on the games, erecting iconic venues like the Bird’s Nest stadium and the Water Cube natatorium and staging a grandiose opening ceremony.

But London never tried to compete with the epic scale of Beijing, largely because of a global economic crisis that triggered bailouts, mounting debt and political turmoil across Europe.

Still, the Olympic budget of 9.3 billion ($14.5 billion) is more than triple the cost estimates when London secured the games in 2005. The government says the games are expected to come in about 500 million ($778 million) under budget. The local organizing committee’s separate privately financed operating budget of 2 billion ($3.1 billion) is on course to be met through sponsorships, TV rights, merchandising and ticket sales.

“This is the first time London got the games with no particular crisis around, but then they marched right into the worst financial crisis since before World War II,” senior International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound of Canada said. “But they have succeeded remarkably well in spite of that.”

London organizers look more closely to the 2000 Sydney Games as their model, hoping to channel the same vibrant energy, passionate crowds and Olympic buzz.

While Beijing suffered from empty seats at some venues and a disconnected public, London promises full arenas and knowledgeable spectators. The capital has residents of countless nationalities and cultures, providing a “home” crowd for teams from Namibia to Nepal. Live sites, music concerts and other attractions should keep visitors entertained day and night.

The tone will be set at the opening ceremony on Friday at the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium, a three-hour spectacle directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle of “Slumdog Millionaire” fame. Inspired by William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” the ceremony will include a segment involving Daniel Craig’s James Bond and a closing act by former Beatles member Paul McCartney.

Boyle has revealed that the opening sequence will feature an idyllic British countryside setting complete with live farm animals – 70 sheep, 12 horses, 10 chickens and nine geese to be precise. He’s even promising a cloud that produces rain – in case there isn’t enough of the real stuff around.

The Economist magazine couldn’t resist a little zinger: “Opening ceremonies are a country’s opportunity to sell itself to the world. Britain appears to be selling irony.”

The games will be protected by 12,000 police officers during peak times and 23,700 security staffers – a number that includes 7,500 troops. A no-fly zone will be established over Olympic venues.

London knows the threats all too well. Homegrown suicide bombers attacked the city’s public transport system, killing 56 people, on July 7, 2005, the day after London was awarded the games.

“The games present an attractive target for our enemies,” said Jonathan Evans, head of Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5. “But the games are not an easy target, and the fact that we have disrupted multiple terrorist plots here and abroad in recent years demonstrates that the U.K. as a whole is not an easy target for terrorism.”