Sport unites us. In offices and factories, shop and homes, Monday morning conversation invariably revolves around the great sporting contests of the weekend.

Whether it's the one-on-one drama of Wimbledon fortnight or the mass participation of the London Marathon, title races in national team games football, rugby or cricket or the bravery of individuals in world title boxing bouts, all are analysed, argued over and admired.

As a nation recently our proudest moment occured on Wednesday, July 7, as International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge announced that London will host the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

London 2012 Chairman Sebastian Coe said: "This is just the most fantastic opportunity to do everything we ever dreamed of in British sport.

"We have a chance over seven years and way beyond that to change the face of British sport."

The Olympics will provide a boost for the development of sport in the UK. It will be a major opportunity for all the sporting bodies and it will inspire a new generation to take up sport with the obvious health and fitness benefits that will accrue.

The blueprint for the London Olympic Games is based on extensive use of existing sports venues, rapid transport connections and state-of-the-art sporting facilities linked to sustainable community benefits.

The plans reflect current thinking within the IOC on the need for excellence without extravagance in staging the 2012 Olympic Games.

London's winning approach was outlined in the bid's Candidature File for the 2012 Olympic Games which includes the development of a new Olympic Park as the catalyst for a thriving new inner city community in east London.

The announcement will have a positive knock-on effect for people living in the area. Many new jobs will be created as a result of staging the 2012 Games. And once the Games end, the Olympic Park itself, in the Lower Lea Valley, will accommodate 12,000 new jobs.

At the moment the London Development Agency and London 2012 team are organising the procurement of designers and contractors for the designated site. But there will be plenty of information soon especially on how to get your hands on one of the 9.6 million tickets that will be up for sale.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, who will take up the post of Olympics Minister in the Government said: "The Olympics has a unique ability to captivate a nation and I know they'll do that here in 2012.

"That sort of enthusiasm will extend way beyond London and the benefits will too. New sports facilities, new business, new champions, new inspiration."