The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, located in the

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a sporting complex and public park in Stratford, Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow, in east London. It was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, situated adjacent to the Stratford City developm ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

, it hosted

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...

(fencing, shooting, swimming, horse jumping and running) during the Olympics and was the

goalball Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded inside of it into the opponents' goal. The ball is thrown by hand a ...

venue for the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

History

London's Olympic bid proposed that there would be four indoor arenas in the Olympic Park, in addition to other main venues, but the revised masterplan published in 2006 reduced this to three, with the volleyball being moved to

Earls Court Exhibition Centre Earls Court Exhibition Centre was a major international exhibition and events venue just west of central London. At its peak it is said to have generated a £2 billion turnover for the economy. It replaced exhibition and entertainment grounds, ...

. The fencing arena was also cancelled, and the fencing took place at

ExCeL ExCeL London (an abbreviation for Exhibition Centre London) is an exhibition centre, international convention centre and former hospital in the Custom House area of Newham, East London. It is situated on a site on the northern quay of the ...

. Construction of the building was completed on time in early 2011 and came in under budget. The design incorporates light pipes and rainwater collectors to reduce both energy and water use by 40%. Test events were successfully hosted at the venue ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. In January 2012, the venue was renamed the Copper Box from the Handball Arena, thus reflecting the look of the building and the fact that it would not just be used for Handball. British Handball campaigned for the rebrand to be reversed.

Olympics

The Copper Box has 7,000 seats. It was used for

preliminaries and

fencing during the Olympic Games, and for

during the

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

. The handball men's quarter-finals, all semi-finals and both finals were held at the larger Basketball Arena. The Copper Box was praised for its loud, exciting atmosphere during handball games. For the Paralympics goalball events the crowd in the Box must be quiet.

Post-Olympics

The venue has been adapted into a multi-sport arena for community use, athlete training and major events.

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

side London Lions relocated to the Copper Box for the 2013–14 season. They played their first game there on 14 August 2013 in front of a sell-out crowd, losing 72–107 to the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

American college basketball team in an exhibition match. The Lions' women's team, playing in the WBBL, moved to the venue in 2017. The venue played host to the 2015 Netball Superleague Grand Final, which saw the

Surrey Storm Surrey Storm is an English netball team based at the University of Surrey. Their senior team plays in the Netball Superleague. Between 2001 and 2005 they played in the Super Cup as London Hurricanes. After forming a partnership with Brunel U ...

win their first Netball Superleague title, defeating the

Hertfordshire Mavericks Saracens Mavericks is an English netball team based at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield. Their senior team plays in the Netball Superleague. In 2005–06 they were founder members of the league. They were Superleague champions in ...

, 56–39. The venue is the home arena for the

London Pulse London Pulse is an English netball team based at the Copper Box Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, London. Since 2019 their senior team has played in the Netball Superleague. History National Performance League London Pulse was ...

, who since 2018 have played in the Superleague. It has also hosted several home test matches for the England national team. The Copper Box hosted the

London Grand Prix The London Diamond League, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Dia ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

tournament on 1–6 October 2013. The London Grand Prix forms part of the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

's Grand Prix Gold series. The

Wheelchair Rugby Wheelchair rugby (originally murderball, and known as quad rugby in the United States) is a team sport for athletes with a disability. It is practised in over twenty-five countries around the world and is a summer Paralympic sport. The US name ...

event at the 2014

Invictus Games The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event first held in 2014, for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans. The word 'Invictus' means 'unconquered', chosen as an embodiment of the fighting spi ...

was held at the venue in September 2014, as was the BT World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge in October 2015.

London GD Handball Club Affiliated to the EHA, London GD Handball Club currently has 3 men's and 2 women's competitive handball teams in both the English National and Regional leagues, as well as a Youth Development Programme in place to generate Junior squads. The c ...

, one of the oldest handball clubs in the country, used the venue for its home matches. The floor was badly damaged during a mass fitness event in January 2014, resulting in several netball internationals having to be played elsewhere at the last minute. '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' and '' Super Smash Bros. Melee''

DreamHack DreamHack is an ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions. It is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records and Twin Galaxies as being the world's largest LAN party and computer festival with the world's fa ...

London 2015 took place at the Copper Box on 19–20 September. On 3 February 2018, the Copper Box hosted the amateur boxing fight between

YouTubers YouTubers are people mostly known for their work on the video sharing platform YouTube. The following is a list of YouTubers for whom Wikipedia has articles either under their own name or their YouTube channel name. This list excludes people who ...

KSI and Joe Weller. It has also hosted

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

boxing. From 22 to 25 February 2018, the venue played host to the ITTF Team World Cup table tennis competition. The

Rocket League Championship Series The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) is an annual ''Rocket League'' esports tournament series produced by Psyonix, the game's developer. It consists of three online qualification splits in several regions, with teams earning points towar ...

Season 5 World Championship, an Esports event sponsored by

Psyonix Psyonix LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. Founded in 2000 by Dave Hagewood, the company is best known for its 2015 game ''Rocket League''. In May 2019, Psyonix was acquired by Epic Games. History Psyonix was founded ...

, the video game company who created ''

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix. The game was first released for Windows and PlayStation 4 in July 2015, with ports for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being released later on. In June 2016, ...

'', was hosted there on 8–10 June 2018. The event was notable for "The Shot", in which Justin "jstn." Morales, a player on NRG, scored a last-second goal that forced overtime in game 7 of the World Championship Final. The RLCS would return to the Copper Box for the 2021-2022 season Spring Major on 29th June–3rd July 2022, with crowds only being present on the final two days. Great Britain played Kazakhstan at the arena in April 2019, in the tennis Fed Cup World Group II play-offs. On 31 August 2019, the venue was used for

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...

's show in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Royal Quest ''Royal Quest'' is fantasy themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Katauri Interactive and 1C Online Games. Players are able to play in both player versus environment and player versus player Player vers ...

. From 14 to 16 November 2019 the venue hosted X0, an annual event presented by

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

. Between January and July 2020, the Copper Box Arena was used as the home venue for the

London Royal Ravens The London Royal Ravens is a British professional Call of Duty League (CDL) esports team based in London, United Kingdom. London Royal Ravens is owned by ReKTGlobal, an esports parent company who also owns Rogue. History ReKTGlobal announced ...

, an

eSports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

team taking part in the inaugural

Call of Duty League The Call of Duty League (CDL) is a professional esports league for the video game series '' Call of Duty'', produced by its publisher Activision. The Call of Duty League follows the model of the Overwatch League as well as other traditional N ...

. The

2021-2022 Season Spring Major, an Esports event sponsored by

, the video game company who created ''

'', was hosted there on 29th June–3rd July 2022, with crowds only being present on the final two days. The

Apex Legends Global Series The ''Apex Legends'' Global Series (ALGS) is a global competitive esports tournament series for the video game ''Apex Legends'' run by Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment. The series uses a promotion and relegation system throughout each s ...

Year 3 Split 1 finals, will be hosted there on 2-5 Feb 2023. The arena was one of the three venues selected to host matches in the 2021 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup.

References

External links

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park websiteGym and fitness centre website

London 2012 Olympics profile

Make Architects website
{{Navboxes, list1= {{2012 Summer Olympics venues {{2012 Summer Paralympics venues {{Olympic venues fencing {{Olympic venues handball {{Olympic venues modern pentathlon {{Indoor arenas UK {{2021 RLWC Venues Venues of the 2012 Summer Olympics Handball venues in the United Kingdom Indoor arenas in London Olympic fencing venues Olympic handball venues Olympic modern pentathlon venues Handball at the 2012 Summer Olympics Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park 2012 Summer Paralympic venues Badminton in England Badminton venues Boxing venues in the United Kingdom Hackney, London Hackney Wick Netball venues in England