But Ed Warner, chairman of UK Athletics, today assured the visiting Evaluation Committee from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that everything has been done to ensure the necessary guarantees will be in place before decision on the venue is taken at the IAAF Council meeting in Monte Carlo on November 19-20, where they will face rivals Beijing, who plan to hold the event in the Bird's Nest, which hosted the 2008 Olympics.

While West Ham United appear favourites to take over use of the Olympic Stadium after the London 2012 Games, Warner said he was confident all serious bidders would uphold an athletics legacy within the reconfigured structure.

He added that all the potential bidders for the Stadium had to have their application into the Olympic Park Legacy Company by October 30.

"So if there is a show-stopper," he said, "the show will be stopped before we go to the IAAF Council meeting in November.

"But we have had very good discussion with the Government and the City, and I am very confident that we will receive the undertakings we have sought, and that an athletics legacy will be upheld by all serious bidders for future use of the Olympic Stadium.

"The Stadium is a lower hurdle for me than getting through the next Government spending round and securing the financial support we need to host the event," Warner maintained today in a joint press conference with visiting IAAF members including Sergey Bubka, the senior vice president who is chairman of the evaluation committee, and Pierre Weiss, the IAAF general secretary.

"That process is timetabled to start on October 20, and we will be looking to secure guarantees within a fortnight in order to be able to go to the IAAF to present our bid."

Weiss said the IAAF would be following the British situation "very carefully".

Bubka added: "We are very satisfied with the process so far.

"UKA has always been very strong.

"Britain has an excellent tradition and history in athletics, and after 2012, of course, it’s important to continue that legacy.

"It is normal procedure for all bidding cities to provide support from their Government because these Championships are a very important event for both partners."

Based on previous examples, Warner estimated the overall cost of the 2015 World Championships would be around £45 million ($70 million), and that the support from central Governemnt would need to be to a value of up to £15 million ($23 million), depending on other commercial and ticketing revenue.

"That is the effective target," said Warner (pictured with Weiss).

"That range would cover the Championships from a positive to a more disappointing outcome.

"But we have already had discussions with the Greater London Authority about the wider financial benefits hosting the Championships could bring.

"You can be pretty sure they will be substantial - as I’m sure the organisers of last year’s World Championships in Berlin would testify.

"Given that it will follow a £9 billion ($14 billion) sporting competition, to my mind this is a very modest additional investment that will be of enormous benefit for the sport and our sporting legacy as we go forward.

"The most important thing for us is to deliver a living legacy from the Games of 2012.

"The promise of legacy delivered by Lord Coe in 2005 was instrumental in securing the Olympics for Britain.

"The stadium will be slightly reconfigured, and I hope it will host what will be the first of many major athletics events post 2012.

"Members of the new coalition Government spoke long before the Election about a Golden 'Decade of Sport' in the UK.

"We have the rugby World Cup, and the cricket World Cup coming up, and we are bidding for the 2018 football World Cup.

"So to secure what is by any reckoning one of the top five global sporting events in the Olympic Park so soon after the Games would, from our point of view, be an absolute cornerstone of that 'Decade of Sport', and would be very important in securing Britain’s place in the sporting pantheon.

"This could be almost a Launch event for the Olympic Park after all the conversions have taken place."

Warner said he was aware of the history of Britain’s attempting to gain this event, when delays over the Wembley rebuilding and a U-turn over building a made-to-measure stadium at Picketts Lock in North London meant that a bid to host the 2003 Championships, and the 2005 Championships, fell through.

The only legacy of that administrative muddle was a High Performance Centre which was built close to the proposed Picketts Lock site.

"I am aware of the history," Warner said.

"Every time we all go to training at the Lee Valley centre we are reminded of Picketts Lock.

"The centre was a very nice consolation prize, but it wasn’t the World Championships."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected] 


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