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LONDON (AFP) - The 2012 Olympics in London will focus on fun and will match anything the Beijing Games have to offer in terms of spectacle, organiser Sebastian Coe insisted in an interview published Saturday.
Lord Coe, in Beijing to watch the 2008 Olympics, told The Daily Telegraph that his team were not intimidated in the least by the mammoth spectacle laid on in the Chinese capital.
The London Games can "go further on so many fronts", said the 1980 and 1984 Olympic 1,500 metres champion, citing green issues and national inclusivity.
The 2012 event's mission statement will be about "creativity" and the British capital's cultural scene, vowed Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.
"Sure, it is about sport. But we will also take the chance to showcase the creative capital that London is," Coe said.
"We can bring a massive level of creativity and Britishness in the very best sense of the word. And fun. Let's have a bit of fun with this.
"There are lots of things I think we can do which are quite instinctive to us anyway. What does the world know about us? We're actually quite good at partying. Let's turn it into a giant party."
Despite the fireworks and super-slick choreography of the Beijing Games opening ceremony, the London organisers "weren't cowed at all", Coe insisted.
The people in charge of the London equivalent are "the very best around at arranging pop concerts and directing West End shows. And they're British," he said.
"They looked at that and thought that's really good, but we can do something as good, set in a different context.
"They were more pumped up because it was so good. I think they were quite excited by the challenge.
"This is amazing, it's fantastic, it's clearly been choreographed to within an inch of its life.
"But my judgment is you'll not see another Games like this again," Coe added, comparing China and the "'you can't build the velodrome there, it's where my allotment is'" democratic constraints of Britain.
"It won't continue to go in this direction. It won't at London and it won't at Chicago or wherever is next."
Rather than focusing on Britain's place in the medals table, the 2012 Games would be about "moments that last a lifetime."
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