Official History of the Olympic Games and the IOC

"There was a French aristocrat called Pierre de Coubertin who had been to a multisport event in Much Wenlock in Great Britain and claimed part of the inspiration for the modern Olympics. De Coubertin decided to create his own event, which was all about bringing people together. There was some of this idea of the peaceful nature of sport. Yes – you come and represent your nation and your country. In the early years they had sports like tug of war. To the athlete it is still about winning and losing, and wearing your national tracksuit with pride. But it has turned into a massive brand as well. But for an athlete, if your sport is at the Olympics it is still the highest level you can compete at. I think it will be the best Paralympics that we will ever see, because we love sport so much. We are good at organising things, designing things and making things happen. And we are good at detail in the UK. I think we will do a really good job of hosting it for the millions of people who will come to Britain and have a great time watching sport. Yes – you only need to look at the torch relay. They were eight people deep along the road. And at Cheltenham racecourse there were 16,000 people. I have been involved in sport and it is a big part of my life, but I think we always had to get into 2012. It is hard for the public to maintain the excitement five years out from the Games. You want it to build, and you want people to be in London and to enjoy it, which I think they are starting to do."