The Olympian Effort: London unenthused about big event

The Olympian Effort, a special series on CNBC-TV18, over the past three weeks is bringing stories of India's key athletes and evaluating quite objectively their medal prospects.

Today the focus shifts to the host city in Stratford, East London where the Olympic park is. In doing so, we will try and get you the business of the Olympics. How much has it cost to host these games? Who's picking up the tab and what kind of economic impact will it have?

London has played host twice before and beat Paris in 2005 to get this chance. Amongst other things, what clinched the deal for London was the promise of creating a legacy for the city, the country and the Olympic movement. But seven years later and just days before the games, the city is not really bursting with Olympic cheer, the signage is discrete, the locals are not enthused and the fact that it has been a long wet summer hasn't helped either.

Cheering crowds celebrated when London won its Olympic bid in July 2005. But seven years later, the wettest summer in British history is proving to be a dampner to the metaphorical image of the host city spirit.

As the countdown gets into its last 10 days and the weather shows signs of behaving, other problems are cropping up.

On Tuesday, July 17, even as athletes started pouring in from around the world, the city's black cabs protested outside the houses of parliament grid-locking Central London. Their grudge not being allowed to use the dedicated games lanes and being left out of the Olympics.

While cab drivers protested, there was a far more serious problem that organizers had to deal with. The private security company, G4S, contracted to provide security admitted on July 11 that it was unable to fulfill the terms of its 284 million pound contract.

About 35,000 troops and additional police forces have been pressed into service to make up that shortfall. The announcement from G4S has triggered national outrage and become a political hot potato. But, even as the opposition labour party and its MPs like the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee Keith Vaz take the government and organizers to task. They maintain that the games will be good for Britain.

To watch the complete show watch the accompanying videos.