Uncertainty over the future of the Olympic Stadium has forced UK Athletics to withdraw its bid, which leaves Beijing as the only city now willing to host the event.

UK Athletics hopes to instead bid for the 2017 World Championships.

A decision on the future of the Stadium after the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics will not be taken until March and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) are to decide on the 2015 hosts at a meeting of its ruling Council in Monte Carlo on November 19-20.

"Obviously we are disappointed not to be pursuing our 2015 bid especially after securing the support of the Government and the Mayor of London," said Ed Warner, the chairman of UK Athletics.

"However we need to present the IAAF with a bid that is free of any uncertainties.

"That is not something we can commit to until the process regarding the future of the Stadium is concluded.

"Our bid is, in my opinion, an excellent one and one that can deliver an outstanding Championships for the IAAF."

Britain's bids to host the World Championships has become a long-running embarrassment‎.

A bid to host the 2003 Championships had to be abandoned after plans to build an athletics track in the new national stadium at Wembley were scrapped.

London was then awarded the 2005 World Championships after the then-Prime Minister Tony Blair personally promised that the Government would build a new stadium at Picketts Lock to stage them.

Blair then went back on that promise and the Government tried to move the event to Sheffield.

The IAAF rejected the offer and instead awarded the Championships to Helsinki.

The fall-out from the row nearly wrecked London's fledging bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

In the end, led by double Olympic 1500 metres gold medallist Sebastian Coe, London 2012 ran such an effective campaign that they even managed to persuade IAAF President Lamine Diack to vote for them.

That was on the promise that hosting the Olympics would guarantee an athletics legacy in the capital.



But the Government claimed today they were unable to commit to backing a bid for the 2015 World Championships because a number of the tenders for the 2012 stadium - including Tottenham Hotspur's, which has been submitted in assocation with AEG - have plans that would see the running track removed.

Ministers feared if they commit to a bid for 2015 with the Stadium as the centrepiece they would be open to legal action from those tenders that do not include maintaining the running track.

Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson claimed he remained hopeful the Government would underwrite the 2017 bid.

"That is still to be completely confirmed but I would be very disappointed if that were not the case," he said.

Robertson claimed biggest danger would have been to have made a bid and then had to pull out again at a later date.

"The crucial thing was to avoid the collateral damage we suffered with Picketts Lock," he said.

"If we had prejudged the outcome of the tendering process for the Olympic Stadium we would open ourselves up to legal challenge."

The decision to bid instead for 2017 has been made with the blessing of the IAAF.

"We fully understand the reasons for UKA moving their bid from 2015 to 2017," said Diack.

"We are delighted that London are still in the race."

The contest for 2017 may be more competitive however with Rome, Istanbul and Doha all possible bidders.

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