Goldman Sachs man to run London Olympics

A banker worth £100m was yesterday given the role of delivering the London Olympics in 2012, saying it was a "dream come true".

Paul Deighton, 49, one of the most senior bankers at Goldman Sachs, was chosen as the chief executive of the Olympics organising committee after a three-month search. Mr Deighton, a married father of two from Surrey, willwork with Sebastian Coe, chairman of the organising committee.

Mr Deighton will control a budget of £1.5bn and manage a staff rising from its current 60 to 3,000 in the couple of years before the Olympics. He will oversee several key appointments in the New Year but will not officially start until April, and will manage relations with the Games three stakeholders - the Mayor's office, the Government and the British Olympic Association. The remuneration package, rumoured to be between £300,000 and £500,000, has apparently yet to be agreed.

Mr Deighton's appointment remained a well-guarded secret until 10am yesterday when he was unveiled to the media in London's Canary Wharf. Other candidates included Richard Bowker, the former head of the Strategic Rail Authority and Dianne Thompson, the chief executive of Camelot who ruled herself out of the running.

Mr Deighton grew up in Carshalton, Surrey, and went from grammar school to study economics at Cambridge University. He has worked for Goldman Sachs for 22 years.