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The British are far from pumped about next year’s London Olympics with only eight per cent “very excited” about the event, according to a poll.
Some 60 per cent are “unexcited” about the sporting extravaganza returning to London for the first time since 1948, according to findings by respected pollsters, YouGov.
The results from the survey, commissioned by Sky News, come a year before the Olympic torch relay starts in the UK at Land’s End, Cornwall.
Olympic organisers released details of the 70-day torch relay on Wednesday, with the flame expected to travel an estimated 8,000 miles (12,800 km) around the UK before arriving at the Olympic Stadium for the July 27 opening ceremony.
It is estimated that 95 per cent of the British population will be within a one hour journey time of the torch relay as the flame travels to far flung reaches such as the Isle of Man, Guernsey and the Shetland Islands.
The relay looms as a key opportunity for Olympic officials to foster goodwill across the United Kingdom, with interest levels diminishing away from the capital.
Some 49 per cent of Londoners are excited about the Games but less than a third of people share their sentiments in areas such as Wales, England’s north and the Midlands.
In Scotland, the numbers drop to 20 per cent.
And for good reason, Brits have plenty on their plate at the moment.
They are trying to come to grips with an ailing economy and the impact of savage budget cuts have started to bite.
The sight of billions of pounds being ploughed into the Olympics at a time of economic heartache was always going to be tough to sell, particularly outside of London.
However London Olympic organisers have long argued that support for the 2012 Games would be a slow-burn.
London Olympics boss Sebastian Coe said it wasn’t the British way to get too overly excited too early.
“They weren’t in the streets six weeks, six days, they probably weren’t even contemplating street parties three days before the royal wedding,” he told Sky News.
“I do not think you can force-feed people into levels of excitement.
“For me, let’s put the dry statistics aside, let’s look at the reality of what is happening out there. The support is palpable.”
“My instinct is that, slowly, people are really beginning to understand the extraordinary nature of what we’ve got in just over a year’s time.”
Ticket sales have been reasonable with more than half of the 650 competition sessions in 26 sports being oversubscribed at the first offering.