By Duncan Mackay at the ISEM Conference in London

Sebastian Coe_at_ISEM_October_12_2011October 12 - The decision to keep the Olympic Stadium in public ownership after London 2012 rather than sell it to West Ham United has given the campaign to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships a massive boost, the bid leader Sebastian Coe claimed here today.


The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) ended negotiations yesterday with West Ham because of the concerns caused by the ongoing legal dispute with Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient.

The decision was taken largely to ensure that London's bid for the World Championships would not be harmed.

"I can absolutely understand why the Minister wanted to cut through this," Coe told insidethegames here. 

"He used the expression which actually sums it up pretty well.

"It was becoming a legal paralysis and, worse than that, risked becoming an ongoing set of challenges funded by the taxpayer.

"Actually cutting through that and bringing some certainty to that process I think was very important.

"It again underpins the multi-purpose legacy that we always had for the Stadium."

Coe dismissed fears that the decision would appear to be muddled to members of the International Association of Athletics Federation, whose ruling Council will vote in Monte Carlo on November 11 on whether to award the Championships to London or Doha.

"It didn't appear muddled to many of my colleagues on the IAAF yesterday," said the former double Olympic 1500 metres champion.

"They felt it brought immediate clarity to the announcement that there would be public ownership and distribution of legacy within that ownership.

"They saw that as a clarity of purpose.

"It [tthe decision] didn't do anything but help yesterday." 

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