The £7m curtain, which has been dropped as part of the savings outlined in the coalition government's spending review, would measure 20m high and 0.9km long.

Despite Olympic organisers deeming the decision a "sensible" one, radio station Absolute has submitted plans to the Olympic organising committee and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in a bid to rescue the project.

It plans to fund it by covering it with 700,000 Facebook profile pictures and charging participants £10 for the privilege.

Each photo, submitted via Facebook, would measure 19cm by 13cm, equal to that of a DVD case.
However, a source close to the project has since referred to the move as a "bit of a stunt".

"No-one would be allowed to do this as all the materials need to have an Olympic theme and no firms who aren’t Olympic sponsors will be able to hijack the event for guerrilla branding like this," said the source.