Coe ready for reality to bite as London prepares for Beijing experience

Four years tomorrow the capital's Games begin and real work starts now, the chairman says Sebastian Coe will travel to Beijing at the head an 80-strong team of staff. Photograph: Lee Mills/Action Images For the 250,000 athletes, coaches, officials and sponsors descending on China in the next fortnight, the start of the Beijing Games marks the culmination of four years of preparation and expectation. For a 110-strong delegation from the UK, however, the lighting of the Beijing flame is just the start. Four years tomorrow, the London Olympics will begin in a stadium that is not yet built at the heart of a park that is currently little more than 270 acres of earthworks and a host of good intentions. For the team delivering the London Games Beijing represents a crucial staging post on the road to 2012, a final opportunity to... [read full story]