New athletics track tested for London 2012 Olympics
The new track for the London 2012 Olympics has recently been launched and it holds the promise of providing sprinters as well as long-distance runners with the best chances of outdoing previous records. The first athletes who got the chance to set foot on
the new track surface were Hannah England and Dan Greaves. England has the honour of being the silver medallist in the world championship while Greaves has a gold in the Paralympics.
Not only were these two athletes involved in the testing of the surface but Lord Coe, the chief of the Olympics, was also present during the proceedings.
The new track was manufactured by Italian company Mondo. The time taken by Mondo to install the new surface was 75 days. According to the project manager of the company, Joe Hoekstra, the design of the track is built optimally to provide "maximum energy
return for the athlete.”
"Since the other Olympic tracks we have done we have tried to make it softer and faster. Long-distance runners and those who didn't break world records were always complaining that Mondo was hard. We've really tried to address that concern. We are very confident
we will see some excellent performances," said Hoekstra.
According to James Bulley, Director of Venues as well as Infrastructure for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, there was some speculation about the colour of the track. There was talk about making the track colours blue
and black but the traditional red was given the final verdict as it is convenient for the broadcasters and it also goes with the rest of the stadium.
The London 2012 Olympic Games will be the third time that the city plays host to the prestigious international sporting event. After having hosted the Games next year, London will become the first city in the world to have welcomed the Olympics thrice on
its soil. The first time the Olympics came to London was in 1908 while the second time it was in 1948.
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