LONDON | 2012 Olympics Park Development News

[PortoNuts]

[PortoNuts]

Interior of the Basketball Arena.

[Steel City Suburb]

The basketball arenas not had much coverage really, its brilliant.

[PortoNuts]

Handball Arena





http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePat...av=pr145872617

[kiligoland]

Originally Posted by PortoNuts

Interior of the Basketball Arena.

cool

[RobH]

Originally Posted by Steel City Suburb

The basketball arenas not had much coverage really, its brilliant.

Well, it's an entirely temporary "box-like" venue and right next to the superbly brilliant velodrome.

It works, and looks like it'll offer great views, but it's not one of the talking points right now. I hope when we see it lit up in 2012 it will surprise a few people who are less aware of this venue though. We've already had a glimpse of the lighting scheme:

From November last year, they lit up a few panels:

[R.K.Teck]

Mmm.... if only I had access to a map showing the perimeter of the Olympic park!!

PS, the basketball arena seating is suitably steep enough to create an atmosphere and half!, Plus the seating colours are perfect - Black and Tangarine!

[PortoNuts]

Aquatics Centre

From Andy Miah on Flickr:

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[jerseyboi]

Fanstatic tour of the Olympic site here>

http://toursfromabove.com/aerial-pho...-construction/

[essjaybee]

Originally Posted by jerseyboi

Fanstatic tour of the Olympic site here>

http://toursfromabove.com/aerial-pho...-construction/

Damn - Just lost an hour of my evening looking at that

[PortoNuts]

Olympic velodrome threatens to give London games a good name

There is so much noise surrounding other permanent facilities that the success of the velodrome is in danger of being overlooked.


velodrome The London 2012 velodrome is an elegant example of form following function. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

Sir Chris Hoy can uncross his legs. The lavatory he asked for is exactly where he wants it to be, close to the track at the Olympic velodrome, ready for riders who feel the need to answer a last-minute call of nature before tightening their toe straps for the pursuit or the keirin at the 2012 Games.

In the Tour de France the competitors can just hop off the bike on some deserted country road, or even pull down their shorts and irrigate the scenery as they freewheel along. Such relief is hardly possible in a crowded velodrome, making Sir Chris's khazi just one of the impressive details to be found in a structure that threatens to give the London Games a good name.

So much noise continues to be made about the scandals surrounding other permanent facilities in the Olympic park – notably the uncertain future of the main stadium and the outrageous £180m cost overrun on the aquatic centre – that the success of the velodrome is in danger of being overlooked. Here is an arena that was properly planned, properly costed and delivered on time, to specification, and within its £90m budget. So it can be done.

The building was 24 hours away from being handed over to the organisers as a finished article when I was shown around the other day. To get there, a visitor to the Lee Valley park passes by the unremarkable main stadium, its looks compromised by the absence of the "wrap" intended to provide its visual signature but cancelled in order to save £7m on a building costing almost £500m, and the swimming pool, an aesthetic disaster thanks to the need to flank Zaha Hadid's surprisingly unremarkable core design with two temporary grandstands in order to bring its capacity up to Olympic requirements.

Then the eye falls on the swooping roof of the velodrome, rising elegantly at its two ends to echo the banked turns inside and supported by exterior walls of warm red cedar, a hint of the wooden piste itself. Here is something of genuine beauty, an elegant example of form following function.

You might have guessed that it was designed by a cyclist. Mike Taylor, a senior partner at Hopkins Architects, a practice noted for creating the canopied Mound stand at Lord's, led the design team. He rides, which helped him to listen with a sympathetic ear to Hoy's suggestions, such as the request to ensure that the opening of the main spectator access doors does not create a cold draught for the riders (the solution involved industrial "air curtains"). Hoy also asked for the design to incorporate seating around the top of the banked ends to create an unbroken wave of noise as the riders circulate.

Ron Webb, an Australian former champion who specialises in track design, created the piste itself from 54km of Siberian pine. Shipped from Archangel, sawn into narrow strips in a German mill, it is secured with 360,000 nails into a 250m ribbon that rears at either end into a 42-degree banking. Previously responsible for the Manchester and Sydney velodromes, Webb reportedly reckons that this is one on which records will be broken.

I'm going on about this because so many big building projects in Britain invite scorn for their flaws of design and execution, and in the case of sporting arenas for their farcically inept legacy planning, too. I was tagging along with a visiting party from the Save the Herne Hill Velodrome organisation, a group dedicated to preserving the 450m shallow-banked concrete track used in the 1948 Games, for whom Taylor has created a striking set of plans to ensure the south London track's rescue from its present state of dilapidation and its revival not just as a centre for community and schools use but, as the architect puts it, "for getting people started on the way to the high end of the sport".

Herne Hill looks as though it is going to survive. And so will the 2012 velodrome: a building which, whatever the fate of its troubled neighbours, will in time become a perfect, much loved monument to whatever achievements it may witness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog...me-london-2012

[PortoNuts]

Ian Thorpe returns for London 2012 Olympics

Five-time Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe today announced he is to make a comeback at the London Games - inspired by the "extraordinary" Aquatics Centre.

The return of the "Thorpedo" sets up the "ultimate race" with his great American rival Michael Phelps, who has won 14 Olympic gold medals.

Australian Thorpe, 28, retired four years ago but said he was awestruck by a visit last year to the Aquatics Centre, where he felt he could actually taste his desire to compete again.

He said in Sydney: "I went to see the swimming venue for the London Olympics and it's an extraordinary venue. I could taste it, which is something I haven't felt for a very, very long time.

"This hasn't been something I've taken lightly but I actually made a decision in September when I was flying over the Atlantic. Then I went on to not being able to say anything because I was actually commentating for the BBC, so it was sitting in my gut for a while."

Since then he has been training in eight pools and only communicating with his coach by text to try to keep the comeback under wraps. His decision met a mixed reaction in Australia, where some criticised the announcement - made at a heavily stage-managed conference organised by budget airline Virgin Blue - as a "self-indulgent" PR stunt.

Thorpe, who has dabbled in TV presenting and fashion design during his lay-off, will be based in Abu Dhabi for his Olympic preparations to avoid the media spotlight at home. He has to wait nine months before he can return to international competition because of strict drug testing rules.

His return is a huge momentum boost to the 2012 Games build-up.

It raises the possible prospect of one of the all-time great Olympic showdowns, to rank alongside the epic 1980 Coe-Ovett track clashes in Moscow and the notorious 3,000 metre women's final at Los Angeles in 1984 when Zola Budd tripped her rival Mary Decker.

Today Phelps's coach Bob Bowman said: "I welcome Ian back to the sport. His presence will only increase the interest and enthusiasm for swimming and we look forward to seeing him back on deck soon. He is one of the true greats and it will be fun to have him back in the mix for London." Thorpe, also known as the Superfish, said he planned to target the 100 metre and 200 metre freestyle relays but did not rule out the 100 metre and 200 metre individual freestyle events.

He is most likely to meet Phelps, 25, his successor as the world's greatest swimmer, in the 200 metre freestyle, the event that saw their only head-to-head in a major competition. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Thorpe beat Phelps into third place in "the race of the century". He retired two years later.

The £268 million Aquatics Centre will house two 50-metre pools, a 25-metre diving pool and training facilities.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...12-olympics.do

[Andre_idol]

Thorpe vs Phelps on the Aquatic Centre...nice!

[WooWoo]

Tbh, as great as an athlete Thorpe was, i dont really see him being up there for the gold in 2012. Medal contender? Maybe, but there are athletes that have been training for this as soon as they got off the plane departing from Beijing. And pictures have shown how unfit the swimmer has become.

Its like Michael Schumacher for example, his return to F1. Granted he didnt have a good car like his original Ferrari, but still, he didnt make an impact on the top drivers.

I do hope I am wrong in some respects because I want the games to be remembered for great moments, and electrifying races, but i dont think he will come close to the likes of people like Phelps

[RobH]

He has to qualify first doesn't he? He wants to be at the Games but other people will want to get in the team ahead of him. Is it even certain, given how long he's been away, that he'll qualify, particularly for a team as strong as Australia's?

[PortoNuts]

London 2012: Heineken to supply lager for Olympics

Spectators flocking to the Olympic Park in 2012 will drink Heineken as their lager after the company signed up as the latest sponsor of the London Games. Heineken UK will be the official lager supplier in a tier three deal, typically worth around £10m, that pushes London 2012 closer to its target of raising £2bn from sponsorship.



Heineken and its portfolio of beer and cider brands, including Bulmers, Foster’s and Kronenbourg, will be offered at the sporting venues and within corporate hospitality. Paul Deighton, the London 2012 chief executive, said organisers would have a “very, very active anti-ambush” unit to protect sponsorship deals.

At the World Cup in South Africa, a group of women were thrown out of a stadium for attempting to promote a Dutch brewer.

He said: “If someone tries to ambush, I would see it as an attack on one of the most important events in this country in a decade. Any brand that behaves like that would probably receive quite a negative reaction. Any action we deem it necessary to take against anything explicit or aggressive would, as you would expect with us, be handled with enormous discretion."

Alexis Nasard, the chief commercial officer of Heineken, said “There are no bigger, global or more spectacular events than the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. We selected this opportunity as it fully reflects Heineken’s global brand position. It also provides a wonderful platform for the promotion of responsible drinking.

“Based on the experiences gained from being a long-term sponsor of premier sporting events such as the UEFA Champions League and the Rugby World Cup we will utilise London 2012 to celebrate with the world in a way that only Heineken can do.” The deal means Heineken is the 21st Tier Three sponsor, which gives the company advertising rights in London.

London 2012 organisers have also signed up their second Paralympic-only sponsor. Otto Bock will be the official prosthetic, orthotic and wheelchair technical services provider, offering repairs and advice at the Olympic venues. Meanwhile, the company behind the world's first indoor snow resort in Dubai has approached London Olympic organisers about turning the Broadcast Centre into a giant ski dome after the 2012 Games.

Acer Snowmec is one of a number of companies to have expressed an interest in the site, according to Estates Gazette, which local authorities had earmarked as a base for creative businesses. The Birmingham-based group has designed and operated indoor ski centres around the globe, including the 250,000 sq ft Ski Dubai centre and the Madrid Xanadu. Ski Dubai includes an 85m indoor mountain with five ski slopes.

A spokesman for the firm said: "We have made a bid to the OPLC for a winter sports anchored development on the media centre site and are waiting for the next stage of the official bidding process."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/l...Olympics.html#

[Atmosphere]

Nice haha, good for our economy

[WooWoo]

Originally Posted by RobH

He has to qualify first doesn't he? He wants to be at the Games but other people will want to get in the team ahead of him. Is it even certain, given how long he's been away, that he'll qualify, particularly for a team as strong as Australia's?

Yeah, he still has to earn qualification points for the Olympics, and progress through the Australian national trials. But he does have stiff competition with the likes of Eamon Sullivan in the 100m and Kenrick Monk and Thomas Holmes in the 200m

Plus all of the Austalian team have been preparing for these olympics since 2008, hes announced that his training will start in 2011

All be it he's a class swimmer, but no-one could come out of 5 years retirement and expect to win a gold medal, not in these times

[PortoNuts]

Trade event 'should exploit 2012'

A major trade event should be held close to or during the London 2012 Games to exploit the commercial interest the event will attract, the Foreign Affairs Committee suggested. Committee chairman Richard Ottaway said: "London 2012 will be a once-in-a-lifetime event, when the eyes of the world will be on the UK and unprecedented numbers of VIP guests will be arriving on these shores."

"A simultaneous trade event, held at a suitable and accessible venue, would secure the maximum commercial benefit to the national economy." The Games are a chance to use the "soft power" of the Games to open doors with key individuals and groups that can help British interests, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) believes.

The MPs suggest the Government should give "urgent consideration" to hosting a trade event as the Games will offer an "unparalleled opportunity" to promote UK business, trade and inward investment. This is something the FCO wants to seize upon but "it is important that the action matches the rhetoric", the MPs noted.

In its report on how the FCO can capitalise on the Games in its public diplomacy work, the committee also concludes: "The FCO's budget cannot remain unscathed at a time of economic stringency and public spending cuts. "Nonetheless, it is important that the Department's public diplomacy work in connection with the Olympics should be regarded, during the crucial 18 months leading up to the Games, as being a priority area."

"The committee is worried that cuts may result in the FCO's work related to the Olympics becoming a matter solely of individual initiatives by embassies and High Commissions, without adequate central co-ordination." The plus points of hosting the Games also come with potential risks to Britain's international reputation.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukp...297021948A0000

[cardiff]

So whats happening with the aquatics center, are those supports on the sides or stands for spectators, because if its the latter then there was no point in building such a beautiful (and expensive) venue as you cant see it!