Ed Warner (pictured), chair of the London bid, made the guarantee before stressing that the Olympic stadium site would be home to British athletics for the next century and thanking the IAAF president, Lamine Diack, for his support in that quest.

Leading the bid, Sebastian Coe set the keynote for the London effort in his introduction as he spoke of a bid "developed by athletics and athletes for athletics and athletes".

Throughout the 45-minute presentation, which followed that made by Doha, emphasis was laid upon the athlete-centred nature of London's bid and the familiarity and cosmopolitan nature of the city.

He also highlighted the opportunity the 2017 World Championships would offer to broaden the legacy of delivering sport to young people that had already been set in motion through the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, specifically the International Inspiration programme, which had already involved 12 million youngsters and would be extended to affect another two million five years beyond the Games.

Former Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis, chair of the athletes' commission, emphasised how London would pay attention to all the details that are important to athletes wanting to perform at their best.

"We believe London will offer competitors the best possible conditions," she said.

She also said athletes would have the ideal temperature and climate "at a time of the season when they are already in Europe and already peaking.

"Any athlete will tell you that conditions are crucial when it comes to performing at your best.

"Athletes aren't robots.

"They can't just be dropped anywhere and expected to perform. "


Six years after he had led the successful bid to secure the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics for London, Coe recalled the comment Steve Redgrave had made after winning his fourth Olympic rowing title in Atlanta 1996, when he told a BBC reporter that if anyone ever saw him in a boat again, they had his full permission to shoot him.

As Coe pointed out, four years later Redgrave won his fifth gold in Sydney.

Referring to his own testing day in Singapore in 2005, Coe added: "I would that day have happily given permission to anybody to shot me if they had ever seen me working on another bid again.

"Yet, like Steve, I am here again.

"The reason is simple.

"I have the urge to complete unfinished business, to finish the job I started in 2005, and a story that at the time I said really did not finish in 2012, but really only began."

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, confirmed "total government and political support across all parties" for the bid, adding: "We guarantee to do all we can to support you in a strong and true partnership."

Warner made a point of saying that London did not think its history or track record gave it any special entitlement.

"We are honoured to be competing against our friends from Doha in a contest that offers you two strong and very different bids," he said.

"London 2012 was a wonderful opening chapter to new story of success in British athletics.

"It has pushed hundreds of young people towards athletics.

"2017 will be the finale of the story, it will pull more people through, keeping them in our sport, now and for life."


Niels de Vos (pictured right with Warner), UK Athletics' chief executive, stressed that London would offer the IAAF unprecedented potential for developing commercial sponsorship and branding, and that many of the sponsors already attracted to London for the 2012 Olympics could be delivered in 2017 too.

He added that the timing of events was ideal for global TV coverage to the European and African market.

"I can promise you that our bid team will help you, the IAAF, to break records," de Vos said.

He also promised a stadium that would be "packed with fans who love athletics, who understand athletics, fans who will stay in the stadium from the first minute to the last, and who won't just pick and choose celebrity events."

As in the 2005 bid, young athletes were used - in this case, Jodie Williams, the world junior 100 metres champion, who expressed her ambitions to compete at her peak in a world championships on home soil.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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