The Hidden Scandal Of The 2012 London Olympics!
Betrayal and Deceit from an insider
The 2008 Olympics closing ceremony had just ended. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London, “Blah Blah” Boris Johnson.
London would be the next host of the Olympics in 2012!
Johnson promised that London, particularly the local area, would benefit beyond their dreams! If only we had known then what we know now about “Blah Blah” Boris and his promises.
My Local Area
Anyway, back then, I lived in one of the Olympic boroughs of London. The excitement of winning the bid and the start of the building phase had taken hold. The area I lived in was pleasant, and the residents were genuinely hard-working.
However, when the Olympics arrived, it had a peculiar effect on the population. People who had never considered starting or running a business began exploring all available avenues.
I asked one of my friends what would happen after the four weeks were up and the Olympics moved on. He responded, saying it wouldn’t matter because he would have made his money by then.
I’ll come back to this friend later!
The Sales Pitch
The politicians are out in force (kissing babies and shaking hands), telling everyone to use this chance and make the most of this opportunity,
I thought it might have been an election year. They were taking credit for everything good and brushing away any problems. I’ll get right back to you. Where have I heard this before?
We were told that there would be lots of jobs on the Olympic site and as you are local, you would be first in line.
Local shopkeepers were assured they’d have the opportunity to earn as much as they could in those four weeks; we had the nearest train station next to Stratford London mainline station.
The local council set up business advice centres and organized visits to schools and colleges by athletes. Additionally, sports centres were promised money to revamp their facilities.
Also, there would be loads of money available to regenerate the area!
The Buzz
I could feel the buzz, everyone was talking about the games. My next-door neighbour was telling me how they were applying for tickets and applying for work in the Park, as we called it back then.
The feel-good factor had risen to the stratosphere, people you didn’t even know were greeting you. Shopkeepers telling you they were feeling positive about the games coming and the increase in visitors would impact profits.
The games arrived in 2012
The council had been given a great deal of money and vibrantly painted every shop front along the local high street that led into the Olympic Park.
I remember walking to the Olympic Park and thinking how much the area had changed in the four years leading up to the games.
I decided with my family not to be in the area for the first two weeks of the games. We went on holiday because I didn’t want to be caught up in the crowds and hustle. We returned for the Paralympics football matches since I had tickets for the football, of course. I watched Ukraine beat the US 9–0 and GB lose to Brazil 3–0.
The Realization
Earlier, I mentioned my friend who had a plan to profit from the games. He, like many others, invested in a food pop-up shop to sell food to the tourists as they headed towards the games.
Numerous pop-up shops lined the street. The local council had informed them that crowds exiting the station would pass by their popup shops, offering them a selling opportunity. For this privilege, they were charged rent of £15,000 for four weeks.
Sadly, there were no crowds!
Stratford had built a Station hub that could handle all the crowds for the games! No one needed to exit at our local stations!
Dreams crushed
There was no sudden increase in spending from tourists or local people. The promised building jobs in the park had never materialized. The building companies brought their crews to the site and only offered crumbs to the local workforce.
The jobs offered were unskilled and low-paid none of the companies wanted to train people for the future.
There was no economic upturn as promised, we did have a beautifully painted street of shops and we got a sports centre rebuilt. Oh, I nearly forgot we had a park renamed after the queen. Queen Elizabeth Park!
My neighbour didn’t get a ticket to the games, so they had to watch it on TV.
So…
Did the games benefit London? Yes, they did. Did the games benefit local people? No, they didn’t.
It offered hope but then took it away.
Thanks for reading
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