伦敦奥运场馆进入最后测试阶段

The organizers of the London 2012 Olympics say they are on schedule and may even come in under budget. But with the Games just over three months away, there is much work still to be done to make sure they run smoothly, and a big part of that is running tests on Olympic venues.

The Olympics Park in east London is no longer a building site. Venues are up, and now it’s time to test them. For that you need athletes, staff, and spectators. The Aquatics Centre is hosting synchronized swimming Olympic qualifiers as part of its testing programme.

Charlotte O’Neill, manager of London 2012 Aquatics Center, said, "It’s a brand new venue and it’s really important to get elite athletes in the building. So they can use their flows around the building, where they’re gonna set up their massage tables, physic, how they use the building, how they operate. So it’s really important for us to know that the flows that we’ve put in place work and they get tested with a lot of athletes."

The spectators are a mix of synchro swimming supporters, and people who just wanted to see something in a shiny new Olympic venue.

Spectators said, "I think it’s absolutely amazing, yeah, brings tears to my eyes. I don’t know it’s an emotional thing, I think."

"I wanted to see the Olympic Park and especially the aquatics centre. I sent off for some tickets for the Olympics but I wasn’t lucky so this was instead."

"I feel immensely privileged to be able to be here, to have the Olympics in my home country. And I just wanted to be a part of it. I couldn’t get tickets for the main events but I could get them for this."

And in the same way the athletes hope to perfect their preparations by games time in July, organisers know they can learn now from any mistakes.

Charlotte O’Neill, manager of London 2012 Aquatics Center, said, "No one gets it right on the first day, so it’s like being in the theatre, you know, you rehearse, you rehearse, you rehearse, you eradicate all the errors, you make all the tweaks you need to make, so that come that first opening night, everything’s perfect, and that’s what we’re doing."

But the clock is ticking with less than 100 days until London 2012 gets underway for real. Olly Barratt from London Aquatics Center said, "These events are incredibly important for organizers so they know that come games time, everything is running perfectly. But they’re also giving sport fans a bit of a taste of what the Olympic atmosphere will be like.