Eye on the Olympics

A striking vision of the London Eye will be the defining image of a London Olympic Games, the capital's bid organisers announced today.

Using state-of-the-art technology, the giant wheel on the South Bank would be floodlit in gold in 2012, with the five Olympic rings at its heart.

London 2012 chiefs hope it will create as memorable an "icon presence" as the Sydney Harbour Bridge projections did for the 2000 Games.

Today bid leaders revealed further details of how they plan to showcase the capital to the International Olympic Committee delegates this evening.

The inspectors will be taken on a Thames boat trip to see landmark riverside buildings floodlit with the London 2012 logos. These include Tate Modern, Battersea Power Station, Big Ben, the Tower of London and Somerset House. This afternoon they are having a working lunch at 10 Downing Street hosted by the Prime Minister, with Tory and Liberal Democrat leaders Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy in attendance.

Yesterday's tour of proposed venues was said to have gone down well with the 13 inspectors.

London 2012 director of communications Mike Lee said: "Yesterday was a huge success. We have had fantastic feedback. The visit to all the venues has left a very, very good impression."

Cherie Blair - in her role as a bid ambassador - was this morning using her skills as a QC to help outline the legal technicalities of how London would stage the Games, including how it would protect the use of the Olympic logo.

Ken Livingstone and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell outlined the political backing for the bid, which will be funded by ?2.375 billion of public money.

Some ?1.5billion will come from the Lottery - with a new Olympics game being launched on 7 July - the day after London hopes to hear it has won the right to stage the Games.

The rest of the cash would come from London council tax payers, with average families paying ?20 a year for 12 years, and the Mayor's London Development Agency.

Neil Wood, London 2012 finance director, said: "We are confident that the Games in London will be a huge financial success. We anticipate there will be a surplus in excess of ?100 million."

Tickets will range from ?10 for entry to the Olympic Park - where spectators will be able to watch events in a similar manner to "Henman Hill" at Wimbledon - to ?1,000 for corporate sponsors wanting the best seats at the opening ceremony.

Event tickets will start at ?15, average prices will be ?40 and

5.5 million of the eight million tickets will be ?50 or less.