The London 2012 Olympic Stadium has had its athletics track laid, ten months prior to the Olympic Games. The commercial property in London has taken roughly four years to build and will come to life in July 2012. The Olympic Stadium will host both the Olympic and Paralympic Games opening and closing ceremonies.
The track that has been laid at the commercial property is similar to the track that was used in Beijing 2008 and is made of synthetic rubber. The track is designed to make athletes run faster and this was proved in Beijing when five world records were set on the track in 2008.
Hannah England, a British 1500 metre runner had the privilege of testing out the track and expressed, “I think this is going to be a fast track. This is the type of track you see world records broken on and hopefully we’ll get some of those next year.”
“I think the track is amazing and you don’t get any better than these facilities and I think the British crowd are going to be amazing also, so hopefully we can put on a really good show,” Hannah added.
Chris Tomlinson, long jumper and Dan Greaves, Paralympic discus thrower joined Hannah along with local schoolchildren.
The Olympic Stadium is one of the Olympic commercial properties that will not be demolished after the games. The stadium, which can hold 80,000 people will form part of the Olympic legacy and will become a community venue for athletics, sport and cultural events.
Lord Sebastian Coe, London 2012 chairman stated, “People can get a glimpse of how it will look in less than 10 months’ time when we welcome the world’s athletes to London.”
“There is still a lot of work to do on the stadium but seeing some of our top British athletes on the track with local schoolchildren really underlines the stadium’s potential for 2012 and beyond,” Lord Coe added
John Armitt, Olympic Delivery Authority Chairman agreed with Lord Coe, “Watching athletes and children run around the Olympic Stadium’s track 10 months before the London 2012 Games highlights just how much has been achieved over the last four years.”
The Olympic Stadium will host 208 events during the Olympic Games. The commercial property was built with a reduce, reuse and recycle attitude towards sustainability. The structure consists of a metal which is 75 per cent lighter than steel and also features low-carbon concrete, which has 40 per cent less embodied carbon that normal concrete. The top of the stadium also uses gas pipes which were going spare.
Facilities at the commercial property include:
The Olympic Games runs from 27 July to12 August 2012 and the Paralympic Games runs from 29 August 9 September 2012.
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