The Olympic Park
The Olympic Park is the area designated to be the main focal point for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In particular it will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the showcase athletics events as well as swimming, diving, hockey and cycling.
The Olympic Park itself occupies an area of about 500 acres, in a location near Stratford, in the East of London. This site will be home to the Athletes Village, the Aquatics Centre, the Hockey Centre, the Velopark as well as the centrepiece which is the main Olympic Stadium.
Many thousands of visitors are expected to flock to the Olympic Park both during and after the games. Many extra facilities are being added to the site to really enhance the visitor’s experience. During the Games, people will be able to take a stroll within the complex and still enjoy the spectacle of sport as there will be a number of large screens dotted about, broadcasting all the exciting events. So, even if you cannot enter the Olympic Park buildings, you can still enjoy the whole atmosphere and feel that you are a part of the Olympics experience.
The Olympic Park will be designed to make a really big impression on anyone that is fortunate enough to go and visit. Even after the Games have ended, the site will be a very valuable facility that is set to become an enduring attraction. There is a river running alongside the Olympic Park area which will be enhanced to become valuable urban parkland. Plenty of wildlife makes its home here and visitors will be able to take a walk along a ‘Greenway’ which is a path around the whole Olympics site to enjoy the natural environment and perhaps take a break from the hubbub of the Olympic Village.
With so many people expected into London during the Olympics fortnight, provision will be made to improve transport links to the venues. The Olympic Park will be served by eleven railway links, with the Tube system undergoing significant improvement works to ensure that everyone can arrive safely and with the minimum of fuss. Great care has been taken throughout the planning process to ensure that the Park is accessible to all so that everyone has the chance to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Visitors will be very glad to know that if they hold a valid ticket for one of the venues of the Games, they will be allowed to travel for free on Public Transport on the day of the event.
Now that the Olympic Park has been sited here, five London Boroughs will be set to take on the legacy that the Olympics will leave for them. In the future, when the Games are a memory, the excitement of the two weeks will live on as people from nearby communities will still be able to use the Olympic Stadium and Aquatics centre for sport and leisure.
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