In a further escalation of the dispute, the London 2012 chairman made little effort to hide his contempt for the BOA nor its chief Colin Moynihan, who earlier this week had claimed that the dispute had not affected personal relations between him and the former double Olympic 1500 metres champion.

Coe even refused to confirm whether or not he would allow Moynihan, the BOA chairman, and the its chief executive Andy Hunt to rejoin the London 2012 Board once the dispute is settled.

The two have been suspended from the Board since the BOA decided to take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) claiming that their cut of the the surplus cash after the Games should not take into account any costs of staging the Paralympics, which the BOA fear will make a loss.

"This is a spurious case," said Coe at a press conference to mark the end of the eighth visit of the IOC Coordination Commission to inspect progress of London 2012.

"The legal judgement that the IOC have made on that is probably the best demolition of that case that anybody could witness.

"The Government have made it very clear there is no public money in settlement of that case, the IOC have made their position clear and as the organising committee we are running hard to maintain a balanced budget."

Coe claimed the BOA's action was totally contrary to the vision put forward during London's bid of hosting the Olympics and Paralympics together.

"One the eve of the vote in Singapore I had lunch with [Paralympians] Tanni Grey-Thompson and Ade Adepitan as well as [Olympians] Daley Thompson, Colin Jackson and Jonathan Edwards and we were all very clear that we were bidding for the seamless delivery and integration of an Olympics and Paralympics Games," he said.

"I guess I find slightly depressing that this vision has mutated quite as badly as it has.

"This is not about a sum of money or a contractual misunderstanding, this is very clear and the best demolition of that case is the IOC's judgement and they are the only appropriate organisation to adjudicate on that."

When asked whether Moynihan and Hunt could resume their positions on the London 2012 Board after the dispute, Coe left no-one in doubt that he was not inclined to welcome them back.

"That is a judgement for me and my Board," he said.

"As an Organising Committee we are running hard to maintain a balanced budget, you can conclude from that what you want but our position is very clear.

"In all this, you must only remember that the only organisation with a guaranteed budget at the moment is the British Olympic Association."

The claim that the row is a "narrow and technical dispute" has now been blown wide open in recent days with Moynihan and the BOA on one side and, seemingly, the rest of the world on the other.

"On a purely legal point of view we feel that in that case CAS has no jurisdiction over the case," said Oswald (pictured).

"But the decision will be made by CAS itself and we will respect that.

"If they decide to hear it on the merits we feel we have a very good case."

The BOA claim London 2012 finance director Neil Wood mentioned a possible surplus of £400 million without the Paralympics costs, of which the BOA would claim 20 per cent, but London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton described that as Wood giving a "demonstration of how ridiculous" it would be to split the costs of the Games.

"That discussion has been twisted to manufacture a case that doesn't exist," he said.

The BOA, meanwhile, tried to reclaim the moral high ground.

"Out of respect for our colleagues at LOCOG, and the wider Olympic Movement, we will not debate this through the media," a spokesman told insidethegames.

"We view this as a narrow contractual matter and,  as has been the case throughout, we would like to see this resolved quickly and amicably.

"This issue has absolutely no bearing on our preparations for Team GB in London 2012.

"In fact, the resolution of this matter is entirely about what will happen after the London 2012 Olympic Games and the sporting legacy that will be delivered for all of British sport from 2013 onward."

But, in another big blow to the reputation of the BOA, they have officially confirmed that they have pulled out of hosting the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) meeting here next year because they cannot afford it, as first reported on insidethegames last month. 

"ANOC understands and accepts the reasons explained by the BOA" and will announce a new site for the meeting in the next few days, the association said in a statement from Lausanne.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2011: BOA are wrong to think London 2012 Paralympics will lose money, claims IPC chief executive
March 2011: Government refuse to get involved in London 2012 cash row as Hemery compares it to a marriage dispute
March 2011: Government to try to broker solution to London 2012 cash row
March 2011: Moynihan isolated after own party turns against him over London 2012 row
March 2011: Top BOA officials suspended from London 2012 Board over cash row