Vancouver vote gives London hope

London's hopes of running a successful bid for the 2012 Olympics received a boost from across the Atlantic at the weekend after an Olympic referendum in Canada.

Britain's chances of winning the 2005 vote would be helped greatly by a victory for Vancouver in July's decision on the venue of the 2010 Winter Games.

The Canadian city, bidding against Salzburg and South Korea's Pyeong Chang, reinforced their position as favourites when they won 64 per cent of support in a high-risk referendum.

London and the other European cities set to bid for 2012 - Paris, Moscow, Madrid and a German city - want a Canadian victory because it will stop strong candidates Toronto from bidding for the Summer Games.

Canada would not be awarded two successive Olympics and Toronto, which ran an excellent bid for the 2008 Games before losing out to Beijing, have said they will not run if Vancouver triumph.

A Canadian victory would also make it much harder for another North American candidate such as New York to win the 2012 campaign.

Vancouver was taking a big risk with the referendum. Swiss candidate Berne had to withdraw from the race last year after a disappointing result in a plebiscite, but the outcome was widely believed to be an excellent result for the Canadians.

Dick Pound, Canada's influential International Olympic Committee member, told Standard Sport: "To get 2-1 in favour in a vote when people have to get out of their homes. That is 10 times more reliable than any poll."

Tony Blair is believed to be ready to support a London bid, but the Cabinet have postponed a final announcement on the issue twice. It is possible, however, that the Government could take a decision at this Thursday's Cabinet meeting.