The London 2012 Basketball Arena has become the fourth Olympic Park venue completed, more than a year ahead of the Games and is one of the quickest venues to finish construction.
The Basketball Arena is one of the largest temporary venues ever used for an Olympic and Paralympic Games and will be dismantled after the Games to be reused elsewhere. Work to erect the 1,000-tonne steel frame started in March 2010.
During the 2012 Games, Basketball preliminary matches and Women’s quarter finals will be staged at the Arena, in addition to the Handball men’s quarter finals, all semi-finals and medal matches.
The Basketball Arena is another milestone for the ‘Big Build’, delivering a striking Games-time venue for the Olympic Park as well as an innovative structure that can be re-used elsewhere after 2012.
The Olympic Basketball competition will have 288 athletes competing for two gold medals - 144 men and 144 women, and 12 teams of 12 players in each competition.
New Zealand has competed at the Olympic Games in basketball a total of three times, with the men’s team qualifying for the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games, and the women’s team competing in Beijing in 2008.