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London 2012

London 2012: The Olympic venues around the English capital

Join us on a tour of some of the venues you’ll get to know over the coming weeks.

THE ACTION AT the 2012 London Olympics, which open on Friday, will be focused on the Olympic Park in Stratford, east London.

Outside the capital, the football competitions will be held around Britain at Cardiff, Coventry, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle.

Slalom canoeing will take place north of the capital, with sprint canoeing and rowing to the west and mountain biking to the east. The sailing events take place at Weymouth and Portland on the southwest English coast.

Rebecca Naden/PA Archive/Press Association Images

OLYMPIC STADIUM

Capacity: 80,000

Sport: Athletics (plus opening and closing ceremonies)

Venue: New, permanent

- Unlike Beijing’s Bird’s Nest, the showpiece stadium, costing £486 million (€600m), has a simpler design, drawn up with a view to scaling it down after the Games. The steel and concrete upper tier can be dismantled, leaving a 25,000-seater sunken bowl. Construction was completed under budget in March 2011. The process of selling the stadium collapsed. Bids are now open for a 99-year lease.

AQUATICS CENTRE

Capacity: 17,500

Sports: Diving, Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Modern Pentathlon

Venue: New, permanent

Location: Olympic Park

Designed by the architect Zaha Hadid, the £269m centre has a 160-metre-long (525-foot-long) long wave-like roof. It contains a 50-metre competition pool, a diving pool, and a warm-up pool. One of the few Olympic-sized pools in Britain, it will be scaled back to 2,500 seats after the Games. Paralympian Ellie Simmonds set the venue’s first world record at the British Swimming Championships.

RIVERBANK ARENA

Capacity: 15,000

Sport: Hockey

Venue: New, temporary

Location: Olympic Park

The blue and pink pitches are intended to provide better contrast with the yellow ball. After the Games, the hockey centre will move to a 3,000-seater facility north of the park that can be extended to 15,000 for major events. Has already staged an international test event.

Rebecca Naden/PA Archive/Press Association Images

BASKETBALL ARENA

Capacity: 12,000

Sports: Basketball, Handball finals

Venue: New, temporary

Location: Olympic Park

The fourth-largest venue on the park and one of the largest-ever temporary venues built for any Games. Construction completed within the £43 million budget in June 2011. The frame of 20 steel arches has been wrapped in fabric to form the canvas for an innovative lighting display. After the Olympics, parts of it are expected to be reused or relocated elsewhere in Britain.

COPPER BOX

Capacity: 6,500

Sports: Handball, Modern Pentathlon (fencing)

Venue: New, permanent

Location: Olympic Park

The distinctive, £43m copper-clad arena will host the early handball rounds. The copper will develop a rich colour as it ages. After the Games, it will be converted into a multi-purpose indoor sports centre for community use. It has retractable seating.

Sang Tan/AP/Press Association Images

VELODROME

Capacity: 6,000

Sport: Track Cycling

Venue: New, permanent

Location: Olympic Park

The lower tier has 3,500 seats, with two upper tiers under the curved roof. A glass wall will allow people to watch the action from outside. Costing £93 million and clad in cedar, it was completed in February 2011 and held a leg of the Track Cycling World Cup in February this year. It was nominated for the 2011 Stirling Prize, Britain’s most prestigious architecture award.

BMX TRACK

Capacity: 6,000

Sport: BMX Cycling

Venue: New, permanent

Location: Olympic Park

The track is 450 metres long and features an eight-metre high ramp at the start, with jumps, bumps and tightly-banked corners. Construction took six months. After the Games, the seating will be removed and the track reconfigured to make it suitable for non-experts, and joined by a new road cycle circuit and a mountain bike course.

WATER POLO ARENA

Capacity: 5,000

Sport: Water Polo

Venue: New, temporary

Location: Olympic Park

Construction was completed in April. The wedge-shaped venue is covered in a silver-coloured wrap and its sloping roof made from air-inflated plastic cushions. It features a warm-up pool inside. The arena will be taken down after the Games and parts of it are expected to be reused within Britain.

Venues around London

ALL-ENGLAND LAWN TENNIS AND CROQUET CLUB

Capacity: 30,000

Sport: Tennis

Venue: Existing, permanent

Location: Wimbledon, southwest London

The home of the Wimbledon championships will host the entire tennis tournament. Centre Court, dating back to 1922, has a 15,000-seater capacity and a retractable roof, enabling play during rain or bad light. Court One can host 11,500 spectators. The club hosted the 1908 Olympics at its pre-1922 venue.

GREENWICH PARK

Capacity: 23,000

Sports: Equestrian, Modern Pentathlon

Venue: New, temporary

Location: Greenwich, southeast London

The dressage area is in front of the picturesque Queen’s House, on a platform to counter the slope of the park. The 5.7-kilometre cross-country course looks out over the River Thames and the city, and the course jumps have been planned to maximise views of the backdrops on television.

NORTH GREENWICH ARENA

Capacity: 20,000

Sports: Gymnastics (Artistic, Trampoline), Basketball finals

Venue: Existing, permanent

Location: Greenwich, southeast London

Once known as the Millennium Dome, this arena cost £789 million to build but lay idle for years after the Millennium Experience exhibition in 2000. Eventually taken into private hands, it was transformed into a highly successful sports and entertainment arena with shops, restaurants a nightclub and a cinema. The main arena will seat 16,500 for the gymnastics, with the full capacity for the basketball finals. It has hosted sell-out NBA exhibition games and the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Sang Tan/AP/Press Association Images

HORSE GUARDS PARADE

Capacity: 15,000

Sport: Beach Volleyball

Venue: New, temporary

Location: Westminster, central London

One of the most spectacular locations, the military parade ground is situated at the heart of British political power, flanked by buildings such as Downing Street and the Foreign Office. It will be covered with 5,000 tonnes of sand from a quarry south of London.

EARLS COURT EXHIBITION CENTRE

Capacity: 15,000

Sport: Volleyball

Venue: Existing, permanent

Location: Earls Court, central London

Opened in 1937, the Earls Court exhibition centre hosted some of the boxing, gymnastics, weightlifting and wrestling at the 1948 Games. One of London’s biggest indoor venues, it has hosted many major concerts. Earls Court is well used to staging a broad variety of exhibitions and events.

ExCeL

Capacity: 4,000 to 10,000 depending on event

Sports: Boxing, Fencing, Judo, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Weightlifting, Wrestling

Venue: Existing, permanent

Location: Royal Victoria Dock, east London

Five arenas will be created in the Exhibition Centre London, an enormous grey rectangular box on the edge of the semi-derelict dock. The venue has two long exhibition halls of 32,250 square metres each. ExCeL is used to rejigging its space to host major events, including the 2009 G20 summit and the British Motor Show. It has already held several test events.

Dominic Lipinski/PA Archive/Press Association Images

ROYAL ARTILLERY BARRACKS

Capacity: 7,500

Sport: Shooting

Venue: New, temporary

Location: Woolwich, southeast London

Though the fitting location dates back to 1716, the three temporary indoor ranges could not be more modern and are perhaps the most striking competition venues. They are surrounded by white plastic membranes with coloured holes for light, access and ventilation. After the Games, they will be dismantled and possibly reused elsewhere.

LORD’S CRICKET GROUND

Capacity: 6,500

Sport: Archery

Venue: Existing, permanent

Location: St John’s Wood, northwest London

The home of cricket, Lord’s is part of the organisers’ plan to use London’s iconic existing sites. Archers will fire directly over the wicket, between the famous pavilion and the futuristic media centre. Temporary stands will be erected on the hallowed turf, forming a corridor down which competitors will shoot. Their weight is spread out to protect the outfield. England play South Africa at Lord’s two weeks later. New turf is being grown in preparation.

WEMBLEY ARENA

Capacity: 6,000

Sports: Badminton, Rhythmic Gymnastics

Venue: Existing, permanent

Location: Wembley, northwest London

The concert venue, next to Wembley Stadium, was built for the 1934 Empire Games swimming events. It has hosted sports such as boxing, ice hockey, snooker and the Horse of the Year Show. The 2011 Badminton World Championships served as a test event.

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HYDE PARK

Capacity: 3,000; open access

Sports: Triathlon, Marathon Swimming (10 kilometres)

Venue: New, temporary

Location: Central London

The swimming takes place in the Serpentine lake, while the running takes place in the wider park and the cycling branches out to Buckingham Palace and back and is open to the general public. The grandstand will be dismantled after the Games. Celebration concerts with an 80,000 capacity will take place in the park to coincide with the opening and closing ceremonies.

- © AFP, 2012

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