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Hammersmith could also host the 2012 Olympic Games

Ten boroughs will stage events across London.

Ten separate London boroughs will stage events if the city wins the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games, bid Chairman Barbara Cassani has revealed. Although the main focus of the Games would be the East End, other venues would be used to spread the benefits across the city.

These boroughs could include Newham, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, Hackney, Westminster, Camden, Haringey, Brent, and Hammersmith and Fulham. In coming weeks London's venue locations will be finalised ahead of the next formal stage of the bidding process - the submission of London's reply to the IOC initial questionnaire for all bidding cities - in mid-January.

Ms Cassani told members of the Greater London Authority that she was keen to use existing structures. And the venues being considered were spread across London, while also meeting the International Olympic Committee criteria for a small, central Olympic zone.

"We cannot put events into every borough because that would mean we would not win because we would be too dispersed," she said.

Ms Cassani and Mayor Ken Livingstone were updating GLA members on the progress of the London bid. In recent weeks a slew of announcements have been made, with key staff arriving including Chief Executive Keith Mills and Director of Communications Mike Lee.

The bid has already been boosted by up to £5 million in donations in kind from the business community. Many are keen to be involved in sponsorship. Ms Cassani said she would like the business community to be involved in capital financing of certain projects procurement of land and development of houses during the Games, which could later be sold on.

The bid's leaders have also spent a week in Lausanne, Switzerland, being briefed by the IOC on what is expected of bidding cities before the final decision is made - in July 2005 - on the location of the 2012 Games.

London 2012 Web site