Stop moaning, Coe tells the critics, we have got lots of things right

LORD Coe hit out at the negative headlines which have dogged the countdown to the Olympics yesterday, insisting organisers were on course to deliver a successful Games.

With a heatwave expected in London within days, Olympics chiefs hope they can finally put the G4S security guards scandal behind them and that a feel-good factor will sweep the country in the run-up to the opening ceremony on Friday.

Lord Coe, a former Olympic gold medallist who is chairman of London 2012 organiser Locog, said people were ‘overwhelmingly very positive’ about the Games, despite concerns over security, transport and strict sponsorship rules.

‘There are things we have done really well,’ he insisted, referring to praise he had received from athletes and the international media about the facilities built for London 2012.

In an interview on Radio 4’s Today programme, Lord Coe defended the Games organisers from claims that there had been a heavyhanded approach to protecting sponsors’ rights.

Critics have dubbed London 2012 the ‘Censorship Games’ and Today presenter Evan Davis asked Lord Coe whether he would be allowed to turn up to an event in a Pepsi T-shirt.

The Olympics boss told him: ‘No, you probably wouldn’t be walking in with a Pepsi T-shirt because CocaCola are our sponsors and they have put millions of pounds into this project but also millions of pounds into grassroots sport. It is important to protect those sponsors.”

Hours after his interview on Today, Locog said Olympic ticket-holders would be ‘free to wear the clothing of their choice’ inside Games venues, despite his earlier comment.

Lord Coe also insisted the socalled ‘Zil lanes’ open only to Olympics traffic are vital for the smooth running of the Games, taking ‘people to work’.

His stance was echoed by London Mayor Boris Johnson, who urged Olympics whingers to ‘put a sock in it, fast’.