This should have been a day of celebration for London 2012 after what has arguably been their best week since they were awarded the Olympics and Paralympics six years ago. The Olympic Stadium has been more-or-less been completed 16 months before the start of the Games, the Athletes Village has been widely praised and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave the organisers another gold star following yet another flawless inspection.

But, instead of being able to toast their success with a glass of champagne, Sebastian Coe and his team find themselves in the middle of the biggest row to have hit them since preparations begun and one that threatens to rumble on for several months undermining all their fabulous work.

It is, of course, the dispute started by the British Olympic Association (BOA) and its chairman Colin Moynihan over the distribution of the surplus cash after the Games. Moynihan does not believe the final figure should take into account any costs of staging the Paralympics, which the BOA fear will make a loss, while everyone else thinks it should. The IOC claim to have final jurisdiction over the dispute and have ruled in the favour of London 2012. Moynihan has ignored them and is taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where he will almost certainly suffer a humilating defeat.

For the first time today Coe began to let his true feelings about the affair begin to show publicly. At the press conference held to coincide with the end of the eighth IOC Coordination Commission visit to London the subject of the BOA dominated, even though chairman Denis Oswald had given London 2012 the most glowing report I had ever heard a city receive in more than 10 years of covering these Commissions, including Sydney, generally considered to be the best Olympics in history.

Coe, faced with wave after wave of questions about the affair, grew visibly irritable. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and, at one point, London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton jumped into answer a question, perhaps fearing that Coe was about to say something he might later regret. Having observed Coe at close quarters for more than 20 years I don't quite ever remember his body language being as aggressive and dismissive as when the BOA and Moynihan were mentioned. It brought to mind Clive James' famous description of when Coe received the silver medal after losing to Steve Ovett in the 800 metres at the Moscow Olympics 31 years ago that he "looked like he had been handed a turd".


Coe, who later redeemed himself by winning the 1500m, and Moynihan were teammates on that British team in 1980 with Moynihan claiming a silver medal as the cox of the men's eight and later both moved into politics as members of the Conservative Party. Moynihan has always made much of his supposed close association with Coe and as recently as this Tuesday he was claiming that he did not believe this current row would affect their relationship and that he would be a "friend for life".·

The truth is that Coe and Moynihan have not been close for several years. Coe and London 2012 long ago grew tired of Moynihan and Andy Hunt, the chief executive of the BOA, who seem to have made it their mission to ensure they make as much money as possible from the Olympics. Coe is not alone in having got fed-up with the BOA. Moynihan has alienated most of the major players in British sport and is now doing the same internationally. Until this row erupted Moynihan was on the road to achieving one of his lifetime ambitions, being made an IOC member. That dream now lies in tatters.

Having travelled extensively around the world recently I have had the opportunity to speak privately to more than 20 IOC members about the current dispute and they are unanimous in their condemnation of Moynihan. "He is ruined in the Olympic Movement," one prominent member told me. "There is no future for him anymore. You don't ignore the IOC and take them to CAS and expect to remain part of the club. He will be lucky if they let him through the front door of·Château de·Vidy [the IOC's headquarters in Lausanne] again."

Moynihan had been at the centre of controversy even before he was elected as the chairman of the BOA. It is now widely forgotten but he was never the first choice to replace Sir Craig Reedie, who had already decided to step down as chief of the BOA even before London were awarded the Olympics and Paralympics. Sir Matthew Pinsent had been groomed to take over from Sir Craig but at the last minute decided that he wanted to concentrate on his career with the BBC and withdrew.

Moynihan seized the opportunity but only after senior figures in British opposed to him, including the chair of UK Sport Sue Campbell and then Sports Minister Richard Caborn, tried to block his appointment by finding an alternative candidate. Among the figures approached to stand against Moynihan were 1972 Olympic silver medallist Alan Pascoe and 1980 100m breaststroke champion Duncan Goodhew. The quest proved unsuccessful and the allegations led Hugh Robertson, then the Shadow Sports Minister, to demand a Parliamentary enquiry and he even threatened to call for resignations if the Government were found to be behind the campaign. It would be interesting to know Robertson's views now that he is the Sports Minister and after he had an unproductive meeting with Moynihan earlier in the week.

One senior British official claimed to me that Moynihan "seems to like living life on the edge" and that he is "never happier than when he's in the middle of a row" where he "can demonstrate his superiority complex". Early on in his new role Moynihan risked provoking a major row with the then Chancellor Gordon Brown over funding for Britain's Olympic sports, and there are plenty of key figures who believe that the Tory peer, the Sports Minister under Margaret Thatcher, has used his position to try introduce the radical measures he proposed in his independent sports review, "Raising the Bar", by stealth. There were some good ideas in the document that have since been adopted - including an independent UK anti-doping agency - but it was basically a vanity project that was designed to promote Moynihan and help him achieve another of main aims, putting himself at the centre of British sport.


London 2012 officials believe that Moynihan has provoked the current row in the hope that they will grow so weary of him that they will capitulate and give him the £5 million ($8 million) he is insisting the BOA is due as part of the Joint Marketing Programme Agreement with them if the Games make a surplus. They insist that this will not happen because it would be irresponsible to start distributing money before they know what the final cost of the Games will be.

The BOA insist that they have the cash necessary to ensure that Team GB can prepare properly for London 2012 but the sceptics have their doubts, pointing out that under Moynihan staff salaries have risen from £1.9 million ($3.1 million) in 2005 to £4.2 million ($6.7 million) in 2009 with the appointment of big names like Sir Clive Woodward, who is paid £300,000 ($483,000) a year as director of elite sport, while reserves have dropped from £4.5 million ($7.2 million) to £1.3 million ($2.1 million). The BOA is due to file its 2010 accounts by June 11 amid speculation that they could actually be in a negative position. If that is the case then that could lead to even louder questions about the futures of Moynihan and Hunt, especially as if they insist on taking the dispute with London 2012 all the way to CAS it could potentially cost them tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees, including LOCOG's if they lose.

It is easy to understand Coe's frustration that the dispute is overshadowing all the good work he and the rest of London 2012 are carrying out. It is easy to forget now but when London was awarded the Games there were widespread fears that Britain would be able to construct all the facilities necessary in time. The memory of Wembley hung over London 2012 like a toxic cloud. The thought back then that the Olympic Stadium would be ready so far ahead of schedule seemed fanciful. What has sprung up in Stratford in less than 1,000 working days is truly a miracle.

Moynihan was not involved in London's successful bid and the way he is going he may not be around for the Opening Ceremony next year either. Among his roles is sitting on the IOC's International Relations Commission, whose members have been chosen, it is claimed, because they have the skills "to strengthen existing dialogue and cooperation, and to contribute to resolving conflicts when possible".

Perhaps the 4th Baron Moynihan ought to think a bit more about that when it comes to domestic relations.

Duncan Mackay is the editor of insidethegames