(ATR) The head of the International Hockey Federation praises the Olympic Hockey Center's first blue and pink pitch unveiled by London 2012 organizers Thursday.
"It is very exciting to see the hockey center now taking shape and seeing the blue pitch for the first time," said IHF president Leandro Negre.
"We feel confident that the spectators both in the stands and on television will get a fantastic visual experience."
Next year's Games will be the first Olympic hockey competition ever to be played on a different color pitch to the traditional green.
LOCOG also revealed Thursday that a yellow ball will be used during the hockey tournament for the first ever time at an Olympics.
The switch to blue pitches provides high levels of contrast with the yellow ball and white lines for players, officials, spectators, photographers and broadcasters.
The Olympic Park venue will host more than 780,000 spectators during London 2012, staging both Olympic hockey and Paralympic 5- and 7-a-side football competitions.
The Great Britain women’s hockey squad has already trained on the water-based pitch, allowing them a taste of what to expect next year.
"Having the blue and pink pitch for London 2012 is fantastic for hockey," said British hockey player Alex Danson. "The pitch is great to play on too; it's really quick and true and enables us to play with confidence. I can't wait."
The hockey center, a temporary stadium at the northern end of the Olympic Park, will be the only fully outdoor venue and can accommodate 16,000 spectators.
It includes two pitches, one for competition and one for warm-up. The main pitch will stage all of the 76 hockey matches which will be spread over 14 days of competition. More than 380 competitors from 24 teams will compete in the men’s and women’s competitions.
After its use at the Paralympics, the arena will be dismantled and certain elements reused to build two hockey competition pitches at Eton Manor in the north of the Olympic Park, which will form part of multi-purpose sport and leisure facilities.
2012 Medals Enter Production
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic medals are now in production at the Royal Mint headquarters in South Wales.
The Royal Mint's specially selected team of designers, technicians and craftsmen will produce around 4,700 medals which will be awarded during the 805 victory ceremonies at the Games.
Designs for the Olympic and Paralympic medals were unveiled earlier this year. The Olympic medals are the work of British artist David Watkins and the Paralympic medals by practicing jewellery artist Lin Cheung.
The ore for the medals is supplied by London 2012 sponsor Rio Tinto and is mined at Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Utah Copper Mine near Salt Lake City in the U.S. as well as from the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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