Coe: Olympics can help capital beat recession

OLYMPICS boss Sebastian Coe believes the 2012 Games can provide the economic boost to help London though a recession.

He said the Games would account for "six to seven per cent" of economic activity in the next five years.

"More than 3,500 people are on the [Games] building site currently, of which 10 per cent had been permanently unemployed," Lord Coe told an Olympics summit in London.

"That's why we should be on the front foot. In good times or in bad this is a project that really has an extraordinary impact."

Lord Coe spoke out after Kevan Gosper, the Australian head of the International Olympic Committee's press commission, said: "I think you and your team face the toughest time - short of war-time - to get the project to 2012."

IOC president Jacques Rogge said the London Olympics would survive the test.

"The Games have survived difficult times before," he said. "They have survived and thrived because of what they mean to people all over the world."

Mr Rogge also praised the record-breaking medal haul of the British team in Beijing.