''Park Live'' presented by

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

was the flagship

London 2012 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 ...

Olympic Live Site funded by commercial partners and the National Lottery, forming part of a programme of 70 live sites across the United Kingdom during the London 2012 Olympic Games; designed to bring live games and event spaces to the heart of every Nation and Region of the UK. Park Live was a specially built dedicated area in the heart of 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 ...

in Stratford accommodating over 15,000 spectators and park visitors, created to enhance their Olympic Park experience. It was the fifth largest venue on the London 2012 Olympic Park and the first time a live site of this type had ever been created inside an Olympic Park. During the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Park Live hosted approximately one million spectators. It played an important role in managing the flow of visitors across the Olympic Park, providing live broadcast coverage of sporting events from inside Olympic Park venues and from other games venues around the UK, as well as providing live information and entertainment to make spectators' visits more enjoyable and ease their onward journeys.

Location

Park Live was located in the northern part of the

, sited in a wetland bowl on banks of the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...

. It straddled Sectors 5 and 6 of the park and spanned two London Boroughs (the Park Live East Lawns were in the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...

and the Park Live West Lawns were in the

London Borough of Hackney London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

) and was situated between the

Velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate Track tran ...

, Basketball Arena,

Copper Box The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, it hosted mod ...

and the

Riverbank Arena The Riverbank Arena was a stadium in the Olympic Park, in Hackney Wick, London, United Kingdom, containing a water-based astroturf. History The Riverbank Arena was built with two venues for field-hockey competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics w ...

Games Time

At the heart of Park Live was a huge temporary structure built on stilts in the

, consisting of two giant Panasonic screens broadcasting live coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Games from 0700 until midnight on every day of the games. This structure also included the

Stage, where medal-winning athletes were interviewed live after competing, a VIP green room for athletes and guests, and live production facilities for 30 staff. The screens also broadcast daily games highlights, sport information films and sponsor messages. Approximately 4,200m2 of reclaimed parklands were dedicated for spectators to enjoy the Park Live experience. During the London 2012 games Park Live became known as the

Henman Hill Aorangi Terrace, commonly known as "Henman Hill", alongside a series of other nicknames, is a mostly grassed banked area in the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club where, during the annual Wimbledon tennis championships, cro ...

of the Olympic Park and was regularly featured in national and international news and television coverage, with broadcasters frequently cutting to Park Live for crowd reaction to sporting events, and reporters conducting interviews with spectators. Each day of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Park Live played host to numerous celebrities and medal-winning athletes including,

Sir Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a w ...

Jessica Ennis Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (born 28 January 1986) is a British retired track and field athlete from England, specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, ...

Ben Ainslie Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie (born 5 February 1977) is a British competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at the four consecutiv ...

Rebecca Adlington Rebecca Adlington (born 17 February 1989) is a British former competitive swimmer who specialised in freestyle events in international competition. She won two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-metre freestyle and 800-metre ...

, Dame Kelly Holmes, Denise Lewis OBE and

Lord Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals ...

Awards

In March 2013 Park Live presented by British Airways was awarded the title of "Best Live Experience of 2012' at the BT Sport Industry Awards in London.

Future Plans

Plans are currently under discussion to create similar Park Live and live site experiences at future Olympic and Paralympic Games.

References

{{reflist *http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17939419 *http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/9386837/London-2012-Olympics-big-screens-to-watch-the-Games.html *http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9450601/London-2012-Olympics-Park-Live-is-quintessentially-British-wet-and-polite.html *http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19346880 *http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1130308/ba-unveils-plans-giant-screen-olympic-park *http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2012/16831-british-airways-unveil-park-live-for-london-2012-which-could-become-the-henman-hill-of-the-games *http://metro.co.uk/2012/08/10/olympic-gold-rush-sparks-wave-of-marriage-proposals-at-park-live-in-london-2012-olympic-park-stratford-530301 2012 Summer Olympics