May 15 - Lamine Diack (pictured), president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), pronounced himself happy and satisfied with the progress of the 2012 Olympic stadium today - and satisfied too that a track and field legacy would be secured within it after debate within Olympic circles that it might be better employed serving other sports after the Games.

 

Diack made a pointed passing reference to the comments of Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who had implied that athletics need not be a fixed point in the Olympic legacy of the Stadium if it meant preventing it from becoming a "white elephant".

"I am happy to see the progress of the Sstadium, and I see the legacy for athletics there," Diack said after touring the site with Sebastian Coe, chairman of London 2012, and world and Olympic 400 metres champion Christine Ohuruogu, who lives just down the road from the Olympic Park.

 

"This is what was promised before the Olympic vote in Singapore in 2005, and now I'm happy to confirm that this is what is happening."

Coe told insidethgames: "In April last year I accompanied President Diack around the Olympic site and he saw a level plot of land.

 

"This year I have brought him back to the same site and he has seen the progress we have made.

 

"We have been into the Stadium and sat in the back of the stand.

 

"He knows from that that our progress has been spectacular and he was genuinely very excited about it and he is also satisfied that the legacy of track and field in London has been secured within this Stadium.

"Of course you would be daft to say that track and field will provide the only use of the Stadium after the Games.

 

"We believe we can meld major athletics events such as Diamond League meetings and international championships - whether they be European or World Chamionships - with other usage, whether it is educational, entertainment or other sports.

"You see what has happened in Zurich, where they have created a new 25,000 seat stadium which is also hosting events such as a Rolling Stones concert and Switzerland football games."

Coe insists that the original brief for the Stadium as presented during the final bidding process in Singapore in 2005, that it offer a track and field legacy as its primary purpose, has been maintained.

 

But he does not rule out football playing a part in the stadium's future.
 

"Not at Premier League level, because we won't be presenting a stadium of Premier League requirements after the Games,"he said.

 

"But there is still the potential for some of the bigger non-League clubs to come there.

 

"It is football's issue whether it can accept playing within an athletics track.

 

"It is not up to athletics to try to figure out how it can accomodate football.