Both sports are set to be moved from Greenwich to the venue in North West London as a cost-cutting measure.

 

The decision to re-locate badminton and rhythmic gymnastics to Wembley Arena follows the refusal of boxing to move there from the ExCel Arena.

 

Both badminton and gymnastics have concerns over the extra travel time from the Olympic Village in East London to Wembley but Deighton claimed they are happier after they were taken on a dummy run last month.

 

He said: "The journey when we made it took 42 minutes which, frankly, is an acceptable time.

 

"If you look into the technical manuals of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) they say one hour as the break-even before you need to put the athletes closer to the venue.

 

"It's comfortably doable in what is technically acceptable although, of course, it is further than it would have been where we initially had them positioned."

 

London Mayor Boris Johnson has already said that the sports must move there.

 

Deighton, speaking at the Sports Event Management Conference in London, today said; "In this economic environment it's not really acceptable to taxpayers to build a temporary venue when you already have an acceptable one if the trade-off is another 20 minutes travel time.

 

"That is what really drove this.

 

"It's hard when people are losing their jobs to say that we were not prepared to send athletes another 15 minutes on the road and that we'd rather spend a lot more money and build something that we are then going to take down.

 

"It didn't just seem like the right thing to be doing."

 

Fencing and volleyball have already been switched to the existing ExCel exhibition centre instead of a temporary venue while the original canoe and kayaking venue had to be scrapped because of contamination.

 

The IOC Coordination Commission is due to visit London at the end of this month for an inspection visit when the relocation of badminton and rhythmic gymnastics will be discussed.

 

A final decision is expected to be ratified by the IOC's ruling Executive Board in Lausanne next month.

 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]

 

 

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