London 2012's special legacy COPPER BOX Arena will be packed with enthusiastic handball fans during the London 2012 Games, but once the medals have been awarded and the fans have gone home it is destined to play a key role as a community venue for London's East End. Post-games, the Copper Box will be known as the Multi-Use Arena. Around 90 per cent of its use will be dedicated to local communities with the cost of hiring a court the same as the average price of hiring one at a local leisure centre. The venue will be able to host a full range of sports as it has retractable seating, which will allow the shape of the playing surface to be changed. The Multi-Use Arena will cater for many sports, including basketball, handball, badminton, boxing, martial arts, netball, table tennis, wheelchair rugby and volleyball. After the 2012 Games the Copper Box will also be used for athlete training, international competition and small-to-medium-scale events. A number of sports national governing bodies have already expressed their interest in using the Multi-Use Arena. It is anticipated the arena, which will also include a health and fitness gym plus studios and a café, will attract around 400,000 visitors a year and will be the only permanent indoor arena retained in the Olympic Park. The Copper Box is a further example of the London 2012 Games legacy. As the IOC (International Olympic Committee) encourages cities to think from the start of the games bidding process about the legacy they wish to leave behind, London 2012 has worked hard to ensure that each venue's post-games roadmap has been an integral part of their planning process. The Copper Box will host handball and modern pentathlon fencing during the Olympic Games and goal ball during the Paralympic Games. Olympic Torch more than half way THE OLYMPIC Torch begins its 45th day in relay from Coventry Cathedral. The Olympic flame travelled by canal boat on its way to Leicester. Among the 135 torchbearers carrying the torch the 100 miles from Coventry to Leicester will be 91-year-old ping pong champion Les D'Arcy. The retired schoolteacher is a 12-times European and world titleholder. The first torchbearer of the day is 18-year-old Ali Abdillahi, who was fostered by a family from Warwick when he came to the UK as a 13-year-old Somali asylum seeker. He went on to pass all of his GCSEs, gain a sports diploma and has recently signed for Coventry City Football Club's academy. He will carry the torch through the grounds of Coventry Cathedral. Athlete Timothy Don, who achieved first place in the 1998 World Junior Triathlon Championships, will be carrying the flame in Coventry. David Willson, from Hollowell, will be carrying the torch when it travels by canal boat at Foxton Locks. He spends his time volunteering and is hoping to encourage hundreds of families in and around London to host 1,000 Olympic and Paralympic family members in their homes for free during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Other communities the relay will visit Monday include Rugby, Dunchurch, Northampton, Wellingborough, Isham, Kettering, Geddington, Corby, Dingley, Market Harborough, Lubenham, Foxton, Kibworth Harcourt, Oadby and Leicester. Evening celebrations will take place in Abbey Park, Leicester, where crowds will be entertained with music from Morning Parade, a dance troupe who will provide a unique fusion of street performance, theatre and sport, and dance act Twist and Pulse. A total of 8,000 people will carry the flame during its 8,000 mile, 70-day journey to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London on 27 July. Media centre opens THE MAIN Press Centre (MPC) for the Olympic Games was officially opened, marking exactly one month to go until the greatest show on earth begins. During the games, around 5800 accredited members of the press and photographic media will have access to all the action as it happens from this base in the Olympic Park. The centre will provide journalists, photographers, accredited non-rights holding broadcasters and IOC and London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) staff with 31,000 square metres of workspace across four floors. A 24-hour hub, the MPC will provide the world's media the best facilities to enable them to broadcast the action to an estimated four billion people around the globe. The centre will be open for 52 days.
