Olympic Stadium Officially Opened
The London 2012 Olympic Stadium was officially opened on Saturday by a nine-year-old girl from Hackney, alongside Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012. Niamh Clarke-Willis, who can see the Olympic Stadium from her bedroom window, pressed a giant blue button that sent balloons into the air signifying the opening of the 80,000-seater stadium.
The youngster was chosen to do the honours at a special test event celebrating 2,012 hours to go until the Games begin with a multi-million pound Opening Ceremony on 27th July.
Paralympic and Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning archer Danielle Brown had earlier shot arrows at two spinning targets to select a name from 100 pre-selected eight to 14-year-old girls and boys.
A crowd restricted to 40,000, with tickets sold out within 20 minutes of them being made available.
The special ceremony followed the second day of the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Championships, which served as the test event for the Games.
After the end of the athletics, which included a number of invitation events featuring several of Britain’s London 2012 hopefuls, the crowd watched five-time Olympic rowing champion Sir Steve Redgrave and Downton Abbey and Twenty Twelve actor Hugh Bonneville join other celebrities and sport stars in a series of fun contests to test out the running track.
Former Spice Girl Melanie C and comedian Jack Whitehall performed, while the Military Wives led a rendition of the national anthem.
