Britain's track athletes will not participate in the opening ceremony of next year's London Olympics. Spectators paying up to 2,012 pounds will be denied the chance of seeing athletes like of Paula Radcliffe, Jessica Ennis and Phillips Idowu on July 27 because chief coach Charles van Commenee, has decided to keep the 80-plus squad at training camps in Portugal and France, the Daily Mail reports.

The paper quoted Niels de Vos, chief executive of UK Athletics, as saying: "It's not a snub. It's just the way we always do things in athletics. Our athletes weren't there in Beijing either.

De Vos denied any row with the British Olympic Association, saying: "The principle of the BOA is athletes first and foremost and they wouldn't want them to do anything that jeopardised performance."It has reportedly been planned that the athletes would arrive two days before their competitions begin.