Berlin and Budapest are the favourites to host the 2005 world championships after the International Association of Athletics Federations rejected Sheffield and launched a fierce attack on the British government yesterday.
The government's attempts to move the championships from London to Sheffield were firmly rejected by Lamine Diack, the president of the IAAF.
He also warned the culture secretary Tessa Jowell that he would not trust a bid from Britain again based solely on promises.
Diack told Jowell during a hastily convened meeting at Heathrow that if Britain wanted to stage the championships in Sheffield at the Don Valley stadium, they would have to re-enter the bidding process alongside the likes of Berlin, Budapest, Sydney and Tokyo, who were all interested in replacing London.
"I am very disappointed because we had an agreement to stage the championships in London," said Diack. "An attempt to move it is a bitter disappointment. I feel personally let down."
Diack had been assured on several occasions by the government, including the prime minister, that it was committed to building a dedicated athletics stadium at Picketts Lock. But the government withdrew its financial backing on Thursday after a report conducted by the businessman Patrick Carter revealed it would cost £120m to build.
"I don't understand what is going on in this country," said Diack. "I think if the political will is there you can build anything if you want to. This does not look good for British sport. This is not the first time that we have been given a change of plan for London. First we talked about Wembley, then Twickenham, then Picketts Lock.
"If they cannot stage it in London, then Sheffield will have to bid like everyone else."
Diack said he expected to launch a bidding process at the end of next month, with an announcement of a venue for 2005 early next year. The government may not even offer Sheffield as a venue if it does not think it can win against major international cities.
"We will consider whether we will rebid," said Jowell. "I said we regret we had to make the decision but, having read the report, that was the unavoidable conclusion. We felt it better to withdraw now cleanly and early."
Diack said that if Britain ever bid for the world championships again he "wanted to see the stadium first. We cannot trust them."
The latest British fiasco has opened fault lines between the country's two largest sporting quangos, Sport England, which held the purse strings for Picketts Lock, and UK Sport, which has responsibility for the strategic planning of major events.
Adrian Metcalfe, who is chairman of UK Sport's major event group and was instrumental in London winning the right to stage the 2005 world championships, said: "This decision will seriously dent any hopes of bringing the Olympics to London in the short to medium term. The progress we have made as a nation becomes meaningless if our guarantees of the staging of events can be called into question."
