Britain finished third overall in the Championships with a total of 19 medals, six of them gold, the most they have ever won in the 76-year history of the event.

Coe, the chairman of London 2012, claimed that it has boosted its profile and helped re-establish its presence in the media as a major sport.

"I'm looking forward to any conversation in future about whether track and field in the UK is an appropriate legacy for anywhere - clearly it is," he said in Barcelona tonight.

"And what we have seen here this week has been an extraordinary story."

Among the winners in Barcelona were Jessica Ennis, who added the European heptathlon title to the world crown she won in Berlin last year, establishing herself as the favourite for the Olympic gold medal at London 2012.

There has been increasing pressure for the Olympic Stadium to be converted into a new ground for Premier League West Ham United after 2012 in the same way that the arena built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games was passed to Manchester City.

Last week West Ham vice-chair Karren Brady claimed that they expected to be given first option on coming up with plans to take over the Stadium after the Olympics and Paralympics.

They have made it clear in the past, though, that they do not want a running track round the outside of the pitch because they believe it affects the atmosphere at matches.

But Coe, the two-time Olympic 1500 metres champion and now the vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), has always maintained that Britain must keep the promise it made when London was awarded the Games that the Stadium would provide a long-term legacy for athletics.

"How that stadium ends up looking is down to the Olympic Park Legacy Company, which is how it should be," he said.

"But this isn't about funding a football club.

"If a football club chooses that venue then they are going to have to come up with some refurbishment costs.

"We are very clear that it will be a multi-tenancy - that is the nature of the modern stadiums."

The turning point for many in London's successful bid in 2005 to host the Olympics and Paralympics was when Coe persuaded Lamine Diack, the President of the IAAF, who is also an influential member of the IOC, that by voting for the capital he would be guaranteed a legacy for his sport.

"We did make the commitment in Singapore and we were very clear that we would include track and field in the mix," Coe said.

"We have to have that.

"That is the commitment we made and that is the terms of reference that the Olympic Park Legacy Company are looking at."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
July 2010: West Ham claim they have first option on Olympic Stadium
July 2010: West Ham want Beckham to help them secure move to Olympic Stadium
July 2010: Big boost for West Ham hopes of taking over Olympic Stadium
June 2010: Exclusive - Westfield Stratford mall owner not against West Ham Stadium move
June 2010: West Ham proposal to take over Olympic Stadium backed by experts