London Update: Early Olympic Building and the Friendship Sinks

Olympic Stadium Construction to Begin Three Months Early

The Olympic Delivery Authority confirms that construction of the $1-billion Olympic Stadium will start three months ahead of schedule.

Progress to clear and clean the site has gone better than expected and building work will start on the 80,000-seat project by the end of May. Ground levels at the stadium site have had to be lowered by nine meters to create the sunken area for the track and permanent lower tiers of seating. (LOCOG)

"We have investigated the Olympic Stadium site, demolished tens of buildings and excavated 800,000 tons of soil," says ODA chairman John Armitt.

"Now that we have finished the work to dig the bowl where the opening and closing ceremony and athletics will take place in 2012, we are firmly on track to start construction work ahead of schedule."

Site offices for the Olympic Stadium workers have also been constructed in readiness for numbers to dramatically increase.

At the peak of the construction on the project, there will be over 1,000 staff based in the site offices.

The stadium is the centerpiece of the 2.5-square-km Olympic Park in Stratford, which will also be home to the aquatics centre, the velodrome and the international media centre among other venues.

After the Games, it will be downsized to 25,000 seats and used as a multipurpose venue with athletics at its core.

Face Mask Ban for Athletes?

A British Olympic Association ban on U.K. athletes wearing face masks to combat pollution at the Beijing Games could be lifted if the International Olympic Committee decides to issue any fresh guidelines on their use.

Earlier this week, BOA chair Colin Moynihan insisted that British athletes would be banned from using face masks.

But he said the BOA's position would be influenced by IOC advice.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has said a report from the IOC Medical Commission showed they were not efficient.

However, the scale of the Beijing's pollution problem will become much clearer on Monday when Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the commission, gives an update on the city's air quality issues in a teleconference call with reporters.

Marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie seems unlikely to run the marathon due to health risks.

"The British Olympic Association is increasingly confident about the air quality in Beijing as a result of measures being applied by the Chinese State and Beijing Municipal Governments and the close monitoring of the position by the IOC," a BOA spokeswoman tells ATR.

"Whilst contingency measures have been developed we are confident that these will not be necessary."

The BOA has been working with scientists at the University of Exeter to develop masks for possible use by its athletes at the Games.

Friendship Plans Ditched

Plans to sail a ship around the world to promote the 2012 Games and advertise Britain's "cultural riches" have been scrapped.

According to London's bid book, an ocean-going clipper named the Olympic Friendship was due to set sail this August on a four-year journey as part of the Cultural Olympiad. Sailing around the world on behalf of the Cultural Olympiad is "impractical," London organizers have decided. (ATR)

But London 2012 organizers confirmed this week that the project was impractical and new ways of promoting the Olympics globally would be explored.

"We reviewed it and worked out that in the internet era there are better ways of delivering the cultural program than a ship sailing around the world for four years," a spokeswoman tells ATR.

"The concept of the Friendship - reaching out to young people around the world through culture, sport and education - is still very much alive and will be part of our education program launching in 2010."

Meanwhile, plans for London's wide-ranging Cultural Olympiad are gaining momentum.

Cultural organizations and communities across the U.K. were this week invited to submit ideas for projects to so-called "creative programmers" in every nation and region.

Olympic organizers are developing a U.K.-wide cultural program. It will start over the weekend of Sept. 26-28 and run until end of the Games.

"This is an innovative new venture so we’ll be starting with just a few carefully selected projects from all over the UK, but once it has bedded down we aim to expand its remit more widely over the next four years," said Bill Morris, LOCOG's director of culture, ceremonies and education.

Heathrow Terminal 5 Opens

Queen Elizabeth has officially opened Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5.The terminal is a boost to London's transport plans for the 2012 Olympics.

At the opening ceremony Friday, she described the $8.6 billion terminal as "a 21st century gateway to Britain".

LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe and chief executive Paul Deighton were among some 800 invited guests at the event.

The terminal becomes operational on March 27. With the capacity to handle 30 million passengers a year, it means Heathrow's annual passenger numbers will rise from its current 68 million to 95 million.

New Trains for 2012

London Olympic leaders have unveiled the first new trains that will form a central part of the transport infrastructure for the 2012 Games.

The $200 million fleet of 55 carriages for the Docklands Light Railway is funded by the Olympic Delivery Authority and Transport for London. The first of the new carriages will be operational this spring with the remainder introduced into service by the end of 2009.

During the 2012 Games, the DLR will serve the main Olympic Park at Stratford, as well as competition venues at Woolwich, Greenwich and the ExCeL exhibition centre.

"Transport is a crucial element to London 2012, and the Docklands Light Railway will be essential in moving hundreds of thousands of people to and from the Olympic Park during the Games," says John Armitt, chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority.

The increase in capacity will allow the railway to keep pace with increasing passenger numbers, which are expected to rise from 65 million per year to 100 million per year by 2012.

Competition for Landscape Contract

Four companies have been shortlisted for the contract to landscape the northern section of the London's Olympic Park.

They are: Fitzpatrick Contractors; Edmond Nuttall; Skanska McNicholas; and Balfour Beatty.

The landscape and public realm contractor will be responsible for managing the transformation of 40 hectares of former industrial land and landfill into new open spaces, parklands and waterways fit for the Games and legacy.

The ODA plans to appoint the contractor in the summer. Work will start on site in 2009.

With reporting from Mark Bisson.

For general comments or questions, click here

The Golden 25 special edition magazine is now available in PDF. Click here to see who will be most influential in the Olympic Movement in 2008.