London 2012 organisers declared on Tuesday that public support for the Games was at its highest since the city was awarded the sporting extravaganza.

Market research conducted on behalf of the London Organising Committee (LOCOG) showed 79 percent of the public supported the Games taking place in the English capital.

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"These results are very heartening, and reflect the support we have seen on our travels around the UK," LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe said in a statement.

"Our aim is to deliver a memorable Olympic Games and Paralympic Games with a lasting legacy for the nation, and we have made very good progress to date, with several 'milestone' moments in recent weeks.

The sudden resignation in October of American businessman Jack Lemley as chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) appeared to have opened a can of worms.

Less than a year after he was trumpeted by Olympic Minister Tessa Jowell as the man to oversee the building of the Olympic Park, Lemley told the Idaho Statesman newspaper he had quit because of a lack of progress with the London project, concerns about budgets and timescales and political squabbling.

A day later Scotland Yard chief Ian Blair said the 2012 Olympics would be "a huge" target for terror attacks.

In the same week the government's sports minister Richard Caborn said Premier League soccer club West Ham United were in talks about moving into the Olympic stadium after the Games.

That raised concerns in the IAAF, world athletics' governing body, over London's bid promise to retain the stadium as an athletics facility.

The negative headlines continued with the news that organisers faced a one billion pounds ($1.96 billion) tax bill because VAT had not been factored into the 2.4 billion budget.

After all the poor publicity, Coe was heartened by some good news at last.

"The whole of the UK is looking at ways to maximise benefits from the Games, from business opportunities, to tourism benefits to inspiring more young people to take up sport, and such strong public support will help us make sure no opportunities are missed."