'LONDON DOESN'T HAVE TO BEAT BEIJING, NOR SHOULD IT TRY. YOU HAVE TO BE PRAGMATIC AND GET 80% THERE'

摘要

David Higgins has to deliver the 2012 Olympics with a fraction of the money that China had to spend. Oh, and he has to regenerate a swath of east London at the same time. To kick off our countdown to the Games, Sarah Richardson asked him how he's planning to do it. At the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, a warning sign is nailed to the Marangu Gate. "If you have a sore throat, a cold or breathing problems do not attempt to go more than 3,000m above ground level. All climbers must be physically fit." Glacier-covered, despite being on the edge of the equator, Africa's highest mountain tests the endurance of the most experienced climbers. About 20 to 30 people die on its slopes every year and almost 1,000 more are evacuated suffering from dehydration, altitude sickness or just sheer exhaustion. David Higgins, the chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), chose to scale this mountain after a training regime that consisted solely of taking his cappuccinos skinny and walking up the escalators on the tube.