The London 2012 stadium must be used for athletics after the Games to fulfil promises made in the bid, according to former Olympics minister Tessa Jowell.Premier League football clubs Tottenham and West Ham are vying to move to the site in east London with the latter pledging to retain the running track.
Spurs have stated that they intend to rebuild the stadium without the track.
Labour minister Jowell told BBC Sport: "If we broke that promise [to keep the track] it would be a very bad thing."
Having a football club as the main anchor tenant of the Olympic stadium is not Jowell's first choice, but of the bids on the table, she would back the Hammers over Spurs.
"Newham Council, together with West Ham commits to keep the athletics track, commits to external community involvement and is apparently commercially viable with partners Essex County Cricket Club and [entertainment provider] Live Nation.
"Therefore, they meet the five tests that we applied for the legacy use of the stadium, to the commitments we made in the bid book and the heavy commitment to community engagement."
When asked how it reflect on the bid, and Britain as a whole, if the athletics legacy was not kept at the stadium, Jowell simply said: "Badly.
Not to be rude to athletics fans but your sport just isn't profitable and enough has been spent on the Olympics already so if Spurs are more profitable then the runners of the nation will just have to make do with Crystal Palace
Ben
"I had to pull Britain out of hosting the athletics World Championships in 2005 [at Picketts Lock] because we didn't have a suitable stadium and we couldn't afford to build a stadium in time.
"When we set about bidding for the Olympics, at the very heart of that was putting that right and making amends to athletes in this country and around the world by saying part of our legacy will be a world class stadium that can host world class athletics events.
"When we made that commitment in the bid book they were carefully considered commitments that were in the interests of sport in this country.
"They were also persuasive in winning the bid for London 2012 so they can't be taken or set aside lightly."
The Hammers' proposal of retaining the running track but reducing the capacity of the stadium from 80,000 to 60,000, which had looked a more legacy-friendly option,
came in for heavy criticism on Wednesday.
Former British Olympic Association chief executive Simon Clegg said it was not compatible to have football and track and field athletics in the same stadium in this country.
However, while he prefers
Tottenham's bid,
Clegg believes that rather than offering to redevelop the National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace, Spurs should be focused on providing a sustainable athletics legacy in east London.
A group of former British Olympians, including double gold medallists Dame Kelly Holmes and Daley Thompson, are against the north London club's proposal to get rid of the track,
writing in an open letter: "We urge the decision makers to ensure the track remains post 2012."
UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee also warned: "If London doesn't have a stadium where we can organise major championships in athletics, that puts you in a category in Europe that I can't even think of."
The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) has a board meeting on Friday, 28 January when it is expected to decide on its preferred bidder.
Its recommendation then has to be ratified by two government departments - the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department of Communities and Local Government - and the London Mayor's office.
Source: BBC Sport
Source: BBC Sport