London Wins 2012 Olympics

London today won the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games, beating the long-term favourites, Paris, at the finish line to secure one of sport's greatest prizes.

Watched by a television audience of billions, the result was announced after the IOC president, Jacques Rogge, opened an envelope containing the name of the winning bid at 1246 BST in the plush ballroom of the Raffles city complex.

The UK capital beat Paris in the fourth round of voting in Singapore after a secret electronic ballot of 115 members of the International Olympic Committee.

After opening the envelope, with tension high in the hall, Mr Rogge said: "The IOC has the honour of announcing the Games of the 30th Olympiad in 2012 will be in London."

The result sparked jubilation in London's Trafalgar Square where supporters of the bid had gathered to greet the result.

As expected, the voting went to a fourth round after first Moscow, then New York and Madrid, were eliminated in quick-fire rounds of voting.

Lord Coe, the London 2012 bid leader, had earlier presented IOC members with a passionate final presentation in which he said a London games would show "magic happens", and inspire young people around the world.

The London games will be based in the east of the city where a large area in the Lower Lea Valley will be regenerated.

London's chances grew after no city won more than 50% of the votes in the first round, meaning there was no instant victory. The London 2012 tactic had been to court Madrid's supporters if the Spanish capital was eliminated.

The prime minister, Tony Blair, who has led three months of frenetic campaigning and who left Singapore last night to host the G8 summit at Gleneagles after two days of last-gasp courting of IOC members, has promised work will start on preparing the games "within 48 hours" of a winning result.

David Beckham and a host of sporting celebrities have been in Singapore pressing for a London games. London last hosted the Olympics in 1948 and will become the first city to host sport's biggest event three times.

Today's result is a huge victory for Lord Coe, who has transformed a bid which was originally seen as something of a joke. In an IOC evaluation report last year, London was ranked third in the race behind Paris and Madrid and its transport system was castigated as "obsolete".

But the London team improved its bid and assuaged concerns about transport to secure a much better write-up in a subsequent IOC evaluation report published earlier this year.

Paris had the advantage of having its main stadium, the Stade de France, already built but London's plans for a new stadium, and its ambitious regeneration ideas, won the day.

The winning bid team will host a press conference at 1330 BST.