2012 Olympic chiefs play-down demolition reports

…a spokesman for London Mayor Boris Johnson said Johnson was “not aware of any plans to demolish the stadium”.

He added that the mayor remained committed to finding a viable, long-term use for all the permanent Olympic venues and wanted “athletics to be part of that legacy”.

A spokesman for the LDA said “no stone had been left unturned” in exploring all the options for the Olympic venues and the drawing up of a range of possible scenarios was part and parcel of the legacy planning process.

A source close to the process told BBC Sport the leaked demolition plan was simply one of “more than 10″ options currently on the table. He also strongly hinted it was the most radical – and least likely – of those choices.

The favourite option remains converting the 80,000-capacity venue into a 25,000-seat stadium with an athletics track and at least one “anchor tenant”, a football or rugby team capable of filling the venue on a regular basis.

A guaranteed revenue stream is crucial to the venue’s future as no local or national authority wants to be responsible for the upkeep of a rarely used athletics centre – all interested parties are desperate to avoid the mistakes of previous Olympic hosts and their expensive “white elephants”.

The LDA has been actively looking for an anchor tenant for over two years and is currently talking to League One club Leyton Orient, the Rugby Football League and UK Athletics, and is widely believed to have also put out feelers to rugby union sides Saracens and Wasps.

Initial talks with West Ham United about a move to Stratford collapsed early on over the issue of the athletics track and its use for international events, and Tottenham Hotspur, the other Premier League side close enough to be a realistic candidate, appear to favour redeveloping their current home.