John Mehaffey (Reuters)
30 March 2000 - Secretary of State for Sport Chris Smith will help Britain present its bid for the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Paris on Monday.
Smith and UK Athletics chief executive David Moorcroft will ask the International Amateur Athletic Federation's council to award both the 2003 World Indoor Championships and the 2005 outdoor World Championships to Britain.
Birmingham in central England is bidding against Budapest to stage the 2003 indoor championships while the Lee Valley Stadium in north-east London, which is yet to be built, has been designated as the venue for the 2005 outdoor championships.
"The government is fully behind UK Athletics' bid to host the 2003 IAAF world indoor championships and the 2005 world athletics championships," Smith said in a statement on Thursday.
"The government will continue to work closely with UK Athletics to put the best possible case to the IAAF on Monday."
Moorcroft told a news conference on Thursday the Lee Valley area in north London had been chosen last Friday as the prospective venue.
Other possible sites after Smith ruled out staging athletics at the rebuilt Wembley stadium had included Twickenham, home of English rugby, and Crystal Palace, where major London athletics meetings are presently held.
The Lee Valley stadium, estimated to cost 57 million pounds sterling ($90 million), will form part of 10-year regeneration programme for the area.
Britain is the only candidate for the 2005 championships although Perth, Australia, and Berlin have also expressed an interest in hosting the world's third biggest sporting event after the Olympic Games and the World Cup.
The IAAF council starts its two-day meeting on Sunday but the decision on the 2003 and 2005 is the sixth item on the nine point agenda and will be considered on Monday.