British Tennis - Lawn Tennis Association

Hi all, it’s “The Hutch” here with a quick blog of our visit to the Olympic Park to catch up with progress ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games.

I go to all the LOCOG (London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) and BOA (British Olympic Association) meetings as Team Leader of 2012 for tennis and listen to them explain the scope of their job in staging 2012. I never fail to come away from the LOCOG meetings with total admiration and amazement of the logistics surrounding the Games.

It was our turn to take up the invitation from LOCOG and it all started at the NTC. Olympic wrestler Milan from the NTC (well should be a wrestler!) took eight of us to Barnes station in the mini bus.

After a short wait while the young looking (or good looking!) Nigel Sears went back to get his ID, we headed on to Waterloo, then jumped on the Jubilee line to Stratford and hey presto we were there.

Too often I hear that “it is so difficult to get to”. Well it really is NOT. All you need to do is get on the train and relax as it takes you directly from Waterloo to Stratford as smoothly as my backhand!

On arrival we were met by Clare Wood the LOCOG Tennis Event Manager who is in charge of overseeing the 2012 tennis activities at Wimbledon.

It is great as Clare, who is also assistant referee at Wimby, knows the ropes although it is quite a new and very different set of circumstances having to deal with all the new logistics that an Olympic Games throws up.

We headed off in the coach for a tour of the Olympic Park with our experienced guide Jenny on the microphone. Jenny outlined the six stages of the Olympic Park facilities with the LOCOG at the organisational helm.

Stage 1 was winning the bid in 2005 and between 2005-07 sorting the venue and transport Master Plan of the Olympic Park. Sounds easy when writing it but it really was a huge task.

Stage 2 preparing the design and construction along with the Olympic Development Authority. (ODA)

Stage 3 was the actual construction of the Olympic Park and all the other venues which are going on now with plans for completion by 2011.

Stage 4 will be the pre-Games Test events in virtually every sport which will test the operational, technology and logistics surrounding the event

Stage 5 will be the actual Olympic and Paralympics Games in 2012.

Stage 6 and final stage will be the Games legacy usage of the facilities with LOCOG and the ODA working with the Olympic Park Authority.

I assure you that on completion of those six stages, it will have been a massive feat of logistical brilliance!

View the progress being made at the Olympic Park site with photos on the official London 2012 Games website. 

The plans for all the different sports in the Olympic Park

Now hold tight while I bamboozle you with a host of facts regarding the Olympic Park build. The venue itself is some 500 acres, the size of Hyde Park, and the logistics of the site reclamation were immense.

As a small example, there were 52 electric pylons that were cleared and all electric cables put underground in the 6km of underground tunnels. Over 200 buildings had to be demolished and you can only really see the sheer scale of it all by actually going to see the progress first hand.

The Olympic stadium will seat 80,000 spectators with over 700 rooms within the stadium for athletes and officials. As you can see from the photo below, the construction is well on track.

The Olympic stadium is taking shape

The Velodrome is an iconic design and will hold 12,000 spectators. As for the Aquatics centre, it is also iconic in design and will be seen immediately coming from the trains entering the Olympic Park. The centre will eventually hold 17,000 spectators and I include a picture below to give you some idea of the progress being made.

The impressive Aquatics centre roof is already in place.

The Olympic Athletes Village is being built to hold 10,000 athletes and officials for 26 sports and 20 sports in the Paralympics.

Just imagine there will be 9,000 people working on the Olympic Village site at peak time before finalising all construction. Yes 9,000 people! In addition the Broadcast and Media Centre will hold 20,000 journalists and people working in the media during the Games.

I could go on and on with stats of the sheer size of the Olympic Park. There are many other venues where the Olympics sports are being staged including the Paralympics tennis event at Eaton Manor which will hold 10,000 spectators and will be a wonderful legacy for tennis after the Games.

So there you have a glimpse of our tour. Truly amazing and I recommend you visit the LOCOG website www.london2012.com

Thanks must go to the LOCOG for a great visit!

Images - courtesy of the LOCOG