LONDON Bid slogan: "Make Britain proud" Won Games: 6 July, 2005 (Betting odds 5 July: 7-4)

LONDON BID FACTFILE Population: 7,300,000 Previous Games: 1908, 1948 Failed bids: 2000, 1996 (Manchester), 1992 (Birmingham) Bid leader: Lord Sebastian Coe Games budget: £1.3bn Transport/venues: £8.3bn Tickets: 8,000,000, £15-£55 2012 dates: 27 July-12 August Paralympics: 31 Aug-11 Sep Official website The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites

London picked quite a time to launch its first ever Olympic bid.

The city has staged the Games twice before, in 1908 and 1948, but on both occasions it stepped in at short notice when others could not do the job.

It won the hosting rights despite finding itself up against the most competitive field in bidding history - and banished the memory of recent failed British bids for Manchester and Birmingham.

The plan for 2012 focuses on the regeneration of a 500-acre swathe of land around Stratford in the east of the city, one of the most deprived areas of the UK.

Lord Coe and his team plan to transform the area into a futuristic Olympic Park, straddling four London boroughs and six miles from Trafalgar Square.

It will include an 80,000-seater athletics stadium, an athletes' village and a string of other key sporting venues, creating a strong case for an Olympic legacy.

The Aquatics Centre, velodrome, BMX track and hockey centre would all have been built even if London did not get the Games, and 9,000 new homes will be created now it has.

Existing venues to be used include the new Wembley for football finals, Wimbledon for tennis, Lord's for archery and the Dome for gymnastics and basketball.

Beach volleyball will be staged in Horse Guards Parade, baseball and softball in Regent's Park and triathletes will cycle past the gates of Buckingham Palace.

The football competition will take in Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham, and sailing would be held at Weymouth in Dorset.