Qualla: London Stadium https://qualla.com/london-stadium en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-stadium-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: London Stadium https://qualla.com/london-stadium London Stadium: Introduction https://qualla.com/london-stadium/ Photo credit Gerard McGovern from London, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0. On the evening of 9 August 2012, the Kenyan runner David Rudisha stepped onto the track at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford to run the 800 metres final. He led from gun to tape. He ran the distance in 1 minute 40.91 seconds. He became the first man in history to break the 1:41 barrier. There was no pacemaker — Rudisha set the pace himself, from the front, the way you do when you know exactly what your body is capable of and you trust it more than you trust the field. The London 2012 Athletics meet would produce more world and Olympic records than any single Olympics had produced in athletics for years. Usain Bolt ran the second-fastest 100 metres of his career here. The American women's 4×100 metres relay team broke the East German record from 1985 that everyone had assumed would never fall. The stadium they did it in was supposed to come down afterwards. It is still standing.

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Image: Gerard McGovern from London, United Kingdom | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-stadium-wp/gcpv-london-stadium-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full London Stadium: Built on a Nuclear Reactor Site https://qualla.com/london-stadium/ Photo credit Steve Cadman from London, U.K., CC BY-SA 2.0. The stadium sits on former industrial land in the Lower Lea Valley, on what is functionally an island formed by the River Lea and several of the Bow Back Rivers. During the planning stages it was discovered that the site had been host to Queen Mary College's department of nuclear...

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Image: Steve Cadman from London, U.K. | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-stadium-wp/gcpv-london-stadium-built-on-a-nuclear-reactor-site.mp3 0:06 2 full London Stadium: Magnificent or a Bowl of Blancmange? https://qualla.com/london-stadium/ Photo credit Public domain. Initial reviews ran from 'magnificent' to 'a bowl of blancmange.' Tom Dyckhoff in The Times called the design 'tragically underwhelming.' Building Design's Ellis Woodman accepted the principle of dismountability as 'an obvious interest in establishing an economy of means' but arg...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-stadium-wp/gcpv-london-stadium-magnificent-or-a-bowl-of-blancmange.mp3 0:06 3 full London Stadium: The Largest Video Screen Ever Built https://qualla.com/london-stadium/ Photo credit Nick Webb from London, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0. During the opening ceremony of the 2012 Games, Danny Boyle's production used the stadium's grandstands as one continuous video display. The system was developed by Tait Technologies: 70,500 individual 'paddles,' each containing nine LED pixels, were installed between every seat. ...

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Image: Nick Webb from London, United Kingdom | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-stadium-wp/gcpv-london-stadium-the-largest-video-screen-ever-built.mp3 0:06 4 full London Stadium: What Happens After the Party https://qualla.com/london-stadium/ Photo credit supermoving, CC BY-SA 4.0. The post-Olympic future of the stadium became one of the long-running British public policy disasters of the 2010s. The original plan was to downsize to a 25,000-seat athletics venue. West Ham United had been interested in the stadium since well before the bid. Tottenham Hotspur ...

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Image: supermoving | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-stadium-wp/gcpv-london-stadium-what-happens-after-the-party.mp3 0:06 5 full London Stadium: The Stadium Has Become Many Stadiums https://qualla.com/london-stadium/ Photo credit Hammersfan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today, London Stadium is one of the few venues in the world to hold both UEFA Category 4 status (allowing it to host football's biggest matches) and World Athletics Category 1 status. West Ham play their home Premier League fixtures here at an expanded football capacity of 62,500...

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Image: Hammersfan | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-stadium-wp/gcpv-london-stadium-the-stadium-has-become-many-stadiums.mp3 0:06 6 full