IOC impressed by London plans

International Olympic Committee inspectors have described London's preparations for the 2012 Games as "impressive" and unaffected by the recession.

The IOC co-ordination commission finished a three-day visit to London on Thursday and have found little to concern them despite the global financial crisis.

IOC co-ordination commission chairman Denis Oswald said however that attention still needed to be given to ticketing to avoid the sight of empty seats at venues that so embarrassed Beijing last summer. He told a news conference in London: "We can confirm that London 2012 is on the right track."

He added: "We know the world is going through a difficult time but Locog had a very strong commercial policy from the beginning and have been able to secure a high amount of sponsorship before the crisis came and have reached £0.5billion.

"We are very pleased to see that Locog and the preparations of the Games have not been affected by the current world financial crisis."

Oswald said it had been "important" that the Government had put money into the Olympic Village from the contingency fund so that construction work was not delayed.

He added: "This money will probably come back when the Village is sold again so this is just helping with cash situation."

The IOC went on a tour of the Olympic Park on Tuesday, and Oswald added: "We were really deeply impressed by the progress made in the construction, the stadium is impressive also the Olympic Village and the swimming pool.

"The different venues are coming out of the ground and we know everything is on time and even ahead of schedule in some cases and this gives a very good feeling three years ahead of the Games."

Oswald said attention did need to be given to ticketing policy. He added: "It's important that you have an opportunity to exchange your ticket if you don't have the right one and can resell the unsused one."