The Olympic Games

Olympic Stadium in June 2011

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will use a mixture of new venues, existing and historic facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well-known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. Some of the new facilities will be reused in their Olympic form, while others, will be resized or relocated.^[1]

The majority of venues have been divided into three zones within Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. In addition to these are those venues that, by necessity, are outside the boundaries of Greater London, such as the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on the Isle of Portland in Dorset which will host the sailing events, some 125 miles (200 km) southwest of the Olympic Park. The football tournament will be staged at several grounds around the UK.^[2] Work began on the Park in December 2006 when a sports hall in Eton Manor was pulled down.^[3] The athletes' village in Portland was completed in September 2011.^[4]

In November 2004 the 500 acre Olympic Park plans were revealed.^[5] The plans for the site were passed in September 2004 by Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney and Waltham Forest.^[6] The redevelopment of the area to build the Olympic Park required compulsory purchase orders of property. The London Development Agency and the London and Continental Railways had a dispute about the orders in November 2005. The LCR accused the LDA of killing off development in the area. The LDA planned alongside the Olympic Park to buy land for the Stratford City development project, which the 180-acre site of the former Stratford Rail Lands into a mixed-use development, including 4,500 new homes, office space, hotels and shops.^[7] This resulted in 2011 with the completion of the largest urban shopping centre in Europe being operated by Westfield.^[8] By May 2006 86% of the land had been bought as businesses fought eviction, this lead to an enquiry being set up. 206 companies had to relocate by July 2007.^[9] In addition, residents who opposed the eviction tried to find way to stop it by setting up campaigns. However they had to leave as 94% of land was bought and the other 6% bought as a £9 billion regeneration project started.^[10]

However, there were some issues with the original venues due to not being challenging enough or being financially unviable. For example, the road racing at the Olympics Games was originally scheduled to take place in Regent's Park and on Hampstead Heath. Instead the Olympic road races will start and finish on The Mall in central London and head out into Surrey to the south and include loops around Box Hill.^[11] The Olympic Mountain bike event will take place at Hadleigh Farm after the event was moved from Weald Country Park,^[12] after the UCI labeled the course at the park "too easy" in July 2008^[13] It was touted that the course could be created in Wales.^[14] A location in Kent was also considered^[15]

The Olympic marathon course, which was set to finish in the Olympic stadium, was moved to the mall.^[16] The idea angered some members of the local community, stating that they had been left out of the Olympics despite it taking place in their back garden no events would take place in the boroughs. The change was made as closing Tower bridge would cause "gridlock" to London.^[17][18][19] North Greenwich Arena 2 was scrapped in a cost-cutting exercise, with Wembley Arena being used for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events instead.^{[20][21][22][23]}

References