West Ham United's hopes of moving to the Olympic stadium have been dealt a blow.

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell insists the venue's primary purpose will be to host grand prix athletics.

David Gold and David Sullivan completed a takeover of the Barclays Premier League strugglers last month and immediately set about looking at ways to improve the financially perilous state of the club.

The main policy of the duo's bid to rescue the Hammers was to leave Upton Park and move to the capital's 80,000 capacity Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

Officials insist that the Games must leave a legacy to athletics in East London and are adamant that grand prix meetings will be held at the stadium.

That could prove a stumbling block for Sullivan and Gold, who would prefer to host matches without having an athletics track around the pitch.

''Let's be clear about this. It will be a grand prix athletics stadium because we need one,'' said Jowell.

''We have made that commitment, that was one of the reasons that we bid to win the Games and so that is a given.''