David Beckham retires: key role in London 2012 Olympic bid is praised by Lord Coe Beckham, who produced a memorable sound-bite on the eve of the elec­tion when he said how exciting it would be "to have the Olympic Games in my manor," had originally planned to leave Singapore before the votes were cast. However, he changed his flights so he could be in the conference hall to hear International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge announce the name of the winning city. The gusto with which he celebrated London's victory by embracing fellow members of the London team was a measure of how much it meant to him, and Coe says he should take credit for the part he played in the result. "Everything counted," Coe said. When you win by four votes out of 104, everything counted. When you are at such fine margins, you will do anything to get the vote to go quicker, and he got the vote to go quicker for us. Beckham had another high-profile role in the Games opening ceremony last summer when he carried the Olympic torch to east London on a speedboat along the River Thames, but Coe said that there were countless other occasions when he gave up his time for the London organisers. "After we won, it was a rare few weeks that he wasn't on the phone talking about something or asking whether there was anything he could do," Coe said. There were lots of visits to the Olympic Park. He was always out there when we knew there were people who would like to see him. From about 2004 onwards, right the way through to his famous appearance on the speedboat, he was there. Coe said that Beckham always had an instinctive feel for what the Games could bring to the area of London where he grew up and to the country as a whole, and his passion for the project shone through. It was lovely to have him on board because, quite simply, he got it. He understood what it was all about from the very outset. The other thing about David is that the way he interacts with people is very natural and very easy. He's got that great trait that he is genuinely interested in people. Whatever level people were at in our bid team, he had time for them. He wasn't involved in the actual presentation to the IOC in Singapore. He just sat at the back of the room with guys from transport and guys from accreditation. He was just there, a member of the team.