London Latest - 2012 Olympic Village Progress; Team GB Football Celebration

Olympic Village Marks Milestone

Britain's Culture and Olympics secretary Jeremy Hunt has hailed construction efforts on the Olympic Village where the number of completed apartments has now passed the symbolic 2,012 mark.

"The Olympic Village looks fantastic, and you can just imagine the energy it will have when 17,000 athletes and staff move in here next summer for the Olympic Games," Hunt said after visiting the village site, which is adjacent to the Olympic Park in east London.

"But what is most important about the village is that it will be a real legacy from London’s Games, by providing affordable and private housing after 2012. It is yet another example of how we continue to deliver on our promise to leave behind real and lasting benefits from London 2012."

The village, which is next door to Stratford City, Europe’s newest and largest shopping center, will have 2,818 apartments across 11 residential plots. At Games-time, it will accommodate around 17,000 Olympic and 6,000 Paralympic athletes and officials. Shops, restaurants, medical, media and leisure facilities will also be on site.

Post-Games, the village will become a new London neighborhood, offering a range of homes that will be affordable and private rented or owned.

Triathlon Homes has bought 1,379 of the apartments to transform into affordable housing. The remaining 1,439 properties will become private housing after being acquired by a consortium of UK developer Delancey and the Qatari Diar real estate investment company. The consortium has also secured six adjacent future development plots with the potential for 2,000 more homes.

The Olympic Delivery Authority says the athletes' village is on schedule to be completed early next year.

Team GB Football Celebration

The English FA is considering staging a double-header of Team GB's men's and women's teams to mark Britain's return to the Olympic football tournament after a decades-longhiatus.

The warm-ups for the Olympics could be played at a non-Games venue next July.

In June, the BOA struck an agreement with the English FA to field a men's Olympic team for the first time in 52 years – since the Rome 1960 Games – and a women’s side for the first time ever.

Last week the FA and British Olympic Association announced that Hope Powell will manage the women's side with Stuart Pearce taking charge of the men's team.

The men’s squad will feature 18 players – 15 must be under 23-years-old, with three "open age" players. The women’s squad will also be comprised of 18 players, but there are no agerestrictions. Olympic preliminary round matches will begin on July 25, two days before the opening ceremony.

Sainsbury's Launches Paralympics Branding

U.K. supermarket giant Sainsbury's, London's first Paralympics-only sponsor, has unveiled its brand identity for its upcoming campaign.

Its "Here's to Extraordinary" slogan will feature in an advertising campaign running next year, with branding to appear on Sainsbury's delivery vehicles and shop fronts.

"We wanted to create an identity that celebrates Paralympic athletes not just for the obstacles they have overcome in coming to terms with their disabilities, but also for their status as world-class, elite athletes," said Jat Sahota, Sainsbury’s head of sponsorship.

Sainsbury's will use its network of more than 950 stores across Britain to help promote the Games, selling Paralympics and ParalympicsGB merchandise at the outlets.

With limited branding permitted on the field of play, Sainsbury's will be one of two sponsors to have a presence on athlete bibs as well as in and around key venues during Games-time.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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