LODNON — Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt and other overseas athletes will be able to compete tax-free in this year’s London Diamond League event at the Olympic Stadium after the British Finance minister agreed to a “one-off” exemption.
Daily Telegraph
Jamaican Bolt, who won three golds at last year’s London Games, had not previously raced in the United Kingdom since 2009 because of tax rules which would have left him out of pocket.
“The government is determined to do everything possible to secure the Olympic legacy and I am delighted to grant this exemption,” Finance minister George Osborne was quoted as saying in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.
The London meeting, switched from its traditional Crystal Palace home to the Olympic Stadium to mark the first anniversary of the Games on July 27, is expected to be a 80 000 sellout and would have been damaged by the absence of athletes such as Bolt.
