It's up to you, New York

If Europe has been largely oblivious to the seemingly lowkey New York bid, that's fine. Kriegel, a whirlwind executive with machine gun patter, and bid chief, deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff, back themselves to time their run perfectly to the post in Singapore in a race the Americans consider "wide open".

Suggest the 2012 fanfare appears to be much noisier in London and Paris than in New York and he just laughs: "Well, you could say, for one, it's because you guys are across the pond focusing your aim across the Channel. Second, maybe we've just been in the woods waiting for you.

"Anyway, we've had noise. We've had balloons, trumpets, motor cycles and animals. I could show you 50 motor cycles going through Times Square but you probably weren't paying attention then because we weren't even America's candidate city at that time.

"I could show you thousands watching Nadia Comaneci flying down on a trapeze from a nine-storey building for the torch relay. A triumph. Don't be fooled; there's plenty of enthusiasm about this bid. Yet we don't think this race is all about noise. There's a moment to do that but, for us, it's not now. This is a marathon and everyone runs their own race."

Their bid team believes that now - when the run-in goes international - is the time to really start sprinting. So they brush aside the idea that a US backlash engendered by the Iraq war could prove fatal to their chances.

"Most opinion polls and editorials conclude it's a problem for the US but that's not what the Olympics is about," says Kriegel. "We've a relatively small jury of 100 or so in the IOC and, ultimately, it's not a global popularity contest for them.

"I am not going to say that three guys here or there won't be influenced against us but I think, generally, they vote on what's best for the Olympics. We believe we'll get a fair hearing."

New York thinks it is best because its plans have been moulded and modified over 10 long, hard years - a much longer incubation period than London's - and they've had to come through rigorous bidding procedures just to become America's nomination. Their bid also happens to be the only one of the five competing cities to be based on private sector funding.

By employing iconic venues like Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium and Central Park and planning an Olympic Village park on the banks of the East River where athletes would wake up every morning to the sight of the United Nations building and the Manhattan skyline, they feel the bid offers technical excellence while unashamedly playing up the city's unrivalled glamour.

Yet, ultimately, the bid could stand or fall on its centrepiece - a £ 760million stadium on Manhattan's West Side, which would also become home to the New York Jets gridiron team, and an adjacent sports complex.

Against fierce opposition, including the owners of nearby Madison Square Garden, there are still planning battles to be won but Kriegel is adamant that come Singapore, the project will already be "signed off, approved and financed".

I wondered if the bidders might play on the 9/11 sympathy vote too but Kriegel reckoned it was quite the opposite. Looking outside again, he pointed out how, come 2012, the magnificent Freedom Tower would stand where the twin towers once did.

New Yorkers want to look forward, not back, he reckoned. "It's not about sympathy; the Games would be about the power, energy and excitement of this city," he said.

It would be foolish to rule out a city which believes in its greatness.

Best and worst of an American dream

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