Blair fully behind bid Wembley pictures

Blair joined England football captain David Beckham at a ceremony to mark the erection of the new arch on Wednesday.

"We hope Wembley will have a big impact," Blair told BBC Five Live's Sportsweek on Sunday.

"It's going to be an amazing stadium. It will be the finest and biggest stadium in the world."

Blair insists that the rebuilding of the famous stadium - scheduled to re-open for the 2006 FA Cup final - will demonstrate London's ability to stage an Olympic Games to the wider world, and to the International Olympic Committee in particular.

We've got to make sure our commitment to the Olympic Games gives us a legacy Prime Minister Tony Blair

"One of the things we've got to be able to do is to prove we can deliver world-class sporting facilities," added Blair.

"Well, this will be the best. I think it's actually something we can show people from the IOC and people coming to see whether we're a country that's really going to be capable of putting on a great Olympic Games.

"But I think it symbolises the fact that we can do this and we can do it well, and therefore that gives the IOC confidence that all the other things we have got to do - the main Olympic stadium and so on - can be done.

"One of the things we have got to do is make sure that our commitment to the Olympic Games gives us a legacy, not just for London, but for the whole of the country.

"Sport often is the best form of helping young people to grow up more responsibly. It teaches them partnership, it teaches them a team spirit, it teaches them to compete. It's a great, great thing."