Olympic Stadium

Venue

Olympic Stadium

Capacity

80 000

Completion date

March 2011

Medal Events

170

Latitude/Longitude

51.538336/-0.016512

Transport links

Tube - Stratford;
Rail or Docklands Light Railway - Stratford International Station, West Ham Station

Athletics

The Olympic Stadium is the focal point of both the Olympic Park and the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in general. The 80 000-capacity venue is the setting for both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics programme.

The stadium is surrounded on three sides by water and spectators can use five bridges to reach the venue, which is situated in the south of the Olympic Park. There is an 80-metre warm-up track within the stadium, along with 700 rooms - including eight changing rooms and four prayer rooms.

It is the most sustainable stadium ever built as light steel and low-carbon concrete were used in its construction. The stadium will be utilised for another major international event during the 2017 World Athletics Championships.

Olympic Stadium Preview

DSTV content

Interesting Facts

Preparation

The Olympic stadium is the lightest ever built and can hold 80 000 people.
10,000 tonnes of steel were used to build the Olympic stadium.
Items found on the site range from a Roman coin to 3 000-year-old human remains.

Opening Ceremony

It is predicted that four billion people will watch the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium on Friday, 27 July.
The Olympic flame which will be lit at the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium has been a symbol of the Games since 1928.
Greece’s athletes are traditionally first to enter the stadium in the parade.
The London Philharmonic have recorded the national anthems of all 205 nations that will be played at the medal and welcoming ceremonies. It took at least 50 recording hours over six days to finish the project.

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