Three years and counting - London 2012 looks ahead

In exactly three years, people around the world will be celebrating the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. And cycling fans will be pleased to hear that work is said to be progressing well on the Velodrome.

The Velodrome will be part of the VeloPark which is being built in the north of the Olympic Park and will also include a BMX Cicuit.

The permanent 6,000-seat Velodrome will host the indoor Olympic and Paralympic Cycling events and construction, which began in March last year is scheduled to finish in early 2011.

After the Games, a Road Cycle circuit and Mountain Bike course will be added to the Velodrome and BMX Circuit to create a VeloPark for the local community, local clubs and elite athletes.

With construction now well under way on all permanent venues on the Olympic Park, the ODA is on track and within budget, with the external structure of the Olympic Stadium now complete and the roof structure of the Aquatics Centre over half way finished.

The ODA also announced that it had delivered on and exceeded some of its ‘The Big Build: Foundations’ milestones and has published the next set of milestones it will achieve by the summer of 2010.

These include the completion of the The Velodrome structure and roof, with work about to start on installing the timber track.

Other achievable milestones include the completion of the Olympic Stadium roof, with the first seats fitted and work on the field of play started, and the completion of the Aquatic Centre’s permanent structure and roof, with all three swimming pools dug out.

ODA has started construction on all permanent venues on the Olympic Park and John Armitt, Chair of the ODA, said: “The Olympic Park has changed dramatically over the last year. The external structure of the Stadium is complete just fourteen months after construction started and with work well underway on the rest of the site people are now able to get a sense of what the venues will look like in 2012.”

To mark the three years and counting milestone Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes will join Organising Committee Chairman Sebastian Coe, Olympic Delivery Authority Chair John Armitt, Olympics Minister Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP and Mayor of London Boris Johnson on a tour of the Olympic Park to see first hand the progress of the venues they will potentially be competing at in three years time.

The athletes will travel to the Olympic Park on what will become the ‘Javelin’ train service at Games-time in the first time-trial of this train between St Pancras International and Stratford International. In 2012, the service will bring up to 25,000 visitors per hour to and from the Olympic Park along this 140mph line.

London 2012 Organising Committee Chair Sebastian Coe said: “In exactly three years, London and the whole of the UK will be getting ready to stage the greatest event on earth and we will not disappoint.

"There is a tangible sense of excitement building and a genuine sense of belief that the Games in 2012 will not only be a source of intense national pride, but that the benefits will be felt for generations to come.”

For images, video and impressions of the completed venue visit http://www.london2012.com/venues/velopark.php