Fans get chance to use 2012 stadium before the athletes

Young athletes: Retired US sprinter Michael Johnson joined a group of children to test out a temporary track at the Olympic stadium. The Mayor has announced both children and adults have the chance for a run out before the Games
5 April 2012

Thousands of Londoners will be able to take part in sports competitions at the new world-class venues in the Olympic Park before the Games begin.

Sports events for both children and adults have been timetabled starting this summer in agreement with Games organiser Locog.

This will entitle participants to privileged use of the newly-completed venues, such as the £300 million aquatics centre and the £500 million Olympic stadium. The Mayor and London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe hope that familiarising Londoners with the facilities will encourage them back after the Games and contribute to a sports legacy both men have campaigned for.

City Hall is in talks with several potential "delivery partners" and details of the events will be agreed in the coming months.

Staging community events has only become a prospect as the building programme, which is now 80 per cent complete, has advanced.

Mr Johnson told the Standard: "Londoners need to feel they have ownership as early as we can manage. We want to give them the chance to get into this incredible park and enjoy it. There was a long time when we were looking at nothing and we were not going to lift the lid off the site until the opening ceremony."

The Park will also next summer play host to the Government's flagship school sports competition, the UK School Games.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in