London banks on its historic heart

The former Olympic fencer is joined on his stroll by Seb Coe, the chairman of the London Organising Committee ( LOCOG), and by Britain's newest IOC member Paula Radcliffe, the multi-lingual former marathon runner who is chatting to Bach in German as they make their way through the park.

Many IOC members have decided to slot the triathlon race into their schedule this morning because it is so close to the Dorchester. They have time to take in the race before popping back to the hotel for lunch and leaving for other events in the afternoon and evening.

Although Olympic leaders will have to make the journey across town to the athletics and swimming events at Stratford, they are looking forward to watching medals won just a short trip from both their hotel and London's best restaurants and theatres.

Beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade and the cycling and marathon events around Westminster and the Mall are on the schedules of most IOC members and of the chief executives of Olympic sponsors.

The Americans, Cubans and Japanese members do not have far to go to watch their teams compete for baseball gold at Regent's Park. Although it is much further away, watching the equestrian events at Greenwich Park is popular because of the venue's historical significance.

This is the scenario that bid leader Coe is dreaming about at night as the double Olympic champion prepares to send off London's 300-page bid book to IOC headquarters next week.

Today the heavy document will be delivered from the printers to the bid offices in Canary Wharf before Coe takes it to Heathrow on Monday morning to be flown by British Airways to Geneva and delivered to nearby Lausanne. Intense secrecy surrounds the details of the bid book which will be unveiled to the media at the end of next week.

In reality, neither the IOC's hotel nor the exact timetable of events at the Games - to take place between 27 July and 12 August 2012 - have been finalised.

Jacques Rogge is also still very much the president of the IOC and will chair the meeting in Singapore next July which will decide on the 2012 venue.

But the rest of the scenario is in the minds of Coe and the officials who have regularly worked late into the night making sure there are no holes in London's plans.

While the regeneration of the Lea Valley is a crucial part of the bid, the sales pitch to IOC members is very much around the idea of enjoying life in Park Lane and Mayfair.

The legacy of major sport facilities built for the Olympics in east London is important to some IOC members. But tell them they are staying in a new hotel in Stratford and Coe and Tony Blair may as well not bother making the trip to Singapore next July.

Surely sport should matter more than the comfort of Olympic leaders? In an ideal world it would. But real life is different and London has a vote to win.

Senior figures in the IOC made it clear to Coe and his predecessor Barbara-Cassani in the first weeks of the campaign that their Olympic plans had to go West as well as East.

The TV pictures have to be as stunning as they were when the triathlon was held around Sydney Harbour in 2000 and when the marathon in Athens this summer finished in the 1896 stadium where the modern Games began.

IOC members stayed in the Hilton Hotel in Athens this year with a rooftop bar and restaurant boasting a superb view of the Acropolis. It was a short walk to the 1896 stadium, though many took a car there because of the heat.

In Sydney the IOC was based in a five-star hotel just 30 seconds walk from Sydney Harbour, even though the main athletics and swimming complex could be a 45-minute drive away in bad traffic.

Coe's documents will arrive in Lausanne with similar luxury and glamour "Made in Britain".