Source: www.insidethegames.biz

By Tom Degun

Jeremy Hunt (pictured), the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, has admitted that he was "very puzzled" by the row that developed between the British Olympic Association (BOA) and London 2012 regarding surplus from the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The BOA are due 20 per cent of any surplus after the Games but are claiming the cost of staging the Paralympics should not be taken into account when calculating that surplus.

The organisation last week announced that they have temporarily suspended their decision to take the row to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and have decided to reopen talks with London 2012 and while Hunt is confident that an amicable solution to the dispute will be found, he stated that he found the BOA's actions rather perplexing.

"I was very puzzled by what has happened [between the BOA and London 2012]," Hunt told insidethegames.

"This was not the right argument for us to be having so close to having the London 2012 Games.

"However I am confident that we're working our way through a solution on this and I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to go back to business as normal in the near future.

"So its fingers crossed."

Hunt, who was formerly Shadow Minister for Disabled People, met with London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe yesterday to discuss the issue.

"The Paralympics means an awful lot to me," Coe told insidethegames.

"I never ever thought of myself going uniquely to win a bid to win an Olympic Games back [at the International Olympic Committee Session] in Singapore in 2005.

"I saw the legacy value of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in equal measure and I continue to see just that."