London hosted the 2012 Summer Olympics from 27 July to 12 August 2012 — the third time the city had hosted the Games, after 1908 and 1948. The Games were widely judged a triumph: well-organised, well-attended, and capped by an opening ceremony by Danny Boyle that was unexpectedly moving and brilliantly strange.
The Stratford Transformation
The Olympic Park was built on 250 hectares of former industrial wasteland in Stratford, east London — heavily contaminated former gasworks and rail sidings that had lain derelict for decades. Remediation and construction cost £9 billion. The area is now Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, one of the largest urban parks created in Europe in the last 150 years.
The Legacy Venues
The Olympic Stadium is now the London Stadium, home to West Ham United. The Velodrome — designed by Hopkins Architects in the shape of a Pringle — remains one of the finest sports venues in the world. The Aquatics Centre, designed by Zaha Hadid, is open to the public for swimming. The Central line‘s Stratford station handles the bulk of visitors.
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