Have the Olympic designers forgotten something?

[Raven Flyer]

Our cycling team were the stars of Bejing and the Team GB cycling performance at 2012 is likely to make tickets for these events the most sought after. Looking around the 2012 website I noticed that the stadium capacity for wheelchair tennis, for the Paralympic Games, is 10,500.

http://www.london2012.com/games/venues/eton-manor....

I then saw that the velodrome capacity is 6000.

http://www.london2012.com/games/venues/velodrome.p...

I have no doubt that plenty of people will want to watch wheelchair tennis, but have I read this right?

[Kermit power]

It does say in the article that the 10,500 seating capacity is spread across 9 courts, although the main show court will be able to host seat 5,000.

I would imagine the seating capacity is more to do with what the venue will be used for after the games (elite hockey, with 15,000 capacity) than what it is being used for during the games themselves.

Whilst the focus of Eton Manor is going to change significantly after the games (although it will still have a tennis centre), the Velodrome is going to remain as a permanent velodrome, and whilst it might well easily sell out far more than 6,000 seats for the 5 or so days it's used during the Olympics, I doubt it would be economically viable to operate as an ongoing cycling venue after the games if it was too big?

[aspender]

Looks like the Beijing velodrome accommodated the same number of spectators:

http://en.beijing2008.cn/venues/lsv/

It may be that the nature of a steeply banked track dictates capacity to a certain extent.

[matc]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

[Gooby]

Does it matter? The whole olympic venue is in the wrong place. I know lets put the olympics in a place where 80% of the country find it impossible to get to!