Credit crunch affecting Olympic plans

LONDON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The worldwide credit crunch is affecting the amount of living space that will be available for athletes at the 2012 London Olympics.

Planners are being forced to downsize the scale of accommodations in Olympic Park in order to stay within a $17.8 billion budget, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

The newspaper says the project has shrunk to two-thirds of its original size because private financing is disappearing. Instead of 4,200 apartments as planned, London's Olympic Park will contain 2,700 apartments with more than six people per three-bedroom unit.

The British Olympic Association could refuse to sign off on any material changes to London's venues, The Times says.

"We are looking carefully at the revised plans," Colin Moynihan, association chairman told The Times. "We need to ensure the commitments we made are undertaken."

During the bidding process, London organizers promised apartments that would provide a minimum of 140 square feet per athlete, a figure more than International Olympic Committee guidelines.