Beijing seen to raise bar for 2012

By Catherine Bremer

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing has "raised the bar" for London, Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said on Thursday, as observers from the host city for the 2012 Games surveyed the preparations for China's epic Olympic show.

With a much smaller budget and less space for flashy new developments, London will be hard pushed to match Beijing's extravaganza, with its eye-catching Bird's Nest and Water Cube venues and second-to-none organisation.

"The challenge for London will be even greater because expectations will be even higher," Jowell said in Beijing, where she has an observation team jotting down notes on everything from security checks to lighting techniques.

London has a budget of 9.3 billion pounds for the 2012 Games, less than half what Beijing has spent, and finding private financing for projects such as the athletes' village has grown harder as the global credit crunch bites.

The International Olympic Committee has praised the city's preparations as it starts work on the five main venues for 2012, but many in Britain are disappointed with the Olympics logo, a jagged, asymmetrical design with a garish 1970s flavour.

Over lunch with the British Ambassador, Jowell told reporters that, while there was no more money to add to the already inflated Olympic budget, she was determined London would do even better than Beijing.

Tight purse strings have not stopped the capital from laying on a good Olympic bash in the past.

The city first hosted the Olympics back in 1908, spending 40,000 pounds on a 68,000-capacity stadium, and managed to put together a delayed 1948 Games despite still living under food and clothes rations after World War Two.  Continued...