Iran has sent a letter to Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, outlining its plans to boycott the 2012 London Olympics because, they claim, the logo of games secretly spells the word “Zion”. The letter claims that the logo, unveiled four years ago, undermined Olympic values by being racist, and must be altered in order to avoid the boycott.

The logo appears is made up of four parts which London officials say clearly shows four digits stacked on top of each other to make up “2012”.

The London Olympic organizing committee said in a statement that: “the London 2012 logo represents the year 2012, nothing else. It was launched in 2007 following testing and consultation. We are surprised that this complaint has been made now.”

The International Olympic Committee said it backed London’s position.