First London 2012 Olympic Venue Opens To Public

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• published: 27 Jul 2013
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The Copperbox Arena staged Olympic handball, the modern pentathlon and fencing as well as the Paralympics goalball. It will now be used by clubs and individuals, as well as hosting London Lions basketball matches, and concerts. Twelve months ago Roger Littlewood was one of the Olympic gamesmakers, one of the thousands of volunteers who assisted spectators. But during his job he saw Olympic handball for the first time and decided to take up the sport. Now he finds himself sharing the same arena as a member of the London GD Handball Club. He said: "It's quite surreal actually. "Probably the last handball players who were playing here were professionals during the group stages of the Olympics, so playing on here is a little bit strange, but a lot of fun." Suzie Ogilvy is also a member of the club, inspired to take up the event by what she saw on TV. She said: "I quite like fast sports and it's fast paced and it just looked very, very high tempo, so that's the sort of thing that I really enjoy. "It's absolutely fantastic. I feel quite privileged to be playing here and having that opportunity." Many of those taking part in netball, badminton and wheelchair basketball were youngsters who are encouraged to play sport at school. But sports administrators are also trying to target adults who have been idle for years. Corinna Gage had drifted out of sport after leaving university, but has now joined Leyton Netball Club. She said: "Probably just laziness really. I kind of got out of the habit of playing sport. "I used to be a really keen netball and tennis player, and then just coming to watch that basketball match just got me out of the house really." Measuring the extent of the Olympic legacy and feel good factor can be imprecise, other than recording the numbers participating. London 2012 Chairman Lord Coe said: "I think some of it is unquantifiable - it's the spirit, the extraordinary nature of volunteering. "In simple terms since 2005 when we won the right to stage the games, another million and a half people are playing sport and are actively engaged." Tony Wallace is the manager of the Cooperbox Arena and told Sky News: "We run leisure centres across London and we are seeing increased participation in a number of sports. "Basketball, badminton, volleyball, netball - so we've got real evidence of people coming through our doors, and more school use as well which is great news." Former boxing champion Barry McGuigan is now involved in training youngsters, many who were inspired by Britain's Olympic champions. Nicola Adams, Anthony Joshua and Luke Campbell all won gold medals in the ring, and they will help in the fight against obesity and diabetes. He told Sky News: "They will create thousands and thousands of kids walking through the door getting involved in boxing. "The bottom line is they're active, they're participating in sport they're living a healthy life, eating healthy foods." The Copperbox was busy, and crowds were heading to the athletics event in the stadium, but most of the rest of the Olympic Park is still off limits to the public. And it will be 2016 before West Ham United kick off their tenancy. After this weekend's Anniversary Games, the stadium is not due to be used again until the 2015 Rugby World Cup. And we will have to wait until spring next year for the aquatics centre and the velodrome to be opened for public use. 2014 will also see the first permanent residents moving into the former athletes village. Shaun Lawson, the chief executive of Lea Valley Regional Park which will run the Velo Park as well as the hockey and tennis centres, said: "It's always been planned to open the park in stages. "There's a lot of transformation work to be done to to transform the park from its Olympic to Legacy mode. "And there's still a lot of work to be done in the north of the park where the velodrome is around access to make sure the road system is in place. "So by next March it will be ready and open and we're very excited by that."