Lamine Diack, the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), claimed that he expected London officials to keep their bid promise of ensuring the Olympics left Britain with a legacy for his sport.

 

Rogge had said last week that the IOC did not care whether a track was retained afterwards and it was more important to them that the Stadium was used regularly rather than becoming a "white elephant".

 

Diack said:  "As the leader of the world governing body for athletics I think this shows a lack of respect for my sport."

 

As insidethegames has exclusively reported, Diack voted for London at the IOC Session in Singapore in July 2005 when they were awarded the Games rather than Paris, where he was educated, because chairman Sebastian Coe guaranteed him that the Olympic Stadium would continue to stage athletics after 2012.

 

The decision of the Senegalese to vote for London was crucial as he also helped persuade a number of his African colleagues and those involved in athletics to support Britain's bid.

 

Diack said: "As an IOC member myself, I voted for the host city for the 2012 Games in Singapore and, obviously, one of the most compelling arguments in favour of London was the fact that the city desperately needed a world class venue for athletics.

 

"A country like Great Britain, with its magnificent tradition in our sport and a great future ahead of it, surely must be entitled to have a decent athletics stadium in its capital city?

 

"A promise was made, and I believe it is totally reasonable to expect that the most important sport of the summer Olympics, which is athletics, gets to live on after the three week period of the Games is over."

 

Coe has fought hard to ensure that the track is not ripped up following the 2012 Olympics, as happened at the City of Manchester Stadum after it hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the arena became a Premiership football stadium for Manchester City.

 

Rogge had used the example Atlanta, where the stadium was turned into a baseball ground after it had staged the 1996 Games, as an example of somewhere where athletics did not have a legacy.

 

Diack said: "Mr Rogge uses the example of Atlanta but for me, and the entire athletics family, the situation in Atlanta is a source of great disappointment.

 

"The fact that the site of magnificent athletics’ performances such as Carl Lewis’ last Olympic long jump gold or Michael Johnson’s amazing double at 200m and 400m is no longer able to host athletics - is no longer a source of pride or inspiration for young athletes - but is instead a bargain venue for professional baseball is nothing to be proud of at all.

 

"Today, believe it or not, the United States does not have a single venue capable of hosting an IAAF World Championships in athletics.

 

"There is simply no stadium - but we have had Olympic Games in Los Angeles and in Atlanta – yet in the end, they were simply handed over to professional sports and as a result, Olympic sports lose out.

 

"I want to take this opportunity to say clearly to my colleague Lord Sebastian Coe, who is chairman of the London Organising Committee, but also an IAAF Vice-President, that the IAAF totally supports your efforts to find the best solution for a permanent legacy for athletics in the UK.

 

"It has never been said that the post-Games’ stadium would be exclusively for athletics. 

 

"I am also sure that any number of options for ground-sharing with other sports are currently being considered, in various stadium configurations, but let me finally say that, for the IAAF, destroying the track would be totally unacceptable."

 

Diack has also blasted Rogge over his comments made during the Beijing Olympics when he claimed that celebrations of Jamaica's Usain Bolt after setting a world records in the 100m  displayed a lack of respect to his rivals.

 

He said: "Like many people, I was surprised, and said so at the time, to hear Mr Rogge imply that Usain Bolt was showboating and showing a lack of respect for his rivals after his phenomenal world record in the 100m final.

 

"We live in a time when Olympic sports are struggling to remain attractive to young people, when we all need to make sport exciting and relevant to them.

 

"Since we need to create HEROES that young people identify with, why criticise the behaviour of a young man who is INSTANTLY and completely appealing to young people?

 

"Usain’s three gold medals and World records, in a sport where a world record does still mean something, and his exuberance and uninhibited pleasure in victory, helped Usain transcend sport and become, during the Games, a truly global icon and a genuine role model for youngsters who may not find Olympic sport that exciting."

 

Ed Warner, the chairman of UK Athletics, who is currently visitng the IAAF headquarters in Monaco where he has been discussing a number of issues with Diack, gave his support to his comments regarding the London 2012 legacy.

 

He said: “We welcome the comments today made by IAAF president Lamine Diack.

 

"UK Athletics remains fully committed to helping ensure there is an athletics legacy from the London 2012 Olympic stadium.

 

"That has been the pledge right from the start of bidding process and we are in close communication with London 2012 to ensure that holds true, up to and beyond the London Games.

 

“We have always advocated a multi use approach to the stadium in legacy mode, intending to be part of a management structure that ensures access for a standard amount of days annually for elite and community use.

 

"That is the right financial model for our sport. All the paperwork and plans are in place for there to be a 25-28,000 seater stadium that will have the capacity to go up to 40,000 to stage an event of that scale.

 

"Currently there is no permanent athletics stadium in the UK that can currently house a World or European Championship.

 

“We need a permanent home to ensure that we can build upon the huge enthusiasm and excitement that 2012 will inevitably generate for athletics.

 

"We will continue to work in partnership with Seb Coe towards fulfilling his promise that the number one Olympic sport will have a home to be proud of in Britain.”