Games chiefs hit back at criticism

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LONDON, England -- Jack Lemley, the U.S. engineer drafted in to oversee construction for the London 2012 Olympics, has said that he quit because of fears that political rows would delay projects and raise costs.

But London 2012 organizers have responded to his remarks by defending their "strong start" towards delivering the Games.

Lemley, who resigned as chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority on October 18, told the Idaho Statesman newspaper it was the first time he had walked away from a construction project.

"I went there to build things, not to sit and talk about it. So I felt it best to leave the post and come home," he said.

Lemley, a 71-year-old building veteran, listed a number of squabbles that kept hindering his projects, which included an 80,000-seat athletic stadium for track-and-field events.

He said it was supposed to be built so it could be shrunk to a 25,000-seat stadium after the Games, but local politicians wanted to convert it into a football stadium instead.

"A football field is not compatible with an athletic stadium," Lemley said, noting that debates were ongoing about how it should be built.

Another problem was relocating businesses from areas of land where construction for the tournament was planned.

"Some of the people were happy to move, and some of them weren't," Lemley said. "In any event, there was a huge amount of local politics. Those are the kind of things that confuse and frustrate the process."

The engineer, who coordinated the construction of the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, said he did not want to spoil his reputation of being able to deliver projects on time and on budget, the Idaho Statesman reported.

"I felt it was better to come home now than face that in five or six years," Lemley said.

At the time of his resignation, Lemley said in a statement he wanted to spend more time in the United States to focus on his business interests there.

Lemley was appointed in November 2005 by Olympic Minister Tessa Jowell on an initial four-year contract.

Played down

The ODA and London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) played down the impact of Lemley's comments on Wednesday.

"Jack Lemley set out the reasons for his resignation when he left the Olympic Delivery Authority," an ODA spokesman said.

"This project has been defined by strong political co-operation from the outset and that remains the case.

"It is a strength of the project that we have been having a debate about long term legacy use of 2012 facilities now, rather than years in the future.

"That is what makes London 2012 unique. By any analysis we have made a strong start and hit all our major milestones."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) were encouraged by London's early progress during a two-day visit in April and last week the government said the IOC believed London was far ahead of any other host city at the a similar stage in the process.

"It's absolutely right and proper that we have the debate now on what will be the legacy for the next 100 years," a LOCOG spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

"The time for debate is now and that's what we are doing...It's the first time an Olympics hosting city has had these debates so early in the project, nearly six years before the start of the Games."

The future of the 80,000-seat Olympic stadium has provoked plenty of debate, especially after sports minister Richard Caborn said last month that Premier League football club West Ham United were in negotiations about moving there.

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Lemley said he wanted to build things not sit and talk about it.

Games chiefs hit back at criticism

Played down

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