London 2012 Olympic venues to stage test events this summer

Spectators will get their first taste of sport in the new 2012 Olympic venues this summer at test events including beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade and basketball in the Olympic Park, London organisers have revealed.

A comprehensive 12-month testing programme will cover 42 events across 26 venues and involving 8,000 athletes from more than 50 countries. Not all of the events will be open to the public, depending on the emphasis of the tests.

A total of 150,000 tickets costing between £5 and £35 will be on sale across several events, though others such as the London–Surrey Cycle Classic to test the road race route will be free.

Tickets for the equestrian test events at Greenwich Park will be given away to local residents. Altogether, a total of 250,000 spectators are expected to see events in the so-called "London Prepares Series".

"This is a dress rehearsal for us but the public, of course, will see the rehearsal not the dress. It will look and feel quite different," London 2012's chief executive, Paul Deighton, said. "We don't expect to get everything absolutely right. If we did I wouldn't be happy because we wouldn't be stress-testing things properly. We will learn from our mistakes and make changes."

The series takes in events organised and ticketed by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog), such as the mountain biking at Hadleigh Farm for which there will be 5,000 tickets available in July, and others, such as the Badminton World Championships at Wembley Arena in August, that it will not organise but will help to staff and operate.

The test events are grouped into three "clusters". The first, in July and August this year, predominantly take place at venues away from the Park. The exceptions are the BMX and basketball events on the Olympic Park, for which spectators will be bussed in to what will still be a construction site.

Locog will build reduced versions of the temporary grandstands that will be used for the Games at the showjumping arena in Greenwich Park and the beach volleyball venue at Horse Guards Parade.

The second cluster of events, from November to January next year, will include events at the aquatics centre and the velodrome, while the third cluster in April and May 2012 will test the rest of the Olympic Park venues including the athletics stadium.

Deighton said the events would be used to test technology, security, ticketing, crowd flows and logistical considerations surrounding the individual sports themselves. Modern pentathlon, for example, has recently switched to laser shooting in place of the traditional air rifles and will need to be rigorously tested in situ at Greenwich Park.

Deighton and Locog's head of sport, Debbie Jevans, said lessons had been learned about the staging of events from Beijing and about city-wide logistics from the Vancouver Winter Games.

In Vancouver in 2010, organisers came under fire for the Own the Podium programme that attempted to maximise home advantage by restricting access to rival teams.

Asked whether London organisers risked going the other way by inviting top-class athletes to compete in Games-time conditions at new 2012 venues, Jevans said: "We have worked closely with the BOA but also with international federations to allow them access. We have to be open but we also have to get ready to deliver these Games."

Deighton also confirmed that those who did not get all the tickets they applied for in the first phase of applications, which closed on 26 April, would be offered the chance to buy other tickets in July. Those who didn't apply in the first phase won't be able to do so until late this year.Tickets for the test events will be sold through Ticketmaster from 26 May.

The four ticketed London 2012 test events this summer are

Mountain bike 31 July, Hadleigh Farm, Essex

Beach volleyball 9-14 August, Horse Guards Parade

Basketball 16-21 August, Basketball Arena, Olympic Park

BMX 19-20 August, BMX Track, Olympic Park

Other London 2012 venue ticketed events include

Gymnastics (artistic, rhythmic and trampoline) 10-18 January 2012, North Greenwich Arena

Cycling (track) 17-19 February 2012, Velodrome, Olympic Park

Aquatics (diving) 20-26 February 2012, Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Aquatics (synchronised swimming) 18-22 April 2012, Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Hockey 2-6 May 2012, Hockey Centre, Olympic Park

Wheelchair tennis 2-6 May 2012, Eton Manor, Olympic Park

Water polo 3-6 May 2012, Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Athletics 4-7 May 2012, Olympic Stadium

Paralympic athletics 8 May 2012, Olympic Stadium

Ticketing arrangements for these events will be announced later this year

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London 2012 - Mixed sailing debuts as 2016 events decided

The 2016 Olympics will see mixed sailing make its Games debut after the ISF announced the 10 events that will take to the water in Brazil.

After a meeting in St Petersburg the ISAF Council announced that a two-person mixed multihull event will be included in 2016.

But arguably the biggest impacting change for the Great Britain sailors comes with the culling of the Star keelboat class, an event GB has dominated in recent years.

Great Britain's Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won gold in the Star event at the 2008 Games but next year's 2012 Olympic will be their final chance to top the podium in the class.

The Elliott class - making its debut next year in London - has also been cut from the Olympic schedule meaning there will be no keelboat events in Rio.

The women's skiff has also been added to the schedule, a decision received with mixed feelings by John Derbyshire, the Royal Yachting Association's racing manager and performance director.

"The RYA is supportive of the slate of events agreed by ISAF Council, which shows progression within the sport and a clear pathway now, particularly for girls transitioning from the youth classes into Olympic campaigning," said Derbyshire.

"It's disappointing in some ways to be losing an old friend with the removal of the Star class, which has been a fixture in Olympic sailing since 1932, and that Women's Match Racing has not proved as successful as hoped.

"The mood of the meeting clearly showed, though, that the retention of the keelboat events is not the right thing for the future growth and appeal of the sport in Olympic terms right now, and that the events chosen reflect more the mass participation of young sailors within sailing, and the RYA supports those views."

More Than The Games / Eurosport

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London 2012 Olympics stadium lights on

London Olympic Stadium Shines!

To make any event look spectacular and dazzling, lighting is very essential.  With Olympics being the biggest and most spectacular event on earth, it is obvious that the lighting arrangements are going to be massive.  One of the major attractions of the opening ceremonies in all the Olympics have been the colorful and dazzling lights flooding the entire stadium and London Olympics is no different.  The London Olympics promises to display one of the finest lighting arrangements ever.

This was quite evident, when the British Prime Minister David Cameron, turned on all the lights at the wonderful London 2012 Olympic stadium, much to the delight of all.  This is indeed a historic moment for entire Britain and definitely a moment to rejoice.  The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Chief of the Organizing committee Lord Coe and by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.  It was a special ceremony at the beautiful stadium which was covered with snow.

You would be surprised to know that a massive five hundred and thirty two bulbs were lit together and everyone is waiting for that special moment to be repeated at the London 2012 Olympic Games.  In all, there would be a good fourteen lighting towers and each tower would be a good seventy meters above the area where the sporting events are held.  It takes a good eight minutes for all the lights to reach their full illumination.  A lot of effort and planning has gone in to the lighting arrangements.

To witness this event, a crowd of four hundred were invited which included school children and the builders of the 2012 Olympics stadium.  It was announced that the most spectacular show on earth would arrive in seven days, seven months and in one year at East London.  All the works were being carried out on time and adhered to the budget allocated for the Olympics.  In fact, the works were getting completed much ahead of the schedule.

There were also talks of changing the plans wherein a good one hundred and sixty two million pounds were to be cut from school sports.  The education department has decided to fund the sport partnerships between schools till the end of 2011 summer term, which would cost around forty seven million pounds.  This has come as welcome news as sports and sporting activities in general has received a great boost.  Definitely, the arrival of Olympics has renewed the interest in sports and sporting activities.

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London Attractions – Olympics 2012

London Tourist Attractions and 2012 Olympics

City of London has various attractions to offer the tourists.  Around 3.5 million tourists visit London every year.  Tower Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral are some of the top attractions in London.  London Eye – the 135 meter high observation giant wheel is also one of the biggest attractions of London.  It is the biggest giant wheel in the world situated on South Bank and on a clear day, it offers 25 miles of splendid view.  However, the newest tourist attraction in London is going to be the London Olympics 2012.

London is hosting international sports for past several years.  In 1948, London had hosted Olympic Games.  Amongst the most popular international games, London is hosting tennis tournaments every year at Wimbledon, a very spectacular village.  Game lovers enjoyed a lot of thrilling championship games like the game played between the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus.  London has given great players like, Wyne Rooney and football legend David Beckham.

London has a bright past record of managing big events, but talking about Olympics 2012, it is a big responsibility as the whole world is watching London.  That is why, this event means a lot to London.  Not only citizens of London but also the entire world population is expecting a lot. London Olympics Managing committee has a great responsibility of planning the event, building the structure, organizing all infrastructure development and completing the project in time.  They have worked hard to overcome the recession and you can see new face of London soon.  Huge amount of temporary jobs have been now available and the structure they are constructing can be reused or move to another desired place.  It all means that in the future there is an opportunity for more jobs and more scope for such events in London.

This event will boost London’s economy to the great extent.  This event will attract game lovers to London from all over the world.  Money spent on shopping, transportation, accommodation, and on restaurant by visitors is the other side of coin.  London city’s water sources are being rejuvenated for the event, and a huge parkland is being developed.  City of London is visitor’s paradise offering a lot to the visitors.  This Olympics event will surely provide a wonderful atmosphere to get London’s multicultural people together by maintaining a friendly rivalry.  Everyone will be easily united by a single language.  English is the native language of London and the prime language spoken in various countries.

Media and social sites will play a very important role in promotion of London Olympics.  Every one would like to tweet on twitter about games, while you can enjoy videos on You Tube.  Every one wants to know more about this event so you can get updated information on the official olympics website http://www.london-2012.co.uk.

8 million tickets are estimated for Olympic Games and 5 million tickets for the Paralympics. Tickets and entry passes would be available from year 2011, but game lovers have started to keeping track of latest updates on ticketing schedule.  In March 2011, tickets for London Olympics 2012 will be available for sale.  Therefore, there will be a huge fun and entertainment during London Olympic 2012. Olympics 2012 is surely going to be a major tourist attraction in London.

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