Coe attacks 'spurious' legal challenge

Sebastian Coe yesterday branded the British Olympic Association's court challenge against London 2012 as "spurious" and "depressing".

The London 2012 chairman claimed that the BOA's legal action to claim more money from the Games organisers had already been demolished by the International Olympic Committee, which ruled against them. Coe also refused to guarantee whether BOA chairman Colin Moynihan or chief executive Andy Hunt would be readmitted to the London 2012 board once the case was over.

Coe told a news conference in London: "This is a spurious case. On the eve of the vote in Singapore I had lunch with [Paralympians] Tanni Grey-Thompson and Ade Adepitan as well as [Olympians] Daley Thompson, Colin Jackson and Jonathan Edwards and we were all very clear that we were bidding for the seamless delivery and integration of an Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"I guess I find it slightly depressing that this vision has mutated quite as badly as it has."