Deloitte partner seconded to Olympic bid

Link: Olympic FD appointment delayed

Wood, a chartered accountant formerly with Andersen, is relatively unknown and will have little experience of being in the public eye.

But all this will change with his appointment to the Olympic bid, which will see him take charge of £13m inbid finances.

He is likely to come under close scrutiny from the media, especially if London, as is expected, makes it on to the May 2004 shortlist from which the final winner will be named in 2005.

Wood takes on the job on secondment from Deloitte, and was clearly optimistic about the bid’s chances. ‘We have already made excellent progress and I look forward to being part of the team that brings the Olympic games to London.’

A keen sportsmen with interests in rowing, squash, swimming and rugby, Wood’s appointment alongside that of Charles Wijeratna, (an investment banker) as commercial director and Debbie Jevans, former junior Wimbledon champion, as director of sport, completes the management line-up for the 2012 bid, headed by former CEO of Go Barbara Cassani.

Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris and Rio de Janeiro are all in the running to stage the huge sporting showpiece.

London, Paris and Madrid are the bookmakers’ early favourites.

Cassani said: ‘Now that our senior management is fully in place, we can turn all our attention to our first submission to the International Olympic Committee in January.’