Lessons for London

London is neck and neck with Paris in the bid to host the 2012 Olympics after receiving a massive boost from the Athens Games.

Observers are now naming London joint favourite after three weeks of intensive lobbying of Olympics chiefs.

The London bid team is set to capitalise on the Athens Games by refining its application in the light of the Greeks' successes and failures. A veteran Olympics observer said: "It's clear that London has done a very good job out here. I wouldn't say it is favourite but it has caught up with Paris very effectively."

The team, led by Sebastian Coe, will tell the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that London will have state-of-the-art venues as good as those in Athens and it will go all out to fill them.

Capitalising on Britain's passion for sport - which has seen Union flags second only to Greek flags at virtually every event - it will tell the Olympics bosses a London Games would be a sell-out. Organisers were concerned at the empty seats fiasco in Athens, which saw dozens of events played out in front of a handful of people, threatening sponsorship and broadcasting revenue. The British bid will tell the IOC a huge effort will be made to fill all seats. Mike Lee, communications-director of London 2012, said: "There is no doubting the British passion for sport and we will emphasise this very heavily."

The team will also play up London's international reputation as a city for the young. Athens failed to produce such an electric party atmosphere after being so focused on the last-minute rush that it was unable to plan cultural events.

Mr Lee said: "Because our venues will be finished in plenty of time, we will be able to put a lot of effort into a cultural programme." Sports Minister Richard Caborn said London had narrowed the gap with Paris but must keep up the pressure.

"It is a marathon, not a sprint, and I am fairly confident now we will have a very good chance of persuading the IOC to award London with the 2012 Games," he said.

Lessons from Athens will be used to tweak the final bid document, which will be submitted in November.

What we can learn

1 TRANSPORT: roads, buses and trains worked well in Athens. The Greeks extended the metro and dramatically smartened up the existing rail network. Now London must show it can do it better: it needs to improve the Tube and complete the £1 billion East London line project and improvements to the Docklands Light Railway. Crucially, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link from Stratford to St Pancras, which would be used to shuttle 25,000 people a day from central London to the Games, must be completed on time.

2 KEEP THE CITY MOVING: Athens succeeded with its pledge of moving spectators from any one part of the capital to another in less than an hour but even then many roads were still jammed at night. London, which is so much bigger, has to ensure that it, too, can move Olympic crowds painlessly and quickly around venues up to 20 miles apart. Special Olympic-lane carriageways on the roads, electronically operated tickets on the buses and free travel for all ticket-holding spectators must get the official go-ahead.

3 VENUES: despite construction delays, Athens delivered state-of-the-art stadiums. London has an immediate advantage as work has already started on new venues - such as Wembley and the swimming pool complex at Stratford - eight years before the 2012 deadline. A problem for Athens is that it will now have to pull down some of its Olympic venues. London must ensure its stadiums will remain for the benefit of the city after the Games have ended. Mayor Ken Livingstone has already pledged £10million a year of taxpayers' money to keep facilities running.

4 OLYMPIC VILLAGE: the Athens Village was praised for its comfort, security and ease of access. It provided 2,000 flats, which are now being turned into social housing and student accommodation. But London is aiming higher. As well as housing nearly 19,000 athletes during the Games, the village would go on to provide at least 5,000 affordable new homes in east London after the Games have ended.

5 REGENERATION: legacy is the buzzword for the IOC, and Barcelona - which staged the 1992 Olympics - is seen as the model for an event that breathed life into depressed urban areas. London needs to convince Olympic bosses the Games would revive east London. The creation of 1,500 landscaped acres in the area would provide thousands of jobs and a base for businesses and communities.

6 FUNDING: Athens is facing financial losses after spending an estimated £6.7 billion staging the Olympics. But it had to start from scratch. London's Games would cost less - an estimated £2.3 billion - as many facilities (Wembley, for example) are already under way. A total of £1.5 billion would come from Lottery funding but Londoners will need to be persuaded it is worth paying an extra £20 council tax a year each.

7 ACCOMMODATION: Athens failed. It allowed hotels to charge whatever they wanted, leading to inflated prices. The booking system was so chaotic many travellers found it difficult to find a room. London has a great advantage, with 200,000 hotel rooms already (Athens had 90,000). It needs an accreditation system where hotels promise reasonable rates in return for guaranteed business.

8 SECURITY: Athens was safe without feeling oppressive. Security gates at the main stadium were effective but bottlenecks did occur elsewhere. As threats to security are sure to remain, London needs to highlight its record on combating terrorism. Britain is a world leader in unobtrusive security and we should highlight this as we bid for the Games.

9 TICKETS: banks of empty seats marred the Athens Games as

2.5 million tickets went unsold. At some events touts sold tickets for as little as 70p. The IOC does not want a repeat. But Britain's passion for sport was clear, with 20,000 fans at the Games in Athens and images of thousands of Union flags beamed to TV audiences of up to 10.2 million at home. London's strength is that it can guarantee full houses at most events.

10 CLEAN UP LONDON: Athens had a reputation for dirt and pollution but it is now immaculate. It installed special recycling bins and brought in new laws to ban the dropping of cigarette butts and chewing gum. London must consider similar measures and launch a big clean-up to bolster its chances of success.

11 AMBASSADORS: the Greek bid was energised by dynamic former politician Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, who organised the Games, and Athens mayor Dora Bakoyannis. London organiser Lord Coe is an Olympic legend but he must work to build up support for the bid before the IOC's vote in July. Organisers must guard against complacency and arrogance. Tony Blair's involvement is key. He must cast aside fears the bid may fail and wholeheartedly support it in speeches on the world stage.

12 WINNING PUBLIC SUPPORT: less than half of Greeks backed the Athens bid for the Games until just beforehand, when popularity rose dramatically. Britain has a huge advantage, with six in 10 already committed to the bid. The triumphs of Kelly Holmes and Matthew Pinsent will be a boost. WELCOME: the new Athens airport was efficient and clean, and 200 multilingual staff across the city were brilliant guides. While Heathrow Terminal 5, due for completion by 2008, and St Pancras station for the Channel Tunnel rail link will form impressive gateways, London must match Athens for friendly, helpful guides.

13 PARTY CITY: Athens was full of the buzz that comes from an influx of international visitors. But there was no sense of a big celebration. A London Games could boast a supporting cast of concerts and free events. We have shown what we can do with the Queen's birthday concert. This is also one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities, home to over 100 languages.

14 BEATING PARIS: the French already have the Stade de France, which hosted the 2003 World Athletics Championships. But by 2012 it will be 14 years old. Its lavatories already drip through the concrete. Athletes last year said it was remote and needed long detours to reach.

15 BEATING THE CYNICS: are we really so defeatist that we don't believe we can do it? Nay-sayers in the media such as Ian Wooldridge of the Daily Mail, Simon Jenkins of our own paper and Catherine Bennett of The Guardian should think again.