Credibility vanishes if track goes, says IAAF chief
World athletics chief Lamine Diack has said Britain will lose all credibility if the 2012 Olympic stadium is converted into a soccer stadium without an athletics track after the Games.
January 21, 2011 / 09:07 IST
World athletics chief Lamine Diack has said Britain will lose all credibility if the 2012 Olympic stadium is converted into a soccer stadium without an athletics track after the Games.
The stadium's future has become the focal point of London 2012's legacy promises made during the capital's winning bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2005.London Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur proposes to dismantle the track if its bid to move into the east London venue succeeds ahead of West Ham United. The two clubs will make their final submissions to the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) on Friday.Diack, who is the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations and an IOC member, told the BBC London's 2005 submission would have been a "big lie" if the track were removed."They will have made a big lie during their presentation," he said. "There will be no credibility...of a great country like Britain. You can consider you are dead. You are finished."This nation has a number of heroes in athletics. I could spend an hour, listing one by one all those who've achieved fantastic things in athletics. They are still there, involved. And this country, this city saying that I'm not able to have a stadium of athletics?"On Wednesday, British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Hunt told Reuters the track should be retained in the Olympic Park."Our position is that we want the bid commitment to be met and that was for a track to be retained within the Olympic Park," Hunt said."The OPLC should make the decision but we are clear, we backed the bid commitment and the decision should be in line with that. I'm sure the right decision will be made by those responsible for making it."Our commitment is that we always wanted a track in this country that can allow us to bid to host a world athletics championships and other big events." Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
