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SINGAPORE: The chairman of the 2012 London Olympics said the global financial crisis has had no impact on its preparations.
Sebastian Coe, who is in Singapore for the inaugural Asian Youth Games, told Channel NewsAsia on Thursday that plans for the London Games are on track.
Almost four years ago in Singapore, London won the right to host the 2012 Olympics and Coe, a double Olympic champion, was instrumental in helping the city clinch the victory.
The London Games' chief said: "We've raised more money than any other host city at this point. The economic downturn, which is always going to be a challenge for everybody, has so far not really affected us.
"That's in large part due firstly to early planning, secondly to the quality and strength of the Olympic brand because people are investing in the Olympic Games as sponsors. They understand the vision behind the Games and that's very powerful for us.
"We've set ourselves a target of about 680 million pounds. We are in and around the 500-million mark, with three years to go."
Coe also said Asia's emergence as a world superpower is important in promoting sports.
"I suppose the process really began in 1988, in Seoul, with the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Asia has built on that. The Beijing Games was a seismic jump forward and the Games itself was the largest, most impactful Games of all time – in television numbers, in terms of medals, the number of women competing, the number of national Olympic committees," he said.
While in Singapore, Coe and his team will update the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), which is a sporting body that controls all sports in Asia, on the progress of preparations for the 2012 Olympics.
On a separate note, Coe said he is impressed by Singapore's staging of the Asian Youth Games and believes the Republic is already a destination for major sporting events.
"If a city, a country, is prepared to invest in events, it also means they understand there is a commitment beyond those events to other things that happen in sports," he said.
"I went to the track and field championships yesterday and thought they were remarkably organised. All the events went off on time, there were good facilities, good warm-up areas.
"Clearly, a lot of thought had gone into recognising that the athletes are the most important part of this whole process."
- CNA/so
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