The evaluation report on London

London 2012 bid praised

London 2012 bid praised

London’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics has received a boost after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) broadly praised the city’s potential.

The IOC inspection report on the five rival bids was published today, with London, Paris and Madrid all coming out of it well, while New York and Moscow had questions raised about their bids.

London’s proposal to host the Games was termed as “high quality”, with the only minor issue raised being that the English capital would need to conduct “careful planning” because of the scale of its aspirations.

But the inspectors’ report has crucially praised the transport proposals for the city, which was seen as the main reason London was placed behind Paris in the original IOC rankings.

“Whilst the Olympic Park would undoubtedly leave a strong sporting and environmental legacy for London, the magnitude of the project, including the planned upgrade and expansion of transport infrastructure, would require careful planning to ensure all facilities and rehabilitation projects were completed on time,” the report said.

The inspectors’ conclusions come after they toured each of the bid cities to inspect their plans earlier this year.

The IOC evaluation commission visited London in February and was taken on a tour of the proposed Olympic sites including the site of the proposed stadium in Stratford and venues such as Wimbledon and the new Wembley stadium.

Paris’ bid has again been widely praised, as has Madrid’s, but New York’s failure to announce concrete plans for the main stadium has led to criticism.

Moscow’s hopes of hosting the Games now look in trouble after the IOC questioned numerous facets of its proposal.

IOC members will use the committee’s evaluation as a guide when they vote on who should host the 2012 Olympics on July 6th in Singapore.