PICURE SPECIAL: London 2012 is shaping up as Olympic Games stand by for ticket rush

Blackleaf

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On the day that's it's been revealed that one million Brits have signed up for the 2012 London Olympics, cameras have been invited into the Olympic Village to see how construction is getting on.

The 80,000 capacity Olympic Stadium, in the Lower Lea Valley in Stratford, east London, is due for completion next year, but work on it has progressed so far that it won't be too suprising if it's completed this year.

Several sports teams and organisations have made it known that they are interested in making the London Olympic Stadium their new home after the Olympics, including the east London football teams West Ham United and Leyton Orient; the London Wasps and Saracens rugby union teams; the London Skolars rugby league team; and the the Kent, Middlesex and Sussex county cricket clubs.

England is also bidding to host either the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the bid team has expressed serious interest in using it as a football venue if England's bid is successful.

There is even talk of London getting its own NFL team, which could be based at the Olympic Stadium.

Great progress has also been made on the 17,500 capacity London Aquatics Centre, which will host swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo.

Many of London's traditional landmarks will also host events. The 265 year old Horse Guards Parade, which hosts the annual Trooping of the Colour, will host beach volleyball; Hyde Park will host the Triathlon and the 10k Open Water Swim; Regent's Park will host road cycling; the Royal Artillery Barracks will host shooting, paralympic shooting and paralympic archery; Lord's Cricket Ground will host archery; the O2 Arena(formerly the Millennium Dome) will host artistic gymnastics, trampoline, and the basketball and wheelchair basketball finals (there is also a Basketball Arena); Greenwich Park will host jumping, dressage and eventing, paralympic equestrian and the modern pentathlon, and, of course, Wembley and Wimbledon will host football and tennis respectively.

There are also several venues outside of London, such as Hadleigh Farm, Essex, which will host mountain biking; and Weymouth and Portland, Dorset, which will host sailing and Paralympic sailing.

When London hosts the 30th Olympiad it will become the first city in the world to host the summer Olympics three times, having previously held them in 1908 and 1948.

The 2012 Games will run from 27th July to 12th August, and the Pralympics from 29th August to 9th September.

There are 821 days to the starts of the London Olympics, and 854 to the start of the London Paralympics.

London beat its near neighbour and centuries-old rival Paris in the final of voting in 2005.

PICURE SPECIAL: London 2012 is shaping up as Olympic Games stand by for ticket rush



By Sportsmail Reporter
28th April 2010
Daily Mail


How the London Olympic Stadium will look. In 2012 London will host the Summer Olympics for a record third time.

Sportsmail was given unprecedented access to the London 2012 Olympic Park yesterday, on the day Lord Coe revealed that more than one million people in Britain have signed up for tickets.

Andy Hooper stood on the roof of the velodrome to take the first of a series of exclusive pictures (below) - the main stadium with the Canary Wharf skyscrapers in the background.

In the second picture below, a lone workman in the foreground puts the size of the vast Olympic bowl into perspective, while high above him work has begun on the roof, where green safety netting protects the workforce.


Building works: The Olympic Stadium (above and below) in Stratford



Below is a unique view of the aquatics centre, with cranes and the Olympic stadium reflected in the still water.

The pool had to be filled to obtain its safety certificate, but in the next day or two it will be drained and scaffolding erected to allow work to start on the ceiling and seating.


Water sight: A view of the Olympic Stadium from the aquatics pool (above) and a shot of the curved roof of the Aquatics Centre itself (below)




How the Aquatuics Centre will look


Taking shape: Cranes soar above the Athletes' Village (above) and a workman on the velodrome roof with view of the basketball stadium behind (below)




How the 12-000 seater Basketball Arena will look. Handball will also be played there. The basketball final, though, will be held at the 02 Arena.


How the Olympic Village will look


Very British: Horse Guards Parade will be a picturesque setting for the beach volleyball

dailymail.co.uk
 
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