London calling for 2012 Olympic Games

LONDON was celebrating last night as it won the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games after pulling off a spectacular victory.

The capital beat favourites Paris in the closest of finishes, winning the fourth and final vote of International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegates in Singapore by 54 votes to 50.

The result triggered scenes of jubilation in Trafalgar Square, where people had gathered to follow events on big screens.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, who arrived back from Singapore yesterday morning after spending three days backing the bid, praised the “just awesome” London bid team.

“This is a momentous day for London,” he said.

The Queen said: “It’s a really outstanding achievement to beat such a highly competitive field.”

England football captain David Beckham, who spoke in Singapore, compared the victory to winning the European Cup.

But there was bad blood from France as the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, blamed his city’s failure on its determination to stick by the rules of “fair play”.

After the decision he criticised the London bid team for continuing individual lobbying of IOC members right up to the last minute.

He was quoted as saying: “Yesterday, when I was going up to my room to sleep, there were people coming down the stairs who had been at successive meetings with Prime Minister Blair and bid leader Sebastian Coe.

“I didn’t think that was what it was about. I thought you needed the right bid dossier, the right spirit, and I think an immense majority of the IOC thought that about Paris.

“It is fair play that made us lose,” he said, adding he had asked himself whether it was necessary “not to play fair in order to win a competition based on fair play”.

London beat Paris to the prize after months of campaigning which went right down to the wire.

Both capitals made it to the final round of voting after first Moscow, then New York and Madrid were eliminated.

London led in all but one round of the voting.

The triumphant bid came after a slick and forceful final presentation earlier yesterday in which Mr Coe promised a Games where “magic happens”.

The London 2012 bid chairman and double Olympic champion said “the quality of the bid and vision of the bid and the fact that we’ve got London” helped clinch it.

“This is our moment,” he added.

The victory means London will host the world’s premier sporting event in seven years’ time with a specially-built stadium and village rising from what is now an urban wasteland in the east of the city.