London's Change Games

At last, what Britain’s sports minister this morning called the "biggest single advert for Britain in our history" is here. But have the ten years of hustling and the $20 billion pumped into the Games been worth it for London and for Britain? As Tony Blair commented on Wednesday, we might need a decade to assess the 2012 Olympics’ true effect, but some things already seem to have gone well. Olympic construction projects, so often dogged with delays, have been finished with admirable efficiency, and way ahead of time. And while we’ve been waiting for the Games, London’s already unbeatable arts scene has had one of its best years ever.

As for the greater benefits projected for London’s Olympic legacy, the truth is that many of them might have come about without the Games anyway. Blueprints for the redevelopment of the Lower Lea Valley had been around for years, for example, while only a small proportion of the massive (and hugely successful) upgrade of London’s train network was actually funded with Olympic money. What the Games have been, however, is a powerful catalyst for change, achieving in a decade what might otherwise have taken two or three. Getting these benefits delivered more speedily could give London a welcome boost.