LONDON, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- London Olympics organizing committee (LOCOG) has achieved agreement in principle with badminton and rhythmic gymnastics authority to move the two sports to Wembley at the 2012 Games, confirmed IOC member Denis Oswald here on Thursday.

    Oswald, chaired the Coordination Commission for the 2012 London Olympic Games, finished the fifth meeting in London with an intense two-day schedule.

    Talking about the proposal of using the existing Wembley venue in west London for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics, Oswald said, "I can tell you that they have achieved agreement in principle with the two federations, still need to formalized but without doubt the questions will be finally resolved in the coming weeks."

    The two sports had originally been planned to be located in a temporary venue in North Greenwich but organizers changed their minds later as they want to scrap the plan so as to save some money.

    "The two federations have been very cooperative. They understand that facing the current economic situation, it will be wise to look for a cheaper solution," added Oswald.

    "They of course take care of the interest of the athletes. For them it's important that the time between the village and the venue is not too long. And it's also important that they have some facilities very close to the venue where the athletes could stay for the days of competition."

    Earlier October, Oswald urged LOCOG to confirmed venues for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics as soon as possible while LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe made report at the 121st IOC session in Copenhagen, Denmark.

    Oswald confirmed the IOC will discuss the agreement in the Executive Board meeting in December, but the federations run by democratic process possibly need more time to get the back of the their boards.

    "But I'm sure in the first two months of 2010, everything will be finalized," said Oswald.

    After hearing the advances made by LOCOG, Oswald said the commission "realized that a lot of work have been done since we were here last time. This is very positive that we started feeling the Games taking shape."

IOC agrees to London 2012 venues change

    LONDON, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The International Olympic Committee has agreed to scrap plans for a new temporary venue near the London Olympic Park and will stage badminton and rhythmic gymnastics in an existing venue.

    London 2012 organizers proposed switching venues to keep costs down and have both events at Wembley Arena amid the global economic recession.   Full story