Greek IOC member Lambis Nikolaou has denied he made a mistake in voting for the Olympics that might have helped London win the 2012 Games.

“All this speculation surrounding my role in the third round of voting for the 2012 candidates is totally unfounded,” Nikoalou, vice president of the Greek Olympic Committee, said in a statement yesterday.

Senior Olympic official Alex Gilady said last week that Nikolaou mistakenly voted for Paris rather than Madrid during the 6 July ballot in Singapore – tipping the balance toward London.

Paris received 33 votes to Madrid’s 31 in the third round, eliminating the Spanish capital. Moscow and New York were eliminated in the first two rounds. Had Madrid gotten the vote rather than Paris, the cities would have tied with 32 each, seven fewer than London, and entered a tiebreaker. London beat Paris 54-50 in the final round.

Gilady, an Israeli and member of the London 2012 Coordination Commission, described his claim as a “very serious assumption.”