LONDON 2012: Coe relaxed about Euro athletics scheduling

LONDON 2012 chairman Seb Coe has backed the decision to stage the European Athletics Championships biennially- even though the next event will finish just 26 days before the start of the Olympics.

OPINION: Seb Coe, pictured with IAAF president Lamine Diack, insists a European Championship every two years is a good thing - even though the next event will be staged just a few weeks before the 2012 Olympics, meaning many top names won't compete (Getty Images)

Great Britain head coach Charles Van Commenee has already stated he does not expect to send a track team to Helsinki - with the Aviva UK Championships, which will double as the Olympic Trials, taking priority.

It means Jess Ennis, Dai Greene, Andy Turner, Phillips Idowu and Mo Farah are all unlikely to defend the titles they won in Barcelona.

Coe, a vice-president of the IAAF and tipped as a potential successor to current president Lamine Diack, also raised eyebrows by claiming the World Championships - which since 1991 have been staged every two years - should be held only once in an Olympic cycle, an idea unlikely to go down well at the cash-strapped world governing body.

Asked about the next European Championships, Coe said: ‘It makes life a little more complicated but I don't think we should get too excited about it - it happens occasionally.

"I've always believed that if we were restructuring this again we would have had the continental championship every two years and the world championships only once every four years."

Only three of European Athletics' 50 member federations voted against staging their showpiece championships every two years when it was put to the vote last year.

Hansjorg Wirz, the president of the EAA, insists his organisation must double the frequency of their event to survive.

"A highlight to our European calendar every fourth year is not enough. No movement can live without tradition but we have to adapt. Our product needs more exposure," he said.