Interview David Grevemberg, CEO Glasgow 2014

“Olympic fever to hit Glasgow in 2014,” says the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.

The heady days of last summer’s Olympics still send a shiver of pride down the spine.

But we’re now just 12 months away from another athletics extravaganza that will have the eyes of the world on Britain.

Glasgow 2014 is the 20th Commonwealth Games and the sporting fever all begins again on July 23 next year. Tickets are available from Monday, August 19.

But despite the pressure of delivering a Games to make the world sit up and take notice, Chief Executive David Grevemberg is keeping a very cool head.

“It’s a running joke with my team right now. ‘Are you sleeping well, boss?’” David jokes at the Games HQ. “So far, I’m doing OK. There really isn’t anything keeping me up at night.

“The only thing I think about at bedtime is that I want us to absolutely hit this. I want people who come to the Games to have a world-class, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“And I don’t want to miss out on anything that makes that happen.”

Having spent 11 years with the International Paralympic Committee, travelling to around 168 countries 180 days a year, handling stress is second nature to the affable American.

And the hopes and dreams, triumphs and, most pertinently, disappointments, of the athletes are something David understands perfectly.

Before he was a suit behind a fancy desk, David was on the brink of his own Olympic wrestling dream. Then, a devastating knee injury at the age of just 23 killed that ambition forever.

“I can still remember the disappointment and the fear,” says New Orleans-born David. “I sat there scared, scared of the unknown. I went from feeling I had a sense of purpose, knowing what I was going to do, to having it all taken away.”

David was in London throughout last year’s Olympics. Regular meetings with his Olympic counterpart Lord Coe at the time, and constant contact with the 2012 team since, have ensured every possible lesson has been learned.

David was on hand for Super Saturday, that unforgettable surge of sporting prowess when Greg Rutherford, Jessica Ennis and finally Mo Farah’s gold medals made the nation’s hearts soar.

“The energy that night was awe- inspiring,” admits David. “To see that and see it repeated for the Paralympics was just breathtaking.

“But that excitement people had is like a double-edge sword. “I just thought: ‘Wow. How do we evoke that same sense of enthusiasm, passion and inspiration?’”

Big though the budget of just over £500 million is, it’s barely a 20th of the London 2012 spend.

But David exudes confidence that everything will be in place.

“We have 75% of the athletes’ village complete. We’ll take it over in January and it’ll house 6,500 athletes and officials,” he says.

“All the permanent-build competition venues will be finished this year and several are already huge successes.

“The aquatic centre had 40,000 people through the doors in the first month it re-opened.

“And the velodrome has been hailed as the most popular in the world right now.

“I’m confident that when our million tickets go on sale soon, we’ll have full venues.

“More than two-thirds of the tickets are £25 or less and that includes public transport.

“So everyone is invited to these games.”

The 20th Commonwealth Games take place between July 23 and August 3, 2014. A total of 71 nations will take part in 17 sports, with a dozen being staged on day one alone. It’s expected 1.5 billion people will tune in on TV.