Kate backs the bid

There's the belle! The final lap of our Olympic bid has begun - and Kate Moss is joining a team of London champions including Paul Smith, Mario Testino, Amir Khan, Sam Taylor-Wood and Antony Gormley to count down the days to the capital's date with destiny.

In a little over a month we will discover whether London has trumped Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid to host the 2012 Games.

Tate, BT and the London 2012 team today launch 40 Artists, 40 Days - a hi-tech artists' Advent calendar.

Every day from today until 5 July - the eve of the International Olympic Committee's decision on which city will host the Games - a new work by one of 40 stars of design, art, performance and fashion will appear online at www.tate.org.uk/40artists40days.

Sebastian Coe, London's bid mastermind, said the online installation "focuses attention on Britain's exceptional creative talent and is vital in helping to build support for the bid from the public in the final stages of the campaign".

He added: "What's more, it sends out a clear message that London would be the ideal host city."

At Tate Modern today artist Taylor-Wood will photograph 17-year-old British boxing prodigy Khan, which will become the first of the online artworks.

Smith's London logo and celebrity photographer Testino's shot of Moss on the blocks are two of the other works which will go on the site. Recruiting such a diverse squad of cultural players is the latest example of the London bid's emphasis on the city's unique selling points. It shows the artistic excellence we can offer alongside our sporting ideals. Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota said: "The vision for 2012 is that sport and the arts will come together in London for the biggest celebration this city has ever known.

"For other cities and countries that have hosted the Games, the cultural programme was significant, but nonetheless of secondary importance. For London, the Cultural Olympiad is part of its essence. Tate Modern and Tate Britain are part of the drive to make London the Olympic Capital in 2012.

"As always, the secret to success is in knowing that you can make it. I believe we can win."

Leading the cultural bid is acclaimed theatre director Jude Kelly who has marshalled a fouryear plan to begin in 2008 - should we win, of course. It includes a World Cultural Fair, an Olympic Proms, the International Shakespeare Festival and an array of other events across London.

Ms Kelly told the Standard that confidence was running high in the bid team. "I feel we went from entering the bid late to now being such a strong contender that I think we're really planning for winning. All the partnerships and ideas that have emerged from the bidding process are being acted upon," she said.

"Of course, you'll never know who wins the competition until the vote happens, but the London bid is planning to win.

"I think the IOC is very impressed that we are backing the Olympic movement so seriously, that we back the idea that culture as well as sport are central to the bid, and that we want to honour the Olympic movement."

She added: "It is a telling thing to have Tony Blair, who is chairing the G8 summit, nevertheless making sure that he will be in Singapore just before the IOC's announcement - it stresses that this is something everyone in Britain wants."