Inspectors judging London's 2012 Olympic bid were today touring the city's sporting landmarks, with one group even braving a trip on the Tube.

Wembley stadium, Lord's cricket ground, Wimbledon and the derelict site at Stratford where the main stadium is due to be built were all on the itinerary, as the inspection team of 16 split into three groups.

Transport has been seen as a London's weak spot, but bid organisers promise that the capital will be able to cope.

Most of the visits, which also include the Millennium Dome and Horseguard's Parade, will be conducted by coach, but at least one trip will be made on London Underground's Jubilee Line, which terminates at Stratford.

The IOC team will also meet England's football World Cup-winner Bobby Charlton and four-time Olympic champion Matthew Pinsent.

As part of today's scrutiny, the inspectors will be driven in 4WD vehicles through a recently bored 4.7mile rail tunnel between St Pancras and Stratford, east London.

Bid organisers highlighted that the Channel Tunnel rail link, due to be completed in two years, could deliver 240,000 passengers an hour to the Olympics site, with a train arriving every 15 seconds. Japanese bullet trains could be used to provide a shuttle service to the Games.

Tony McNulty, the Transport minister, said: "From being the sick man of the overall bid, transport is in the front seat and the jewel in the crown."

Inspectors heard that transport problems will be dealt with by a £10bn five-year investment scheme, including extending and upgrading the underground and Docklands Light Railway.

Hugh Sumner, the director of Olympic transport at Transport for London, told the delegates: "Olympic transport is always a challenge but we are confident, though not complacent, that London can deliver a spectacular Games.

"Every day 12 million journeys are made on London's public transport network. Daily spectator demand during the Games will be around 5 per cent of this level at a time of year when 20 per cent of commuters are on holiday. The net result is that London will have an effective 15 per cent spare capacity for the Games."

The proposed venues and their sports include the main Olympic park and athlete's village around Stratford, in east London, Lord's (archery), Regent's Park (baseball), Wembley (football), Millennium Dome (gymnastics), Wimbledon (tennis), Hyde Park (triathlon) Horse Guards Parade (beach volleyball).

Yesterday, the members of the International Olympic Committee Evaulation Commission started their visit with a marathon, nine hour presentation of the 17 key themes of the London bid.

Lord Coe, the London 2012 chairman, told the IOC the world would enjoy the "best games ever" in London. The city faces tough competition from New York, Paris and Moscow.

Lord Coe added: "London's ambition is not just to be a good Olympic Games - it has to be the best."

He promised that 80 per cent of Olympic athletes and 98 per cent of Paralympians will have less than a 20-minute journey from accommodation to venue.

Bid organisers have committed to build the aquatics centre and a cycling velodrome whether the bid succeeds or not.

The event has been marred by a row involving London mayor Ken Livingstone, who was among the bid team making presentations yesterday morning.

Mr Livingstone has been asked by Tony Blair to apologise for an allegedly anti-Semitic outburst when he likened a Jewish journalist for the Evening Standard to a "concentration camp guard". Today, the Tory MP Boris Johnson - who was forced by his own leader to apologise after saying that Liverpool's mourning for murdered engineer Ken Bigley proved that it was addicted to victim status - said that in his view Mr Livingstone should "tell the papers to take a running jump, and tell Blair to join them".

The inspection team will be in London for the next two days. Next week it will visit New York, and will inspect Paris and Moscow in mid March, before naming the host city on July 6 in Singapore.

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