LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe appeared live in-studio on NBC’s “Today” this morning and NBC’s Matt Lauer noted it was “284 days to go” before the '12 London Games. Coe said, “We’ve got a lot of work still to do, but we're in great shape and we’re excited. I think the nation is excited and while I travel around the world now talking to national Olympic committees and a lot of the athletes that we know are going to showcase their wares in the stadium, they’re excited.” Lauer asked, “When you get inside a year you can almost hear the clock ticking in your mind. So at this stage of the game, what keeps you up at night?” Coe: “You think a bit like an athlete at this stage. It's getting to the finishing line uninjured, it’s getting to the finishing line focused and our teams are really in that sort of space. The next 10 months are going to be the challenging months. It's making sure that operationally you are ready to deliver. ... We're doing a lot of test events which for the athletes is really crucial.” Coe noted 95% of the Olympic Park "is now done, and that's really the centerpiece of the Games." Coe: "We’ve still got a lot of temporary venues that we’re working on and overlay and all the things that you know you need to do to turn the venues into great theaters of sport. But we’re in pretty good shape in that area.” He added it would be a "safe and secure" Olympics. Coe: "The real issue is always in an Olympic city about proportionality. People come to your city to celebrate extraordinary sport, humanity, friendship. We’re going to have millions of people that are going to be coming to London. Of course, everything we do is underpinned by security, but that has to be in balance and we will do this very well" ("Today," NBC, 10/17).
