London 2012 will serve best of British food at the Olympic Games
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) today outlined its vision for food at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2012 – the largest peace-time catering operation in the world. London 2012’s vision outlined within the document is to provide a wide choice of food and drink for all customers at Games time, and to ensure that the best of British food is on offer
- Over 14 million meals will be served during the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, across 40 locations. LOCOG is responsible for feeding the 15,000 athletes across the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. It is estimated that to do this will require in excess of:
- 25,000 loaves of bread
- 232 tonnes of potatoes
- 82 tonnes of seafood
- 31 tonnes of poultry items
- 100 tonnes of meat
- 75,000 litres of milk
- 19 tonnes of eggs
- 21 tonnes of cheese
- 330 tonnes of fruit and vegetables
London 2012 Chief Executive Paul Deighton outlined the importance of the document: ‘Catering for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games is a monumental task. We want athletes and spectators to have the widest choices of food available and we want that food, wherever possible, to be British.’
In 2010, LOCOG will also launch a Food Charter, a campaign to encourage organisations throughout the events, catering and hospitality sectors to commit to supporting and implementing local, seasonal, healthier and sustainable standards across the industry.
In line with London 2012’s sustainability commitments, the London 2012 Food Vision sets out benchmark and aspirational standards in how it sources food. The benchmark standards will be the most challenging ever set by a summer Games. LOCOG has set Red Tractor standard as the benchmark standard across meat, fruit, vegetables, salads, cereals and dairy. All dairy products, beef, lamb and poultry must be British.
In addition, bananas, tea, coffee and sugar will be Fairtrade or ethically sourced and traditional British cheese such as cheddar must be British. Eggs must be British Lion mark free range and RSPCA Freedom Food Certified chicken will be available. All chocolate sold will be Fairtrade or ethically sourced. All fish will be sustainable, including the complete exclusion of species and stocks identified by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) as ‘fish to avoid’ and all wild-caught fish meeting the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
The London 2012 Food Vision has been developed in consultation with the London 2012 Food Advisory Group, which includes representatives from DEFRA, Food Standards Agency, the National Farmers Union and Sustain: The Alliance for Better Food and Farming.
The publication of this document coincides with the beginning of a major procurement push for LOCOG in the catering sector to supply food, staff and catering outlets. Opportunities exist for suppliers of all sizes and from all locations – contracts will be advertised via CompeteFor, the London 2012 business portal. Any companies interested should register their details – see www.london2012.com/business for more details.
As part of discussions with potential catering suppliers, LOCOG will ask the industry to look at ways the aspirational standards can be adopted in a commercially viable way.
Catering staff will also be given extra training to ensure a uniform standard of customer care, as well as food safety and hygiene at all Games venues. London 2012 aims to particularly focus on the London Host Boroughs to support the staffing of food outlets at Games-time.
The chosen caterers will join London 2012 commercial partners Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Cadbury which will also be supplying food and drink and will provide the only branded products on sale. Current projections are that McDonald’s catering at the Olympic Park will amount to about 20% of the total food provision available to the public. All soft drinks and mineral water will be provided by Coca-Cola who are committed to providing wide variety of drinks including still, sparkling, low and no sugar, 100% juice, water, sports and energy drinks.
In addition, LOCOG has confirmed that free drinking water will be made available at all Games venues.
Paul Deighton added: ‘We want to ensure everyone at the Games has a fantastic experience and key to that is the food and drink that’s available – we want it to be affordable, sustainable and celebrating the fantastic diversity and quality of what Britain has to offer.
‘We also want to ensure that there is a great legacy for the catering industry in this country, ensuring it is even better equipped to provide quality, sustainable food and drink for events both large and small.
‘Over the next year we will work with our partners and the catering industry to deliver a solution that works in 2012 itself and for years to come.’
Olympic gold medalist and London 2012 Sustainability Ambassador James Cracknell commented: ‘As well as the millions of ticket holders and spectators, the Organising Committee is also responsible for feeding more than 15,000 athletes across both the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.
‘When you’re an athlete at a Games, you want to know that the right food is available at the right time – it’s a vital part of your preparation. The approach being taken for the food provision at London 2012 is the same for both athletes and spectators – responsibly sourced and ensuring a wide choice.’
Peter Kendall, President of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) commented: ‘London 2012 is often described as “the largest peace-time catering operation in the world” and I’m very pleased that LOCOG recognises the important role that UK farmers will play in providing 14 million high quality meals during this time.
‘Committing to procure UK Red Tractor assured food wherever seasonally possible delivers on LOCOG’s promise to provide fresh, quality food for all at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. Never before has such a large scale catering contract had such sustainable procurement standards and I hope that this can act as a blueprint for minimum catering standards in the future.”
David Clarke, chief executive of Assured Food Standards, which runs the Red Tractor scheme, commented: ‘We are delighted that LOCOG are committed to sourcing Red Tractor certified food that represents high standards of food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection. This initiative provides a great opportunity to communicate an extremely positive message that the food provided to everyone involved in the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will be fully traceable and has been produced to strict standards from farm to pack.’
London 2012 Olympic Games
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, are due to be celebrated in London in the United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012.
London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.
The bidding process
By the bid submission deadline of 15 July 2003, nine cities had submitted bids to host the 2012 Olympics. These cities were Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.
On 18 May 2004, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as a result of a scored technical evaluation, reduced the number of cities to five:London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, and Paris.
By 19 November 2004 all five candidate cities had submitted their candidate file to the International Olympic Committee. The IOC inspection team visited the five candidate cities during February and March 2005. The Paris bid suffered two set-backs during the IOC inspection visit: a number of strikes and demonstrations coinciding with the visits and a report coming out that Guy Drut, one of the key members of the Paris bid team and IOC member, would face charges over alleged corrupt party political finances.
On 6 June 2005 the International Olympic Committee released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. Although these reports did not contain any scores or rankings, the evaluation report for Paris was considered the most positive, now followed closely by London which had narrowed down most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2004 regarding Paris. Also New York and Madrid obtained very positive evaluation reports.
Throughout the process and up to the vote at the 117th IOC Session, Paris was widely seen as the favourite to win the nomination, particularly as this was its third bid in recent history. Originally London was seen lagging Paris by considerable margin, however this started to improve with the appointment of Sebastian Coe as new head of London 2012 on 19 May 2004. In late August 2004 some reports started emerging predicting a London and Paris tie in the 2012 bid. In the final run-up to the 117th IOC Session, London and Paris appeared to be increasingly in a neck-and-neck race. On 1 July 2005 Jacques Rogge, when asked who the winner would be, told the assembled press: “I cannot predict it since I don’t know how the IOC members will vote. But my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, or maybe less”.
On 6 July 2005, the final selection was announced at the Raffles City Convention Centre in Singapore, where the 117th IOC Session was held. Here Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair was the only leader of the five candidate cities’ countries to make a personal lobby (he had also been the only one to attend the 2004 Olympics). Moscow was the first city to be eliminated, followed by New York and Madrid. The final two cities left in contention were London and Paris. At the end of the fourth round of voting, London won the right to host the 2012 Games with 54 votes, defeating Paris’s 50. Various French publications blamed the Paris loss on French President Jacques Chirac’s statements before the vote that “We can’t trust people [the British] who have such bad food. After Finland, it’s the country with the worst food.” Two current members of the International Olympic Committee are from Finland. Several other news sources cited Bertrand Delanoë’s complaint regarding Tony Blair’s secret late night meetings with numerous (African) IOC representatives as having a more significant impact on final vote. When reporting London’s win, British media covered the expectant crowds in both France and England (and in the other bid cities), and contrasted the jubilant reaction in London to the reaction of the crowd in Paris, where many had gathered in hope of a French win. However, the celebrations in London were overshadowed when London’s transport system was attacked less than 24 hours after the announcement.
In December 2005 it was alleged by Alex Gilady, a senior IOC official, that London had won the right to host the Olympics only because of a voting error. A London 2012 spokesman dismissed this, saying “At the end of the day, it was a secret ballot. This is the opinion of one individual. The result is what matters and we are not going to be drawn into speculation.”
Developments since the 2005 bid
The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games was created to oversee the staging of the Games after the success of the bid, and held their first board meeting on 7 October 2005. The committee, chaired by Lord Coe, is in charge of implementing and staging the games, while the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is in charge of the construction of the venues and infrastructure.
The Government Olympic Executive (GOE), a unit within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, is the lead Government body for coordinating the London 2012 Olympics. The GOE reports through the DCMS Permanent Secretary to the Minister for the Olympics, Paralympics and London, Tessa Jowell. It focuses on oversight of the Games and the 2012 legacy before and after the Games that will benefit London and the UK.
Various aspects of the Games have developed since the time of the initial bid.
Venues and infrastructure
The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will use a mixture of new venues, existing and historic facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well-known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. In the wake of the problems that plagued the Millennium Dome, the organisers’ intention is that there will be no white elephants after the Games and instead that a “2012 legacy” will be delivered. Some of the new facilities will be reused in their Olympic form, while others, including the 80,000 seater main stadium, will be reduced in size and several will be relocated elsewhere in the UK. The plans are part of the regeneration of Stratford in east London which will be the site of the Olympic Park, and of the neighbouring Lower Lea Valley.
This has required the compulsory purchase of some business properties, which are being demolished to make way for Olympic venues and infrastructure improvements. This has caused some controversy, with some of the affected proprietors claiming that the compensation offered is inadequate. In addition, concerns about the development’s potential impact on the future of the century-old Manor Garden Allotments have inspired a community campaign, and the demolition of the Clays Lane housing estate was opposed by tenants.
The majority of venues have been divided into three zones within Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. In addition to these are those venues that, by necessity, are outside the boundaries of Greater London, such as the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on the Isle of Portland in Dorset (which will host the sailing events) and other stadia across the UK.
Public transport
Public transport, an aspect of the bid which scored poorly in the IOC’s initial evaluation, needs to see numerous improvements, including the expansion of the London Overground’s East London Line, upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway and the North London Line, and the new “Javelin” high-speed rail service, using Hitachi ‘bullet’ trains.
They also plan to have 80% of athletes travel less than 20 minutes to their event. The Park would be served by 10 separate railway lines with a combined capacity of 240,000 passengers per hour. Park and ride schemes also feature amongst the many plans aimed at reducing traffic levels during the games.
Concerns have been expressed at the logistics of spectators travelling to the venues outside London. In particular, the sailing events on Portland are in an area with no direct motorway connection, and with local roads that are heavily congested by existing tourist traffic in the summer. There is also only limited scope for extra services on the South Western Main Line beyond Southampton, without new infrastructure. Games organisers say that having analysed past Games sailing events, they would expect fewer spectators than have attended recent events such as the Carnival and Tall Ships Race, this despite Great Britain topping the sailing medal table at the previous three Olympics.
Ticketing
Organisers estimate that some 7.7 million tickets would be available for the Olympic Games, and 1.5 million tickets for the Paralympic Games. They will be going on sale in 2011, with at least 50% of these priced under £20. To reduce traffic, ticketholders would be entitled to free use of London’s public transportation network on the day of the event. It is estimated that 82% of available Olympic tickets and 63% of Paralympic tickets will be sold. There will also be free events: for example, the marathon, triathlon and road cycling.
Scheduling issues
Some representatives of Muslim countries have complained that the 2012 Olympic Games will take place during the month of Ramadan, which in 2012 occurs from 20 July to 19 August. During Ramadan, Muslims are to fast from sunrise to sunset, which may put Muslim athletes at a disadvantage during the Games. Some Muslims have called for the Olympics to be rescheduled outside this period.
Handover ceremony
The handover ceremony marked the moment when the previous games in Beijing in 2008 handed over the Olympic Flag to the new host city of London. Mayor of London Boris Johnson received the flag from Mayor of Beijing Guo Jinlong, on behalf of London. The handover ceremony featured the urban dance group ZooNation, the Royal Ballet and Candoco, a disabled dance group dressed as typical London commuters waiting for a bus by a zebra crossing. A double-decker bus drove around the stadium to music composed by Philip Sheppard eventually stopping and transforming into a privet hedge featuring famous London landmarks such as Tower Bridge, The Gherkin and the London Eye. Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis then performed the Led Zeppelin classic Whole Lotta Love and David Beckham kicked a football into the crowd of athletes accompanied by violinist Elspeth Hanson and cellist Kwesi Edman.
For the London Games, the handover was also celebrated in a UK-wide series of events. The BBC broadcast “The VISA London 2012 Party” on BBC One and Radio 2, the free concert on The Mall in central London had 40,000 tickets available. In nations and regions around the UK there were live screens that showed the activities from Beijing, the Closing Ceremony and then the concert itself. Local communities around the UK also hosted their own events.
Sports
The 2012 Summer Olympic programme features 26 sports and a total of 39 disciplines. The 2012 Paralympic Games programme has 20 sports and 21 disciplines. London’s bid featured 28 sports, in line with other recent Summer Olympics, but the IOC voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Games two days after it selected London as the host city. The IOC reinforced its decision to drop both sports during the Turin Games after they lost votes for reconsideration. They will remain Olympic sports, despite being scheduled for the last time at Beijing in 2008. Following the decision to drop the two sports, the IOC held a vote on whether or not to replace them. The sports considered were karate, squash, golf, roller sports and rugby sevens. Karate and squash were the two final nominees, but neither received enough votes to reach the required two-thirds majority.
Women’s boxing, which was not included in Beijing, is again being considered for inclusion. Boxing is the only Summer Olympic sport that does not include events for women. The IOC will meet in 2009 to decide which new events to include in the programme.
Murad Qureshi, a member of the London Assembly, is pushing for a Twenty20 cricket showcase tournament to be included in London. Twenty20 cricket did originally bid for inclusion in 2012, but was not one of the finalist sports. Netball is being drafted as a possible demonstration sport at the 2012 games. This idea was backed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, suggesting that it would encourage more young girls into playing sport. The IOC eliminated demonstration sports following the 1992 Summer Olympics, however, special tournaments have been run for non-Olympic sports during the games, such as the Wushu tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics.