British prime minister John Major dodged going to the Atlanta 1996 Olympics to stay in London and watch cricket instead, newly declassified files showed Tuesday.

Major weighed up the pros and cons of going to the Games, with his advisors pushing him to attend, insisting he had "street cred" in sport and it would make for great pictures of him in "relaxed, jacket-off mode".

But the cricket-loving premier stuck to his guns and missed seeing Britain's only gold medal - to watch England lose to Pakistan instead in the first Test at Lord's.

The files were released after 23 years in the vaults at the National Archives. Major seemed keen on Atlanta when the idea was raised in February 1996 and flight plans were drawn up.

In a memo to Major on June 7, his private secretary Rachael Reynolds said she understood he was thinking of going to Lord's rather than Atlanta and "it would be a pity" if he missed the Olympics.

The adviser told him US president Bill Clinton, South African president Nelson Mandela and French president Jacques Chirac were all going, and "even the King of Finland is turning up!"