Becks catches Games fever

David Beckham has revealed his hopes for a British football team to enter the 2012 Games in London.

"It would be great if our country could have a football team in the Olympics. To perform at the Olympics would be special for a lot of players.

"I might come out of retirement - if I'm retired by then!" said Beckham, who will be 37 in 2012.

Beckham was one of a host of sporting stars in Singapore to support London's successful campaign on Wednesday and said he was honoured to be an ambassador for his home town.

"To have an Olympics in our country, where I grew up in London's East End would be inspiring and passionate.

"I have friends there and to know that their children are going to grow up and go to an Olympics just down the road would be incredible for London."

Beckham had earlier joked about the presence of Real Madrid team-mate Raul, in Singapore supporting the Spanish capital's campaign - and it could have been a hat-trick had Paris called up fellow player Zinedine Zidane.

"Raul's a great person, a great player and of course captain of our team so I'm not going to say too much against him as I want to stay in the team!

"I heard he had a little bit of banter about it on Monday. He's supporting his bid of course for Madrid, and Madrid is a beautiful place to play football, a beautiful place to live, but there's only one place that this Olympics should be and that's London."

Beckham revealed he changed plans for the sixth anniversary of his wedding to Victoria in order to fly to the Far East.

"I was asked to get involved in the bid a year ago and was honoured by that and then I got the phone call about being part of the final decision and coming out to Singapore.

"At the time I had things that were planned and I turned around to Victoria and said, 'I've just had this phone call and it's an incredible honour to be asked', so straight away I said 'yes'.

"We had certain things planned with the family but I just thought that this is going to be part of history, so to be part of that will be so special."

London 2012 have had to restrict public appearances by Beckham and other famous ambassadors due to Olympic regulations.

And there was tight security around during a photo-shoot at the British Club in the city's Bukit Tinggi district where Beckham played basketball with former decathlete Daley Thompson, Paralympic basketball player Ade Adepitan and a group of 30 East End schoolchildren picked from London's five host boroughs.

"It's exciting for these kids. One day they are playing basketball, football and volleyball in the East End and the next they are playing it in the heat and humidity of Singapore.

"It gives them a taste of what you can aspire to.

"I'm biased because I've grown up in the East End - but kids in the East End grow up wanting to be sportsmen, they want to be an athlete, they want to be a soccer player."

And Beckham said winning the Olympics woud lead to improved sports facilities for a generation of youngsters.

"England has a great facilities but you always want more and the Olympics can generate more.

"Kids can have great passion and great ability but if you have the facilities for your particular sport that can give you the inspiration to become a sportsman."

Beckham revealed Thompson, his Olympic hero, had made up for snubbing him as a schoolboy autograph hunter, a story Beckham recounted in his autobiography.

"My main Olympic memories are about Daley Thompson. He's a big name and big man. I met him when I was 11 and asked him to sign an autograph but he was in a rush at the time and didn't sign it," he said.

"He came up to me a few weeks ago when we were at the same event and said, 'you don't realise how much stick I have received from not signing that autograph, so there you go', and so, 19 years later he gave me an autograph."

Beckham admitted that being kept out of the limelight had been something of a relief.

"It has been a bit of a blessing, because the reason I'm actually here is to show my passion and inspiration for sport. I'm here as a sportsman, I'm not here as a celebrity person, I'm here to back the bid, so it has been nice."