Newcastle's St James' Park will be a football venue

Lord Coe said Tyneside and Teesside could be financial winners if the 2012 games come to the UK.

Newcastle United's home ground, St James' Park, has already been earmarked as an Olympic soccer venue.

But Lord Coe, who is vice chairman of the London bid, also highlighted the potential of the Tees Barrage for use in the triathlon and other water sports.

He said: "There are many, many Olympic teams that will need preparation and holding camps.

"You have great facilities here. We will of course be staging an Olympic football competition, and what competition like this would take place outside of a stadium like St James' Park.

"You have facilities like the Tees Barrage, which would be able to stage things like triathlon and other water sports.

The Teess barrage could be a venue for water sports

"Gateshead Stadium is going to be upgraded into a truly international facility. I know what this area has to offer.

"But in return we will need thousands of volunteers and I want a good chunk of those to come from the North East in 2012."

Lord Coe pointed to the Queensland area of Australia, which was used in a similar way. He said teams and sports events generated about 200m Australian Dollars for the area's economy.

The costs of staging the Olympics in London are estimated at about �2.4bn.

The costs would be met through a special Olympics lottery, and a one-off �20 surcharge on London residents' council tax.

Historically, the costs of staging major international sporting events have often outweighed the benefits.

The Sydney Olympics in 2000 left the city facing heavy debts, and even the Barcelona games - hailed as an outstanding success - failed to turn a profit.