London: DOW Chemical has agreed to remove all its branding from London's Olympic stadium, in a victory for campaigners furious at the US conglomerate's links to the deadly Bhopal gas disaster, a British newspaper reported on Sunday.
DOW said it was agreeing to the "vision" of the 2012 Games by waiving its sponsorship rights to place its brand on a controversial fabric wrap for the stadium.
However, its hopes of dampening the row received a blow - after the Sunday Express found it had been in talks with the Olympic Park Legacy Company about partnership deals in what will become the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park after the Games.
The Queen has close links with India and the park is being named for her Jubilee.
Dow was made a sponsor of London 2012 by Lord Coe's organising committee (Locog) in August.
Dow spokesman Scott Wheeler said, "The agreement between Dow and Locog was limited to branding of five 'test panels' that were to be removed in the months before the Games and were not part of the final design.
"In mid-summer, Locog and Dow discussed Dow deferring the rights to these five panels to allow free and full execution of the design as determined by Locog. Dow agreed to this to support Locog s and London 2012 s vision for the stadium wrap."
The Sunday Express reported that an unnamed artist now working on the wrap insisted on "artistic integrity", which meant not using Dow's logo.
Amid growing resentment over Dow Chemicals' association with the London Olympics, the Indian Olympic Association's Executive Board had decided last week to write a "strong" protest letter to the International Olympic Committee, seeking the removal of the company as a sponsor of the Games next year.
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