The Olympic rings were swapped for an engagement ring this weekend as a marriage proposal by the site of the Olympic Stadium became the highlight of Open House weekend on the London 2012 Olympic Park.
The Olympic Park opened to the public for the third year running, with more than 4,000 people joining bus tours around the site to see the huge progress being made in the construction of the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, Velodrome, media centre, Olympic Village and other venues and infrastructure across the Park.
Among the visitors was Tom Clift, (29) from Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, who during his tour round the Olympic Park on Sunday took the chance to propose to his girlfriend Rachel Walker (30) next to the site of the Olympic Stadium. Rachel, an Olympian who competed in the Beijing Games for the GB Women's Hockey team and who has over 140 caps for England and Team GB, said 'yes' to Tom’s delight.
Tom Clift, who works for the Coventry & Warwickshire 2012 Partnership helping to promote the 2012 Games in the West Midlands, said: 'Given both our passions for the Olympics, it was a dream come true to be able to propose to the woman I love by the Olympic Stadium. With Rachel being an Olympian and my own work securing 2012 opportunities and benefits for Coventry and Warwickshire, we’d like our wedding to have a subtle Olympic theme so this was the perfect start to our plans. It was great to see the Olympic Park at first hand and I look forward to coming back here as a married man in 2012 to cheer Team GB and possibly Rachel on to Gold.'
ODA Chairman John Armitt said: 'The Olympic Stadium will be the place for athletes around the world to realise their dreams in 2012 and I’m delighted that it has already given one lucky couple a day they’ll never forget. The marriage proposal by the Olympic Stadium was a great highlight of what was a fantastic Open House weekend where thousands of visitors saw at first hand the good progress being made in the construction of the Olympic Park.'
Visitors on the Open House tours round the Olympic Park this weekend saw the huge progress being made on construction work across the site including:
Notes to Editors:
1. Images of the Open House weekend, including pictures of the engaged couple Tom Clift and Rachel Walker, can be downloaded from http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/locog?nav=pr128592227
– Ends –
For further information please contact the Olympic Delivery Authority Press Office on +44 (0)20 3 2012 700.
The construction of the venues and infrastructure of the London 2012 Games is funded by the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor, The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Mayor of London and the London Development Agency.
Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog.
- The external structure of the Olympic Stadium complete with internal fit-out work now underway
- The iconic wave-shape roof of the Aquatics Centre nearing completion
- Work now underway on all residential plots of the Olympic Village
- The 360 degree concourse level of the Velodrome taking shape
- The steel frame of the International Broadcast Centre complete
- Work well-underway on new networks of roads, bridges and utilities across the Olympic Park site
The event was also an opportunity to gain feedback on the project from the public. Comments received included:
- 'Most interesting and enjoyable'
- 'Very worthwhile, gave a sense of the size and scale of the whole thing'
- 'I’m amazed at the amount of work that has already been achieved here'
- 'A wonderful experience!'
- 'Very exciting, job well done so far!'
- 'Am utterly overwhelmed by the scale of the project. The site is spectacular'
- 'Tour has made me very excited about 2012 Olympics'
- 'Absolutely fascinating and inspiring to see it all coming together'