London look to Sydney mastermind
 |  London bid chairman Sebastian Coe has turned to Sydney for advice |
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LONDON, England -- London is hoping a bit of Sydney's magic will rub off on its bid to host the 2012 Olympics after employing the man widely credited with the success of the 2000 Games.
Jim Sloman and his company, the Sydney-based MI Associates, have been named by London bid chairman Sebastian Coe to help prepare the file to be presented to the IOC in November.
London is among five short-listed candidates for 2012, but was attacked in an IOC assessment for having minimal public support and poor transport infrastructure.
Sloman, chief operating officer in Sydney who had the ultimate responsibility for the planning and execution of what are recognized as the greatest games ever staged, has been brought on board to cut the distance with favorites Paris.
He is expected to recommend London locates more events in the center of London and abandon a second athlete's village outside the capital.
His appointment means that Barbara Cassani, who stepped down as chairwoman last month, will have even less of a role.
"We should leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of a winning bid," said Lord Coe. "I believe we must improve on our proposals and we must aim to produce the best technical bid when we submit our candidate file.
"Jim Sloman and his team can help us deliver those goals and I am delighted that they will be working with our excellent in-house team to search for improvements wherever they can be found. Our aim is to put sport and the athletes right at the heart of the bid."
Since Sydney, Sloman and his company have been in great demand. They also worked Manchester's 2002 Commonwealth Games and the Rugby World Cup in Australia last year.
Sloman was also involved in helping Athens prepare for this summer's Olympics and has contracts with the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, the 2007 Pan-American Games and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
However, London cannot have been comforted by a recent interview International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge gave to Le Soir.
Rogge told the Belgian newspaper that in future the IOC would choose cities that "already have a maximum of infrastructure in place and a minimum of virtual plans".
Fourteen of the 32 stadiums needed for the Games in Paris are already built.
In the IOC evaluation commission report, Paris came out first, followed by Madrid, London, New York and Moscow.
