London 2012 Olympic Stadium Athletics Track Completed
The athletics track at the London 2012 Olympic stadium has been completed.
The track, designed by Italian company Mondo, is made of synthetic rubber and has been designed to help athletes run fast times.
Five world records were set on a similar surface at the Beijing Olympics and 2012 organisers are hoping to at least match that next summer.
London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said:
"Today marks a huge milestone for the project as the stadium comes to life."
The 80,000-capacity stadium is nearing completion with the latest anticipated final cost of the work being £486m.
The stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as all the track and field events.
British 2012 hopefuls including Paralympic gold medallist Dan Greaves, long jumper Chris Tomlinson and World Championship silver-medallist Hannah England tried out the new surface.
"People can get a glimpse of how it will look in less than 10 months' time when we welcome the world's athletes to London," Coe added.
"There is still a lot of work to do on the stadium but seeing some of our top British athletes on the track with local schoolchildren really underlines the stadium's potential for 2012 and beyond."


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