As dawn broke over the Olympic Park in London, a blazing sun catching the edge of the stadium, lighting up Anish Kapoor's huge metal sculpture, the Orbit: alongside, the dipped roof of the velodrome.

. You'd have to be hard at heart indeed not to catch the flavour here - the thrill of expectation, the knowledge that there will be disappointments as well as wholly unexpected moments of glory.

The streets of London have been flowing with that spirit as the torch completed its journey here - today it's being rowed up the Thames by James Cracknell.

And tonight the cauldron behind me will be lit - by whom we don't yet know - and burst into flame. It will burn for the next 16 days here, the symbol of these Games. The eyes of the world are on London today, a city that has been preparing for this moment for seven years.

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