KHOODEELAAR! told you so! Now EVEN THE PRO-HOSTING PR GUARDIAN ADMITS: "London 2012 faces hurdles on the home stretch"

KHOODEELAAR! told you so!

0620 Hrs GMT London Friday 27 January 2012.

from the Guardian web site which has published the following item only 18 minutes ago:

London 2012 faces hurdles on the home stretch

London's Olympic Games organisers have had a smooth ride so far, but the next six months will be crucial in securing its legacy

Londoners rejoiced at winning the bid to host the Olympics: will the cheerleaders be out in force again during the Games?

If medals were awarded for celebrating milestones, London 2012 organisers would already be groaning under the weight of precious metal. With three years to go, Lord Coe and his Locog team grinned for the cameras on the new Javelin train to Stratford (roughly translated – don't worry the trains will run on time); two years out, Sir Chris Hoy sped around the already celebrated Olympic Park velodrome (forget Wembley – the venues will be ready, too). With 12 months on the countdown clock, Boris Johnson played his traditional Paris-baiting role in the newly unveiled aquatics centre and David Cameron invited the world to the capital from Trafalgar Square. Accompanied, incongruously, by Princess Anne and The Feeling. But with six months to go and the organising committee kicking for home, or whatever other sporting metaphor you choose to employ, things have got serious. The cavorting one-eyed mascots – sinister to adults, oddly appealing to kids – have been pushed to one side; the east London schoolchildren in matching T-shirts given the day off. Instead, the world's media will be walked painstakingly through plans for the next six months, from the final batch of ticket sales to the torch relay and all the way to the opening ceremony on 27 July. The years spent poring over spreadsheets and models are about to be put to the test under the glare of a world media not necessarily predisposed to London after the cheerful kicking doled out to previous Games by our press. Until recently, progress appeared remarkably smooth. The organising committee had reached Olympic year without the mass resignations, sackings, government splits and huge cost overruns that have defined previous Games. The venues were built, sponsors brought onboard despite the economic crisis and tickets all but sold out. But the pressure of imminent delivery has caused cracks in the facade. While ticketing has been a triumph in terms of revenue, it has dented public confidence as technology failed and disappointed punters complained of unfair treatment. The scramble for the final batch of 1.3m sales in April will be a stern test. Locog's reputation for painstaking attention to detail took a dent when security numbers inside venues more than doubled from 10,000 to 23,700 – requiring a call on the military and pushing the £9.3bn budget to the limit. Then there is the ongoing drip, drip of negative publicity over Dow Chemical's sponsorship of the wrap that surrounds the stadium, fuelled by campaigners who believe it has yet to fully answer for its links to the 1984 Bhopal disaster. It is a wholly unnecessary row, especially given that many believe the stadium looks better without the wrap, and taps into the worst fears of some about the relationship between the Games and big business. For all that, organisers could not hope to be in much better shape ahead of the home straight. The three biggest imponderables remain the same as when the bid was won: London's crowded transport system, security and the British weather. There will be plenty of doom laden prognoses issued for each but organisers believe they have done all they can. Transport for London chiefs are relying on entreaties to commuters and ticket holders alike to consider alternative routes and change their travel plans. Security costs and numbers have soared, but organisers insist it won't affect the atmosphere. And, short of investing in cloud seeding technology like the Chinese, the weather remains in the lap of the gods. The stage is ready – now Locog needs to put on the show and build the public mood. At one end of the scale are the professional cynics and "Gloomadon poppers" (as Johnson has christened them). At the other, the evangelical cheerleaders – led by Coe and the politicians who have staked their reputations on its success, who insist it will result in huge legacy benefits for UK plc and the health of the nation. Most of the public remain somewhere in the middle – excited by the sporting spectacle and an excuse to party but unsettled about aspects of the International Olympic Committee juggernaut about to hit London. As the focus switches, probably sometime around the torch's arrival in May, from logistics to the scale of the sporting spectacle, the lesson of previous Games is that cheerleaders will start to drown out cynics. Most importantly, the cohort of Team GB athletes who will have the biggest impact on the mood of the nation appear in fine shape following a period of unprecedented public investment. Organisers hope for an early "moment" – perhaps a gold for cyclist Mark Cavendish on the first weekend – to catalyse support.Ministers and organisers are banking on a repeat of the wave of giddiness that gripped the country during the royal wedding to trump the pervading gloom of a dark economic cloud they had at one point hoped might be about to lift by the time of the Games. The mixed bag of expansive legacy promises that went a long way to securing the Games for London and justifying its price tag will fade into the background the closer the Games get – only to return more loudly afterwards. In the meantime, a viable future must be found for the main stadium if it is to avoid the dreaded white elephant tag. In truth, we won't really know just how gaga the British public will go for these Games until Danny Boyle unveils his Underworld-soundtracked opening ceremony. In the meantime, there's just 82 days until the 100-days-to-go milestone.