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OLYMPIC NEWS UPDATES 2009 October 23: Construction has started on the Basketball Arena - the largest temporary venue built for any Olympic or Paralympic Games. During the Games the Arena will have 12,000 seats for the Basketball preliminaries and quarter-finals, as well as Handball semi-finals and finals, and 10,000 seats for Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Rugby. October 22: The first set of London 2012-themed stamps went on sale today. Designed by top artists and illustrators, they feature 10 Olympic and Paralympic sports, including Athletics, Aquatics, Equestrian and Boccia. October 20: The first Docklands Light Railway (DLR) train carriages that have been co-funded by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) have been delivered to Stratford Regional Station. October 16: Biometric hand and eye scanners have been installed on the Olympic Park entrances to enhance the safety and security of construction workers as the ‘big build’ accelerates. October 15: The Olympic Board has agreed the proposal to use existing facilities at Wembley Arena to host two sports rather than build a temporary venue on the North Greenwich Peninsula. October 13: Bury St Edmunds will play host to members of both the Rwandan Olympic and Paralympic teams in the run up to the Games whileCardiff will play host to Paralympians from South Africa. Athletes from Barbados will be heading to the South East to acclimatise and prepare for the Games. October 9: Construction work has started on time on the London 2012 Rowing and Canoe Sprint venue, Eton Dorney in Windsor. The venue currently consists of a 2,200m, eight-lane rowing course, warm-up lanes and competition facilities. It is being enhanced by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to provide improved facilities for athlete warm-up and Canoe Sprint events during the Games. October 8: Work has started to lift the first sections of the London 2012 Velodrome roof structure into place. The permanent venue will have a lower tier with 3,500 seats and two upper tiers with a capacity of 2,500. The upper tiers will be suspended within the two curves of the roof. The upper and lower tiers will be divided by a glass wall giving spectators a view over the Olympic Park and out across London. October 1: Twelve budding gardeners from across the UK have been shortlisted for the public vote for the Olympic Park Great British Garden competition. The winners from each category – 16 and under and over 17 - will then work with the world-class team creating the London 2012 parklands to design a Great British Garden that will be in bloom during the Games and remain long after 2012.
September 30: Visa is unveiled as the Presenting Partner for Team GB, offering vital support for all British Olympic and Paralympic athletes in the lead up to the London 2012 Games and UPS is announced as the Official Logistics and Express Delivery Supporter of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. September 18: Facilities in the South East will play host to Papua New Guinea's Paralympians in the run-up to the 2012 Games including Medway Park, Canterbury High School and Sevenoaks School in Kent, Guildford Spectrum Leisure Complex and Stoke Mandeville. September 16: The 4,500-tonne steel structure for the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) has been completed, just ten weeks after construction on the frame started. The IBC, combined with the Main Press Centre (MPC), will have facilities for around 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and journalists during the Games. September 9: More than 1,000 UK businesses have won contracts worth over £5 billion to help build the venues and infrastructure for the London 2012 Games. These contracts have generated thousands more supply chain opportunities for other businesses. New figures published today by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) show that small businesses continue to win the bulk of the work and that the supply chains are spread across the UK. September 7: The clean-up of the Olympic Park is almost complete and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is on track to beat its target of recycling and reusing 90% of demolition materials. September 3: Athletes from Sri Lanka will use Durham University as their training base in the build up to the Games. August 29: Today is exactly three years from the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games. To mark the milestone, the London 2012 Organising Committee announces the appointment of Chris Holmes MBE as the new Director of Paralympic Integration. August 24: To celebrate three years to go until the Paralympic Games, the London 2012 Organising Committee has announced that a series of London 2012 themed stamps - including Paralympic sports - will be issued over the next three years in a licensing deal with Royal Mail. August 17: Jamaican athletes, including Olympic and World Champion Usain Bolt will use Birmingham, as a base for training ahead of the London 2012 Games. August 14: The London 2012 Organising Committee has appointed the London Marathon to help manage and design the Marathon for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The London Marathon will provide personnel and equipment at no cost to help ensure the smooth running of the event. August 13: Women's Boxing has been added to the London 2012 programme, as the International Olympic Committee approved several new events. Other changes include a new run and shoot format for Modern Pentathlon and an increase in the number of women competing in Wrestling. In Canoeing, the Men's C2 500m event has been replaced by the Women's K1 200m. August 10: Villa Park, home of Aston Villa Football Club in Birmingham, will no longer be used as one of London 2012’s venues for the preliminary rounds in the Olympic football tournament. August 4: The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) has appointed the team to build the Cross Country course for the Equestrian Eventing competition, taking place at Greenwich Park. The course will be built by London Eventing - a UK consortium made up of respected horse trials course builders. Between them, Jonathan Clissold, Adrian Ditcham, Andrew Hunter and Scott Brickell are responsible for the cross country tracks at numerous British Eventing one day events; a selection of international events; and one of the world’s leading four star courses at Burghley Horse Trials. August 3: Sir Ian Johnston has been appointed as the London 2012 Organising Committee Director of Security and Resilience. He will lead on security inside at venues during the Games.
July 16: ParalympicsGB announces that the University of Bath has been selected as the key base for the British team for a series of preparation camps in the lead up to the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
July 6: A company based in Glasgow, Barr Construction, has been awarded the contract to build the main structure of the London 2012 Basketball Arena. It means a total of 30 Scottish companies have now won London 2012 contracts.
July 3:Construction started on the White Water Canoe Centre in Broxbourne where the Canoe Slalom events will take place during the London 2012 Games. The new facilities will include a 300m course, warm-up course and finish lake. The course will be part of a wider parkland area with path and bridge networks throughout the venue to help spectators get close to the action. After the Games the venue will be a major sporting and leisure attraction. June 30 : Leading architects praised the designs of the Olympic Park’s venues and the progress being made on construction, following a tour of the site. June 26: Construction of the wave-shaped roof of the London 2012 Aquatics Centre has reached its halfway point. The erection of the 160m-long, 2,800-tonne roof started three months ago and is considered one of the most complex engineering and construction challenges of the Olympic Park ‘big build’.
June 19: Around 2,000 semi-mature British-grown trees have been hand-picked to form the roots of the Olympic Park’s green spaces, which will be enjoyed by spectators and become a home for wildlife.
June 5: London’s first new lock in 20 years opens today, allowing London 2012 to transport construction and waste material to and from the Olympic Park by barge. Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) Chairman John Armitt, opened the lock with British Waterways Chairman Tony Hale on World Environment Day. June 4: The Japanese team will useLoughborough university as a training base in the run up to the Games. They will also use the facilities for final preparations before competitions in Europe over the next three years June 1: The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) announces Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express as the ‘Official Hotel Services Provider to London 2012’.
May 28: The British Virgin Islands today sign a Memorandum of Agreement which will see their athletes prepare for the Games at the Hertfordshire University Sports Village.
May 13: The Government is investing £324m of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA’s) budget in the Olympic Village. Figures published today show that cost savings and good management across the project mean the final anticipated cost of the ODA’s spend on the programme has fallen by £179m May 10: Facilities in Kent, inckluding Medway Park, will be used by athletes from the Barbados Paralympic team as they prepare for the Games.
May 1: Artists taking the lead is the Arts Council's flagship project for the Cultural Olympiad. At the launch on March 19, artists were challenged to use the nation as a blank canvas and create twelve truly inspirational commissions to showcase UK creativity to the world (the deadline for artists is May 29). April 23:The All-Party Parliamentary London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Group holds its latest major annual conference in Parliament , supported by the Industry & Parliament Trust and in collaboration with London 2012. The focus was firmly on business opportunities, involvement and support. April 19: The first race to the Olympic Park took place this morning - a 10k run organised by Newham Council, inspired by UK Olympic gold medallist Tessa Sanderson. The race was for everyone – elite runners, wheelchair racers, fun runners and everyone in-between. April 13: Homerton Baptist Church and other churches in the five Olympics Host Boroughs (Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Greenwich) met at Homerton to hear from representatives of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), talking about developments on the Olympic Park so far and the plans for the future. March 23: This has been a big week for London 2012's programme of local area improvements, with a change of name, a parliamentary reception, and an official launch.The Local Environment Programme has replaced its name to the more engaging and less technical London 2012 'Changing Places' project. March 2: This weekend saw the Greenwich Park 10 kilometre race, and a few members of London 2012 decided to dust off their trainers and give it a go. The park planned to be the venue for the Equestrian events in the London 2012 Games. February 19: Discover Young Hackney '09 kicked off in spectacular style at the Hackney Empire in an 'X-factor' style talent show. The talent contest for Hackney's most talented young people is produced by two local young men Shaw and Edwards, trainee producers from the Hackney Empire. January 19: As the ‘big build’ accelerates in 2009 the workforce is expected to more than treble from the current level of over 3,315 to a peak of 11,000 on the Olympic Park and Olympic Village in 2010. Approximately 30,000 workers in total are expected to work over the different phases of the project to 2012.
January 13: A debate is heating over the suggestion of darts being included as an Olympic sport with comments like: "If archery is a sport, then so is darts - same skill level, cheaper equipment, more places to play, more inclusive." January 12: The new Docklands Light Railway (DLR) extension to Woolwich Arsenal opens today. It will be an important north-south transport link for the London 2012 Games. January 8: In 2012, there will be up to 70,000 people volunteering their services for the Games. Today 23 individuals joined the Olympic team as Trailblazers; office-based volunteers who will give up one day a week in the years leading up to the Games to assist and support the organisers. OLYMPIC NEWS UPDATES 2008 December 10: It was standing room only as a whole range of people from London 2012 are quizzed on all aspects of the Games by the group of MPs that holds the Government to account for issues around London 2012 – the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. December 2: A great progess step has taken place for London 2012 as Weymouth and Portland, the Sailing venue for the Games becomes the first venue to have been completed. World-class facilities have been created including new cranes to lift the boats in and out of the water, slipways to launch the boats in all tidal conditions and mooring pontoons for up to 70 boats.
November 18: One of the Schools Proms sponsors, Youth Music, is putting huge resources and commitment into a nationwide singing project for London 2012 which will involve many hundreds of young musicians as well as a nationwide singing project. November 3: The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) hosts a meeting at the Olympic Park with the Welsh Assembly Government and companies from Wales keen to find out more about business opportunities generated by London 2012. October 8: A fly-through video of the Olympic Park shows the latest progress being made on site and some of the key venues for London 2012. October 3: Parkcams are launched where people can view the latest London 2012 webcam photos of the Olympic Park from six different angles. Venues like the Olympic Stadium and Aquatics Centre where construction is currently underway are on show. October 1: Over 40 events across the region celebrating the Cultural Olympiad in the North East. A four year project called Seconds Out is launched - a collaboration between the North East & Cuba featuring boxing and dance. September 28: Dance Bradford - The Cultural Olympiad launches in the North Eastwith an explosion of dance. Spectacular stage performances each day from TOP 9 from Russia, considered one of the world's elite breakdancing crews. Dynamic routines performed with explosive power and a unique Russian flava. September 25: Hackney councillors on a twilight tour of the Olympic site in tight security conditions see that the old Hackney greyhound stadium has gone, as has the Eastway cycle circuit and various derelict buildings and warehouses. What remains was described as looking like the surface of the Moon.
September 15: Twenty year-six students from eight schools across the Host Boroughs have been nominated by their schools to take part in the ‘Construction Crew’ - giving children the chance to experience the work going on inside the Olympic Park. August 27: As our 8 minute handover show marked the official handover of the Olympic Games to London a similar shift of attention was taking place online. Since the start of the Beijing games website visitor levels on london2012.com have increased sixfold. Since the Beijing games close our website visitors have shot up to twenty times the norm. 500,000 unique users have visited the site and we have recorded in excess of 3.5 million page views.
August 25: Over 200,000 people came together at venues around the UK to mark the moment the Games were handed over from Beijing to London. August 24: Footballer David Beckham, singer Leona Lewis and rock legend Jimmy Page topped London's eight-minute performance from the top of a red London bus during the Beijing Closing Ceremony. The performance marking the moment London officially became the next Host City of the Summer Olympic Games.
The bus then transformed itself into a green-turfed musical stage for a shimmering Leona Lewis and smiling Jimmy Page, and cheers as the soundtrack soared. The audience went wild as David Beckham emerged through the roof. As the bus started to move out, there was a final transformation, with twirling, LED-lit umbrellas providing a screen to August 20: The Red Arrows will perform a spectacular fly by at the Visa London 2012 Party on Sunday, marking the moment the Olympic Games are officially handed over from Beijing. August 19: Work started on site this week on the new Energy Centre in the west of the Olympic Park. August 15: On 24 August, over 400 flags will be raised the length and breadth of the United Kingdom to mark the moment we become the next host of the Summer Games. August 14: More than 30 new bridges will be built across waterways and railway lines throughout the Olympic Park to create open and accessible parklands, and connect the new communities surrounding the Park after the Games. The ODA asked artists to submit proposals to develop integrated artworks for 12 of these bridges and five underpasses and have short-listed eight who have 6 weeks to develop their proposals. August 12: Passengers will feel the benefits of improved transport services around the Olympic Park two years before the Games start. August 11: Hadleigh Farm in Essex has been announced as the London 2012 venue for Mountain Biking. August 5: Progress is continuing on the Olympic Stadium, with the start of work to build the concrete supports for the lower tiers of seating. July 30: Nortel was today announced as the seventh Tier One partner for the London 2012 Games, bringing sponsorship at this stage of planning to an unprecedented level. July 18: The London 2012 Organising Committee met with members of societies in Greenwich to discuss plans for Greenwich Park, the venue for Equestrian events during the 2012 Games. July 17: Work to build the foundations for the Aquatics Centre has started two months earlier than planned. July 10: 75p in every £1 spent by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is being invested in the long-term regeneration of east London. July 7: New track railway sidings at Orient Way to the north-west of the Olympic Park have been completed and are now in use, freeing up a key area for construction work on site. July 3: BP has been announced as the sixth Tier One Partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. June 25: Over 200 children from local schools and community groups are attending a week-long series of archaeology events to find out about the history of the Olympic Park. June 24: Work has begun on the foundations on one of the 30 bridges being built across the Olympic Park. June 19: Over half of the 4,000 reinforced concrete columns that will form part of the foundations for the Olympic Stadium have been installed. June 16: A new website has launched with resources to get schools and colleges involved in celebrating Paraympic Handover on 17 September. June 11: Children from local schools yesterday attended an event where their artwork was unveiled on the hoardings around the Park. June 3: Building work has started on the Olympic Village, which will accommodate athletes and officials during the London 2012 Games and provide thousands of new homes after 2012. May 30: The London 2012 Accessible Transport Strategy has been launched at an event held at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. May 22: The Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell visited the Olympic Park today to see the start of construction on the Olympic Stadium site. May 21: Mayor of London Boris Johnson has appointed Carphone Warehouse Co-founder David Ross as his nominee to represent him on the board of the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG). May 20: London 2012 partner Lloyds TSB has launched a 'Local Heroes' programme providing over £1million to young sportspeople on the journey to London 2012. May 19: A cobbled street thought to be over 150 years old has been found by archaeologists on the site of the London 2012 VeloPark. May 9: Nearly all of the 2.5 sq km Olympic Park site has now been tested for harmful materials in preparation for the start of construction. May 2: Construction work has started on the first venue outside of the Olympic Park – the improvement of Sailing facilities at Weymouth and Portland in Dorset. May 1: A recent survey shows 69% of the UK public would like to see more media coverage of Paralympic sport. 93% of those polled believe Paralympic athletes are good role models for young people. April 25: Billions of tiny bugs are cleaning nearly 50,000 tonnes of contaminated soil on the Olympic Park. April 17: Over two million working hours without a reportable accident have been reached on the Olympic Park site. April 16: The new venue for the London 2012 Canoe/Kayak Slalom events has been confirmed as the Showground in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. It will become a White Water Canoe Centre after the Games - a major lesiure attraction as well as a competition venue for elite events. April 14: Top sports stars including Dame Kelly Holmes have been named as part of a new 'London 2012 Ambassadors' programme launched today by BT.
April 6: Top sporting stars and celebrities carry the Beijing Olympic Torch through the streets April 4: New aerial photographs and film footage of the Olympic Park have been released. March 31: Over 40 children from a local March 19: Paralympics GB are looking for top athletes with the potential of competing at the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Games. March 11: The construction of the Olympic Stadium will start three months early, by the end of May. March 7: Robert the Engine, the 80-year-old-locomotive outside Stratford Regional Station, will be temporarily moved on Sunday so that the next phase of work to upgrade the station can begin. March 5: London 2012 today reinforced its vision to stage a Games for the digital age by announcing that BT has become the latest Tier One partner. March 3: Over 600 sports facilities from across the UK will appear in the London 2012 Pre-Games Training Camp Guide. February 27: London bus drivers have the opportunity to undertake the journey of a lifetime – from London to Beijing. Led by an experienced expedition leader Mac Mackenney, an environmentally-friendly red double-decker bus will leave from Trafalgar Square in June and travel through countries including Spain, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. It will reach China before the Olympic Flag is handed over from Beijing to London, when the London 2012 Olympiad begins. February 22: Children in the five Olympic Host Boroughs are being taught how to stay safe near construction sites. February 18: Designs for an Olympic Park Energy Centre to be built in the west of the Olympic Park have been unveiled. February 14:A high-tech laboratory has been set up on the Olympic Park to help clean up the site. February 13: Work to build new temporary roads and bridges for construction vehicles is nearing completion. February 8: Over 160 cats have been safely captured from the Olympic Park. February 5: British Airways has been announced as the newest Tier One partner for the 2012 Games, in the airline category. January 31: One million hours of work have been achieved on the Olympic Park site without a reportable accident, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) announced today. January 31: Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology (IT) Partner for the Paralympic Games following an agreement signed with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). January 29: The first stage of the programme to regenerate a key waterway within the Olympic Park has been completed. January 28: Significant progress is being made to move existing railway sidings on the Olympic Park. The vacated area in the heart of the Park will become a key logistics site for the construction of the Olympic Stadium and Aquatics Centre. January 23: The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is reclaiming over 90 per cent of demolition material for recycling or reuse, exceeding the targets published a year ago in its Sustainable Development Strategy. January 21: Gordon Brown today announced a £9 million investment programme to encourage young people in disadvantaged countries around the world to take up sport. January 15: The British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced that Aldershot will be used as Team GB's Preparation Camp in the run up to the 2012 Games. January 9: The 'Get Set London' roadshow launched in Trafalgar Square today. OLYMPIC NEWS UPDATES 2007 December 20: Twelve '20/12' babies celebrated their third birthday with Sebastian Coe at London 2012 headquarters today. December 19: Demolition on the five main permanent venue sites – the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre, the International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre, the VeloPark and the Olympic Village – has been completed. December 6: Plans for a wide-ranging London 2012 education programme for schools, colleges and Higher Education insitutions were unveiled to the education sector today, based firmly on Olympic Values - Friendship, Respect and Excellence; and the Paralympic Values - Determination, Courage, Inspiration and Equality. December 4: Deloitte has been announced as the first Tier Two partner for the London 2012 Games, in the professional services category. November 28: The centenary of the London 1908 Olympic Games will be celebrated with a new £2 coin. November 28: Evidence of Romans and the first Londoners has been discovered on the Olympic Park site. November 12: A new UK-wide survey suggests 76 per cent of people are pleased London is staging the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2012. November 9: More than 500 schools have signed up for the 2012 design competition to submit designs for an imaginary VeloPark, but there is still time for schools to enter. November 8: The President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has praised the newly-revealed designs of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium.
October 23: London 2012 today released plans for a ‘public transport Games’ that will leave a legacy of world-class transport links. October 10: A new recycling machine is boosting the clean-up of the Olympic Park. October 4: Nearly half of the buildings on the site of the Olympic Stadium have now been demolished. October 4: A new initiative has been launched to help 150 disabled Londoners work towards becoming qualified sports coaches. October 3: London’s transport has been voted the best in the world for a second year in a row. September 27: The National Lottery has just launched ‘Prize Dive’, their new 2012-themed instant win game. September 21: Plans for the creation of a new community next to the Olympic Park in the heart of east London were welcomed today by the Olympic Delivery Authority. September 20: Top sports stars were in London today to celebrate the announcement of adidas as the latest Tier One Partner for London 2012, in the sportswear category. September 17: Almost 2,000 members of the public had the opportunity to look at the cleaning and clearing of the Olympic Park site first hand at the weekend. September 11: The pilot School Leaver programme, called Starting Blocks, will see10 new recruits take part in an action packed two-week induction programme before beginning two three-month placements in different departments within the Organising Committee. September 7: ‘VeloDream’ – a competition for UK schoolchildren to design their own dream Cycling venues for future Games - was launched by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) today. September 6: Celebrities and top athletes took part in a dragon boat race today to mark one year to the Beijing Paralympic Games. September 4: Panasonic has extended its sponsorship of the Olympic Games from 2009 to 2016, covering the London 2012 Games. August 29: Top Paralympic stars have joined the 2012 Roadshow to mark five years to go to the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
August 21: A new Tier One category, ‘clothing and homeware’, has been added to London 2012’s Commercial Sponsorship Programme. August 9: There was a full sunshine welcome today as the specially-branded 2012 Roadshow double decker bus hit the beaches of Cornwall. August 9: Newts, toads and eels are among the species being protected or relocated during construction work on the Olympic Park site. August 8: Lord’s Cricket Ground showed it’s on target for a great 2012 Olympic Games as the Marylebone venue played host to its first international Archery tournament. August 1: Work to build the first bridge for construction vehicles in the Olympic Park started today. July 27: Today marks five years to go to the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. July 25: The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) today started remediation work on the site of the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park. July 16: The heightened public interest in climate change issues prompts the 2012 team to promise commitment to delivering ‘low carbon’ Games. Two specialist consultants are helping with initial recommendations. July 11: Another major company, EDF, becomes `London 2012 Tier 1 Partner. Today’s launch in Greenwich Park by EDF was a double occasion as they also announced their support for London 2012 as a Sustainability Partner*. June 23 : The 2012 Roadshow reaches to the Outsider Festival in Rothiemurchus in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park near Aviemore in the Highlands of Scotland. June 22 : Dugald, Chair of the Legacy Trust UK talked to 500 members of the arts world on the Trust’s work with London 2012. This newly formed Trust has a particular remit to help create and support cultural, sporting and arts-based activities in the run up to 2012 in order to ensure a lasting legacy throughout the UK, post the Games. June 14 : A specially-branded bus bearing the new London 2012 emblem was unveiled yesterday ahead of its journey around the UK this Summer.. June 11 : A major focus of the archaeological work this week for Museum of London Archaeology Service (MoLAS) and Pre-Construct Archaeology (PCA) has been directed towards the recording of the remains of a World War II anti-aircraft gun battery in the north-west of the Olympic Park, just east of the river Lea.
May 22 : London 2012 organised for Zoe Edge, a Boccia silver medallist for Team GB at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games to meet 70 primary school children from Hackney at the SportsAbility tournament. The children have been coached in the art of Boccia - a Paralympic sport that is similar to the French game of boules or petanque. May 12/3 : Manchester sees the climax of a week long festival of world-class Paralympic sport giving British Paralympic athletes the experience of competing in front of a home crowd against world-class opposition, which will aid their preparation for 2012. May 3 : Almost a quarter of the Olympic Park site has now been cleared, with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) well on track for its target of clearing most of the site by 2008. April 29 : London 2012 joined the Vaisakhi festival, the Sikh New Year Festival. celebrations in Trafalgar Square setting up a stand and discussing progress with Londoners on all aspects of the Games. April 23 : With the Olympics in mind, London 2012 security department joined the Metropolitan Police Service and media people for the first public sighting of the Met’s new 'Special Operations Room' in Lambeth. Known as 'GT' - it contains a range of specialist equipment (with access to over 10,000 CCTV cameras) and represents a 400% increase in the emergency services’ capabilities. April 19 : The start of spring sees an increased amount of wildlife activity, along with an increase in the amount of ecology work being carried out on the Olympic Park. April 18 : The Sustainable Development Strategy launched in January and aiming to reuse or recycle at least 90% of demolition materials is on track with 95% currently recycled or stored for reuse. April 17 : London 2012 launches a UK-wide search for people with a story that shows an ‘Olympic Spirit’, for a new film and will be holding casting sessions over the next couple of weeks. April 4 : An important milestone for the Olympic Delivery Authority: the completion of the first tunnel in which powerlines across the Olympic Park site are buried. April 3 : The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) marked its first birthday today. March 14 : London 2012 announced its first domestic sponsor, Lloyds TSB, at a launch event involving gymnasts, the London Eye and past Olympians. February 25 : As of today there are only 2012 days - or 287 more Sundays - until the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games which run alongside the Olympic Games ... completely integrated for the first time and this was an integral part of the successful London bid. February 22 : Today we celebrate a magic number - 5! February 15 : Morag, ODA Head of Procurement presents a conference case study on the procurement process used to select Delivery Partner, CLM using a new procedure called Competitive Dialogue for which they have since been cited by the Office of Government Commerce as they develop best practice guides. February 14 : To celebrate Valentines Day, Hackney Council held its second annual ‘I love Hackney’ fair in Town Hall Square ... as one of the five Host Boroughs for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games there is a unique opportunity to improve the image of Hackney. The development of the rail infrastructure for 2012 will bring a ‘tube-style’ service to Hackney and – with it – more visitors to enjoy the borough’s special cultural and leisure attractions. February 08: Demolition of the old, disused sports facility in Eton Manor, in the north of the Olympic Park, has now been completed. February 07 : When the Berlin wall fell Bonn lost many of its Governmental tenants. It was lucky that one of the young organisations looking for a home shortly afterwards was the International Paralympic Committee. It is now housed in two specially adapted and accessible chateaux near the city centre. February 06: This week saw the submission of the Olympic Park Planning Applications in what marks the end of long process for the ODA’s Planning team and a significant moment in delivering our vision for the Olympic Park and the regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley.. January 26: In London, Barking and Dagenham Council has unveiled its Fans project to give free access to gyms and swimming pools for the borough’s top young sportsmen and women and Ealing is looking forward to a visit by Seb Coe to field questions and talk about what the Games will do for residents. January 25: Work starts on extending the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) into the heart of the Olympic Park. The extension sees a DLR line built at Straford International with a link to Eurostar services by 2010. There will be stops at Stratford, Stratford High Street, Abbey Road, West Ham, Star Lane and Canning Town. January 24: With all the talk about meeting construction deadlines for the Olympics, Seb Coe finds great comfort when he visits the newly built Neasden Temple (BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir). The temple was built in two and a half years using a volunteer workforce and cost £12 million - all from charitable donations. January 23: Seb Coe took Prime Minister Tony Blair and Minister for Culture, Media & Sport Tessa Jowell on a boat tour of the waterways of East London, marking the launch of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s Sustainable Development Strategy. They travelled to the two waterways that pass either side of the Olympic Stadium. January 23: Tony Blair and Chairman of London 2012, Sebastian Coe, promise that the Olympics in London will be the most environmentally friendly and sustainable yet in a podcast for the Downing Street website as a milestone is reached in the preparations - 2012 days to go before the event begins. A Sustainable Development Strategy, published today, promises to cut carbon emissions, reduce water consumption and make sustainability fundamental to all Olympic procurement. January 22: Official ‘Blue Badge’ tourist guides have been learning details about the new Olympic development area and attending intensive training courses on east London’s past, present and future in the context of the Games. For example, they learned that that Gandhi was once a resident of Bromley-by-Bow! January 10: Docklands Light Railway (DLR) awards the first of three major construction contracts to build the £211m DLR extension to Stratford International, a key part of the transport plans for the 2012 Games. A Skanska and GrantRail joint venture appointed to carry out the first physical work for the scheme, valued at approximately £39m. See plans* of the Olympic Park during the games and the Olympic Park after the games and the Detailed plan of the Olympic Village *These plans and full details of the progress towards the Games can be seen on the 'official' blog for the London 2012 project at http://blog.london2012.com/ |
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September 30: The vast land bridge that will form the main gateway into the Olympic Park is being lifted into place. The 250m-long and 40m-wide bridge will be the main pedestrian access into the Olympic Park during the Games. It will also form the roof of the Aquatics Centre training pool.
July 16:The Olympic Stadium’s external structure is completed today’. This external structure includes roof sections, which will support the fabric roof, and black steel ‘rakers’, which support the terracing for the upper tier’s 55,000 seats. 
July 15: An investment of £16 million towards the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is announced. The grant, from the Olympic Lottery Distributor, will fund six of the major projects that feature in the Olympiad including an international Shakespeare festival; a UK-wide film project for young people; and 'World River' - a spectacular music festival just before the 2012 Games. There will also be a 'Festival of Carnivals; a project to enable young people to discover new places; and the UK's largest-ever celebration of disability art and culture.
July 10: A new bridge that links Stratford town centre to the new Stratford City development and the Olympic Park has moved a step closer to completion. The ‘Town Centre Link Bridge’ has been successfully pushed into position, crossing 
July 6:The first young members of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA’s) Construction Crew have graduated from the programme. Twenty local schoolchildren, aged 10, took part in the project and learned about the different aspects of building the Olympic Park’s venues and infrastructure. 
June 24 : Plans were approved for the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) and Main Press Centre (MPC) by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) Planning Committee last night. 
May 28: A team of more than 100 people are now working on the London 2012 Velodrome site (left), designed to be the world’s fastest track.
May 14: Improvement works have started on The Greenway, an important cycle and walking route to the Olympic Park. The 2.3km stretch of The Greenway that links the Park to Victoria Park and West Ham Station is being resurfaced and widened to improve the cycleway and footpath. New signage, seating and improved access points are also being installed
May 8: A programme of dredging to revitalise 8.35km of waterways in and around the Park has started. Dredging will improve water quality and open up the waterways allowing barges to transport construction materials to and from the site. A 60-tonne craft carrying out the dredging is expected to remove 20,000 tonnes of silt, gravel and rubble as well as tyres, shopping trolleys, timber and at least one car. This will contribute towards the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA’s) target of bringing 50% of materials (by weight) onto the Park by rail or water, a figure already exceeded by using rail alone. There are 8.35km of waterways in and around the Park including the River Lea, which runs through the centre of the Park and joins the River Thames.
January 15: Today is an important anniversary because it is the mid-point between London winning the bid to become Host City and the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games in July 2012. Pictured right, the Olympic Stadium site before demolition of any of the 33 buildings on the site.
November 24: Members of the All Blacks rugby team (left) visit the new Olympic Ring-decorated playing area and enjoyed a brief Haka with some youngsters from a local rugby club.
September 18: Open House London 2008 weekend on the Olympic Park site and one of the site tour 
August 26: New images released by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) show the structure of the Olympic Stadium for the London 2012 Games is already beginning to take shape.
The London bus make a lap of the National Stadium with Britain's medal-winning cyclists dodging around dancing pedestrians, it created an uncanny glimpse of home – instantly familiar to anyone who’s ever lived in or visited London.
invite the world to the London Olympics in 2012. 
April 9: A new bus service for workers on site will boost local employment and benefit the environment.
October 30: A demolition machine weighing 45 tonnes - one of the largest in Europe - has started systematically dismantling the tallest building on the Olympic Park site, a 12 storey building, which was formerly University of East London student accommodation.
August 22: Sebastian Coe (left), chairman of London 2012 Organising Committee, has been appointed as a Vice President of the international athletics governing body, the IAAF.
June 4 : This morning London 2012 launched its new brand at a special event in North London and faced very mixed reception from the public. Developers of the brand say "It’s not about the shape. It’s not about the colours. It’s about what we can do with it - there is a lot more to see, and you’ll see it soon."