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Letter: Olympic unease
I AM embarrassed to admit this but I actually agree with something Rod McPhee has written. His article ‘Not ringing true’ is, I believe, an accurate perception of the disassociation most people feel towards the Olympics.
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Once the Chinese athletes have left their training camp in Leeds, the athletics track at South Leeds Stadium will still be inaccessible to the general public for running/throwing/jumping. After the training squads of Australian divers and Dutch swimmers have left Leeds, there still will not be any public transport to the city’s 50-metre pool at Middleton.
Leeds City Council had the opportunity of building another 50-metre pool at Holt Park – where there is good public transport – as early as 2007. It would have been open by now and there is a good chance it would have received lottery funding as it would have been an additional Olympic training facility. Instead, the council have wasted five years trying to secure £27m PFI funding for a “Wellbeing Centre” which, when all the interest is paid, will cost nearer £50m.
The nearest most people will come to the Olympics will be watching events on TV. Fortunately footage will still be shown on terrestial channels by the BBC although Freeview viewers have one less red button channel than they had for the last Olympics but the BBC are intending to show some coverage on BBC3 during the daytime. Details can be found on http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/london_2012/15998810.stm although this site has not been updated since December 2, 2011.
Martin J Phillips, Cookridge
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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