After an 18-month race the International Olympic Committee has decided that London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics was the strongest. It was pretty close at the end with Paris, but London pulled out all the stops with a host of sporting celebrities including David Beckham on hand to help convince the judges.

What does this mean for cycling though? There is no doubt that it’ll be a boost for British sport in general and should be a motivator for many young people to take more interest in sport. But for mountain biking it’ll be a great stage for the likes of Liam Killeen and Oli Beckingsale to race in front of a home crowd. It’s an opportunity for mountain biking to put on a good show and it’s likely that some younger talent will have come through the rankings to be potential winners by 2012. Here’s hoping…

The venue for the mountain biking will be a temporary course at the Weald Country Park, east of the main Olympic venue. The 500-acre parkland should be a good backdrop for the racing with lakes and large woodland areas, with seating for 3,000, and presumably much more for those choosing to stand.

For the track racing, a 6,000 capacity Velodrome will be built, along with an equally spacious BMX track at a cost of £37 million. The development on these would have gone ahead even if London had not won the Olympic bid. It should be mentioned that the Herne Hill track in South-East London is the only remaining site from the 1948 Olympics, though the future of the venue is unclear at the moment.

We’ll bring you more information when we get it. Visit the official London 2012 website for more information.