Athletes, volunteers and the British public will help the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) go through its paces ahead of the Games next year. More than 10,000 volunteers, 8,000 athletes from more than 50 countries and more than 250,000 spectators will be part of a 12 month rehearsal for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in a programme of test events that run from May 2011 to May 2012.

LOCOG’s detailed testing programme, which is branded the ‘London Prepares’ series, will see some world class sporting events with athletes competing in London’s iconic existing venues as well as brand new venues in the Olympic Park.

LOCOG’s testing programme will focus on testing the sporting field of play; results, timing and scoring systems; how teams work together and how people move around venues. There are different groupings of events: events which LOCOG is organising and ticketing, events run by LOGOG that are not ticketed, and events which are not organised by LOCOG.

The four LOCOG events this summer that will be ticketed are:

Mountain Bike: 31 July – Hadleigh Farm, Essex

Beach Volleyball: 9-14 August – Horse Guards Parade

Basketball: 16-21 August – Basketball Arena, Olympic Park

BMX: 19-20 August – BMX Track, Olympic Park

Basketball and BMX will be the first competitive sports to take place on the Olympic Park.

Prices vary from event to event but range from £5 to £35. Tickets will be available from Ticketmaster from 26 May, by using a Visa card only (debit, credit and prepaid product).

There are also free events to watch, such as the Cycling – Road Race event on 14 August (the London-Surrey Cycle Classic). Please click for a map of the London-Surrey Cycle Classic.

The types of things that will be tested during the programme include a new platform for the Equestrian events at Greenwich Park; new marking lanes at the Rowing lake at Eton Dorney, Buckinghamshire; delivery of 3,000 tonnes of sand for Beach Volleyball at Horse Guards Parade; and the first competitive use of the water at the Lee Valley White Water Centre, Hertfordshire, for Canoe Slalom; new presentation graphics at the Basketball Arena.

Please click here for a full list of events

Paul Deighton, LOCOG Chief Executive, said: ‘The London Prepares series is essentially about putting our plans into practice. Although our venues won’t be dressed in their Games finery, a number of events will give the public a chance to see some world class sporting action ahead of next year. These events are our opportunity to try out our new venues, test new technology and equipment and walk our extended teams through their roles and responsibilities. We have learned a lot from previous Games which we will put to good use as we challenge ourselves over the next 12 months.”

Other events that LOCOG is ticketing are:

Gymnastics (Artistic, Rhythmic and Trampoline): 10-18 January 2012 – North Greenwich Arena

Cycling – Track: 17-19 February 2012 – Velodrome, Olympic Park

Aquatics – Diving: 20-26 February 2012 – Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Aquatics – Synchronised Swimming: 18-22 April 2012 – Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Hockey: 2-6 May 2012 – Hockey Centre, Olympic Park

Wheelchair Tennis: 2-6 May 2012 – Eton Manor, Olympic Park

Water Polo: 3-6 May 2012 – Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Athletics: 4-7 May 2012 – Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park

Paralympic Athletics: 8 May 2012 – Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park

Ticketing arrangements for these events will be announced later this year.

Some of the test events will form part of UK Sport’s World Class Events Programme,
which invests National Lottery funding to help stage major international events.
These are:

Modern Pentathlon: 9-10 July 2011 – Greenwich Park/Crystal Palace

Rowing: 3-7 August 2011 – Eton Dorney, Buckinghamshire

Triathlon: 6-7 August 2011 – Hyde Park

Badminton: 8-14 August 2011 – Wembley Arena

Cycling – BMX: 19-20 August 2011 – BMX Track, Olympic Park

Cycling – Track: 17-19 February 2012 – Velodrome, Olympic Park

Aquatics – Diving: 20-26 February 2012 – Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Aquatics – Swimming: 3-10 March 2012 – Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) has announced a comprehensive testing programme which will form a key part of its preparations for the Games next year. 

LOCOG’s testing programme will focus primarily on testing the field of play, results, scoring and timing systems, as well as key operational procedures and functions. This programme is made up of three different types of events, namely:

·         International Invitational Events, created and delivered by LOCOG;

·         International Federation (IF) Events, delivered by LOCOG in partnership with the IFs and sports national governing bodies (NGBs);

·         International Events organised by sports national governing bodies and other organisations with LOCOG testing operational aspects.

Seb Coe, Chair of LOCOG, said:  ‘Our approach to operational delivery is similar to that of an athlete.   You do not want to face any conditions at competition time that you have not prepared for.   When the world’s greatest Olympic and Paralympic athletes come to London in the summer of 2012, every aspect of our delivery needs to be the best it can be.  The invaluable experience we gain through our testing programme means we can “road-test” all our operational plans and make sure we have all the knowledge we need to deliver a truly memorable Games in 2012.’

Many of the events will be available to spectators with others restricted to technology and field of play testing.  Some tickets will be sold by LOCOG and some will be sold by other event organisers.  Further details of LOCOG’s test event ticketing programme will be announced later this year.  People who are interested in attending events should sign up to www.tickets.london2012.com  and they will be sent further information as soon as it is available.

LOCOG has worked closely with UK Sport and some of the events will form part of UK Sport’s  World Class Events Programme, which invests National Lottery funding to help stage major international sporting events in the UK. 

Liz Nicholl, Chief Executive of UK Sport, said: ‘UK Sport’s World Class Events Programme has been preparing Britain’s sports and elite athletes for their home Games in London for the past five years, so it is fantastic to be supporting LOCOG’s testing programme at this crucial time through the major international events we are bringing to Olympic and Paralympic venues in 2011 and 2012. Working in partnership with nearly every British Olympic and Paralympic sport to host events on home soil in readiness for London has transformed our events staging capacity within the UK, and is allowing us to target an ambitious programme of world class events for the UK beyond 2012.’

Denis Oswald, Chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission for London, said: ‘Athletes know that the quality of their training will impact the quality of their performance as they strive to achieve their full potential. It is no different with the Games organisers and we can see that LOCOG is making sure that its pre-Games preparations will give it plenty of opportunity to refine its plans and produce a winning performance come July 2012.’

 The testing programme is as follows (subject to change): 

The Events in 2011 which will be ticketed by LOCOG are:

Mountain Bike – 31 July 2011- Hadleigh Farm, Essex

Beach Volleyball – 9-14 August 2011- Horse Guards Parade

Basketball – 16-21 August 2011- Basketball Arena, Olympic Park

BMX – 20-21 August 2011 - BMX Track, Olympic Park

These will go on sale in May 2011 via www.ticketmaster.co.uk

The Events in 2012 which will be ticketed by LOCOG (subject to confirmation) are:

Gymnastics (Artistic, Rhythmic & Trampoline) – 10-18 January 2012 – North Greenwich Arena

Track Cycling – 17-19 February 2012 – Velodrome, Olympic Park

Diving – 20-26 February 2012 – Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Synchronised Swimming – 18-22 April 2012 - Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Hockey – 2-6 May 2012 – Hockey Centre, Olympic Park

Wheelchair Tennis – 2-6 May 2012 – Eton Manor

Water Polo – 2-6 May 2012 – Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Athletics – 4-7 May 2012 – Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park

Paralympic Athletics – 8 May 2012 – Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park

On-sale dates for Events taking place in 2012 will be released later this year.

As it heads towards its £2bn budget for staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty one domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, GSK, Gymnova, Heineken, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, Next, The Nielsen Company, Populous, Technogym, Ticketmaster and Trident.  

There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games Partner - Sainsbury’s and one domestic Tier Three Supplier and Provider – Otto Bock.

The Worldwide Olympic Partners signed up for London 2012 are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos Origin, Dow Chemical Company, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.