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Olympics 2012 Photos

London Olympics 2012: A look at the venues

July 12, 2012 15:10

With the London Olympics about to get underway in July this year, lets take a look at the venues to be used in the greatest sporting event of all time.

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With the London Olympics about to get underway in July this year, lets take a look at the venues to be used in the greatest sporting event of all time.
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Olympic Stadium : Unlike Beijing's Bird's Nest, the showpiece stadium, costing £486 million ($790 million, 550 million euros), has a simpler design, drawn up with a view to scaling it down after the Games. The steel and concrete upper tier can be dismantled, leaving a 25,000-seater sunken bowl. Construction was completed under budget in March 2011. East London football club West Ham is one of four bidders for the lease once the Games are over.
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Aquatic Centre : Designed by the architect Zaha Hadid, the £269 million centre has a 160-metre-long (525-foot-long) long wave-like roof. It contains a 50-metre competition pool, a diving pool, and a warm-up pool. One of the few Olympic-sized pools in Britain, it will be scaled back to 2,500 seats after the Games. Has already held the 2012 Diving World Cup and the British Swimming Championships, where Paralympian Ellie Simmonds set the venue's first world record.
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Riverbank Arena : The arena will hold 15,000 fans and has a warm-up pitch behind it. The blue and pink pitches have been laid, with the seating to be complete before a test event in May. After the Games, the hockey centre will move to a 3,000-seater facility north of the park that can be extended to 15,000 for major events.
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Basketball Arena : The fourth-largest venue on the park and one of the largest-ever temporary venues built for any Games. Construction completed within the £43 million budget in June 2011. The frame of 20 steel arches has been wrapped in fabric to form the canvas for an innovative lighting display. After the Olympics, parts of it are expected to be reused or relocated elsewhere in Britain.
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Copper Box: The distinctive, £43 million copper-clad arena will host the early handball rounds. The copper will develop a rich colour as it ages. Completed in May 2011. After the Games, it will be converted into a multi-purpose indoor sports centre for community use. It has retractable seating.
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Velodrome : The lower tier has 3,500 seats, with the rest suspended in two upper tiers under the curved roof. In between, a glass wall will allow people to watch the action from outside. Costing £93 million, it was completed in February 2011 and held a leg of the Track Cycling World Cup in February this year. Australia's Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch set the first world record at the Velodrome on February 17 in the team sprint. It was nominated for the 2011 Stirling Prize, Britain's most prestigious architecture award.
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Water Polo Arena : Construction was completed in April. The wedge-shaped venue is covered in a silver-coloured wrap and its sloping roof made from air-inflated plastic cushions. It features a warm-up pool inside. The arena will be taken down after the Games and parts of it are expected to be reused within Britain.
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All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club : The home of the Wimbledon championships will host the entire tennis tournament. Centre Court, dating back to 1922, has a 15,000-seater capacity and a retractable roof, enabling play during rain or bad light. Court One can host 11,500 spectators. The club hosted the 1908 Olympics at its pre-1922 venue.
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North Greenwich Arena : Once known as the Millennium Dome, this arena cost £789 million to build but lay idle for years after the Millennium Experience exhibition in 2000. Eventually taken into private hands, it was transformed into a highly successful sports and entertainment arena with shops, restaurants a nightclub and a cinema. The main arena will seat 16,500 for the gymnastics, with the full capacity for the basketball finals. It has hosted sell-out NBA exhibition games and the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
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ExCel : Five arenas will be created in the Exhibition Centre London, an enormous grey rectangular box on the edge of the semi-derelict Royal Victoria Dock. The venue has two long exhibition halls of 32,250 square metres each. ExCeL is used to rejigging its space to host major events, including a G20 summit in 2009 and the British Motor Show. It has already held several test events.
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Lee Valley White Water Centre : The centre is built upstream on the River Lee, which runs through the Olympic Park. A new, 10,000 square metre lake provides the 300-metre course with 15 cubic metres of water per second. It also has a 160-metre intermediate/training course. Already open to the public. Temporary seats will be removed after the Games.
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Wembley : The concert venue, next to Wembley Stadium, was built for the 1934 Empire Games swimming events. It has hosted sports such as boxing, ice hockey, snooker and the Horse of the Year Show. The August 2011 Badminton World Championships served as a test event.

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