LONDON 2012

Over the past, I have been telling some of my friends that it's difficult to imagine what London can come up with in 2012 to reach the extremely high bar set by Beijing this year. After all, Beijing had a planning budget of US$40b due mainly to the financial support given by its national government which itself has about US$1.5t in reserves.

London, on the other hand, has set aside an Olympic budget that is approximately half of what Beijing had to work with. It also does not possess the size of workforce that Beijing could leverage, whether it was construction workers, policemen, security guards or performers at the opening ceremony.

After the spectacular opening ceremony in Beijing, the British press was abuzz with op-eds citing the daunting task facing London 2012 administrators to match what the Chinese did. This one from The Daily Telegraph is hilarious and a must-read. Let's hear it for The Dance of The Plump Sugar Fairies!