British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2L) views the construction site of the London 2012 Olympics Aquatic Centre with Olympics Secretary Tessa Jowell, (2nd R). (Stephen Hird//Getty Images)
With 1,000 days until the 2012 London Games, it's been revealed that a senior Australian public servant has been quietly slipping the British government a few trade secrets on how to run a successful Olympics.
A series of emails obtained by AAP under British freedom of information laws show that Ron Perry, an adviser to the Howard government during the Sydney Olympics, has spent time advising the Brits—even boasting that the Sydney Games were pretty easy to organise.
And he warned the Brits they face a tough task following the money-is-no-object Beijing Games.
"In some ways Sydney was easy after the problems of Atlanta," Mr Perry told the director of the British Government Olympic Executive Nicola Roche by email.
"You are following Beijing where money seems to have been no object and you are doing so in the wake of a global financial crisis," he continued.
"Your task is not an easy one but the Games will be I'm sure every bit as successful as you hope."
Perry also held video conferences from the British High Commission in Canberra giving Ms Roche and other British civil servants tips on what makes a good Games.
The Sydney Olympics are still widely regarded as among the best ever.
London, still in the grip of recession, faces a much harder task, with many pundits predicting a scaled-back affair.
The British government is in the middle of building work to create infrastructure necessary to host the Olympics and it appeared grateful for the advice from Down Under.
Ms Roche told Mr Perry: "Many, many thanks for talking to us yesterday. It was incredibly helpful. We really welcomed your candour and insights."
He replied: "I'll try and pull some more coherent thoughts together over the next few days and slip them to you."
It isn't the first time Aussies have helped put a bit of the wow factor into British sport.
Australian firm Brookfield Multiplex built the new 90,000 seater Wembley stadium—the second largest sports venue in Europe and revered by football fans across the continent.
