Diack criticises Rogge over Olympic stadium comments

World athletics chief Lamine Diack criticised International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge yesterday for saying the 2012 London Olympic stadium need not remain an athletics venue after the Games.

Rogge told the BBC that the IOC had no problems with the decision to turn the 1996 Atlanta Olympic stadium into a baseball ground.

"If the best solution is to transform the track into something else then we would be in favour of that," he said.

International Association of Athletics Federations president Diack said Rogge had shown a lack of respect for the most important sport of the Olympic Games.

"As an IOC member myself, I voted for the host city for the 2012 Games in Singapore and, obviously, one of the most compelling arguments in favour of London was the fact that the city desperately needed a world class venue for athletics," Diack said.

"Great Britain, with its magnificent tradition in our sport and a great future ahead of it, surely must be entitled to have a decent athletics stadium in its capital city."