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Olympic Park: A New Sporting Complex for London

Computer-generated image of the Olympic Stadium at Olympic Park. Courtesy London 2012

Olympic Park in Stratford, East London, will be the central venue for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

Read our handy guide to Olympic Park's purpose-built, world-class sports venues.

Olympic Stadium

The Olympic Stadium will be the centre of the action for the London Olympics and Paralympic Games. Located in the heart of the Olympic Park in Stratford, the Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony and all Athletics events will be held in this innovative 80,000-seat venue (to be converted into a permanent 25,000 seat stadium post-Olympics). Take a virtual tour and find out the facts and figures on the London 2012 Olympics website.

Aquatics Centre

Designed by award-winning architect Zaha Hadid, the Aquatics Centre acts as a gateway to Olympic park and is situated on the banks of the River Lee. The complex will host Olympic Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Synchronised Swimming, the swim leg of the Modern Pentathlon and Paralympic Swimming.

The main facility, which seats 17,500, houses a 50m competition pool, a 25m diving pool and a 50m warm-up training pool. Water Polo will be held next door in a temporary 5,000-seat venue.

Basketball Arena

A temporary 12,000-seat venue in Olympic Park for the duration of the games. The Basketball Arena will host the Basketball preliminaries and quarter-finals (the final will be at The O2), Handball semi-finals and finals, Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Rugby.

VeloPark

This new, 12,000-seat complex will showcase the Track Cycling, BMX and Paralympic Track Cycling events. After the Games, a Road Cycle circuit and Mountain Bike course will be added to create a VeloPark for the local community, local clubs and elite athletes.

Handball Arena

With its showy copper exterior, this new venue will host the Handball, Modern Pentathlon (Fencing and Shooting) and Paralympic Goalball events. The Handball Arena, with a flexible seating capacity up to 7,000, will remain on site for use in indoor sports competitions and training for years to come.

Hockey Centre

Hockey, Paralympic Five-a-side Football and Paralympic Seven-a side Football will be played in the temporary Hockey Centre to audiences of 15,000 on the main pitch and 5,000 on the second pitch.