Memorable London Venues


London is a well-placed Olympic city so far as iconic ‘sports’ venues are concerned.


Olympics – and the essence that is now the Olympic philosophy, the manner and style by which we should all try to live.


There is no doubt the London organisers will not even try to compete with Beijing’s opening ceremony extravaganza, a mind- blowing experience of sound, light and humanity woven together in a cultural embrace that will always be the benchmark for such things.


And maybe that is where London will succeed, as no other city has done before, or likely will do for many years to come.


When Samuel Johnson said back in the 18th century that “when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”, he could not have imagined London in 2012 and the fatigue that comes with modernity. But he need not have worried. The city, a melting pot of people unlike no other, would retreat to its ancient and poetic past.


Looking from Westminster Bridge along the River Thames in 1802, English poet William Wordsworth


wrote: “Earth has not anything to show more fair, dull would he be of soul who could pass a sight so touching in its majesty.[…] Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie open unto the fields, and to the sky.”


And therein lies London’s exquisite appeal. - its uniqueness, with venues as old as the old country itself.


When the arrows fly to their target in the archery event it will be on the hallowed turf of Lord’s Cricket Ground, better known as the MCC, the Marylebone Cricket Club, the world’s oldest.


When swimmers leap into the water for the swim leg of the triathlon they will do so in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, an infamous and sinuous stretch of waterway in the heart of London.


The marathoner runners will line up in front of Buckingham Palace, around the Queen Victoria fountain. The beach volleyballers will play at Horse Guards Parade opposite St James’s Park and backing onto Whitehall, near buildings many centuries old such as Guildhall, the Palace of Westminster or the Houses of Parliament.


FOOTBALL: Wembley Theatre of Dreams (Manchester) Hampden Park (Glasgow) Millennium Stadium (Cardiff) St. James’s (Newcastle)


TENNIS: Wimbledon


EQUESTRIAN: Greenwich


BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Horse Guards Parade - St James’s Park


TRIATHLON: Hyde Park


Wherever the eye peers, the landmarks of London will remind everyone of their place in history and the history of London that is redolent of some of sports best occasions, this being one.


London 2012 will not try to compete with Beijing 2008. But it will remind everyone - those privileged to be there and those consuming the event on the multiplicity of media devices - that it will be the greatest Olympics of all time, such is the ascent of man, our need to strive and the bonds of history which tie us to Olympism and the credo of de Coubertin.


ABU News 11


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