English
Photo by Wikimedia Commons –
Top 10 Surprising Facts about London 2012 – Olympic Stadium
The 1908 Games were meant to take place in Rome but London offered to step in after the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in 1906.
The Great Stadium, to the north of Shepherd’s Bush, was purpose-built and cost about 拢60,000. London’s 2012 venue, which will host athletics, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies, has cost 拢500m to construct.
Its predecessor was quite the multi-sport facility – a running track, enclosed within a cycling track, and diving and swimming pools built into the central field.
It was demolished in 1985 and made way for the BBC’s White City development. The track finishing line is commemorated on the pavement outside.
We watch the Olympics in anticipation of the next great moment. The next heroic Kerri Strugg vault, Cathy Freeman sprint or Jason Lezak anchor leg. The most memorable moments, however, are not always moments of greatness.
They can be heartbreaking, like Liu Xiang’s injury at the 2008 Beijing Games, or tragic like the massacre of Israeli athletes in Munich.
We watch because we are eager to witness history, and the Olympics is teeming with history-making opportunities.
1. Track and Field men’s 4×400-Meter Relay
Photo by Wikimedia Commons –
Even with the injuries it suffered leading up to the event, the United States was still the clear favorite to win the men’s 4×400-meter relay. After Bahamas ran its two best runners, Chris Brown and Demetrius Pinder, in the first two legs, the Americans took the lead.
The United States and Bahamas pulled away from the rest of the field, making it a two-team race for gold.
Third Bahamian runner Michael Mathieu stayed within striking distance, but the Americans seemed to be making a move. When Ramon Miller got the baton, he started off behind American anchor Angelo Taylor.
Along the backstretch and into the final turn, Taylor still led. That’s when Miller struck.
With 50 meters left, he overtook Taylor, and Taylor didn’t have enough energy left to catch him. It was a new Bahamian national record鈥�2 minutes, 56.72 seconds鈥攂ut more importantly, it was an Olympic gold medal.
It was the Bahamas’ only medal of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
2. It is Flexible
The London 2012 stadium seats 80,000 people during Games time but architects Populous designed it with legacy in mind, as capacity will be reduced after the Games.
The lower tier, which holds 25,000 people, is permanent, but the upper tier is temporary and it’s concrete and steel structure holding 55,000 seats can be dismantled.
The formal bidding process to use the stadium after the Olympics and Paralympics began in August 2010, with a decision due to be announced in May 2012.
But the tendering process has been dogged by problems including the controversy over future use, objections from rival bidders, and a complaint to the European Commission.
3. The Roof is made of Fabric
The roof over the stadium is not made of steel or concrete but of PVC.
It is designed to keep costs and some of the environmental impact down on a key part of the structure that is due to be dismantled.
Other “green” features include using lightweight steel in the construction and rainwater collection.
4. The beautiful matching seats
Photo by Wikimedia Commons –
The black and white design picked out in the stadium’s seating is based on the jagged shards that feature in the design of the London 2012 graphics and logo and are also seen on the reverse of the medals.
The lines are angled to shoot out from one area, the 100m finishing line on the track, to represent the point from which energy radiates.
Another 56 colours feature within the stadium’s structure and are based on the bright colours of the Games branding.
They form a “colour wheel” in shades of pink, blue, green and orange that change throughout the stadium as they are picked out in paintwork, glass around the stairs and the fabric wrap on the outside.
5. Fascinating Lights and Camera
Photo by Wikimedia Commons –
The floodlights above the stadium were first officially turned on on a snowy day in December 2010.
They support 532 individual lights.
6. The Controversial Wrap
The frame of the building will be clothed in 拢7m wraps made up of individual pieces of fabric that reach 900m (0.56 miles) long and 20m (67ft) high in total.
The 2.5m wide panels twist through 90 degrees from top to ground level to allow spectators to pass between them into the stadium at any point on its perimeter.
Dow Chemical agreed to fund the wrap after government money for it was pulled in 2010 in coalition cutbacks. But its sponsorship is controversial.
Dow has been at the centre of a row over its links to the firm that ran the Bhopal pesticide plant – the site of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters in December 1984.
Rights groups, athletes and Indian and British politicians have spoken out against Dow, thousands have signed petitions condemning it.
However, Prime Minister David Cameron and London 2012 chairman Lord Coe have said they have no problem with Dow sponsoring London 2012.
7. Outside Shopping
All of the public bars, food concessions and information and retail points have been designed as individual pods, grouped together outside the stadium in “villages”.
These are temporary structures that can be removed when need be, making the services inside the stadium, and therefore the demands for the stadium design, much simpler.
Some of the toilets are housed as fixed loos inside the stadium, while some are outside in the village set-ups.
8. No Stadium is an Island
Photo by Wikimedia Commons –
The Olympic was built on an Island!
This site for the stadium lies at the southern end of the Olympic Park between rivers and tributaries including the Old River Lea and parts of the Bow Back rivers and St Thomas Creek.
Those existing waterways were modified during the site’s development and access to the venue is via six footbridges around the perimeter.
Tickets will be checked on the bridges, giving ticket-holders access to the whole site, but those without stadium tickets are left outside.
9. Dig for Victory
The design of the stadium places the competition level and lower tier of seating in a bowl dug out of the island site.
During excavations, 800,000 tonnes of soil were removed.
That’s enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall nine times over.
10. Made for Celebrations
The stadium design factors in the need for it to host the opening and closing ceremonies.
Right at the top of the stadium, tripods are fixed on to the compression ring – the outer circle of steel that runs around the top.
They support cables which connect across the building to allow scenery and staging for the opening ceremony to “fly” across the “sky zone”.
Typically, the staging for ceremonies is bolted onto sporting stadia, but the 2012 venue was built with foundations designed to take the strain.
The cables are able to support the weight of 34 unladen double-decker buses – so perhaps at least the odd performer or two.
Planning a trip to Paris ? Get ready !
These are聽础尘补锄辞苍’蝉听产别蝉迟-蝉别濒濒颈苍驳聽travel products that you may need for coming to Paris.
Bookstore
- The best travel book : Rick Steves – Paris 2023 –听
- Fodor’s Paris 2024 –听
Travel Gear
- Venture Pal Lightweight Backpack –听
- Samsonite Winfield 2 28″ Luggage –听
- Swig Savvy’s Stainless Steel Insulated Water Bottle聽–听
We sometimes read this list just to find out what new travel products people are buying.
