The name of the sculpture was itself based upon a quotation by convicted drugs cheat Linford Christie.

The phrase has also been used to promote the Cultural Festival running alongside Birmingham 2022.

"B of the Bang" was a sculpture by Thomas Heatherwick next to the City of Manchester Stadium costing £1.42 million ($1.72 million/€1.69 million) to mark the success of the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

It was one of the tallest structures in Manchester and the tallest sculpture in the United Kingdom until the completion of Aspire in 2008.

It was claimed that it is taller and leaned at a greater angle than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The sculpture took its name from a quotation of Christie, Britain’s 1992 Olympic 100 metres champion, in which he said that he started his races not merely at the "bang" of the starting pistol, but at "the b of the bang".

Christie, a three-time Commonwealth Games 100m gold medallist, was suspended in 1999 for two years by the International Amateur Athletic Federation after the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone was found in a drugs test.

A spokesperson for Birmingham 2022 denied the slogan was based on either the Manchester sculpture or Christie’s quote.

It was instead taken from a song by Lady Leshurr, British rapper, singer, songwriter and producer born in the city.

"We didn't use that phrase based off Manchester or their sculpture," a Birmingham 2022 spokesperson told insidethegames.

"Certainly not off a drugs cheat.

"That phrase is also said by Lady Leshurr, who delivers it in our advert and has done for two years, and she has also used it in one of her songs."

It has been claimed that Birmingham 2022 was inspired to use the slogan by a youngster in the care system, who was a member of one of its focus groups and who told them the phrase had inspired them turn their life around.

The "B of the Bang" sculpture was commissioned in 2003 but construction overran, costs doubled and the official unveiling was delayed until January 2005.

Six days before the launch, the sculpture suffered the first of three visible structural problems as the tip of one of the spikes detached and fell to the ground.

Legal action to repair the sculpture was started by Manchester City Council a year later, resulting in an out-of-court settlement totalling £1.7 million ($2.1 million/€2 million).

In February 2009, the Council announced that the sculpture would be dismantled and placed in storage, only for the core and legs to be cut apart during removal.

The core was sold for scrap in July 2012, with the 180 spikes reported to have been placed in storage for an undecided future use.