To the outside world it was the moment when the most powerful man in world sport and British Olympic bosses officially sealed London's staging of the 2012 Games.
With beaming smiles, the International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge and leaders of London's triumphant bid team signed the "official" Games document amid a blaze of flashbulbs.
But today it can be revealed that the entire ceremony was a charade staged for the world's media and that the "host city contract" had been signed the night before the vote amid fears that the winning city would try to back out of its commitments or haggle over terms.
In his new book, former Mayor Ken Livingstone revealed that the IOC had forced all five bid cities to sign the host city contract the night before the July 2005 vote in Singapore or be kicked out of the process.
Mr Livingstone writes in You Can't Say That: "Annoyed that so many cities, after winning the Games, then wanted to revise their commitments, the IOC insisted that each bidding city sign the contract the day before the vote. As (British Olympic Association chairman) Craig Reedie and I signed we discovered that New York was refusing to sign because they wanted a bigger share of the television rights. Rogge warned that they would be barred from the vote if they didn't sign and they gave in, but there was resentment as the Americans had pulled this stunt before."
He told the Standard: "The signing was a complete charade. We signed copies of the contracts for the media. All the contracts had to be signed by the host cities the night before."
The document, signed by Livingstone, Reedie and Rogge and IOC finance director Richard Carrion, binds cities to a range of guarantees such as offering free transport for the 50,000 members of the "Olympic family" and block booking the best hotels.
An IOC spokesman said: "The public signing by the winning city is a ceremonial part of the process and usually a welcome moment for the triumphant city for the first time to publicly acknowledge their victory and comment for the first time."
