The badminton world does have one prominent member who has been involved in helping London win the hosting of the Summer Olympics in 2012. His name is Sir Craig Reedie, a Scottish Doubles champion in 1960's. The following interview gives some insight into the man, his involvement in the London Olympics, his thoughts and views on the Beijing Olympics, the IOC and sports in general: The Scotsman Edinburgh Taking diplomatic line on London Games 02 May 2008 By ROSS LYDALL SIR Craig Reedie is a board member of the London 2012 organising committee and one of three UK members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). SIR Craig Reedie is a board member of the London 2012 organising committee and one of three UK members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). But Sir Craig, a key figure behind London's bid for the 2012 Olympics, has criticised the governmeADVERTISEMENTnt's handling of the soaring Games budget. He said ministers had failed to make clear from the outset that a significant portion of the increased bill was to regenerate east London. Sir Craig, whose fellow UK representatives on the IOC are the Princess Royal and Sir Philip Craven, is one of the world's top sports administrators. He has spent the past seven years on the IOC committee overseeing preparations for this summer's Beijing Olympics. Born in Stirling, Sir Craig, 66, is married with two children and lives in Bridge of Weir. He was educated at Stirling High School and Glasgow University, and is a former partner in a firm of financial advisers in Glasgow. He was a Scottish badminton doubles champion in the 1960s and won admission for his sport to the Olympics in 1985. He became chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA) in 1992 and, as such, signed the contract between London and the IOC after the English capital was selected in 2005. He is BOA vice-president and a senior member of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He is a superbly well-connected international sporting diplomat, well-known and well-regarded in the conference rooms and hotels of the Olympic circuit. But he emphasises he does it as a volunteer and for the love of sport, joking that his expenses barely cover the cost of phone calls and parking his car at Glasgow Airport. Q & A: SIR CRAIG REEDIE How did London's bid for the 2012 Olympics come about and what was your role in it? We decided to bid for the Games basically to put sport up the social and political agenda. It was the only thing we could do to give Olympic sport the chance of surviving against football. After Beijing won (the right to host the 2008 Olympics], it became clear the Games had a very good chance of coming to Europe in 2012. The decision to take the 2010 Winter Games to Vancouver was very significant because that meant that Toronto, who were a really good North American candidate, would no longer be bidding for 2012. What was your memory of the day the Games were awarded to London? I was pretty certain when we started that day that we were doing well. Tony Blair (then prime minister] had been just outstanding for two days with us, meeting individual (IOC] members. There was a big reception after the opening of the IOC session and he worked the room with Seb (Lord Coe, chairman of the London 2012 bid committee]. I knew we were really in good shape. I sat in and watched all the presentations. Then you get on to the voting. That was tense. Moscow went out first and all their votes went to Madrid. New York went out next; all their votes effectively came to us. The crucial vote was London, Paris, Madrid. We needed Paris to beat Madrid, and they did by two votes. If Madrid had beaten Paris I think it would have been very difficult to get Paris supporters to vote for London. Then the day after saw the terrorist attacks on London. It was around 4pm, Singapore time, that we began to pick up news that there had been a problem on the London Underground. We were told it was a power surge. Then about 6:15pm, Singapore time, I went out and walked into a huge mass of people, all with cameras, shouting at me: "Are you going to give the Games to Paris?" I hadn't the faintest idea what they were on about. I went into the IOC's offices. They had Sky on. I thought: Oh my God. Our world fell apart. Did you think it was linked in any way to London winning the Games? It was just an out-and-out terrorist attack on London. Over the next 24 hours, I thought the people of London behaved extremely well. Ken Livingstone made one of the best impromptu speeches I have ever heard. One of the real stars over that 48 hours was my counterpart in the French national Olympic committee, Henri Serandour. Henri was asked by a French journalist: "You must be very irritated, because if the bombs in London had gone off a day before, you would have won the Games." Serandour said: "Don't you dare to speak to me like that. Today, everybody is a Londoner." What can we expect from the Beijing Games? China has invested in excess of $40 billion in infrastructure and city improvements as well as the sports facilities. If ever there was a Games being the catalyst for the good of a city, it's the Games in Beijing. They will be spectacular. They will have challenges. The population of Beijing is around 15 million – double the size of London. They have far more cars on their streets than we or they ever thought they would when we gave them the Games in 2001. About $14 billion is being spent on improving their environment and big efforts on their air quality. Is it fair to say that Beijing bullied the IOC over the torch relay? No, I don't think that is right. The route was signed off by the IOC 18 months ago. Then, over the last three to four months, things have developed which are nothing to do with the Olympic Games and nothing to do with the torch relay. Are people justified to use the Olympics as a means to protest about Tibet and Darfur? I regret totally that they have used the torch relay as a means of making a protest. What the Games in Beijing has done is concentrated a spotlight on China in a way that few other things ever could. We have to protect the torch as best we can. We have to complete the relay as best we can, and move on. The troubles started in Tibet long after the torch relay route was agreed. Sepp Blatter had a very good line. He said the torch represents a journey of peace and harmony to the world. If the world protests against it, there is something wrong with the world, not the torch. Should the 2012 torch relay remain within the UK? We shouldn't take any decisions now until the current torch relay is finished. Instant legislation is almost always bad legislation. London have always said they are committed to a domestic relay and they have yet to make up their minds about an international relay. The IOC will also be looking to this. My guess is that after Beijing there will probably be debate along the lines of keeping it on a national basis. Was the British Olympic Association right to lift the restriction on UK athletes speaking out on China? We have had an athletes agreement for years. The BOA managed to put in a clause which prevented athletes from speaking out that went beyond rule 51 of the Olympic charter. As soon as they realised, they promptly amended the agreement. What if athletes protest at the Olympics? The IOC will enforce Rule 51 of their charter, which says people may not make political propaganda or statements within the Olympic sites. That includes the village and the stadia. For example, Paula Radcliffe will not be allowed to run the marathon wearing a protesting T-shirt. If she wishes to express views outwith the Olympic sites, she will be free to do so. What about the famous black-gloved protest at the 1968 Mexico Games? What if this is repeated? If it's inside an Olympic site, that will not be allowed. If the IOC go down that route, they put themselves in the political world. That would ruin the Games. They must not do that. My own view is that most athletes are so concentrated on performance – this is the moment of their lives – rather than thinking about what other social or political issues they have. Are there any grounds for reforming the IOC? After Salt Lake City, we put together an ethics commission, of which I am a member. We widened the membership to include 15 athletes. The British candidate for Beijing is Chris Hoy. I hope he gets elected because he is an outstanding young man as well as one of the great, great cyclists. It's rather less the old boy's club that we were accused of a few years ago. Is there a disconnect between the IOC and the public? Do its members deserve to be driven about in limousines and treated like royalty? I hope there isn't a disconnect. The majority of members in the IOC have spent a lifetime in the conduct of the administration. When it comes to a Games, we have very specific duties to perform. In Athens, I was on the road from 6:30am until after midnight every day, supporting British athletes. Most members are like that. You get a car because you are busy, not because you are privileged. We are all working for the good of the Games. We are not swanning around. The Commons public accounts committee (PAC) has just published a report on the soaring cost of the London Olympics, now £9.3 billion. Will that budget be breached? In my experience of the political world, chairmen of parliamentary committees are pretty keen to get their reports into the public domain. This is a report that was flagged up in November last year, when the PAC discussed figures that were produced by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in March 2007. The report is probably a year out of date. I think it is a little bit of knock-about politics. How confident are you that the £9.3 billion figure won't be breached? I'm confident. The Olympic Delivery Authority budget is £9.3 billion. It went from £2.4 billion for a number of reasons, not least that the government decided to use the Games as a catalyst for the redevelopment of that whole area of east London. The government, to my considerable irritation, have allowed that to become to part of the "Olympic cost". They are not Olympic costs at all. They are regeneration of east London costs. I'm perfectly happy that they are there. But please don't have anybody tell me it's the cost of running the Games – it's not. I have no information at all that would lead me to believe they will not meet their target. On the organising committee side, we have a budget of £2 billion. We have to raise £2 billion to run the Games, of which £650 million is domestic sponsorship. Before Beijing, with a bit of luck, we will be close to £350 million. That is a unique performance in Olympic history. No other organising committee has got anything close to those deals. The London organising committee is, in my view, about as good as I have come across. I think they're terrific. Is it fair that Scotland loses £117 million of lottery money to help pay for the Games? Scotland will benefit in a number of ways. There is a huge amount of business to be done in the construction of the Games. There is absolutely no reason why Scottish companies shouldn't get their fair share. Scottish athletes will benefit hugely from the relatively vast amounts of public money that are now being spent by UK Sport on elite sport in the country. There are a number of Scots in the current UK cycling team, for example, who have benefited from that. Scotland has an opportunity to share in the whole excitement of having an event like the Games within 300 miles of its border. The potential for the transfer of knowledge from the organising committee in London to the 2014 Commonwealth Games organising committee is infinite. There is nothing that Glasgow will come across that London hasn't solved by 2012. If Scotland is wise, it will make sure that it benefits from that talent. I'm rather saddened by the political view both north and south of the Border that it's all about money, it's about what we're losing, what we're not getting. In fact, if we are properly enthusiastic and we get our act together, the potential benefits for a country from running a successful Games are huge. I'm very much a "glass half full" man. What was it like to meet world leaders such as Mandela and Clinton? I have been extremely lucky. I did meet Mandela when Cape Town were bidding. I met in Guatemala City last year President Putin, who changed back from Russian to English and said: "Tell me, is Scotland likely to become independent?" I was able to advise him. What did you tell him? I'm not telling you! But it struck me as slightly unusual that the second most powerful man in the world would be asking me about Scottish independence. It just proves that sport perhaps is an extremely interesting hobby to have. The greatest of all possible joys has been the young people who take part, whether they were badminton players or the Chris Hoys or Shirley Robertsons or Steve Redgraves or Matt Pinsents or Kelly Holmeses. You can't be involved with people like that and not go home at night and pinch yourself.
