UK Athletics has committed to the bid despite the fact that Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient are disputing the decision earlier this year to award the Olympic Stadium to West Ham United after the conclusion of the London 2012 Games.

Tottenham are seeking a judicial review while Orient have taken the case to the European Union but UK Athletics has decided still to submit a bid ahead of the closing deadline on September 1 even though West Ham are the only football club that have committed to keeping the athletics track in place after London 2012.

But the UK Athletics chairman revealed that no bid would have been put forward to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) unless his organisation and its partners felt sure that the legal dispute around the Olympic Stadium would not hamper London's chances of securing the World Championships.

"We would not have submitted a bid for the 2017 World Championships if we were not 100 per cent confident that all the legal issues surrounding the Olympic Stadium will be cleared up by the time the decision on the host city is made by the IAAF in Monte Carlo in November," Warner (pictured) told insidethegames.

"The bid has been submitted with the signatures from the UK Government, the Mayor of London and UK Athletics so we are all in agreement about that.

"We are delighted to be able to confirm our bid to the IAAF with the full support from our partners and we look forward to the next stage of the process.

"We acknowledge that we have strong competition for the event but we are confident of our chances."

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe, who is also vice-president of the IAAF, will personally submit the bid at the 2017 bid at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Daegu later this month with a decision on where the event is held set to be made in Monte Carlo on November 12.

London is up against Doha and an unnamed Spanish city, probably Barcelona, but can ill afford another failed bid for the event.

London's bid for the 2001 World Championships was abandoned after initial plans for an athletics track to be included in the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium were scrapped.

But the city was then awarded the 2005 Championships by the IAAF after then Prime Minister Tony Blair promised that Britain would build a new stadium at Picketts Lock in North London before the Government went back on its promise and the event went to Helsinki.

London's latest bid for the 2015 World Championships fell through due to the lack of clarity over the future of the Stadium as the event was given to Beijing and Britain is now hoping it will be fourth time lucky.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
August 2011: London will bid for 2017 World Championships despite uncertainty of Olympic Stadium
August 2011: Exclusive - Football must let athletics have one great legacy from London 2012 claims Turner
August 2011: Exclusive - London bid for World Championships doomed to failure unless Stadium solution found warns IAAF President
August 2011: Orient take London 2012 Olympic Stadium row to Europe
August 2011: West Ham "cleared" over Olympic Stadium as Police called in over Tottenham private investigator