ASM: Did you ever imagine that there would be an Olympics in this country in your lifetime?
JE: When we first started to bid at the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004, we were way behind Paris who was the clear favourite and indeed behind a number of other cities that were bidding. But we worked incredibly hard. I think we ran a very good campaign and by the time we got to Singapore we thought we were in with a chance. We did not feel we were the favourite, but certainly we felt we had a very per- suasive bid and it seemed to have a lot of popularity with the IOC members. We kind of had our fingers crossed. You can never judge how these things would go.
ASM: What part do you think the diversity of London played in winning the games?
JE: I think it made a massive difference. Certainly, you need to look at the diversity of the IOC board members and they wanted to see that when the athletes came to this country they would receive a massive welcome. It was somewhere from home where they would have people to support them regardless of where they came from. That was important and of course when you look at the sports itself, there is incredible di- versity, which reflects what the Olympic movement is all about.
ASM: How did you get into athletics?
JE: Well, at school and in game lessons. I did all the different events and I used to get lapel badges for my achievements. That was the reason I went into it in the first place. I then found out by accident that I was good at long jump and eventually triple jump in the English Schools and it went on from there.
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