Mayor of London Boris Johnson has told the BBC he is "absolutely determined" the 2012 Olympics will cost less than the current £9.3bn budget.

Mr Johnson, who is in China on an official visit to the Beijing Games, said British and London taxpayers would "not pay a penny more".

His team was working on ways of economising without jeopardising the "legacy value" of the event, he added.

But Olympic bosses said London still had to ensure the welfare of athletes.

Asked whether 2012 would be the "austerity games", Mr Johnson conceded that the Chinese had put on "absolutely fantastic games" and that they had "set the bar high".

"I think with British ingenuity, wit and... resourcefulness we are going to produce a games - an opening ceremony, a closing ceremony and all the stuff in between - that is going to be in our own sweet way just as fantastic,"

I can hear the laughter from Paris rolling across the Channel already.

Leave it to Boris to produce a quality show.

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