Hunt Calls for BOA and LOCOG to Resolve ‘Extraordinary’ Dispute

March 28, 2011

Jeremy Hunt, the UK’s Culture Secretary has urged the British Olympic Association to drop their case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport with regards to the current dispute with the Games’ organising committee (LOCOG).

The BOA is effectively seeking a bigger cut of any financial surplus to arise from the Games, as well as the Paralympics which take place after the event. The disagreement escalated late last week when BOA chairman Lord Moynihan and CEO Andy Hunt were barred from LOCOG board meetings.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek, Hunt stated: “This is not the right argument to be having so close to the Olympics in our country. I think it is an extraordinary thing that just over a year before the Games that we are going into this sort of dispute, which frankly is not going to benefit anyone.”

Hunt added: “We need to sort it out quickly, it is just very disappointing and I do not think anyone would say it is the right way to be focusing our energies…I can’t really see how anyone’s going to be a winner from this because there is no more money.”

The BOA has insisted that the Paralympics should be kept separate on the final balance sheet, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently backed LOCOG’s claim that the Olympics and Paralympic Games should be combined before surplus payments are distributed.