London Likely Out as ANOC Host; BOA vs LOCOG

(ATR) Association of National Olympic Committees secretary general Gunilla Lindberg tells Around the Rings that there is no rush to ditch London as a candidate to host the 2012 general assembly.

"We have other alternatives," she said Thursday.

When held in a Summer Olympic year, the meeting drawing hundreds of delegates from the world’s 205 NOCs is traditionally held in the host city. It costs millions of dollars to stage.

But in the past few months, sources have told Around the Rings that the meeting is unlikely to be held in London due to the financial pressures facing the cash-strapped British Olympic Association. Around the Rings first reported on this issue last October.

The BOA is currently embroiled in an expensive legal wrangle with London 2012 organizers over revenue sharing from the Games.

"It is not a problem," Lindberg said when asked if ANOC considered London no longer a viable option for the congress. She said discussions were ongoing with the BOA.

"We have other options. There are many countries who are interested. We will decide in July," she added.

A BOA spokesman declined to confirm if the national Olympic committee was withdrawing its application to stage the ANOC general assembly due to its financial problems.

"The final decision regarding the location for the 2012 ANOC Executive Board Meeting and General Assembly rests with the leadership of ANOC," he said. "We are fully committed and pleased to be doing our part to support them."

Lindberg told ATR she had not been approached by BOA chairman Colin Moynihan in recent weeks to discuss any of the BOA's financial challenges in staging the ANOC meeting.

Organizers of the Sydney Olympics rejected hosting the ANOC meeting in 2000. They said the event was "too hard" to handle amid the last months of preparation for the Games. Athens and Beijing both hosted the meeting as normally scheduled.

In 2000, Rio de Janeiro stepped in to host ANOC, one of the early international events that helped lead to the successful candidacy for the 2016 Olympics.

BOA vs. LOCOG

The BOA's problems mounted March 18 when it rejected a decision from the IOC on how to award revenue from the 2012 Olympics. It is currently entitled to 20 percent under terms of the Joint Marketing Program Agreement. But the NOC claims the Paralympics, a money-loser, should not be taken into account when calculating revenue.

The BOA is taking its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport with a hearing expected in the coming months.

Following a bi-monthly BOA board meeting on Wednesday, chairman Colin Moynihan agreed with colleagues to continue with their appealto CAS. According to a BOA statement, the board also received an update on the BOA’s plans for income generation and cost control in 2011 and 2012 and "expressed confidence" in those plans.

The Swedish IOC member is just back home from Sochi where she was involved in the IOC Coordination Commission's inspection of the 2014 Winter Olympic host.

Next week Lindberg heads to London for the IOC Co-comm's three-day inspection of the 2012 host. Commission chair Denis Oswald is expected to put some tough questions to Moynihan about the financial implications of its legal dispute with LOCOG on the BOA's preparation of athletes for the Olympics.

Asked if the BOA's wrangle with LOCOG was damaging for the Olympic Movement and London just over a year out from the Games, she said: "I hope for everybody they can find a solution."

With the IOC siding with London 2012, it seems unlikely the BOA will win its appeal. A negative outcome is likely to put pressure on Moynihan's position as NOC chief.

The issue will come under discussion at next Tuesday's BOA meeting when representatives from the national governing bodies of all Olympic sports are scheduled to attend.

Written by Mark Bisson.