Sebastian Coe insists the London 2012 Olympic stadium will remain the permanent home for British athletics even if it is nominated as a venue for England's 2018 football World Cup bid.

Coe also suggested UK Athletics could use the stadium as a centre-piece for a bid to host the 2015 World Championships.

The Olympic Stadium was today named as one of four stadia included by London in their application to be a host city for England's 2018 World Cup bid, with a decision on the venues to be made on December 16.

If England were to win the FIFA vote next year, plans to change the 80,000 seat capacity to 25,000 after the 2012 Games would have to be scrapped. Coe said the final decision on the stadium would be made by the Olympic Park Legacy Company but that it would always keep a running track.

Coe said: "There is no lack of clarity here - this is a stadium that has been designed for the primary purpose of track and field but not uniquely.

"So the flexibility is there and it's for the Olympic Park Legacy Company to decide effectively what the business case is for leaving it at any size.

"But what we do know is the commitment to leave a track and field facility within that stadium is rock solid, no-one is moving a millimetre off that.

"Whatever size it ultimately ends up as, track and field will play a strong part of that."

Coe said the stadium could be adapted for use in other major sports events if it made financial sense.

He added: "We have talked about the decade of sport, there is a [athletics] World Championships up for grabs with Daegu in 2011 and 2013 in Moscow.

"Beijing have thrown their hat into the ring for 2015 and it's not inconceivable that UK Athletics might look at this and think this is a potential opportunity.

"England are also hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2015, and there is potential for a football World Cup in 2018. These are all the things the legacy company will be factoring in."

Coe said the original design of the stadium to give flexibility in the final capacity was now paying off.

He said: "I don't think we should run ahead of ourselves too far, the [World Cup] bid is only in today and clearly there is a campaign still to be won.

"The beauty of the stadium is the flexibility of the design and we now recognise how essential that was."