Tottenham's Olympic Stadium plan backed by athletics group

The first signs of a backlash within athletics against the hitherto strong support within the sport for West Ham United winning the right to the Olympic Stadium emerged yesterday when a rival body to UK Athletics backed the Tottenham Hotspur option. The Association of British Athletics Clubs, a lobbying group that has a history of criticising the governing body UK Athletics, said the Spurs plan to remove the running track and refurbish Crystal Palace would leave a better long-term legacy for the sport. "Saying that there would be a proper athletics legacy merely by keeping the track at the Olympic Stadium is a myth and a sham," said John Bicourt, a former British Olympic athlete who is an officer of the ABAC. "The true reason for those touting the legacy myth is to save face over the wholly unrealistic promises made in Singapore by the Olympic bid team. West Ham, should they win the bid, would almost certainly demand the right to remove the track after a few years on the basis that the stadium is barely used for athletics enough to justify keeping it." Rob Whittingham, a statistician who has tracked the numbers of active elite athletes in the UK for several years, argued that a 60,000 stadium was "not relevant" for athletics because the sport would never fill it. Bicourt said the ABAC viewed Spurs' bid as a "realistic alternative" in that it would see the home of British athletics at Crystal Palace rebuilt as a 25,000-seat arena with the possibility of increasing the seats to 40,000 if needed. UK Athletics is understood to view the ABAC as a contrarian, unrepresentative body but critics of UK Athletics believe it has nailed its colours too firmly to the West Ham mast without considering both options. "As the official internationally recognised governing body for athletics, UKA wholeheartedly supports an Olympic legacy for athletics in the Olympic Stadium as part of a vibrant multi-use facility," said a UK Athletics spokeswoman. "Such is the strength of feeling about this issue, some of the biggest names in the sport have spoken out in support of retaining a track. These include Usain Bolt, Paula Radcliffe, Steve Cram, Brendan Foster, Michael Johnson and Dame Kelly Holmes. Additionally the entire current GB team, led by captain Jessica Ennis, have given their backing to West Ham's bid." The UK Athletics chairman, Ed Warner, has been outspoken in his backing for the West Ham bid. The Olympic Park Legacy Company is expected to make a decision on the rival bids in the week beginning 7 February.