Thursday, 21 April 2011

BOA backs down in Olympic funding wrangle

THE BRITISH Olympic Association (BOA) has abandoned legal action over the unseemly funding row which had threatened to cast a shadow over the countdown to the Games.

The BOA, whose main role is to prepare Team GB's athletes, is entitled to 20% of any surplus from the Olympics.

But, while it wanted to be paid before the loss-making Paralympics costs are met, 2012 organisers Logoc said both events must be treated as one.

Last month, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ruled in Logoc's favour but the BOA then announced its intention to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

However, the BOA was hardly doing this out of any matter of principle.

Its financial struggles are well-documented after it confirmed that it will have a shortfall of several million pounds. Its costs include a £5m holding camp for Team GB athletes in Loughborough.

One place from which they could not expect to receive any more money is the public purse and, in this case, the government is correct.

Even as a sports fan, I would not have been comfortable with yet more public money being put towards the Olympics when swingeing cuts are being made to many more vital services elsewhere.

And so, feeling ever more isolated and facing a costly legal battle, it was perhaps no surprise when BOA chief Lord Moynihan withdrew the action, thus bringing the dispute to an end.

Of course, this was not the only disagreement so far to have hit the Games, though.

The row over what to do with the Olympic Stadium in Stratford rumbles on now that Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that they will be taking legal action after the unanimous decision to award West Ham United with the tenancy.

Spurs had wanted to remove the running track and use their own money to redevelop the existing athletics stadium at Crystal Palace.

And, perhaps, that move explains the failure of Spurs' bid - seemingly, Olympic legacy chiefs were not happy that the centrepiece of the Games was going to be so dramatically changed.

But this is a dispute in which even the victors are not happy. Many West Ham fans worry about the club's ability to fill a 60,000-capacity arena and a vast majority does not want to watch their football from across an athletics track.

The Hammers fans have my sympathy. The Boleyn Ground can create a hell of a din when it is at its most lively and it is not surprising the fans fear that this atmosphere will be lost.

At the same time, Spurs' plans seemed too far removed from the idea of leaving an Olympic legacy in east London. Maybe the Olympic Stadium should not have been offered up to football clubs at all - that is certainly the way that one of London's smaller teams, Leyton Orient, would have it.

League One Orient chose an opportune time to go on an FA Cup run this season, reaching the fifth round before losing to Arsenal in a replay.

The Os were able to use their Cup run to highlight the fact that West Ham will be on their doorstep, and chairman Barry Hearn has said that they will join Spurs in raising their objections in court.

Of course, the trip to the Emirates Stadium will keep the Os running for a little while but, after that, the existence of a club first formed in 1881 could hang in the balance.

Elsewhere, there have been other minor Olympic concerns. A security guard was arrested near the Olympic Stadium on suspicion of possessing explosives while, in Trafalgar Square, the Olympic countdown clock has had an eventful first few weeks.

Just hours after being unveiled by champion rowers Pete Reed and Andy Hodge and sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, the clock stopped due to a technical fault.

Engineers fixed the timer after a six-hour interruption but, a few days later, it became the seemingly arbitrary target of hundreds of protesters rallying against government cuts.

It should be the case that stories about the clock will be barely remembered glitches once the action starts and the heroes are made.

And, looking at more important issues such as the construction of the venues, the Olympic build-up so far has been pretty impressive with none of the problems that plagued the reconstruction of Wembley.

Last week, the final tile at the Aquatics Centre was laid, a month after construction work on the Olympic Stadium itself was completed.

There have been some early teething problems with ticketing, though, after some Visa cards, which expire before the end of August, were unable to be processed.

But this issue appears now to have been ironed out and I, for one, will be looking to apply for a variety of tickets for preliminary events costing as little as £20 each.

Despite being from the north east of England - almost 300 miles away from the centre of the action in east London - I want to be part of this once-in-a-life time Olympics experience.

In the meantime, I just hope that the on-going dispute among the London football clubs can be resolved as quickly as possible, or else I fear this embarrassing saga will run on and on until the Games begin.

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