World Class Sport coming to Greenwich Park

The London 2012 Olympic Organising Committee (LOCOG) will host two major test events at Greenwich Park next week as part of its London Prepares series. The Greenwich Park Eventing Invitational is the equestrian test event which takes place from 4-6 July, followed by the Modern Pentathlon UIPM World Cup Final on 9-10 July. These events will focus on testing the sporting field of play, results, time and scoring systems, and how teams work together prior to the Olympic Games next year.

Seb Coe, LOCOG Chair, commented: "Greenwich Park is a fantastic venue, and it is very exciting to be hosting world class sport here in the lead up to the Games. This will give us a chance to test our plans and operational readiness. It also gives the residents and school children of Greenwich, plus the equestrian and modern pentathlon communities, a chance to witness world class sport at this historic venue.

"We have worked hard on the detail of our plans, and we will treat the Park with respect and care. We have held the event outside school holidays to minimise disruption and many parts of the Park remain open, including the whole of the west side. It has been impressive and exciting to see everything take place. Now it is time to put it all into action."

Within Greenwich Park, a temporary equestrian arena has been erected to host the Dressage, Jumping and Laser Shooting (for Modern Pentathlon). The arena platform has been designed to minimise impact as it is quick to install, lightweight, reusable and has been fitted using adjustable legs which means that no holes have had to be dug in the ground. The arena will seat 2,000 spectators, and is on a smaller scale than for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. A cross country course has also been installed, consisting of 26 jumps in the east side of the Park.

There will be 41 riders from 23 countries at the Equestrian event which takes place from Monday 4 July - Wednesday 6 July 2011; this includes three riders from Great Britain -including Olympians Pippa Funnell and William Fox-Pitt. Top athletes from around the world will also be competing, including double gold medal-winning Mark Todd and and current world champion Michael Jung.The schedule comprises Eventing (Monday), Cross Country (Tuesday) and Dressage (Wednesday), plus a Paralympic Dressage display.

On 9 and 10 July, 72 Modern Pentathletes will compete from 20 nations including Lena Schoneborn (GER), Heather Fell (GBR) and Victoria Tereshuk (UKR), gold, silver and bronze medallists respectively in the women's event from Beijing, and the current world champion Serguei Karyakin (RUS) in the men's event. The Women's competition will take place on Saturday and the Men's event will take place on Sunday. Greenwich Park will play host to the show jumping and combined event (shooting and running), whilst the fencing and swimming will take place at Crystal Palace. The World Cup will feature new Laser Shooting technology, which has recently been introduced in all elite competitions.

Across both events, 4,500 tickets have been distributed by Greenwich Council to Greenwich schools, colleges, and residents of Greenwich Borough. 3,700 have been distributed to British Equestrian Federation (BEF) and Pentathlon GB members.

For more information, contact:fran.edwards@london2012.com

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