Source: PA
Hammers would retain track at Olympic Stadium
The man spearheading West Ham's bid to move to the 2012 Olympic Stadium has explained how the Barclays Premier League club plans to retain an athletics track for use on a seasonal basis.
West Ham are hoping to take over operational responsibility for the stadium after the Games, but the presence of a running track - pledged by London in its original bid to host the Olympics - has been a contentious issue.
However, Ian Tompkins, West Ham's Olympic project director, has outlined how the track would be partially covered up during the winter months before being exposed during the summer, to ensure the stadium would fulfil its pledge of ensuring a legacy for athletics.
"The stadium has to include the running track," Tompkins told The Sport Briefing. "That has been made clear from the beginning and we completely understand it.
"It has to be able to fulfil the commitments given - that there will be an athletics legacy. We've had lots of discussions with UK Athletics and others and our plan does incorporate athletics with a running track.
"The football and athletics seasons do sit quite nicely in the year, so essentially what would happen is the athletics track would remain covered during the football season because the pitch would overlap a little bit anyway."
