A tour of the Olympics!

Hey guys!!

My name is Becky and I’m one of the full time volunteers on the My Personal Best project. On Friday the 4^th of February I went along with a member of staff from beat and another full time volunteer to visit the Olympic Park.

Okay, so firstly I’ll give you a little bit of information about the Olympic park and village.

In July 2005 London secured the opportunity to stage the 2012 Olympics. Since then there has been lots of hard work going on. The site which the Olympic park and village is being built on is the same size as Hyde Park.

• There are going to be around 7.7 million tickets available for the Olympic Games.
• On the busiest day of the Olympics, which is thought to be just before the swimming events finish and when the athletic events have just opened, they are estimating that about 800,000 people will be using public transport to travel to the games!!
• London is going to become home to people from 205 nations as they all compete against one another.
• Whilst the building work and construction has been going on, there have been lots of animals that have needed some TLC. The ODA reports that 2000 newts have been relocated from the Olympic Park to the waterworks nature reserve.
• The Olympic Park is going to be just that, a park! A place for children to play, teens to chat, couples to have romantic picnics and a place that is full of nature. They are planning to plant 4000 trees on site and the first tree was planted by the Queen back in October 2009.
• The Olympic park has its own village where the competitors are going to stay to train and compete. All the architects were given a basic plan of how a block of flats needed to look and each architect came up with their very own design. Each block is slightly different, whether it’s colour, shape, material or style, yet together they look awesome. After the competitors have left London, these flats will be become used for the public.
• The Olympics will begin on the 27^th of July and finish on the 12^th of August. The Paralympics will begin on the 29^th of August and finish on the 9^th of September.
• After the games have finished, the park will be developed to fit the local community.

 

They are still building it all at the moment, but the Velodrome is completely finished! It’s shaped like a pringle, and on top there is a walk way that you can walk along and look straight into the arena! The thought terrifies me, but I’m sure many will love it! The arena that is going to be used for basketball and the finals of handball is nicknamed the ‘baked Alaska’ as it’s a white square type shape with squiggles on the outside.

I didn’t think I’d ever get to go to see the Olympic park or village as I’m very anxious around people, the idea of going to see the games with the amount of people going, it’s too scary for me! To be given this opportunity was a once in a lifetime chance; and I grabbed it with both hands! I’m very grateful and I loved it!

To anyone who is going to the Olympic games, have an amazing time and make sure you let us all know what your experience is!

Lots of love, Becky. x