The UK government tried to persuade the president of the International Association of Athletic Federations to move the 2005 world championships from London to Sheffield by offering scholarships for African athletes and to take partners of officials on trips to Harrods, it was claimed last night.
The offer was made by the sports minister Richard Caborn during a crisis meeting last Friday in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the IAAF from taking the world championships away from Britain.
IAAF officials said their president, Lamine Diack, was "deeply insulted" by Caborn's suggestion, which was turned down immediately. The law graduate, a former government minister in Senegal and mayor of Dakar, told Caborn and the culture secretary Tessa Jowell that the IAAF was not interested in the offer.
Diack's amazement at the suggestion was reinforced by his experience as a member of the International Olympic Committee and particularly the corruption scandal following the Salt Lake City bribery affair. Ten members were expelled or forced to resign after allegations that they had accepted inducements from organisers to vote for the US city to host the 2002 winter games.
The government wanted to move the 2005 championships to Sheffield because it was unwilling to build a stadium in London to stage them. However, it offered to host the IAAF's biennial congress at a venue in the capital and promote the championships as a joint London-Sheffield bid.
It is claimed by IAAF officials that Caborn told Diack that during the two-day congress they would entertain the partners of the 300 delegates by taking them on a shopping trip to Harrods. They would also arrange a special reception at 10 Downing Street hosted by Tony Blair.
"We offered them a congress in London on the same terms as we would any other major governing body," said a government spokesman. "Other than that we have nothing to say on the matter."
The spokesman confirmed that taking the delegate partners to Harrods was discussed, but stressed that at no time did the government offer to pay for them.
IAAF officials said Diack felt most insulted when Caborn said to him: "We can even provide bursaries to you Africans" to help them prepare for the world championships by offering them scholarships at the UK Sports Institute in Sheffield. "The sports minister was acting like some colonial governor from the 19th century dealing with the man from Africa thinking he was doing him a favour," one official present at the meeting claimed. "He did not appear to realise that president Diack is head of a major international federation."
When Diack objected to Caborn's manner it is claimed the minister told him he was a former treasurer of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and had met Nelson Mandela. "The president was outraged by his attitude," an IAAF official said.
Diack firmly rejected the government's idea to move the flagship event, the third biggest in the world sporting calendar, to Sheffield and is set to re-open the bidding process. Budapest and Berlin are the favourites to step in.
Officials involved with London's 2005 bid are frantically trying to come up with a solution to help salvage the championships even at this late stage. Len Hatton, the president of the bid committee, is hoping to arrange a meeting with Blair to try to get the government to change its mind.
"I have apologised to Mr Diack and his council," said Hatton. "I am embarrassed by what has happened. When we told them what we could do they believed us and gave us the world championships. Now we are going to fight like mad for these championships. There is the possibility of funding from the private sector."
Hatton is £70,000 out of pocket after he bankrolled London's bid. He had expected to get paid when UK Athletics received a £60m grant from the national lottery to help run the championships.
The government will write to the IAAF this week formally withdrawing from staging the event.
