The legacy of a 2012 London Olympics could prove to be the city's most potent weapon in what is already an impressive arsenal. Pitted against Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow, London has been pitched into the middle of the most heavyweight Olympic battle ever. It will be a tough fight and an expensive one but the rewards promise to be vast as London bids to stage the Games for the first time since 1948.
The British government is firmly behind the bid - a key factor the International Olympic Committee (IOC) considers when picking a winner - and, together with the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, has pledged more than $4 billion of public funding to cover the cost of staging sport's greatest extravaganza.
While a London Games would feature some of the world's best-known sports venues including Wimbledon, Lord's cricket ground and the new 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium, it is the legacy of the new Olympic Park which could prove to be the ace in London's pack when the IOC sits down next week to inspect the candidature files, or bid books.
"Legacy matters to the IOC," British culture secretary Tessa Jowell said recently. "The Olympics, if they are to continue to flourish, have to be affordable and (have) to bring clear benefits to the host city and nation.
BEST CHANCE: "Only by embedding legacy planning into every aspect of our preparations for the Games will we make the most of the opportunities available to us.
"I am confident that the plans we submit to the IOC will reassure the Olympic movement that we have put legacy planning at the heart of our bid and give us the best possible chance of winning the vote next year."
Those words and dedication to legacy are likely to be music to the IOC's ears.
London's bid chief and former Olympic gold medallist Sebastian Coe echoed Jowell's words.
"Our aim is to create real benefits to the community in which the Games are staged - better quality of life, better education and employment opportunities, better sports facilities and an improved physical environment," he said.
"The legacy planning is already delivering real benefits for the communities of London with the early commencement of a new, world-class aquatic centre with two 50-metre pools and the approval of the East London Line extension."
Coe stressed that a London Games would create genuine long-term benefits to grass-roots and elite sport across Britain, a factor which will appeal to IOC members.
"We have every confidence that a Games in London will make a profit," Coe said. "Sixty percent of these profits will be ploughed back into grass roots sport development across the UK."
WHITE ELEPHANTS: The IOC requires that a bid city puts in place a five-year business plan for each venue that is staying after the Games.
Coe says London is going even further.
"We believe five years is not long enough so are in the process of putting together 25-year business plans for each venue that is staying.
"If there is no long-term, viable future for any venue then it will not be built. It is that simple. We will not leave any white elephants."
The recently approved planning consent for Olympic Park contains commitments to a legacy of 9,000 new homes to regenerate east London.
London scored poorly on transport when the IOC made its response in April to the city's "mini bid book" and Olympic chiefs will have to be sure the notorious congestion will not be a problem.
However the government recently confirmed details of new high-speed trains that will link central London to the Olympic Park.
Thirty trains will operate the "Olympic Javelin", the shuttle service at the centre of London's transport plans.
"This is fantastic news and shows that London 2012 is on track for great transport during the Games," Coe said. "The Olympic Javelin service is our secret weapon. It will provide a fast, efficient service for spectators, running between King's Cross and the Olympic Park - the centrepiece of our plans."
Government support for the bid would now appear to be no longer an issue - London had initially scored poorly in March - and, with solid finance in place, transport concerns being addressed and accommodation and general infrastructure considered among the best in the world, London can submit its bid book with confidence.
London's main obstacle may be a feeling among sports' top brass that while making a promise is one thing, delivering it is another.
The reputation of London in sporting circles has not yet recovered from the debacle when the city was forced to go back on its promise to stage the 2005 world athletics championships.
Plans for an 87-million-pound, 43,000-seat stadium in the northern borough of Enfield were scrapped after the British government decided the plan was not viable.
Having been awarded the championships, London had to admit defeat and hand them back in a hugely embarrassing climbdown.
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