London’s venues part new, part history

City to refurbish places like Wembley, but also will build new complexes

Slide show

This computer-generated image released by the London 2012 committee shows an aerial view of London's Olympic Park by night

London 2012
London won the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games and plans to transform 1,500 acres of east London's Lower Lea Valley into the main Olympic site.

Inside NBCSports.com

Scores, schedules
Fantasy sports
Trash Talk
Player news
Sports odds
Game matchups
Week in Pictures
JT The Brick

updated 1:00 p.m. ET July 6, 2005

LONDON - From the grass courts of Wimbledon to the prime minister’s neighborhood, the venues for the 2012 Olympics in London will provide a variety of backdrops — both traditional and new.

The All England Club, annual site of Wimbledon, will be the setting for the Olympic tennis tournament when London hosts the 2012 Olympics. It’s one of several London landmarks which will double as venues, along with a new 80,000-seat stadium in the East End suburb of Stratford.

“It’s the first time that the Olympic tennis event has been played on grass since 1920 Antwerp and the second time that the All England Club has hosted the event (1908),” International Tennis Federation president Francesco Ricci Bitti said. “We are confident that the 2012 Olympic tennis event will be outstanding.”

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Beach volleyball will be played on Horse Guards Parade — next door to No. 10 Downing Street, the residence of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Down the road, the triathlon will be in Hyde Park, while softball and baseball will be in Regent’s Park and archery at Lord’s cricket ground.

The soccer finals will be at the rebuilt Wembley Stadium. The preliminary games will be at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium; Aston Villa’s stadium in Birmingham; Newcastle’s St. James’ Park; Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales; and Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland.

In Stratford, a suburb east of London, a 500-acre plot of land will be transformed into a main Olympic stadium and the athletes village.

LONDON WINS 2012 GAMES
London named surprise host for Olympics
New York ‘disappointed’ to be denied
Analysis: N.Y. never had a chance for bid
Sights, sounds of London’s 2012 joy
Slide show: Tour London Olympic venues
MSNBC.com: ‘We've won, ’ave we?’
That area will also be the site of four yet-to-be-constructed arenas, where fencing, handball, modern pentathlon, field hockey and basketball would be held. An aquatic center and velodrome are already under construction there, as are two arenas under the vast white canopy of the nearby Millennium Dome where basketball and gymnastics will be played.

Arenas near the Dome will host badminton, boxing, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, wrestling and weightlifting. At nearby Greenwich Park, equestrian events will be held. Shooting will be in front of the historic Royal Artillery Barracks.

Satellite venues include rowing and canoe/kayak at Eton Dorney, 25 miles west of London, and sailing at Weymouth, about 120 miles southwest of the city on the country’s southern coast.