Financial Crisis Dampens London’s Olympic Plans

Organizers of the 2012 Summer Games are looking for ways to scrimp amid the worldwide credit crunch, tumbling domestic property values and rising unemployment.

The Summer Games in Beijing wrapped up two months ago, but Britain is still drunk on the heady wine of victory. Thousands of people lined the streets here this week for a boisterous parade honoring the nation’s Olympians, whose surprising haul of gold medals provided extra reason — if one were needed in this pub-strewn country — to party.

London is set to host the Olympics in 2012, but the global financial crisis has left organizers looking for ways to scrimp amid a worldwide credit crunch, tumbling domestic property values and rising unemployment.

Already, the size of the athletes’ village has had to be pared down. Plans to erect temporary sporting venues might be scrapped. And the government could be forced to hollow out its contingency fund of $3.9 billion, out of a total Olympic budget of $16.5 billion, if some of the private financing fails to come through.