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London Olympic Games chief Sebastian Coe rejected suggestions that public spending cuts could jeopardise funding for the 2012 Olympic Games.

The financial crisis earlier this year has put the government under huge pressure to implement public sector cutbacks after billions of pounds were spent bailing out the troubled banking sector.

But Coe, chairman of the London Olympics Organising Committee, insisted expenditure on the Games will not be reduced.

"The budgets are set so stories that the Olympics might suffer from cuts in public spending are inaccurate," said Coe.

"The budget for the infrastructure is set, remains in place and is resilient. The budget for staging has nothing to do with public spending. We have to raise every penny we spend from the private sector,

"We've got our partners and sponsors in place so it really doesn't impact on us at all,

"So far we've raised more money than any host city has ever raised - just over half a billion pounds," added the 52-year-old former athlete who won gold medals at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.

AFP