Jevans said: “This multi-sport venue is one of the most important and exciting Olympic venues and will be a hub of sporting activity at Games time, accommodating seven sports during the Olympic Games and six during the Paralympics, second only to the Olympic Park.

“The task of hosting so many sports in one venue was put to the test, delivering seven International sporting events over three consecutive weeks, and I’m pleased with the outcomes. We learnt some lessons that will further inform our operational planning for the Games.  

The first week of competition in the London Prepares series events saw International Boxing, Table Tennis and Fencing come to ExCeL London testing workforce, field of play, lighting, results and scoring. Unique to Boxing was the introduction of corner cameras in the ring while in the Fencing arena floor lighting on the main piste, a new feature for the Olympic Games, was tested. Air flow was one of the main elements of focus at the Table Tennis competition.

Savannah Marshall from Great Britain, who won gold in the women’s boxing event, said: “It’s great to just get the feeling of the Games.” And Avak Uzlian, the Russian Light Welter boxer said: "It is a very good place, very organised and very comfortable for boxers. Everything here is very good."

After a few days turnaround – emulating the exact same amount of time arenas will have at Games time – Judo and Taekwondo took their turn in the spotlight. In Judo a larger contest area (10 x 10m as opposed to 8 x 8m) was used, while in Taekwondo personal scoring systems and instant video replay systems were of interest to organisers. 

Gold medallist and GB athlete Aaron Cook said of the Taekwondo event: “I am obviously delighted to have won gold. I've had a brilliant day, beating the world champion. It's a massive, great venue and has give us a sample of what the Olympics will be like.”

During the final weekend of competition, and after another tight turnaround of the arenas, Weightlifting and Wrestling events took centre stage in ExCeL. A new podium platform which made its debut in the Weightlifting arena was received well and the transition of the field of play from Judo into Wrestling was a key testing element which took less than half the time than previously predicted.

Reece Humphery from the USA who won a bronze medal in the men’s freestyle wrestling (60kg) event said of ExCeL: "I love it I love everything about it. I haven't had a chance to see the city because I've been focused on the competition but I'll see the city tonight. This is going to be a perfect arena for the Olympics."

Stephen Newport, LOCOG Venue General Manager of ExCeL said: “The London Prepares series has been vital for our whole team at ExCeL. Although the venue hosts many major events and conferences, we have had to test our transition of arenas and our teams in our largest temporary venue outside the Olympic Park. We will continue to observe large events at ExCeL to look at spectator flow and management, but we are happy with how the test events have run over the past three weeks.”

- Ends -

Notes to editors:  

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100 or visit the website at www.london2012.com. Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog  http://www.london2012.com/blog or follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/london2012
 
London 2012 Games partners:
The Worldwide Olympic Partners who support the London 2012 Olympic Games and the National Olympic Committees around the world are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.

LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield.

There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games-only Partner, Sainsbury’s and one domestic Tier Three Paralympic Games-only Supplier, Otto Bock. The London 2012 Paralympic Games also