Prior to becoming the London 2012 chief executive, the 55-year-old was the European chief operating officer for Goldman Sachs and a member of its European Management Committee but was named as the man to head up the London Organising Committee in December 2005 shortly after it won the right to stage the Games.

Deighton has been widely praised for his role - which predominantly involves raising the £2 billion ($3.15 billion/€2.29 billion) budget from the private sector for the Games - but while speculation grows about where he will go following the conclusion of London 2012, he says he has little time to give the subject thought with the Olympic Games set to begin on July 27 next year.

"I'm looking forward to my vacation in 2013 but that is as far as my thoughts have extended," Deighton told insidethegames.

"But in all seriousness we've still got so much to do in the next year before the Olympics begin that I don't really allow my focus to drift very far from that.

"It's quite hard to concentrate on anything else actually which is probably a good thing.

"Everything has gone very well up to now but we must continue to keep working hard and not get complacent because that would be very dangerous."

Perhaps the most impressive fact about Deighton's tenure is that he has remained as London 2012 chief executive for almost six years.

This is something of a rarity as in the past Olympic Organising Committee chief executives have had a particularly short lifespan.

Deighton himself credits the fact that he has remained in the role to having a superb team and partners to work with, including London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe (pictured below left).


"We have a terrific team at LOCOG and the work is getting done so well because of the quality of the individuals we have across our organisation," he said.

"There are also outstanding people involved in other organisations like the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) who have done a wonderful job in building the venues on time and on budget.

"People also seldom give the Government credit but they have been fantastic and they have been consistent in their support of the project as they have provided money and operational support throughout.

"So the fact that I have survived so far is a testimony more to the broad success of the project and I've been lucky enough to be part of that.

"But I'm not counting my chickens just yet.

"We have got a whole year to go yet and there is lots of tough stuff to get through so we won't be singing our own praises until we get to this time next year."

Deighton received the maximum bonus on his basic pay that has enabled him to earn a total of £700,000 ($1.1 million/€802,672) for the 2010 - 2011 period after he met all of the tough criteria for the award, which involves building a world class organisation, working effectively with stakeholders, balancing the budget and delivering a great Games.

The bonus component of his pay totals £220,125 ($347,621/€252,411) but Deighton is donating it to charity.

Another £500,000 ($789,600/€573,337) bonus is due to Deighton upon the successful completion of the London 2012 Games and is being held in escrow but he said that this bonus would also be donated to charity.

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