London mayor Boris Johnson today insisted that the city is as well-prepared to host the Olympics, as media highlighted glitches and restrictions in the build-up to the mega sporting event starting this week.
Transport restrictions imposed have been widely reported, leading many Londoners to either leave the city for the duration of the Games or stay at home.
Government officials have been instructed to continue working from home instead of traveling to their offices.
As International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge said he was satisfied with security arrangements for London 2012, Johnson told the BBC: "If you look at what Jacques Rogge had to say last night, he's been in London for a few days, he thinks that our city is as well-prepared as any city in the history of the Games."
He added: "So far the traffic system and the transport networks generally are holding up well, touch wood. I think possibly what we are going through at the moment as a nation, as a city, is that necessary pre-curtain up moment of psychological self-depression before the excitement begins on Friday."
Trading laws for shops have been relaxed so that shops can remain open for longer hours on Sundays during the Games period.
Stating that the Games were an opportunity to 'sell London' to international investors, Johnson said: "The heads of most of the world's great businesses are coming to London in the course of the next few weeks and we are going to be showing what London has to offer, making it clear there are fantastic opportunities for investment.... We are going to be selling London."
Johnson added: "I defy the critics of the Olympics to say that this is not producing economic benefits for the city."
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