Three years today the eyes of the world will be on London as the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games gets underway.

It's sometimes hard to believe how far we've come since Jacques Rogge spoke those life-changing words in Singapore...'The Games of 2012 are awarded to the city of...London!' We celebrated. And then the hard work really began.

We've had our doubters - of course, we still do. How would we ever get it done on time? Surely we'd never get sponsors? Could we ever deliver on our promise of inspiring the youth of the world to choose sport?

Four years on from Singapore - and, today, three years to go - I know we can deliver a fantastic Games. I broke 13 world records during my career, and I don’t intend to break a fourteenth by being the Chairman of an organisation that doesn’t deliver the Games on time. This is the smartest, most creative, most diverse city on the planet. We have a great team and some wonderful partners helping us deliver at a city level. 

And people are really beginning to believe. When asked, 80 percent of the people in this country say that the Games are going to be good for them or for their family.

As members of the public were lucky to see with their own eyes yesterday - and some of GB's best athletes will see today - the Stadium's well on track to be ready for testing in 2011. And it's on budget. So too are the other main venues being built for the Games.

Young people being inspired? Well, around 15,000 schools across the UK have been involved in a London 2012-inspired project through our Get Set education programme or one of our partners' programmes such as Lloyds TSB or EDF Energy. Also, our 'International Inspiration' programme is already reaching out to hundreds of thousands of young people in countries including Zambia, India and Bangladesh, introducing more sport and activity into their lives.

We're doing more than that too, with our 'Inspire programme', the Cultural Olympiad and events like Open Weekend, encouraging people to try something new - arts, culture and sports - inspired by the Games.

Within the Organising Committee we're well on track with planning and funding. Our sponsorship - the privately raised money to stage the Games - has raised £530m.

What's more, our athletes in Beijing last year gave us even more to believe in with some astonishing performances. Who can help but be excited by the thought of what they might achieve on home soil?

In three years time we'll be starting six weeks of sport and cultural events to set the world alight. But in 2012 the story will really only just be beginning. After the Games we want to leave behind a legacy of young people who'll want to become athletes, ballet dancers and more.   

Although there's still a long way to go, today we're definitely in a great position to be celebrating how far we've come so far.

On the high speed Javelin train this morning with Southeastern Operations Manager Mark Medley, Managing Director Charles Horton and driver Mick Harding; plus Daley Thompson. 6 min 45 sec from St Pancras to Stratford: