Warning over 2012 'bid war'

Olympic chief Jacques Rogge today warned London and its four rivals for the 2012 Olympics against any vote-grabbing stunts in the final 11 weeks of campaigning.

His comments came as London 2012 chiefs faced a probe from the International Olympic Committee's ethics commission after revealing a £15million package of incentives to athletes and sports federations to bring the Games to the capital.

Rogge said any city which announced a fundamental change to the details of its "bid books" submitted last November would be told to withdraw it.

The IOC president said: "We want a fair system for the cities and the IOC. We don't want a bidding war. The IOC want to keep a level playing field."

Talking about new announcements by London and New York at a meeting of leading sports officials in Berlin this week, Rogge said: "It would have been wiser to inform us before."

The IOC introduced strict rules on bidding cities after a major corruption scandal in 1999 when 10 IOC members were forced out of the organisation for accepting gifts and favours from Salt Lake City when it was bidding for the 2002 Winter Games.

Rogge said: "All of a sudden people start throwing money through the windows. We are coming from a period of excess and red carpet treatment. We don't want a repeat of that."

London 2012 officials say they are comfortable that their proposals in a series of charters launched this week could not be regarded as fundamental changes.