London 2012 Olympics organisers under fire for increasing travel time for rival rowing teams
The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has made it to the lime light by having been held guilty by the rowing teams of the competing countries.
The allegations made against the London 2012 organizers is that they have intentionally increased the travel time to reach the Olympic venue for the rival rowing teams to about double.
The change of travel time for the rival rowing teams just a few weeks before the London 2012 Olympic Games comes as a piece of very unpleasant news as they would have to change their preparation plans accordingly. Not only that, the London 2012 organizers
had communicated a shorter travel time to the guest teams previously.
Ray Ebert, who is the team manager of the Australian rowing team, expressed himself in the following words while in conversation with the Telegraph Sport, “For three years we have been told the travel time is 30 minutes, and now, just days ago, we have been
told it’s an hour. But we don’t know that it will be just an hour because travelling on the M25 and the A4 gives us enormous concerns if there is a hold up. Lord Coe has said these Games will be fair, but it looks like it is a lot fairer in lane one, than
in lane six.”
The shock at the increased travel time has not only been voiced from the Australian quarters, representatives of other international teams such as Germany, Holland and the United States of America have also voiced their concerns.
In response to the allegedly unfair step taken by the LOCOG, no assuring statement has come from the London 2012 organisers. The explanation that has been provided by the representative of the LOCOG states that the travel time has been increased because
of the security checks and the processing en route to the Olympic venue and therefore, not much could be done about it.
In an effort to reduce their travel time, the Canadian rowing team has looked into the option of cycling to the venue while the Australians are hoping to find suitable accommodation near to the site.
Tags: