Paralympic Games Chief Claims BOA’s Loss Assumption is Incorrect

Chief executive of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Xavier Gonzalez has claimed that the British Olympic Associations (BOA) fears that next year’s Paralympics in London will make a financial loss are wrong.

The BOA are currently involved in a row with London 2012 which has seen them take legal action over whether their share of profit from the Games should include the cost of the Paralympics.

The BOA are claiming that their cut of any surplus after the 2012 Games should not include the costs of running the Paralympics and have ignored an International Olympic Committee (IOC) ruling against them to take their claim to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Gonzalez has claimed that Colin Moynihan and Andy Hunt are incorrect in assuming that the Paralympics will operate at a loss, telling BBC Radio 5 Live: “The revenues that we will generate at the Paralympics will cover the cost of hosting the Paralympics.

“That means that the assumptions and the numbers that have been used are wrong.

“We are independent of the discussions that there have been between the BOA, the IOC and LOCOG but we wanted to clarify that that at the Paralympics, on the basis of the information we have, we will not make a loss.

“I respect the right of the BOA to defend their interest if they feel that they are not correctly taking care of their estate but what we are trying to say in this case is that there was a vision for London 2012 and they were the ones presenting the bid [in Singapore in 2005] that was set out as one festival of sport in London that included the Olympics and the Paralympics.

“We are not making a loss and we not draining the Olympic resources.

“All of our own costs are covered by the revenue that LOCOG has been able to generate through sponsors like Sainsbury’s [the first ever Paralympic-only sponsor] and with television agreements like the one which was made with Channel 4.”