Maybe it's because they are Londoners

OLYMPIC BID: London's bid is the phoenix that has risen from the ashes of failed attempts by Birmingham and Manchester to stage the Olympics.

After the embarrassing attempts by these cities for the 1992, 1996 and 2000 games, the British Olympic Association (BOA) decided that it could not support any bid not from London. If this has caused controversy in the rest of Britain, it was something that had always been clear to the capital's chief backers, including Sebastian Coe. Princess Anne once called the double Olympic 1,500 metres champion "a prat" after he launched a London bid when she was backing Manchester.

Officials have been working on the bid since October 1996 when Richard Sumray, the chief executive of London International Sport, an umbrella organisation representing a number of bodies, approached the BOA chairman Craig Reedie about helping.

Even then it took more than four years until the BOA formally approached Tony Blair's government about the idea of staging an Olympics on a proposed site in either east or west London and it was not until 2001 that they presented their plans to the capital's mayor, Ken Livingstone. He agreed to back the bid, but only on the condition that it was used to regenerate east London, sounding the death knell for the site in the west of the city.

A cost analysis survey by consultants Arup concluded that it would cost the taxpayer £500 million to stage the Olympics but such were the benefits it would bring in the form of tourism and business that a London games would make a profit of £82 million.

It is ironic, though, that the government only began to warm to the idea of a bid following Manchester's successful staging of the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

But still some senior cabinet ministers remained hostile to the idea of London staging the games because of the cost. It was the persistence of the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, and the sports minister, Richard Caborn, that finally swayed the doubters. There was then a further delay due to the Iraq war before the bid was formally launched in May 2003.

After a protracted search for someone to lead the bid the surprise choice as chairman was Barbara Cassani, an American based in London who was the former founder of the low-cost airline Go. The 43-year-old, who earned a £9.5 million fortune after Go was sold to its rival EasyJet, set up the bid from scratch from her Barnes living room in June 2003.

It was inevitable that the appointment would draw comparisons with Gianna Angelopoulos, the formidable head of the bidding team that won Athens the 2004 Olympics. But Angelopoulos, married to one of the richest men in Greece, was already an accomplished politician prepared to use her all feminine charm and wiles to get what she wanted.

Cassani was cut from a different cloth. Having made her reputation in the airline industry, she struggled to understand the often-strange methods of the International Olympic Committee. She did little to hide the fact that she found the business of having to lobby a dissipate group of 117 individuals ranging from royalty to Olympic sports stars to former secret policeman a rather distasteful one.

Cassani made a series of tactical blunders, including turning up for the 2003 World Athletics Championships after most of the IOC members had left. Her passport also did not enhance London's bid among the IOC, an organisation renowned for its anti-US bias following the Salt Lake City bid scandal that nearly brought the movement to its knees.

Cassani's fate was sealed last May when the IOC short-listed London but a working party rated their bid as only third behind those of Paris and Madrid. She swapped positions with Coe, who had been one of her three vice-chairman.

The city's road and rail system was highlighted as a potential problem as was the perceived lack of public support. But crucially the government and other bid leaders believed London's bid would stand a better chance with a Briton heading the organisation, especially one so well known in international sporting circles as Coe.

At the bid's 50th floor offices in Canary Wharf, however, it was claimed that even after resigning her £150,000-a-year post, Cassani had to be "persuaded" by Coe and chief executive Keith Mills to stop trying to run the campaign. Since she has taken a back seat, London's campaign has gone from strength to strength.

Coe has earned much of the credit but IOC insiders claim that it is Mills who has done most to enhance London's prospects. The multi-millionaire businessman, the mastermind behind the British Airways Air Miles scheme and the Nectar loyalty card, is the sort of sociable chap who goes down well in IOC circles. Mills is the perfect foil to Coe. One's name opens doors while the other is the man who successfully sells the positive benefits of London's campaign.

Under Coe and Mills, London corrected many of the earlier criticisms when it submitted its final plans to the IOC last month and has now moved comfortably into second place within touching distance of the favourites Paris.

IOC watchers all agree that London in the last six months has run by far the best campaign and the Australian member Kevan Gosper has even claimed that Britain is now "neck and neck" with Paris.

Among the names originally suggested for the chairman's role were Cherie Blair and Prince William.

Although quickly rejected both now have crucial roles to play. Blair, a keen athletics fan, has been helping to raise the profile of London's bid around the world - not always helpfully, as the mild rebuke that London officials received from the IOC ethics commission demonstrates following her light-hearted remarks about Paris having no culture.

William will be the most high profile of London's team at the IOC meeting to decide who gets the games in Singapore on July 6th. He will stand in for Tony Blair, who is unable to attend as it clashes with the G8 summit he is hosting at Gleneagles.

There could also be a surprise appearance in Singapore by David Beckham. He was among the pantheon of globally recognised stars that featured in London's "Sport at Heart" video.

Others included Sir Roger Moore, Amir Khan, Jeremy Irons, Kelly Holmes, Joseph Fiennes and Matthew Pinsent. Sir Mick Jagger is also expected to be unveiled shortly as a bid ambassador.

But Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, warned London early on in its campaign that it should not make the mistake of believing voters would be heavily influenced by the endorsement of many high profile football and film stars.

What the IOC wants to see is firm, achievable plans. Coe is supremely confident that is what London now has. The bid has clearly come a long way from that initial meeting in a London restaurant between Sumray and Reedie more than eight years ago.