Britons party as London adopts host status

LONDON (Reuters) - Riding a wave of sporting euphoria after its best Olympic performance in a century, Britain accepted Olympic host-nation status from China on Sunday with a huge street party in front of Buckingham Palace.

As the Beijing games closed in a spectacular explosion of fireworks, London throbbed with 40,000 partygoers at a live concert to start the countdown to the London 2012 Olympics.

The event centred on The Mall, the ceremonial route to the palace used for royal processions and celebrations, which was lined on Sunday with red, white and blue Union Jack flags.

London Mayor Boris Johnson promised a "fantabulous Olympics" in 2012 as he accepted the Olympic Flag in Beijing in a live television link-up.

In a statement issued in London, the mayor promised Britons would "draw on our wit, flair, imagination and ingenuity" to deliver the 2012 Games in "the home of sport".

"Sport is coming home," he said. "See you in London!"

More than 400 flags were raised across Britain to mark the countdown -- from Land's End, the tip of southwest England, to the northernmost Unst island, off the Scottish coast -- and BBC television started an on-screen countdown clock showing 1,433 days to go.

Boy band McFly, and singers Katherine Jenkins, Will Young and James Morrison were among artists performing at the party.

Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London organising committee and a former 1,500 metre Olympic gold winner, said the eyes of the world would now turn to London, which last hosted the Olympics in 1948, the first Games after World War Two.

"It is a very proud moment for us," he said.

SPORTING SUCCESS

Britain won 19 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics and came fourth in the medals table, a vast improvement on its 2004 performance in Athens, where athletes won nine golds.

Britain's best Olympics performance for a century has thrilled the nation and reignited interest in the 2012 Games after grumbling about the high cost of staging them.

Queen Elizabeth congratulated the nation's athletes and looked forward to the London Games in 2012.

"The golden triumphs of the present British team can only serve as further inspiration to those who will be working hard over the next four years to make the London Games a shining example of Olympic success," she said in a statement.

London student Kelvin Kamupira, one of thousands of revellers on The Mall, said visitors to London for the 2012 Olympics would feel at home because it is such a multicultural city.

"I don't think it (the London Games) will be on the same level as China because they've got such big resources. But London will put on an equally good show," he said.

American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won a record eight golds in Beijing, also expressed high hopes for London 2012:

"This is going to be a great Olympics," he told Sky television. "It will be first class everything."

Newspapers have devoted countless pages to coverage of beaming British medal winners, under headlines like "Great Haul of China" and "Midas Britons strike gold".

(Editing by Tim Pearce)