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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Mario and Sonic headed to the 2012 London Olympic games

Sega and Nintendo have once again teamed up to sent these two legendary video game characters to the Olympic games. This time the theme is the upcoming 2012 Olympics in London. One notable difference this time around is that it will be available for the new Nintendo 3DS, as well as the Wii.

The Mario and Sonic themed games have sold 19 million copies worldwide. Newly introduced this time around are the football and equestrian events, which will be included on the Wii version. The 3DS version will include over 50 of the originally themed events, available in both single and multiplayer formats. There is no set release date at this time, but we will keep you posted as more information becomes available.

We will leave you with this statement from Naoya Tsurumi, Chairman for SEGA of America and SEGA Europe:

“It is truly exciting to be in the position to develop interactive entertainment software titles based on the Olympic Games, and for Sonic and Mario to once again be a part of this historic event.”

Kitguru says: It will be interesting to see what the features or limitations are regarding the 3DS version

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London Olympics pollution on course to land Britain hefty fine from IOC

Britain could be fined up to £175m by the International Olympic Committee if it continues to break air pollution laws by the time the Games begin next August.

The prospect of the air pollution penalty is becoming a major source of embarrassment to the government and Olympic organisers who set a goal of making the Games "the greenest ever" but have already watered down green measures planned for the event.

To meet the legally binding agreement, London may have to reduce traffic levels by more than 30% over a period of nearly a month, raising the possibility of draconian measures such as banning cars with number plates ending in odd and even numbers on alternate days.

Under the non-negotiable host city contract with the IOC – signed by the government and the mayor of London in 2005 – the IOC can withhold 25% of the expected £700m broadcasting income generated from the Games should air quality levels exceed EU limits during the games.

The contract has been given a temporary extension until later this year by the EU for the reduction of levels of small particulate matter (PM10), but has so far failed to find a way to do so and London risks a £300m fine from the European commission later this year.

London is one of the most polluted cities in Europe, with official studies showing that air pollution – mainly from traffic – causes more premature deaths than passive smoking and traffic accidents combined, at a cost of about £2bn a year.

According to the Olympic Delivery Authority's Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), published this week, the expected increases in traffic along the Olympic route network of 600km of London roads during the Games will lead to further breaches of European legal limits in areas that already suffer from poor air quality.

Even a 30% reduction in normal traffic during the period of the Olympics may not be enough to bring emissions below the legal limit, it said.

Lawyers said London now has few options left beyond actions such as imposing an odd and even number plate ban throughout the city to enable endurance events, such as the marathon, to take place.

At the last Olympic Games, in 2008, Beijing had to ban more than 1m cars and close factories.

"The SEA shows that there is a real risk that the Games will result in air quality laws being broken in London in 2012," Alan Andrews, a lawyer with the legal group Client Earth, said.

"By failing to take this risk seriously, the government and the mayor are painting themselves into a corner. If air quality limits look like being broken, it's difficult to see what they will be able to do other than impose draconian bans like those used during Beijing 2008.

"Plans need to be put in place now that will ban only the most polluting vehicles from inner London in time for the Games."

"The mayor should be banning all the oldest diesel vehicles from inner London," Simon Birkett, the director of the Campaign for Clean Air in London, said.

The commitments on air quality contained in the contract with the IOC apply in particular to those days when endurance events such as the marathon, the triathlon and the cycling road race take place.

Officials had hoped that reduced traffic during the August holiday season, plus pleas to the public and businesses to change their habits for the duration of the Games, would help reduce pollution.

"It is clearly a problem. It's not London 2012's responsibility, or in its gift to solve it, but it is clearly a problem," Shaun McCarthy, the chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, an independent body advising the Mayor of London and the Olympics minister, said.

The green impact the Olympics would have here and abroad was a central component of London's winning bid over other cities such as Paris.

It was intended that the infrastructure and built environment of the Games "will be designed to take account of the potential impacts of climate change and will set new standards for sustainable production, consumption and recycling of natural resources. There will also be significant long-term benefits in terms of projects, applications of green technologies".

But some promises have already apparently been broken and compromises made. A pledge to generate 20% of energy on site, mainly from a wind turbine in the Olympic park, has been abandoned and, at most, 9% of energy on site will be from renewables.

Plans to create a zero-waste Games, with all on-site waste recycled, have been reduced, and the athletes' village will be smaller and less green than hoped.

"This is a terrible admission of defeat on air pollution and contradicts all the mayor's promises about the 'greenest games ever'," Darren Johnson, a London assembly Green party member, said.

"Failing to deliver modest energy and waste targets on a seven-year project with billions from the public purse just shows what a mess our mayors of London and the government have made of environmental policy.

"The organisers have failed on many of the promises. They are a long way short of the inspirational revolution in environmental policy we were promised." said Darren Johnson, London assembly Green party member.

The ODA head of sustainability, Richard Jackson, said: "The Olympic park has set new standards. With the exception of the 20% renewables target, we are on track to meet all sustainability targets."

A spokesperson for Transport for London said: "We have a comprehensive package of long-term measures to tackle the biggest sources of pollution and improve air quality."

The panel's pledges ... and the reality

Air quality

Pledge: London signed up to the Olympic host contract which specifies that the city must meet international pollution laws.

Reality: Olympic route will impact heavily on air quality making London more likely to breach laws unless it bans 30% of all cars.

Construction

Pledge: 90% of demolition materials to be reused or recycled, half of all materials to be brought in by rail and local waterways and at least 20% of recycled material to be used to build permanent venues and the Olympic village.

Reality: 95% of the buildings and infrastructure on the Olympic site was crushed and melted, but only around 1% reused. £20m was spent restoring a canal to ship 12,000 tonnes of waste and building materials a week, but only 3,000 tonnes were shipped on them in the first two years.

Athletes' village

Pledge: To make the village of 8,000+ homes energy self-sufficient.

Reality: Numbers reduced to 4,700 and homes built to Level 4 – good for UK but not the best possible.

Waste

Pledge: To achieve a 'zero-waste' games by reducing waste, recycling and sending nothing to landfill.

Reality: Plans watered down. Some food waste to be sent to landfill in Bedfordshire, 30% to be incinerated. No catalysation of nearby authorities to improve waste policies.

Energy use

Pledge: To generate 20% of energy on site from renewables.

Reality: The Olympic park to only produce 9% of its post-games energy from renewables. About 1,000 homes in surrounding areas to be insulated. Plans for wind turbines in Hackney and at Eton manor abandoned.

Olympic flame

Pledge: A low-carbon Olympic flame and torch.

Reality: EDF energy announcement expected soon.

Decontamination

Pledge: The site was heavily contaminated and 2.5sq km of contaminated land and 1.4m tonnes of soil had to be cleaned or remediated.

Reality: Independent assessors argue that more than 7,000 tonnes of radioactively contaminated material dumped in a former landfill site has been buried.

Wildlife/Park

Pledge: To create Europe's largest urban park.

Reality: 300,000 wetland plants grown in Norfolk and Wales. Almost 2,000 newts and hundreds of toads plucked from the site's wetlands and waterways. But anger in Greenwich where hundreds of trees will be affected, and the park closed for several months. Future problems could include erosion of park to make way for more housing.

Food

Pledge: To serve "the best of British" food.

Reality: Cadbury, McDonald's and Coca-Cola are the main sponsors, but millions of meals will be prepared by caterers. Hopes that all food would be organic, British and Fairtrade have been watered down. Dutch brewer Heineken have "pouring rights", which means no branded British ale will be sold on the 40 sites.

Carbon footprint

Pledge: To encourage visitors to come by train.

Reality: Event tickets to include London Underground travelcard.

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London 2012 Olympics: daily countdown to the Games

As the London 2012 Olympics draws ever nearer Telegraph Sport counts down with a daily fact or figure.

Malfunction: the Olympic countdown clock stopped with 499 days to go Photo: EPA

10:14AM GMT 24 Mar 2011

491 - 491 bronze medals have been won in Olympic swimming events since 1896.

492 - In 492 BC, at the Ancient Games, a feared boxer named Cleomedes was denied a gold medal in a fight that involved him brutally slaying his opponent. The disqualification was not for the killing, but a technical incident during the fight.

493 - The 493 London bus runs from Richmond - a key destination in the road cycling race - via Wimbledon Park and Southfields, where the All England Tennis club is located.

494 - 494 competitors from 67 nations took place in swimming events at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics.

495 - £495 is the estimated starting cost per head for a place in a corporate hospitality box at the London 2012 Olympics tennis events.

496 - £496 million is the estimated cost of the Olympic Stadium, the focus of a post-Games tussle between West Ham and Tottenham - which the former won.

497 - £497 million was the estimated returns to the Olympics Lottery Distribution Found from sales of dedicated games, as of March 2010,

498 - With 498 days to go we learned that fridges and large amounts of coins were banned from London 2012 Olympic venues.

499 - The London 2012 Olympic countdown clock in Trafalgar Square stopped with 499 days to go after a technical error. Designers Omega were forced into sending technicians to fix the issue in an incident that proved to be a public relations nightmare.

500 - £500 is the cost of buying two official London 2012 ‘yellow gold disc charms’ from the online store.

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Tottenham's London 2012 stadium plans horrify Sally Gunnell

OLYMPIC queen Sally Gunnell says she would be “horrified” if ­Tottenham took a wrecking ball to the London 2012 stadium.

Hurdles legend Gunnell was among the signatories – including Daley Thompson, Dame Kelly Holmes and Lynn Davies – on an open letter to the Olympic Park Legacy Company demanding that the stadium should keep its athletics track.

Last week the OPLC deferred a decision on the stadium’s future as a bitter tug-of-war over its use beyond 2012 intensified.

West Ham want to leave Upton Park, move into the Olympic stadium and retain the track, but Tottenham propose to abandon White Hart Lane and demolish the arena before building a new 60,000-seater ground from scratch.

And on the day organisers begin interviews for the 70,000-strong army of volunteers at London 2012, Gunnell, 44, cranked up the campaign against Spurs’ plan to ignore any running track.

Gunnell, who struck gold for Britain in ­Barcelona 19 years ago, said: “I’m wholeheartedly behind the principle of keeping the track, whether that’s in partnership with a football club or not.

“The whole idea was to build the ultimate athletics venue, with the potential to host everything from schools to grand prix events, European and world ­championships beyond the 2012 Games.

“At the time we won the bid, there was no talk of football being involved in the legacy.

“If West Ham move in and keep the track, that’s fine – but I’m absolutely horrified at the thought of Tottenham being allowed to flatten the site within a few months of London hosting the Olympics.

“I’m very passionate about athletics, and there is no way it should be bulldozed to make way for football – what a waste of public money.

“I grew up on the outskirts of east London and I know how desperate we are for tracks here.

“We are crying out for new ­facilities, and I cannot ­comprehend the logic of building that stadium just to take it down again.”

Gunnell’s attack echoed London 2012 chief Lord Sebastian Coe’s warning that British sport’s ­international reputation would be “trashed” if Tottenham were handed the keys to Stratford.

Coe insists Britain has a “moral obligation” to deliver the multi-sport legacy he promised when London made its winning pitch.

He said: “I have nothing to add to my position, except to observe there’s a strength of feeling out there and it’s right that we discuss the legacy now rather than when the Olympic Games have come to town and moved on.”

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Olympic stadium decision enters final lap

The future of the Olympic stadium beyond the 2012 Games will reach a critical juncture on Friday when the government body responsible for its legacy meets to consider the rival bids of Premiership football clubs West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur as the stadium’s anchor tenants.

The OPLC declined to comment but confirmed that papers setting out the recommendation of the executive team had been sent to the 14 board members on Wednesday.

West Ham and Tottenham both declined to comment.

OPLC insiders said there were several hurdles to go before a preferred bidder was chosen. Not the least of these is what is expected to be a full and robust discussion by the board members on Friday.

However, insiders have previously said the recommendation of the executives, led by Andrew Altman, the OPLC chief executive, would be difficult for board members to reject.

The OPLC board’s recommendation will then be passed on to two government ministers – Jeremy Hunt, culture secretary, and Eric Pickles, the local government minister – as well as Boris Johnson, the London mayor, who will collectively have the final say.

The OPLC will enter into negotiations with the preferred bidder before final contracts are signed.

The bidders have to meet five criteria, including the viability of their plans, flexible use of the stadium and commitments to a legacy solution for the stadium.

The key difference between the two bids was over the future of the Olympic running track. West Ham is committed to retain the track while Spurs is not, instead planning to demolish most of the stadium and build a new facility dedicated to football.

In the eyes of some involved in the Olympics project, notably Lord Coe, the London 2012 chairman, the retention of the running track was a key promise to the International Olympic Committee when London won the bid for the Games.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

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Olympics 2012 Stadium And Host

The 2012 Olympics host is London where these games are being held in the month of July. These games will take about a month to get completed. There is particular 2012 Olympics venue chosen for the game that include the Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. Until now only these two Olympics 2012 venue options have been chosen but still some changes can be made. As far as the 2012 Olympic stadium is concerned the London Olympic Stadium will show its presence. It will be the centre of attraction for the people as the 2012 Olympics host will make the occasion to be an auspicious one. The Olympics 2012 venue has been separated in to three different zones especially for the easiness of the people. Even the 2012 Olympic stadium is the best option which they have chosen.

The Olympics 2012 venue or the zones include the River Zone, Central Zone and the Olympic Zone. These zones will represent the country and a variety of games too. There is a great significance of the 2012 Olympics venue as well as the 2012 Olympics host. The 2012 Olympics host country London is trying all its way in order to meet the demands of all the people. They just want that the preparations are perfect which include the 2012 Olympic stadium and 2012 Olympics venue also. So it is necessary that the Olympics 2012 venue which has been decided must be in the best condition and the authorities must ensure this.

Even the protection is a big question as it is such a big occasion which is set to be held at 2012 Olympics venue or at 2012 Olympic stadium London. A lot of work is done at the 2012 Olympics venue and 2012 Olympic stadium but still more of it is left. It is because there are so many things which have to be done and all the care is taken for the comfort of the people who will be visiting the Olympics 2012 venue. Therefore as a 2012 Olympics host there is a great opportunity for London to show that they have the ability to host such big games with as much accuracy.

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