London comes down to the wire on construction

LONDON — With the opening ceremony less than two weeks away, there’s a mad dash to the finish line at the Olympics and it has nothing to do with sprinters.

Hundreds of construction workers are toiling away inside the Olympic Park, laying cables, installing seats and adding the last layers of sparkle and polish to the venues.

There’s plenty to do.

“It’s looking a bit industrial isn’t it?” said Chris Allen, a Londoner who came to the edge of the park to have a look. “I am not seeing England’s green fields. I do hope it’s going to look better.”

Shades of Athens, where chronic delays pushed workers to the brink to complete preparations in time for the games to start in 2004?

Hardly, say London organizers who have prided themselves on finishing their massive construction project ahead of time and on budget. Things may look a bit messy now, they say, but all will be fine by the time the curtain goes up, on July 27, when the torch is lit.

“We’re not at the stage yet where we’re ready to flick the TV on,” said James Bulley, director of venues for the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). “The athletes aren’t ready to start competing yet, either. We want all our venues to look absolutely spectacular and pristine.

“The venues are ready. We’re now just doing the final setup for the games,” Mr. Bulley said. “We’re in a good place. We’re on track. There’s nothing I’m worried about.”

The last few weeks and days are all about putting up signs, fitting in the remaining seats and completing the landscaping.

“We will be mowing lawns right up to the opening ceremony,” LOCOG Chairman Sebastian Coe told the Associated Press.

The last thing organizers need at this point is a crisis over readiness of the venues. At the moment, they’re coping with the fallout from a bungled contract by private security group G4S that forced the government to call in about 3,500 additional troops — many just returned from tours of duty in Afghanistan — to fill the shortfall.

A walk through the 560-acre Olympic Park in East London this weekend, between yet another bout of rain showers, showed the scale of what remains to be done: a small army of workers, a sea of white tents, cranes, bulldozers, upturned tables and chairs, humming generators, television cables and rigging, a maze of fences.

Paul Gauger, who works for the tourism agency Visit Britain, surveyed a sad-looking wild flower patch near the aquatics center but took it in stride.

“This is all cosmetic stuff,” he said. “Look! There are some flowers growing over there!”

Mr. Bulley said the venues, after the construction and fit-out phases, are now in their final “bump-in” period.

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