Coe launches charm offensive

Sebastian Coe led a London charm offensive in Athens tonight as the battle to host the 2012 Olympic Games intensified.

Coe, backed by fellow members of the London 2012 bid team, were waiting to greet the IOC members who could be bothered to watch the controversial BBC Panorama documentary, which was screened immediately after the second day of the organisation’s annual session.

It was estimated only a third of the IOC’s 123-strong delegation took up the offer, with the British contingent of BOA chairman Craig Reedie, Matthew Pinsent and The Princess Royal among those who did not watch.

One observer claimed the programme ‘made him sick’, adding: “Everyone in the Olympic family should be concerned about this.”

While he did not clarify whether it was the programme or its content – which led to the suspension of IOC member Ivan Slavkov – which made him sick the sentiments were proof that the programme has had an impact.

The London team were so keen to distance themselves from the programme that they arranged for a bullet-point statement to be handed out to all IOC members ahead of the screening.

Then Coe dramatically turned up unannounced at the Divani Caravel Hotel in Athens to chat with any IOC member that wished to and declare it was business as usual for the 2012 campaign.

“The one thing that will be clear to anyone who watched the film is that it was nothing to do with us,” he said.

“Once we knew the programme was coming, hardly a day went by without us speaking to the IOC in one way or another.

“Some members of the IOC have said to me that while they wouldn’t have chosen for the issue to come out in this way, they are actually quite happy because the structures are now in place to deal with it.”

With such a meagre audience, it seems the programme may not have had quite the impact Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch jnr thought when he made a request to ethics committee chairman Keba Mbaye for all delegates to be given a chance to watch the documentary, a move widely interpreted as an attempt to discredit London, while improving Madrid’s chances of success.

The conservative nature of the IOC cannot be underestimated however and the London 2012 campaigners know their chances of success have not been aided by the fall-out from the programme.

Some prominent figures in the IOC are mystified as to why the BBC, having just spent millions to secure the rights to the Games in 2010 and 2012, should have undermined the IOC so badly in the build-up to Friday’s opening ceremony.

The prospect of more stories of this nature is bound to make the IOC suspicious ahead of next July’s vote in Singapore that will determine whether London beats off the challenges of Paris, Madrid, New York and Moscow.

“I am not going to start laying awake at night wondering what stories people are writing and what programmes are being made,” said a defiant Coe

“As far as we are concerned, there was an issue and we are dealing with it.

“It is big news now but nothing that happens on any one day is going to decide who hosts the 2012 Olympics, whether it’s the best day or the worst.

“We have until July next year to get our point across and that is what we will continue to do.”