London 2012 Opens Aquatic Centre to Celebrate One-Year-To-Go Landmark

England’s capital city London today celebrates the one-year-to-go landmark for its hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games as the countdown begins to the start of the event, which begins on July 27 2012.

The London 2012 Aquatics Centre is being unveiled this morning as the final permanent Olympic Park venue to be completed after the Olympic Stadium, Velodrome, multi-use Handball Arena, basketball arena and the International Broadcast Centre (IBC). The final cost of the 17,500-capacity Aquatics Centre has totaled around US$381 million.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said: “With construction now complete on the Aquatics Centre, we are another step closer to the spectacular Olympic Park which will be host to world class sport in 2012.”

Olympic Delivery Authority chairman John Armitt added: “Five years ago, in July 2006, we published a delivery timetable which set out the ambitious target to complete the main venues a year before the Games. Today, I am proud to say that we have delivered on that commitment.”

Meanwhile UK Sports Minister Hugh Robertson has admitted London’s transport network will be an obstacle that London still needs to overcome.

“It is a challenge,” said Robertson. “It was a challenge at the time of the bid and it remains a challenge now. London is a full and busy city. There are four things we’re doing to try and mitigate this risk: investment in transport infrastructure, the Javelin train that will produce significant extra capacity, the Olympic Route Network and the traffic demand management system. But this is always going to be a challenge.”

Events are taking place across the city today to mark the year-to-go milestone. These include Olympic hopeful Tom Daley making the first dive into the pool as the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park in Stratford is unveiled and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge attending an event in Trafalgar Square where the design of the medals will be unveiled.