day 4: LOCOG and Tower of London

Today we met up with the Ithaca group of students and Professor Burton at LOCOG where we spoke with Chief Executive Paul Deighton. He spoke about how he plans to make London the first Green Games and use recycled or reusable infrastructure for future usage. He is also taking security very seriously with checkpoints for all visitors, athletes, volunteers, and contractors to pass through. He believes that if London can control what comes into the city, then they can minimize the chances of a potential terrorist attack. One of his other main goals for the 2012 Summer Games was to make sure people felt like they had a part in the games. For instance, the Olympic torch will be within 1 hour of every Londoner during the relay leading up to the opening ceremony. He also plans to use a vast amount of volunteers to make sure LOCOG knows how to operate the infrastructure that they've built. Mr. Deighton had one important piece of advice for Brazil (who host the next summer games in 2016) and he stated that they need to get started and not wait until the final year like Athens to construct their infrastructure and other buildings.

This afternoon we took a tour of the really old Tower of London. Inside there were a ton of young school kids who were on a field trip. They had on display the crown jewels of former London's Kings and Queens. They also had plated body armor and antique weapons from back in the mid 19th century and earlier. I'm looking forward to seeing Westminster Abbey tomorrow.