The first anniversary of construction starting on the Olympic Stadium was a real celebration for London 2012 and I was proud to join our teams showing it off to the world.

The progress has been amazing.  Our time-lapse webcams show how the Olympic Stadium is transforming the London skyline today and how it will become the heartbeat of the Olympic Park in three years time. 

For an athlete there is no greater feeling than coming down the home straight in an Olympic final. 

So just imagine how it is going to look at Games-time with 80,000 spectators roaring on the world’s best athletes to give the performance of their lives in London. 

It will be an inspirational venue for competitors from all nations. 

However, most of all it’s going to provide the athletes from Team GB and ParalympicsGB with a once in a lifetime opportunity to win gold and smash world records in front of a passionate British home crowd. 

No wonder I was asked on my regional visit to the East Midlands last week if I am going to pull on my spikes and start competing again myself!

Of course, legacy has always been central to our plans, which is why our innovative design takes out 55,000 temporary seats to leave a sustainable 25,000 permanent seat venue after 2012. 

That will allow the Olympic Stadium to be the spectacular and sustainable hub of a regenerated area and home to multi-sport facilities for both elite and community use – including track and field.

So what a fantastic first birthday!  We started early, it’s all going to plan and I look forward to London 2012 blog visitors watching it develop brick by brick over the next two years.

It really has been a great effort to get us this far, but the future promises much more

Watch our video of a year's construction on the Olympic Stadium
Watch our 2009 fly-through of the whole Olympic Park with Jonathan Edwards
See the progress of the Olympic Stadium and Park over time on our webcams