Something of a storm is brewing between British athletes and the organisers of the London Olympics 2012, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), over the legacy of the games.
The legacy in many athletes eyes, and indeed as was promised to the IOC, was that the main Olympic stadium would become an international flagship venue for track and field events after 2012.
However, it seems that the legacy is changing as the organisers belatedly realise/admit that the legacy has to be commercially viable.
As I keep repeating, the Games are not about sport they are about money.
The final designs and legacy plans for the £500M stadium are not due to be signed off until the autumn. However, a new report by management consultants PMP proposes a multi-use facility which would only be available for athletics for a third of the year.
There are also no plans to re-house the warm-up track to be built alongside the Olympic Stadium after the Games, this makes it impossible for London to bid for the World Athletics Championships.
A spokeswoman for UK Athletics is quoted in The Telegraph as saying:
"An athletics legacy was part of the promise made by the London 2012 bid team in Singapore and UK Athletics fully expect that legacy to be delivered post 2012.
If athletics is to optimise its use of the Olympic Stadium facility and develop high quality athletics events for all age groups then there must be a warm-up track as part of that legacy.
UK Athletics would have grave concerns over revised proposals that would not enable the sport to enjoy the fruits of the promised legacy."
Good old fashioned fudge will be the "dish" of the day, once the plans are finalised.
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