Cut Price Olympics

The International Olympic Committee is looking at cutting costs by changing the venues for two sports at the 2012 Summer Games in London.

The organisers can save tens of millions of pounds by switching the badminton and rhythmic gymnastics from a temporary venue near the Olympic Park in east London to Wembley Arena, which is in the northwest of the city. The temporary facility would be scrapped.

One sticking point is the badminton and gymnastics federations have expressed concern over the travel time between the athletes’ village – also in the east – and the Wembley venue.

London organizing committee chairman Sebastian Coe said the executive boards of the two federations will discuss the move over the next month or so.

“We express our gratitude to these two federations who have agreed to move some of their events,” he told the 2012 committee Feb. 18.

“This will lead to a saving of several millions. We thank them for their understanding in these challenging economic times.”

The London organizers have offered to house the athletes in hotels within walking distance of Wembley and find ways of shortening the travel journey.

Coe was also asked if the main Olympic Stadium will definitely remain a track and field facility after the games.

The 80,000-capacity venue is designed to be reduced after the Olympics to a 25,000-seat venue, mainly for track and field.

However, officials are also looking at the possibility of having a local football club as a tenant and using the stadium in England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup.

The IOC has proved less than enthusiastic about London’s proposal to use a single torch for the Olympic torch relay rather than the tradition of using several torches.

Although there was never a suggestion that this was another way of cutting costs, London has agreed to drop the proposal and will stick with multiple torches.