Australia hosted the Olympics and Paralympics in Sydney in 2000 (pictured top), and the new Government-backed initiative is an attempt to ramp up their involvement in Olympic Games and other major events, such as World Cups for football, cricket and rugby.

Sydney's expertise has been used in every Olympic and Paralympics since, as well as each Games to come in the coming years.

Australian companies are also prominently playing a role in the planning for cities bidding to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympics, which will be awarded to either Istanbul, Madrid or Tokyo next year.

Australian businesses and individuals with high level experience were joined here by key personnel from the countries and cities staging and bidding for future major sports events.

Those included Sports Ministers from Russia and Brazil – between them the hosts of the next two Olympics and World Cups.

Among those present was Constantino Manias, the managing director of FCT Flames, who were behind the spectacular cauldron lit last night at the London 2012 Opening Ceremony in the Olympic Stadium.

The campaign also saw the launch of an app – Track Record – which can be downloaded onto iPods and iPads.

This free app contains details of every Australian company involved in the sports market, and details of their records delivering to previous sports events, as well as involvement in future competitions.

Australia's input into London 2012 includes the spectacular Olympic cauldron

Peter Grey, the chief executive of the Australian Trade Commission, said: "Australia has long demonstrated world-leading expertise across a range of sectors and in all four key stages of the 10-year MSE life-cycle: Bid; Build; Implement; and Legacy.

"Now we're pooling our know-how and in-market capability to give event organisers and host governments everything they need to create the next generation of premier major sporting events.

"Australian businesses are proud to be playing a valuable role in ensuring these Games are successful.

"Now we're looking ahead, to Sochi, the road to Rio, via the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and beyond."

They have also been heavily involved with the FIFA and Rugby World Cups, the Commonwealth and Pan American Games among others.

Some of the iconic venues they have designed include the Water Cube in Beijing, as well as the Olympic Stadium for this summer's Games.

Australia has had its hand in many pieces of the London "pie", including the Olympic Village, the army of volunteers supporting the Games and the blue and pink hockey pitch at the Riverbank Arena in the Olympic Park.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]