World sporting leaders have welcomed news of the British government's backing of London's Olympic bid on Thursday, immediately installing England's capital as a front-runner to stage the 2012 Summer Games.
"All the elements are there in place for a first class bid," Olympic president Jacques Rogge said. In Madrid for an International Olympic Committee meeting, Rogge rated London's chances of winning the race. "They will be a front-runner if they tackle the challenge well," he said.
"The problem Britain was up against in the past was that it didn't put up its number one city - the IOC would want the best possible candidate cities and London has all the qualities needed," he added.
Following the announcement of a £2.375bn games funding package London now joins New York, Madrid and Leipzig as official candidates to stage the 2012 Olympics. Paris and Moscow are expected to join the race in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, hotly-tipped Toronto will wait until the venue for the 2010 Winter Games is announced in July before deciding on whether to enter the fray. However, the Canadian city will not bid if Vancouver lands the Winter Games ahead of Salzburg and Pyeongchang. If Vancouver is unsuccessful, however, Toronto is expected to bid and would be favourite to stage the event.
British bookmakers William Hill immediately installed London as 7-4 favourites to win the right to stage the Games. Hills make Paris 5-2 second favourite and also offer 9-2 Toronto, 6-1 Madrid, 8-1 New York, 10-1 Rio, 14-1 Sao Paolo, 16-1 Moscow, 33-1 Liepzig and 50-1 Havana.
Reuters