London 2012 may see the end of the global Olympic torch relay that has caused so much controversy in the build-up to the Beijing Games.

Although London 2012 organisers will not make a decision on the torch relay until well after the end of the Beijing Olympics, the IOC have suggested it could return to a relay that stays inside the country’s borders.

Denis Oswald, chairman of the IOC co-ordination commission for London, said he had not yet discussed a relay with Games organisers.

But he added: “We should not forget the traditional relay has been inside the country organising the Games. Athens was the first time there was an international relay and the Chinese decided to do the same. But that is the exception - normally it is just inside the country of the Games.”

There were angry protests in London, Paris and San Francisco when the Beijing torch arrived from pro-Tibet demonstrators, and IOC president Jacques Rogge admitted the controversy was a “crisis” for the Olympic movement.

Asked about a London international torch relay possibly being targeted by protesters, for example against having armed forces in Iraq, London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said no decisions on a relay had been taken.

During the bid, London had proposed a torch relay to highlight the Olympic Truce through a programme called the ’Heralds of Peace’, crossing through the countries of Nobel Peace Prize winners and then through the UK.

London 2012 chiefs insist that does not obligate them to hold such a relay and that a decisison will be taken after Beijing.