Organising committee of London Olympics and British Olympic Association reach agreement on sharing profits
The damaging row between the organising committee of the London Olympics and the British Olympic Association over splitting profits from the 2012 games has been brought to a close after the two groups announced a settlement.
The BOA, led by chairman Colin Moynihan and chief executive Andy Hunt, had pushed for a share of 2012 profits to be calculated before the cost of staging the Paralympics was taken into account – a row that sports minister Hugh Robertson described as "embarrassing".
The BOA appealed to the International Olympic Committee, which rejected its stance, and had threatened to take the dispute to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
Relations between the two Olympic bodies became ever more strained, with both Lord Moynihan and Hunt banned from executive meetings of the organising committee (Locog).
The agreement is a comprehensive victory for Locog, with the original financial settlement still in place. But the sides agreed a number of other measures to aid the BOA with its 2012 work during and after the Games.
At the opening of the 2012 Games' first purpose-built venue on Tuesday, the Lee Valley White Water centre, Hunt and Locog chief executive Paul Deighton did their best to repair the damage, shaking hands and smiling for the cameras.
Both parties played down any suggestion of past discord. "I would put it in the category of having been a mild distraction," said Deighton. "I don't think it's done any lasting damage, it's a relief to put it behind us. In the final stages [of the agreement] I think everybody came to see what the reality was of the contractual situation and understood where we actually are.
"We're absolutely glad to put it behind us so we can just get on with what's much more important which is delivering a brilliant Games and for the BOA to be able to focus in an undiluted fashion on delivering a very successful British team.
"So absolutely in that sense no one wanted any distractions which is why we signed the agreement to say all that stuff about the surplus is over now."
Hunt insisted that the BOA had been right to pursue the action in the first place, and had not left the governing body red-faced. "Not at all. We work with our boards, and with the IOC and the 33 sports to make sure that we were pursuing a contractual right that we had.
"We have had their support throughout this process. We have consulted widely, and everyone has supported the way we have handled this. We have always said we wanted a settlement and that's what we have got. When you have to pursue something that you think is right, it might not always be popular."
"What we have done in pursuing what was a narrow contractual dispute has been blown out of all proportion and now we are taking a stand to make sure we can close it off and agree a settlement that helps Locog and British athletes. It's the right way forward and it will help our athletes in the runup to the Games."