Although the Olympic Stadium will have a full capacity of 80,000 during the Games, the venue has been designed so it can be dramatically reduced in capacity meaning that it will cost far less to maintain.

Since the beginning of the construction of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, there has been increasing speculation as to what the stadium will be used for post-2012.

Some sports that have so-far been mooted to fill the Stadium after the London Olympic and Paralympic Games are football, Twenty20 cricket and rugby along with athletics, which London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe has promised will be its main legacy.

But while London 2012 chiefs would not speculate on what the future will bring for the venue, they claim that the revolutionary design would ensure the Stadium would not become a "White Elephant" like other sporting venues have done in the past.

Higgins said: "The beauty of the design of the Olympic Stadium is that it is so versatile.

"It can stay at 80,000 - which will be its capacity during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games - or it can be reduced to 55,000 or to 35,000 while still maintaining its iconic design.

"Regardless what the Stadium will be used for - and everyone has their own opinions of what they would like to see there - it is intelligently designed to cope with whatever eventuality should be decided for it."

With regards to the Olympic Stadium being used to host World Cup football in 2018, Higgins said: "That is definitely a possibility that the Stadium could cope with but England have to win the World Cup bid first before we can start speculating."

Deighton echoed Higgins’ sentiments regarding the Stadium and told insidethegames: "From our point of view the critical thing is that the Stadium is a very active and versatile venue that can be put to a variety of uses.

"The Stadium and indeed whole Olympic Park itself, is a real attraction.

"It will be so during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and will remain so for many, many years to come."

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