Dame Tessa Jowell: Government has wasted Olympics legacy opportunity
Last Updated: 06/07/15 7:40am
Dame Tessa Jowell says the government has failed to build on the success of the London Olympics in 2012.
Dame Tessa thinks a generation of children have been let down by the government, with fewer British youngsters currently participating in sport than they were in the autumn immediately following the Games.
July 6 represents exactly 10 years since London was awarded the 2012 Games and former Olympics minister Jowell, now a London mayoral candidate believes the coalition government has been ‘negligent’ and claims ‘we are back where we started in 2002.’
Dame Tessa told The Guardian: "Instead of a generation of children being transformed by sport, a generation of children have been robbed of the chance to discover a sport they're really good at.
"We were on track. It was absolutely, wholly and solely their fault. It was going to be delivered. We were on course to deliver it as the figures make absolutely clear.
It makes me furious that this opportunity was squandered.
Dame Tessa Jowell
“Whenever I think about it, it makes me furious that this opportunity was squandered. My fury is on behalf of all those who were starting secondary schools five years ago.
"I hope this is a huge stain on their consciences. When we get to Tokyo (for the 2020 Olympics) I think it likely we'll be back to half our medallists being from independent schools. It doesn't mean they're great athletes.
"There are fewer people now playing sport. It is on the conscience of those ministers."
Sport England's latest figures from April 2015 show the number of people over the age of 16 participating in sport at least once a week stood at 15.49m, which is down from 15.89m in October 2012.
Last month, current London Major Boris Johnson defended the Government's record in the Commons, saying all major Olympic venues had been or were set to be opened to the public and that private investment in London which followed the games had ensured "a phenomenal legacy".
