Bid officials faked construction work to show 'commitment'

But the bid organisers also went to extraordinary lengths to give the proposed Olympic site, a rundown area outside Stratford, east London, a makeover for the IOC inspection. Officials were particularly keen to show work on the aquatic centre was to go ahead with or without the Games - a sign of government commitment to sport - and hired heavy plant to make the site look busy.

The contractor they hired, the Kent-based firm Erith, had to freight in an excavator from the Isle of Wight at considerable cost to dig a hole on the site. It was filled in a day later when the inspectors had gone.

And the roads of the Lower Lea Valley, usually strewn with mud from delivery lorries, were swept and washed down, and rubble heaps were flattened to improve the views.

"We hadn't seen a dustcart or a street-sweeper round here for 15 years before that," said Seamus Gannon, of the local firm Bedrock. "We haven't seen any since."