London organisers are set to try to persuade badminton and rhythmic gymnastics to use Wembley Arena as their home for the 2012 Olympics.
Efforts to get boxing to move to Wembley from the ExCel arena have failed and it is understood organisers will now ask badminton and rhythmic gymnastics instead to consider the venue switch and remove the need to build a £40 million temporary arena in north Greenwich.
A meeting of the Olympic Board on Thursday decided to explore four options as possible venues for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics. Two are existing venues and two temporary arenas that would be pulled down after the Games.
One of them is Wembley and another is the temporary venue called North Greenwich Arena 2 originally planned by the London organis ing committee (LOCOG) - though given the £40 million cost this looks unlikely.
LOCOG said in a statement: "There was a discussion to seek to resolve the outstanding venue location for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics. The board has agreed to a piece of work that explores in more detail the options for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics and we expect a final decision to be made in the coming weeks.
"The decision will be guided by three priorities - value for the public, legacy for communities, the experience for athletes and spectators."
Boxing chiefs had said travel times from the Olympic Park to Wembley were excessive. Organisers will argue that the issue will not be the same for gymnasts and badminton players because they would not need to make the same number of journeys - boxers would have to make regular trips for weigh-ins.
Meanwhile, IOC president Jacques Rogge believes the race to succeed London as Olympic host city could go down to just two votes in one of the tightest ever contests.
Chicago and Rio de Janeiro are favourites to win the 2016 contest on October 2 ahead of Madrid and Tokyo.
Rogge said: "I can make a bet today and think it's going to be a couple of votes, two, three or four.
"It's going to be very close but don't judge me - don't forget that something like four, five votes is a change of mind of just two or three people."
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