LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday he was confident that London would win the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
"It's a tough competition to win the Olympic bid for 2012 but we're very confident about the quality of the bid," Blair told BBC Radio Five Live.
"We're very confident that we've got a great legacy but obviously it is in the end in the hands of the Olympic committee."
Blair will travel to Singapore in early July to talk to International Olympic Committee chiefs on the eve of their July 6 vote on which city - London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris are competing - will host the Games.
Blair said his decision to travel to Singapore was taken to "show people that the government is absolutely behind the bid because staging the Olympics is an enormous task.
"It's an expenditure of money. Obviously we get a lot of money in from the Olympics too but it's a tremendous commitment and people need to know that the people, and also the government, are absolutely behind it."
Blair cited Britain's hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 2002 in Manchester as evidence that the country could host a major sporting event.
And the British premier said he did not believe London's bid was flagging behind that of punters' favourite Paris.
"No I don't think that anymore," he said. "I think that the infrastructure problems have greatly been taken care of. And we will have brand new facilities."
"It would be a wonderful thing to have the Olympic Games in Britain."
06/16/2005 18:39 GMT