IOC President Jacques Rogge, right, and Lord Sebastian Coe visit the Olympic Stadium and assist in the fitting of the 2012th seat on Monday in London.Phil Cole
With two years to go until showtime, Jacques Rogge looked a happy man on Monday as he gazed across London's sweeping 2012 Olympic Stadium.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) president is in London as part of a four-day inspection and he marked his visit by donning a hard hat and bolting in place the 2,012th seat with a little help from 2012 Games chief Sebastian Coe.
While the long-term use of the 80,000-seater centrepiece is still undecided, Rogge professed himself satisfied with London's progress and unconcerned by the recent 27 million pounds ($41.76-million) cut in Games funding by the new British government.
"It's always a good moment to take the pulse of the organization to see if the timing is okay," Rogge told a small group of invited journalists as construction crews busied themselves around the 537 million-pound structure.
Asked if he feared the austerity budget recently announced to bring the country's deficit under control could harm London's progress, Rogge said the Olympic Delivery Authority had already worked hard to trim costs.
"Our friends at the ODA are confident they can make the cuts without affecting the core quality of the Games," he said. The ODA have already stripped costs of 600 million pounds which means they have a very lean and workable budget.
"The same goes for LOCOG. We are in a period where every pound has to be well spent."
The IOC's co-ordination committee will examine all aspects of the 2012 project over the next few days, running the rule over everything from venues to transportation and ticketing.
Rogge said the stadium will retain an athletics track after the Games, whoever ends up using it.
Premier League soccer club West Ham United have submitted a bid to make it their home ground while there is also reported interest from U.S. sports and leisure giant AEG. It is also included in England's bid for the 2018 World Cup finals.
Originally the plan was to dismantle the top tier of the stadium and reduce the capacity to 25,000 seats but no final decision will be taken until an anchor tenant is found.
"We are keen on having an athletics track to remain and I'm confident that they will find the right solution," Rogge said. "We have been assured it will have an athletics track."
The ODA said that the construction project, including the aquatics centre, Olympic village, velodrome and International Media and Broadcast Centre was 70 percent complete.
But Rogge warned there was no room for complacency.
"I am not surprised with the progress," he said. "I expected it. But the first priority is work hard, the second priority is work hard and the third priority is work hard. Like in running the finishing straight is the most important part."