大象传媒

Then the winning London team was surrounded by young Britons whose advocacy of its case helped Britain鈥檚 capital beat Paris.

But the Beijing torch relay currently taking place has done much to take the shine off that moment. In the last few weeks as the protests have grown about the Chinese crackdown in Tibet the relay has been marked by very public attempts to highlight China's human rights record.

Posing the question would Brown follow the lead given by his French and German counterparts who are so concerned about Chinese crackdown in Tibet they have not ruled out boycotting the Beijing opening ceremony?

Earlier this week Brown made it clear he would be attending the opening ceremony.

The Prime Minister said, "We have to bear in mind that although there is a huge amount of controversy now surrounding the Olympics because of what has been happening in Tibet, the Dalai Lama (exiled Tibetan spiritual leader) himself has made it clear he does not want there to be a boycott.鈥�

While the opening ceremony is months away, the torch鈥檚 arrival this weekend means there is a more pressing decision to make.

I understand the Chinese government made it very clear that they expected Brown to welcome the torch in a very public way.

For the last couple of days Westminster has been buzzing with rumours of what Brown would do, with some MPs confident he would not be seen anywhere near it.

As one of them put it to me, "If I were Gordon I would be on a flight to Scotland on Friday night."

But as the 2012 Games hosts, Britain becomes part of the Olympic family and at the end of the in August, London will take over.

For the most powerful man in Britain to go AWOL when the torch comes to the capital would have been seen by China as a terrible snub and this I understand was made clear to the government.

Downing Street sources tell me that the Prime Minister's decision was not in response to any Chinese pressure and it was his own decision to show his commitment to the Olympics.

If so it marks how much Brown and his attitude to the Olympics has changed. While the debate was going on as to whether London should bid, Brown was seen as being rather distant from the process and as the then Chancellor he was the last one to be convinced that London should bid.

Singapore was a great victory for his predecessor Tony Blair and one of Brown's first gestures on becoming Prime Minister was to say how much he wanted .

If Blair could get the Olympics,Brown wanted the World Cup.

But in recent times he has done much to present himself as an Olympic champion and this decision to take part in an event now marked by such controversy marks a further step in that direction.