LOCOG, Rogge Clash On Ultimate Legacy For Olympic Stadium
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LOCOG Shoots Down Rogge Idea To Remove
Track From Olympic Stadium Post-Games |
LOCOG officials Thursday "insisted they intend to keep an athletics track in the main stadium" for the London Games after 2012 despite IOC President Jacques Rogge's statement that "it could be removed to prevent the facility becoming 'a white elephant,'" according to Robert Booth of the Manchester GUARDIAN. In "an apparent change of IOC policy, Rogge indicated that the stadium could become a football ground with no athletics track." But LOCOG said that it "was late to 'go back to the drawing board' and redesign the stadium so the track could be easily replaced with seats, allowing it to be converted into a football stadium." A LOCOG spokesperson: "We said in our bid submission that we would provide a stadium legacy 'with athletics at its heart.' That was our bid commitment and that is what we are delivering." Booth notes maintaining "a permanent top-flight track and field facility is an ambition" for LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe. But a use "has yet to be found for the stadium after 2012," and "one of the most financially attractive [options] could be leasing or selling the arena to a Premier League football club." The shift in policy "comes amid growing financial pressures on the London 2012 games and could open the door to a redesign for the stadium to allow seats to be built over the running track, making it more attractive to football clubs, who want their fans to be close to the pitch" (Manchester GUARDIAN, 10/31). In London, Paul Kelso notes the legacy question "has dogged the stadium project since the Games were awarded, and more than three years later organisers are yet to present a viable plan for funding the facility." LOCOG's response to questions about the stadium's legacy use "has been to stress the bid-book commitment to an athletics legacy, but Rogge's comments indicate the IOC is more interested in viability than what sport it is used for" (London TELEGRAPH, 10/31).
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