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The South
Asian Life & Times - SALT |
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Contents Cover Story
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Olympic
Venues
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The
Aquatics Centre - a three-pool
swimming and diving complex designed by Zaha Hadid Architects -
is considered an architectural
experience. It is beautifully detailed – with a wave-like ceiling,
“holstered hairdryers, esoteric changing rooms” – and more.
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The £86m
velodrome, designed by Hopkins
Architects and Expedition Engineering, is a swooping structure that, in
April 2012, won an Architecture Award at an awards ceremony hosted by the
Design Museum.
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The 80,000-seat
Olympic Stadium, built on an
‘island’ site in the Olympic Park, is where the Opening and Closing
Ceremonies, and Athletic events will take place. It is surrounded by
waterways on three sides and linked
via five bridges to the surrounding area. The two Panasonic TV
screens inside the Olympic Stadium are 723 inches in size.
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The innovative
Riverbank Arena in the Olympic
Park is where hockey will be played. It has two pitches, one with spectator
seating and one for use as a warm-up area. The pitches aren’t green – they
are pink and blue! Pink is used for the area surrounding the pitch and blue
for the field of play – making it easy to spot the yellow ball.
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The
Copper Box will host handball
and modern pentathlon. Its roof is fitted with 88 light pipes that allow
natural light into the venue, reducing the demand for electric lights. The
top half of the venue is clad in 3,000 square metres of external copper
cladding – mostly recycled – hence the name Copper Box.
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The
gigantic, tent-like Basketball Arena
is covered in 20,000 square metres of a recyclable white PVC fabric. Its
black and orange seats represent the colours of a basketball. The Basketball
Arena is a temporary venue – it will be taken down after the Games.
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The 400-metre
BMX Track is located next to the
Velodrome. Slightly larger than the size of a football pitch, it is a fast
and challenging course, which features an eight-metre high ramp at the
start, followed by jumps, bumps and tightly banked corners.
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The lightweight
Water Polo Arena, alongside the
Aquatics Centre, is distinguishable by its silver-coloured wrap and
inflatable roof. It is the
first bespoke Water Polo venue for an Olympic Games.Its unique sloping
design slopes upwards from 6m to 25m. Other
action-drenched venues in spotlight will be:
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Excel
- the most exciting of venues in terms of the sports – Boxing,
Weightlifting, Wrestling, Judo, and Taekwando
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Cycling on Box
Hill
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Football in the
City of Coventry Stadium, Hampden Park, Millenium Stadium, St Jame’s Park,
Wembley Stadium
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Volleyball in
Earl’s Court
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Rowing and Canoe
Sprint in Eton Dorney
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Equestrian in
Greenwich Park
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Swimming at Hyde
Park
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Archery at Lord’s
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Athletics at The
Mall
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Badminton &
Gymnastics at Wembley Arena
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Tennis at
Wimbledon
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