He has insisted any suggestion of a guarantee the track would stay would leave London 2012 liable to legal action on behalf of the Tottenham bid, which, unlike that of rivals West Ham, has no place for a track.

Ukraine's senior vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), also an influential member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is seen as a likely rival for the position as President to the man whose words finally persuaded the IOC to award the Games to London in 2005, Sebastian Coe.

Robertson, who recently announced London's withdrawal from bidding for the 2015 World Athletics Championship in the wake of the Government's latest spending round, told insidethegames: "I would expect Sergey to be upset - I mean, he's unlikely to stand up and say 'I'm a Spurs fan'.

"But he's also in the midst of running for an election himself.

"Sergey is in an interesting position, I think, over this, in terms of how he is positioning himself for the future.

"And then, of course, there are other vice-presidents in the mix closer to home, and maybe some internal IAAF politics going on."

The Minister denied the fact that London had now failed to follow through on bids to hold the 2003, 2005 and 2015 versions of the IAAF World Championships had compromised Britain's sporting reputation and undermined the promise made by Coe to the IOC when the bid was won in 2005 to deliver an athletics legacy from the Games.

"That is absolutely wrong," Robertson insisted.

"We will deliver an athletics legacy from London 2012, and the scope and shape of that will be apparent once the bidding process is gone through.

"Until we have been through that process we are bound by very strict legalities and so can't make further promises than that.



"The issue with the World Athletics Championships is that they require a particular legacy outcome, and if we were to guarantee that we would without a shadow of a doubt have been sued by the other bidder, and that would have ensured that both the Government, and by extension, London 2012, ending up in court - that wasn't a risk we could run.

"In the criteria for the bids they had to demonstrate how they would leave an athletics legacy in place, so that is non-negotiable.

"The exact scope of how that is left is up for grabs - it's as simple and as complicated as that."

The Minister was speaking as he visited the latest initiative of the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, "Backing Talent in Kent", held at the University of Kent in Canterbury, close to his parental home.

He described the IAAF as "slightly getting ahead of themselves", adding: "Everybody in sport is going to lobby for their particular interest and I absolutely understand that.

"By the same token, the UK taxpayer has invested half a billion pounds in building that stadium, and we have to ensure that the public gets value for money.

"We are in the midst of a bidding process.

"The very fact there are a number of consortia bidding for the use of the Olympic stadium tells you it is a very valuable asset.

"Competition in that bidding process is important to drive its value, and that's why we have to go through the process without pre-judging it one way or the other.

"I'm very aware that the IAAF have one particular view - there are other bidding parties that have another.

"What is absolutely clear to me is that we will deliver an athletics legacy from London 2012.

"The exact shape of that will be clear once this process is over."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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