Support for a bid to bring the Olympics to London in 2012 may be growing but any decision is still some way off.

Australia's Olympic hero Cathy Freeman has said she would support such a proposal and the head of Sydney's successful Olympic campaign, John Coates, has also offered the throw his weight behind it.

However the prospect of the Olympics returning to Britain is not only a dream at the moment, it is in danger of being strangled by red tape.

It could be months before a decision is made and even then not everyone is convinced.

Stadium fiasco

The British Olympic Association put together a discussion document on the issue more than three years ago and a working group has now been set up to discuss the idea further.

But a spokesman said many questions still had to be answered before they could think about going forward.

Even then, he said if one member of the working group decided to pull out, the whole deal would inevitably collapse.

It is not surprising then that some are sceptical that Britain could even put together a campaign, let alone a successful one.

You only need to look at the national stadium fiasco to realise that Britain is a country which needs to get its sporting act together.

BBC commentator Stuart Storey, while keen to see an Olympics come to Britain, agrees.

"Sport in the UK is far too fragmented," said Storey.

"With Sport England, Sport UK and the BOA, there are far too many parts to make a viable whole.

In the past we've had failures with the Academy of Sport, Wembley, the Dome. We don't have too much credibility around the world.

"What we couldn't get in all these situations, including the World Athletics Championships bid for 2004, is consensus.

"We should have been focussing the World Athletics bid around creating a stadium which could have been used for an Olympics but the BOA couldn't agree with Sport England or UK Athletics. There is never agreement."

Storey believes there is too much unnecessary Government interference in sport and argues the case for a Minister of Sport with real power.

He also says the Prime Minister needs to be decisive and support wholeheartedly any proposed bid or else it is bound to fail.

Monumental effort

Storey said: "Just look at Wembley we just cannot get it together - it is logically possible but unfortunately we have proved ourselves to be inept.

"I really fear we may never ever see the Olympic Games again in the UK, I just can't see it happening in my lifetime."

David Moorcroft, the chief executive of UK Athletics, agrees that a unified approach is the key.

"It would involve a monumental effort but if we did it well and all factions of society got together and supported it, like they did in Sydney, then the positives would certainly outweigh any negatives."

"The National stadium issue is the type of thing that we must learn from if we are to have a successful Olympic bid," said Moorcroft.