Olympics 'ahead of schedule'

Lord Coe insists London's preparations to host the 2012 Olympics are ahead of schedule.

The end of October marks 1,000 days to go until the opening ceremony of the Games, which will be the first held in Britain since 1948.

"We are exactly where we would want to be at this point, if not a little bit ahead," said Lord Coe, chairman of the 2012 organising committee.

"With only 1,000 days to go now, we are very excited.

"We still have a lot of hard work to do - but we are closing in.

"Over the last four years, we have been making fantastic progress. The East London skyline has visibly changed; we have five great venues coming out of the ground - and if you look at the amount of money the organising committee has managed to raise in order to stage the Games, punching through a very difficult economic climate, we are in great shape."