London 2012 Olympics countdown clock stops
Embarrassment for Olympics organisers as giant Trafalgar Square clock stalls one day after launch
The London 2012 Olympics countdown clock was launched by (left to right) Lord Sebastian Coe, London mayor Boris Johnson, president of Omega Stephen Urquhart and athlete Jessica Ennis. Photograph: Rex Features
It was launched in a blaze of sparklers by Lord Coe, London mayor Boris Johnson and potential London 2012 gold medallist Jessica Ennis. But on the day Olympic tickets went on sale, organisers suffered a major embarrassment as their official countdown clock stopped.
The timepiece, which has become a traditional fixture for Olympic host cities and is made by sponsor Omega, stalled reading 500 days, seven hour, six minutes and 56 seconds to go until the opening ceremony.
The 6.5m-high structure, which is in a prominent position in Trafalgar Square, was launched on Monday night at an event hosted by Clare Balding. It was unveiled by four Olympic gold medallists from Team GB – rowers Pete Reed and Andy Hodge and sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson.
“The launch of the Omega countdown clock is an important milestone for any Olympic Games and is something of a tradition within the Olympic movement,” said Locog chairman Lord Coe before the launch. “It will be a daily and hourly reminder to everyone who visits Trafalgar Square that the countdown to the start of London 2012 has well and truly begun and that the greatest show on earth is soon coming to our country.”
Omega says it is not immediately apparent what has caused the problem.
In a case of life imitating art the BBC on Monday night launched a Thick of It style mockumentary, Twenty Twelve, which featured a PR farrago around a countdown clock.
A spokeswoman for Omega said: “‘We are obviously very disappointed that the clock has suffered this technical issue. The Omega London 2012 countdown clock was developed by our experts and fully tested ahead of the launch in Trafalgar Square. We are currently looking into why this happened and expect to have the clock functioning as normal as soon as possible.”
