Let’s cross that bridge There are no strikes at Heathrow, the traffic is holding up just well and the Village is abuzz with over 10,000 athletes from 205 countries. Everything’s falling in place…

Let’s cross that bridge

There are no strikes at Heathrow, the traffic is holding up just well and the Village is abuzz with over 10,000 athletes from 205 countries. Everything’s falling in place…

It’s just a notch below 30 degrees Celsius here in London. Sunshine is something the locals haven’t seen in months. But finally, London is making proverbial hay as the sun shines. There are no strikes at the airport, the traffic is holding up just well, no lost busses and a Village that is abuzz with approximately 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries. It’s all coming together at the right time. Weathermen are predicting light showers on Friday, the day the 30th Olympic Games will officially be declared open. “There are hurdles at the start of every big thing. The important part is that we’ve stayed together and dealt with it head-on. And here we are, ready to host the biggest show on planet,” London Games organising committee chairman Sebastian Coe said. The coming fortnight will see some of the gifted athletes in the world put up some breathtaking performances. Records will be broken, medals will be won, hearts will be broken. The fourth-place finishers will cry inconsolably...the gold winner will say how relieved he feels. You can sense the apprehension on the athletes’ face. For them, it’s a chance to end their four-year itch. “It all comes down to this...what we have done till now doesn’t matter anymore. It’s what we do in the next 14 days that will count. That’s true for every Olympian,” Chris Hoy, the host nation’s flag-bearer said. It’s an opportunity for the Indian athletes as well to return home with a record haul. Never has an Indian contingent had so many world beaters. On one hand, we have the Bindras, the Sushils and the Vijenders while the young brigade of Saina Nehwal, Shiva Thapa and Deepika Kumari is raring to take on the world. A billion Indians will closely monitor what these athletes do over the next two weeks. The British are trying everything to ensure the Beijing ‘ghost’ doesn’t haunt them. There’s constant comparison with the Beijing Games at the Main Press Centre — a three-storey building that will be a virtual home to more than 20,000 journalists. London Games do not have a unique point like China did four years ago or Rio de Janeiro will have in 2016. Beijing was about China’s re-emergence as a global and sporting superpower. Four years from now, Rio should be a coming-of-age party for Brazil and a bridge to a continent as South America stages its first Olympics. Point that out to the British and they say London has heritage. Plenty of venues will still be in classic London: archery at Lord’s Cricket Ground, beach volleyball at Horse Guard’s Parade, football at the Wembley, tennis at Wimbledon. “Also, look what the Olympics have done to the East end of the city!” Coe says. No one’s complaining now. Britain is ready to show its pomp. Let the Games begin!