As of today, July 27, 2011, a Wednesday, the official countdown to the London Olympics begins! The grooves will begin in exactly 365 days from today as the Olympic torch will be lit and “Let the games begin” will commence the most prestigious events that the world awaits.

London Olympics – And so begins the countdown!

The new wave-shaped aquatics center has been opened and Tim Daley, diver, will make the first splash into the pool later this evening. The dive will mark the year-countdown the games. To him, it is an honor to be able to dive into the pool as the first to start the Olympics one-year-calendar. He said that few years ago, it seemed like a dream to him and the day finally has arrived.

The aquatics center has a 17000 seating capacity and includes two pools of 50 meters. The design was made by Zaha Hadid. There have been concerns made over the holding power of the stadium as there is expected to be thousands eager to audience the water sports. The landscape architecture, however, still has to complete.

It has been five years since the work on the terrain was commenced, with man and machinery taking over and now the fifth venue, which is the final one, is ready. The aquatics center is located in London’s Olympic Park, stretching 2.5 kilometers. The aquatics center alone took 268 million pounds to construct and was two-months behind schedule and went over the budget as there were complications with the roof and heating systems. However this does not delay the rest of the process by too much margin.

The other venue includes 12000-seated basketball arena. This however will have to be taken apart after the games will be finished.

The progress so far is going on schedule, ahead in fact, with all the permanent venues being complete and that too with another 12 months to go. The mayor, Boris Johnson, expressed his contentment with the preparations and said that that even with such ample time at hand, the arrangements and the facilities are on wheels. The ongoing and steady measures that are being taken are well ahead of time which shows that they will be ready to showcase talents from around the world when the date finally arrives.

All the athletes are yet to be invited by the International Olympics Committee president; Jacques Rogge so they get to see all the excitement, the preparations as well as the looks of the medals to be used will all be revealed.

As Daley creates the first waves in the pool, the after-effects of the dive will remain till next July.

Tags: Countdown, International Olympics Committee, IOC, London Olympics, Olympic Park, Olympic Torch