London 2012 bid may suffer after BOA angers Irish counterparts

The organisers of London's bid to stage the 2012 Olympic Games were yesterday accused by a key ally of having "colonial" attitudes.

Patrick Hickey, the Irish member of the International Olympic Committee, said a "hand grenade" had been thrown into relations between the Olympic bodies in Britain and Ireland. He is angry that the British Olympic Association, one of the three main backers of the London bid, has added Northern Ireland to its Team GB banner under which athletes from England, Scotland and Wales compete.

Officials from the Olympic Council of Ireland fear this would severely affect their recruitment of athletes in the province, which currently provides around 20 per cent of the Irish Olympic team.

Hickey said he was frustrated because he had learnt about changes in the BOA arrangements "out of the blue" and had tried in vain to seek clarification over recent months. Under current arrangements the OCI has full responsibility for the 32 Irish counties, although athletes from northern Ireland may compete for either nation. Yesterday Hickey said: "There's always this thing about the British having the bigger stick against the Irish colony. I exonerate Barbara Cassani [chair of the London bid] and her team because they have not been in the loop but you could not say the same about senior figures in the BOA. Craig Reedie [the BOA chairman] wants to woo me for the Olympic bid and then throws in this hand grenade which is an extraordinary way of looking for support. It makes me feel like I've been taken advantage of."

Leaders of the London bid have been relying on the support of Hickey, who wields great influence as secretary general of the European Olympic Committees. The Irish dividend for a successful bid would come in the form of increased tourism and as a possible location of a team's training camp. In return, the London bid could expect support from Hickey.

A spokesman for the BOA said that it had included Northern Ireland in its contracts for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002. It wanted to retain the "status quo" which enables Northern Irish athletes to choose between representing Britain or Ireland.