London withdraw inducement offers
LONDON, England -- London's bid team for the 2012 Olympics has withdrawn the offer of inducements for sporting bodies announced in Berlin last week.
The IOC Ethics Commission had been asked to examine the financial incentives offered by London and New York.
London had promised to give $50,000 to each National Olympic Committee towards the cost of using British training camps, a bill of $10m, as well as air fares for team members and discount cards for restaurants, shops and theatres.
"In light of President Jacques Rogge's remarks and the importance of London 2012's commitment to working in close co-operation with the IOC, we feel it is in the best interests of the Olympic movement to withdraw the charters at this stage," a London statement said.
"The IOC President has made clear that all candidate cities need to avoid a bidding war in the race to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012."
London had also offered free accommodation and living expenses for technical delegates from international sporting federations to stay in London for up to a year to oversee preparations.
New York's bid team was cleared on Friday of any wrongdoing by the IOC over their offer of inducements at the meeting of sports federations in Berlin.
The IOC Ethics Commission ruled that the creation of an Olympic Sports Marketing Council was an integral part of New York's candidature file and that they had no case to answer.
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg had offered sports federations a chance to gain a foothold in the lucrative U.S. market as part of their pitch to win the Games along with free office space.
New York is bidding against London, Paris, Madrid and Moscow to stage the 2012 Games. The IOC will vote on the host city at its session in Singapore on July 6.
London and New York were the only two cities to announce major new initiatives to sports federations at the conference and although they were not accused of contravening any rules, the IOC asked them to clarify a number of issues.
Both teams said their proposals were accounted for in their official bid books submitted last year.
