Let the Games begin

BEIJING // China opens its doors today to billions of sport fans around the world when the flame is lit to begin the 2008 Olympic Games. The Games are expected to be one of the most exciting ever held and even Tessa Jowell, Britain's Olympics Minister, admits that the tournament has "raised the bar" for London, the venue for the next Games in four years time.

London will be the place where Princess Haya of Jordan, married to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, hopes to make her comeback as an Olympian by taking part in the show jumping, an event she participated in during Sydney 2000. Yesterday, in her capacity as a member of the International Olympic Committee and president of the International Equestrian Federation, she joyfully took her part in the Olympic torch relay.

Jowell, who is part of an observation team jotting down notes on everything from security checks to lighting techniques, said: "The challenge for London will be even greater because expectations will be even higher." London has a budget of £9.3 billion (Dh66.5bn) for the 2012 Games, less than half what Beijing has spent, and finding private financing for projects such as the athletes' village has grown harder as the global credit crunch bites.

The International Olympic Committee has praised the city's preparations as it starts work on the main venues for 2012, but many in Britain are disappointed with the event's logo, a jagged, asymmetrical design with a garish 1970s flavour. Jowell said that while there was no more money to add to the already inflated Olympic budget, she was determined London would do even better than Beijing. Tight purse strings have not stopped the British capital from laying on a good Olympic party in the past.

The city first hosted the Olympics in 1908, spending £40,000 on a 68,000-capacity stadium, and managed to host a delayed 1948 Games. But for the next 16 days it is Beijing that will be taking the spotlight, it will be China to which the sporting world will be turning its eyes. * With Reuters