The 2012 Summer Olympic Games will be held in London, United Kingdom this time from 27th of July to 12th of August, 2012. During these 17 days London will Host 26 different types of sports at 34 astonishing venues situated at different parts of the country. Some of the older venues have been modified and some have been and will be built for the sole purpose of the 2012 Games. All the venues for the Olympics have been divided into three zones; the River zone, the Central Zone and the Olympic Zone.

The London Aquatics Centre: Situated at the south east corner of the Olympic Park at Stratford in East London, the Aquatics Centre will serve as the venue for Swimming, Diving, Paralympic Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and the Aquatics discipline of the Modern Pentathlon. It will have a capacity for 17500 spectators for the swimming and Diving Events and 5000 for the water polo event during the games.

Features and Construction: the London Aquatics Centre, designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Zaha Hadid consists of two 50m swimming pool and a 25m dicing pool. The water polo events will be held next to it in a 5000 seat temporary venue with competition and warm up pools. A 160m long and 80m wide wave like roof covers the Stadium. The area of the roof is about 11200 sq feet after being reduced from the proposed 35000 sq feet. The venue is being constructed by the construction firm Balfour Beatty and the construction works began on 17th July 2008 and is scheduled to be completed in 2011.

Cost: The initial cost was estimated to be £75 million but on 8th April 2008, the final cost of construction was reported to be about £242 million which was almost three times that of the initial estimated cost. Despite the increase in the cost it will still remain within the total construction budget which has been estimated to about £6.1 billion.

After the Olympics: After the games, the aquatic centre will be changed into a facility for clubs and schools, local communities and as well as for elite swimmers. The two temporary wings that would be specially constructed for the 2012 games will be removed leaving 2500 seats. The Aquatics center will also feature a crèche, and a cafe along with a new public plaza in front of the building.