This - rather unexpected - piece of financial news has been revealed by Andy Hunt (pictured top), departing BOA chief executive, in an exclusive interview with insidethegames, conducted after announcement of his decision to step down at the end of this month.

London 2012 is required to pay five per cent of any surplus to the BOA, with the amount payable capped at $8 million (£5 million/€6 million).

Although nothing is finalised, a London 2012 surplus of some sort is starting to look ever more likely - which might, in turn, enable the BOA to mark its year as host National Olympic Committee (NOC) with a return to profit.

The BOA revealed last October that it fell back into the red in its year to December 31 2011, reporting a £421,000 ($653,000/€488,000) loss on revenue of £10.69 million ($16.57 million/€12.38 million).

Hunt also revealed that a post-London 2012 strategy, with an emphasis on "leveraging the legacy" while the Olympic Movement was "so much in the mindset of the people", had been presented yesterday to the BOA board.


A further focus, after British athletes have set the bar so high with their medal-winning exploits in London, would be "planning for success as an away team".

This would involve exploration of how to make Team GB "the most local non-local team".

Further sponsorship announcements were also likely in coming months.

Asked whether he expected to remain in the sports sector, Hunt, a former managing director of Reliance Security Services, said he would "love to stay involved in sport", but had a number of discussions ongoing.

He had taken his decision to leave the BOA at around Christmas-time.

Reflecting on how sport differed as a business from other sectors he had experienced, Hunt singled out two characteristics.

Sport, he said, was "a much more emotional business" than other commercial sectors.

Moreover, sport was "far more political than any other business, or even politics".

"I think sport is the most political environment I have ever come across," he said.

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