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Hoy, Johnson mark Games' two-year countdown
Olympic quadruple gold medallists Chris Hoy and Michael Johnson tried out London's 2012 Games facilities on Tuesday, two years to the day before the Games begin.
Cyclist Hoy took to the track in the Velodrome, watched by construction workers who enthusiastically downed tools to witness the Scotsman do a couple of laps.
"You can imagine what it is going to be like when it is filled to the rafters and it's an Olympic final where there's that atmosphere," Hoy told reporters.
"You can sense that as soon as you walk in and it gets me really enthusiastic for it; two years to go, I can't wait."
Workers at the Olympic site in east London also raised a cheer for the city's mayor Boris Johnson, himself a keen cyclist, who completed two laps.
Despite a government budget cut of £27 million ($41.90 million), the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) say they are on schedule to complete the Games venues.
IOC APPROVAL
While the 2.5-square-km complex still represents a building site from the air and surrounding roads, on the ground it is beginning to take shape.
The sweeping Olympic Stadium, which represents a £537-million chunk of the £9.298-billion overall cost of the Games, is filled with seats and has won approval from International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge, who visited the 80 000-seat centrepiece earlier this month.
The athletes' village, which will host around 17 000 competitors before being turned into housing, is taking shape, while the temporary basketball arena's white shell will provide a night-time spectacle if tests to light it prove successful.
Footbridges are in place above the River Lea which runs through the site, while the aquatics centre, with its elegantly curved roof, is already spectacular despite not being completed.
American former runner Johnson, who still holds the 400 metres world record, jogged with a group of children on a temporary running track inside the Olympic Stadium.
"I was here a few years ago when there was nothing here and now with two years to go the stadium is in place," the 42-year-old told reporters.
"London has the opportunity to welcome the world and show them what London is all about."
